Everyone, meet Valerie

[JamesD89]

Hello old and new faces

I've always been drawn to more "pure" sports cars and after a short list of mildly interesting machinery I finally got the chance to pick up a 2007 AP2 with only 36k miles in March of 2015. She was the victim of a few bumps and bruises and multiple careless owners but the title was clean and the important bits were stout so I decided to overlook the cosmetic issues and give the car a good home.

Cleaned up pretty nicely with a detail:



And here is how the car currently sits (11/2016):


Current setup:
Engine/exhaust:
-Gernzhuast with dingle
-CT Engineering Intake
-Flashpro (Gernby tune in progress)

Suspension:
-Ohlins DFV (10k/8k F/R)
-Blox driveshaft spacers

Wheels/tires:
-TSW Interlagos with Michelin PSS 245/40/17

Brakes:
-Stoptech sport performance (street/autocross)
-Winmax W4 (track)

Exterior:
-Forbidden CF MG style hardtop
-OEM lip
-OEM ducktail

Other:
-Amis shift collar
-Forbidden two-piece hardtop latches

[JamesD89]

Spent lots of time cruising up and down the CA coast and scaring the absolute shit out of my girlfriend and friends. During the first year owernship the car stayed relatively stock other than a Puffo intake (terrible fitment, went back to OEM), 63.5 Berk HFC, and Flashpro. I also added a CF Mugen replica top from Forbidden USA to help keep the car safe while parked. I love the two-piece OEM style latches and the customer service, but I've never been 100% satisfied with the top. It looks great and is really light but fitment is 8/10 at best and takes a lot of fiddling every time I remove it. Keeping my eyes peeled for a Berlina OEM or authentic Mugen but at this point a new top is at the bottom of my list. I'd rather spend money on making the car perform better.

On Hwy 1 north of LA:


SR33 north of Ojai (one of my all time favorite roads in SoCal):


I spent around 4 months of 2015 in San Francisco and got to enjoy some of the amazing roads up there:



Can't complain about these views:



Sadly after returning to San Diego the car was vandalized in front of my house while I was out one night. Someone keyed the entire driver's side of the car, kicked in part of my passenger fender, and removed the glass from my passenger side mirror. I was pretty heartbroken, but that's why we have insurance

[JamesD89]

One year anniversary of ownership and modding starts (April 2016)!

Since I wanted to repaint the whole car the vandalism was actually kind of blessing because now I only have to pay for half . I decided to hold off for the time being and spent the money on other necessary things, like:

Shiny gold bits:


And a noisemaker:


Thought I was clever and modified my heatshield to fit the 70mm test pipe:


I had the T1R 70EM dual for about 7 days before I decided it had to go. It sounded absolutely amazing at WOT; exotic, lots of crackles and pops, turned heads, etc, but the drone was making my ears bleed. Thankfully my buddy was in the process of parting out his car and had an original Gernzhuast so we did a little 3-way trade with one of the wonderful SoCal parts guys (mazdaspeed over at S2ki, helpful guy). While I was over I also traded my AP2v2s for his square TSW setup. In the span of a week my car went from stock to the standard modded S2000 format. Whoops.

The Gernzhuast and dingle sound fantastic. No drone while staying aggressive, loud without being obnoxious. Probably my favorite modification, just gotta finish up those datalogs and send them over to Gernby to take full advantage of this piece

I started autocrossing more frequently since it was fairly ridiculous to just go canyon carving with this setup. Dragged a co-worker out with his C6 and got to run circles around him:

[JamesD89]

Finally got a garage so I can keep her safe from the elements and assholes. Also stoked about not having to lug my tools in and out of the house whenever I want to tinker:




It's not much, but I'm in love.

Ran a "track day" at a go-kart track through Race Freely over the summer and had an absolute blast. Managed to pull the second fastest time of the day running clockwise and the fastest time counter clockwise. Gonna be shooting for the record on 12/5 if I can make it out there with some real tires instead of the Pilot Super Sports I'm currently running

Should have taken more pictures of the S2000s:



New valve cover, painted some corroded parts, and wrapped the CT intake tube. I love how the bay looks now but I can't recommend the CT Engineering intake to anyone. Took a surprising amount of work to get it to fit properly. Trimmed the carbon fiber cover in a few places and added foam underneath the lid to stop rattling.

[JamesD89]

No major updates right now, just enjoying the hell out of the car. Picked up an Amis shift collar and was pleasantly surprised by the improved feel. I love this car. Here is she sits as of right now (just crossed over 60k miles!):



And for fun here's some 911 engine porn:


Dad's 1970 911T Targa. Stroked to 2.4 liters from 2.2, E cams, higher compression. Was his daily driver for 2 decades so it's cool to finally see it running again.

I'm heading up to the Bay Area at the end of this month for the Blacktrax meet at Thunderhill. It'd be cool to put some faces behind the builds and finally get a chance to lap the track. Trying to convince my dad to bring the 911 out since it's finally complete.

Also going to take a stab at this route since I didn't get the opportunity last time I was in the area. Gotta thank Andrew for the road suggestions and the new forum

[andrewhake]

Car looks great! And that 911T very nice. Enjoy that 84/Pescadero drive.

[Kenny]

Beautiful car and pictures. Really wish we had roads (and weather) like you have in California. One of my fondest memories is spending a week with the wife driving and exploring the PCH from San Francisco to LA. Need to do that again soon!

[TsukubaCody]

Whoa, those TSW really look great! I like their recent trend of naming wheels after the world's great racing circuits.

Nicely done!

[alex.gonzales]

I'm almost 100% sure we met at a O'Reillys in Mira mesa one night, I asked about your hardtop and you asked something about my TC105Ns haha. I had a sebring silver AP2. If not I apoligize, and if so, small world! Haha. Awesome build!

[JamesD89]

Beautiful car and pictures. Really wish we had roads (and weather) like you have in California. One of my fondest memories is spending a week with the wife driving and exploring the PCH from San Francisco to LA. Need to do that again soon!

If you get the chance follow Hwy 1 north from SF and stop for oysters/seafood along the way . The bay area pictures are from Panoramic Hwy on my way back down to the city. It runs on the east side of the Muir woods.

Whoa, those TSW really look great! I like their recent trend of naming wheels after the world's great racing circuits.

Nicely done!

Thanks! I actually had no idea these existed until a few weeks before the trade. Reminded me of a poor man's TC105N so I had to get them.

I'm almost 100% sure we met at a O'Reillys in Mira mesa one night, I asked about your hardtop and you asked something about my TC105Ns haha. I had a sebring silver AP2. If not I apoligize, and if so, small world! Haha. Awesome build!

Haha yep, that was me! Small world indeed. You had the first set of TC105Ns I've actually seen in wild after lusting after them on Grand Turismo for years

Do you ever go to the Fuddrucker's meets/clusterfucks in Mira Mesa? I went with few people a while back and it seems like there's a decent owner's community in SD.

[alex.gonzales]

I did at one point but ended up really getting over it, too much attention, immaturity and craziness. I go to cars and coffee meets very frequently though since they are every Saturday or every other Sunday.

As far as S2000 owners, I don't know too many. Neither is there a San Diego "group" that I know of. But there is however alot in the irvine, Costa mesa. Have you met anyone else?

[JamesD89]

Where's cars and coffee in San Diego? I'd love to go to something more mature than the Fuds meets.

There are quite a few S2k owners in SD but no real local community, or at least not one I've seen. Tons of cool owners and cars in OC though! Definitely feels weird coming from BMWs where it was relatively easy to find people to drink beer and complain about broken shit with

[Sillyboybmxer]

How many miles did your dad put on that porsche????

[alex.gonzales]

Where's cars and coffee in San Diego? I'd love to go to something more mature than the Fuds meets.

There are quite a few S2k owners in SD but no real local community, or at least not one I've seen. Tons of cool owners and cars in OC though! Definitely feels weird coming from BMWs where it was relatively easy to find people to drink beer and complain about broken shit with

We'll I know forsure there's one every Saturday at the Vons shopping center off of the 5 on poinsettia, it's in carlsbad. It's called Cbadcars, it was extremely popular until they starting changing locations. And then there's also one in the LA Jolla Vons shopping center. That's every last Saturday of the month.

Then I hear about one in Aliso Viejo, which I know a few s2000 people attend.

All in all, I think we should find other SD members who are willing to meet up and plan something!

[AJS3]

nice build looks really clean I dig it. I'm glad you actually drive your S!