The rest of the interior is more of the same. The seats are actually in OK shape, although the lower bolsters on the driver’s seat are pretty much pancaked. The glovebox between the seat backs is packed full of a fascinated assortment of receipts, candy bar wrappers, Zig Zag cigarette paper, a lighter, a pair of cheap sunglasses, and a flyer for a sketchy looking nightclub. Clear evidence of the university student lifestyle, but the hockey tape, zip ties and scissors in the hidden compartment above the glovebox tell a potentially darker tale.
Sweet valve cover, bro!
The engine bay is pretty much what you’d expect, meaning dirty and in need of some TLC. The yellow lettering written on the front of the valve cover is a dead give-away that this is not the original F20C engine. No, that engine died from our friend forgetting to change the oil, or topping it up, ever. So this engine was sourced from a wrecked AP1 with 85,000 km, so it’s apparently very close in mileage to the chassis. Having just done a valve adjustment, I can verify it runs strong all the way to its 9,000 RPM redline, but the accessory belt is brown with age and the bearing on one of the pulleys is crying for mercy.
The exposed wires down the passenger side of the engine bay are related to the daytime running lights required by Canadian law. It’s about as ghetto a conversion as we’ve ever seen, but it passed tech inspection somehow. Oh, and if you look closely you’ll notice the rubber grommet that locates the radiator on the passenger side is missing. And although you can’t see it here, the A/C condenser is also half out of its mounting brackets, but those are easy fixes. The main thing is that the driver’s side shock tower was properly repaired after the crash damage, and an inspection of the entire underside of the car proved the chassis is nice and straight, though the front subframe needs to be replaced (it’s missing a metal tab that prevents the eccentric camber bolt from slipping…it probably sheered off during the crash that led to its eventual migration north of the border).
The trunk. Lets not forget the trunk. For starters, there was a bag with a couple of plastic containers of cookies that now look like a Grade 5 Science experiment. I’m posting those for sale on eBay tonight. Under this bag was a photo album full of childhood pictures (we’ll have to return this treasure to the owner), a couple of power cables, a liter of motor oil, an old modem, and, um, a leather-wrapped box with some residue in it that looked like tobacco but smelled…Jamaican.
What else can I tell you? Mechanically the car is pretty solid. It needs a new clutch, badly, and the brakes are looking pretty tired. So really, the vast majority of the issues with this car are cosmetic. Ok, so there’s a huge and unnerving clunk from the steering sometimes too, but we’ll sort that out. Suffice it to say I won’t miss the blue interior if we pull most of it out and either leave it gutted or maybe throw in some nice, clean trim pieces sourced from the good ole Internet. Racing buckets seem inevitable, though hand-me down ones from a different project, and a roll bar is a must. Oh, and a hardtop, since the rag-top is mostly just a rag now, and I’m not really a convertible guy. And I guess maybe a supercharger or turbo kit should find its way under the aluminum hood eventually, or maybe a K24 swap with ITBs.
Oh, and of course we’ll also do coilovers, a front sway bar, and most importantly, bigger/wider wheels and sticky tires. And some aero. Duh!
Yeah, big plans, small budget. But somehow we’ll make it happen, because this car, perhaps more than any project we’ve ever started before, deserves to be rehabilitated. Speed Academy, saving derelict sports cars since 2014…
Poor S2000, it needs a lot of TLC.
OK and I thought my S2000 was bad 🙂
Sadly, mine’s worse!