New guy

[Calesta]

Hey everyone, I'm Mike. I've known about this site for a few years now, but meeting some Lufkin people (jonboy, George) and just being plain cheap (wanted a discount on my clear bra install) finally got me to join!

Background:

I'm from Houston but I live in Lufkin. My wife and I both went to school at UT Austin, so we're very fond of the hill country. We have a wonderful 4 month old son, which means mods are on hold for a while. I'm a mechanical engineer that likes to get greasy, and my wife is a teacher enforcing her own early retirement from the extreme stress of the classroom.

I drive a 2003 GPW AP1 that I bought after my 95 Civic's 3rd built engine blew its ring lands. After 3 complete engine builds, a few stints with bad tuners, and 2 complete suspension setups, I figured it was time to lay the Civic to rest. It was a total sleeper- white EG sedan with no signs of mods from the outside except for Integra GSR wheels and an exhaust tip- but could run circles around C5 Vettes all day long. All motor too. Fun. It's up on jack stands being torn apart to pay for the S2000 now.

On other things, I've been playing with cars for about 15 years now, and I do a lot of my own wrenchwork. I don't like other people to touch my cars unless I really trust them- and that takes a lot. I'd rather buy the tools myself and figure it out before I hand the car to someone I don't know.

I'm a current administrator for HondaSwap, and I used to help run CivicLand as an admin when it was a huge Civic resource a few years back.

Anyway, I've been reading through a lot of the threads, and I'm glad to finally be a member of the site- and I'm looking forward to hopefully meeting some of you in person soon! I might be able to make the Austin meet in August. I hope.

Oh, videos of runs through wonderful Austin twisties to come soon... plus a dead raccoon.

Other cars: 95 Nissan Hardbody, 88 Civic LX sedan (wife's car, buying a Fit this year)

Mods on the S:

K&N FIPK (love this thing)
Apex'i Rev Speed Meter (love this thing too, it's my FUN meter!)
Standard load ICE (Pioneer Premier, JL, JL, JL)
Modifry DCI
Modifry dual camera windscreen mount

Just installed and haven't even seen yet:

Rockblocker + X-pel clear bras
OEM front lip (yeah, small stuff, but it was free!)

[s2keepup]

Hiya Mike!!


love the GPW its definitely the hottest color! i love the lip on these too, i think u will love it too.
this is a fun place to be and there are ALOT of fine folks in TX. there is always something going on around here too.

welcome to the club, congrats on the S, and post some pix soon we would love to see it! come say hi in the shoutbox anytime too

[s2keepup]

lol u posted pix when i was typing hahahaha

nice!

[Calesta]

Reposting pix because I don't like the auto resizing...







Thanks Michelle! I do think GPW is the best color even though it's a little plain- but it blends in the best with everything else on the road, especially in Texas where it's hot as hell and everyone buys white cars. I like the sleeper look.

Are you in Texas or Cali?

[Calesta]

The Civic when it was still running many many years ago:









Engine death 1 (mechanical overrev):



Engine death 2 (Larry @ Endyn made a huge oops):





Engine death 3 (Jeff @ ImportBuilders can't tune):

Oops haven't taken that picture yet...

Civic dynos:

[s2keepup]

im in cali

i knew i was getting the hardtop with mine and white looks super sleek with the HT plus i have alot that matches it plus it isnt a metallic so its really easy to do touchups on nicks and stuff. i almost got the Laguna Blue but am definitely glad i got the white... its more ME.

these are some FUN cars and the best part is, they still look amazing and perform well without having to do a ton of mods. so being stock is still fun. i have hardly done anything... just have a Fujita intake and some minor visual things:

[s2keepup]

omg that car took some beatings LOL
i love that about hondas haha

[tomauto]

Welcome to the Forum!

You can always come up to Dallas or Denton to go on one of my group drives! We should have something to do in mid-late June that you are more than welcome to attend!

[s2keepup]

ya the dallas guys are alot of fun too tom has some great stuff coming!

[Calesta]

Wow, it looks GOOD with the hardtop in white! I like to put my top down too often though, so I'll have to think about the hardtop a little bit more.

I've actually had the car for almost 3 years now, so I'm ready for more power. Considering that the Civic was WAY faster and stuck to the ground WAY better, I'm itching for more. It ran 12s all motor with a full interior and pegged .9G on the meter playing in the twisties... when I had time and was relaxed enough to watch it while driving. Oops, I need to add the RSM to the mod list.

The plus side is that the S will take much less extreme modification to get it to where I'm happy. 400whp and tons of stick should do it. It's a good thing one of my best friends works for Garrett!

Tom, thanks for the welcome! I'm actually in the process of a transfer to the DFW area, so hopefully I'll be able to run with you guys soon! I hope to be a permanent Arlington resident by September. I will be up there sometime in July for a LAN party (yes, geeky), so I'll try to hook up with some people then too.

[s2keepup]

thanks! i love it, makes it like a different car. i like top down but its such a hassle with long hair and contacts spring in cali u will find me taking the top off quite a bit tho... so hard to resist 75 and sunny!!

LOL wow that was one baddddd little civic!
that much have been a fun project too. my husband had a 240sx that was his speed demon. super fast boosting RWD car that could go flying around corners at twice what the s can handle.... the only way it broke into 12s was a motor swap tho. couldnt do that without spending alot of $ and it wasnt practical when a turbo motor wasnt that $$ back then.

you cant squeeze too much out of these already super tuned motors too easily... not without going FI. knowing someone at garrett helps and being into motors and engineering too lol a turbo takes a sharp eye and a fine hand to keep it smooth. i would love to go turbo but i have enough speeding tix as it is

[Calesta]

Ah, I always have my wraparound sunglasses on, so contacts aren't a problem, but I did have long enough hair to be annoying in the wind until just recently. It is definitely hard to resist 140 and sunny!

The Civic was tons of fun. I had easily $35k in it over 3 years' time, and that didn't include the cost of the car. I really need to hurry up and tear it down to pay things off! I was shooting for 260whp all motor on pump gas, and if I had ever finished the head work I could have gotten there. Bad luck and bad choice of tuners just got in the way- I should have trusted myself and just spent more time tuning the engine myself like I used to. That's the reason why I find it hard to trust people now- too many blown up engines from people who claimed to know their stuff and who had built up these huge internet presences without truly understanding what they were doing.

But it was fun while it lasted- when I was still racing on the highways (bad idea), the only cars I ever lost to were a severely modified Lightning and my roommate's (same guy who works at Garrett) SR20DET 200SX SE-R. I easily torched WS-6s, C5s, swapped/boosted Civics, a large number of Mustang GTs and Cobras- I even killed my housemate's STi from 0-80. Hanging with that same STi in the twisties at speed was also no problem. Now you see why I want to mod the S2k more- I just won't have to cut as much sheet metal and use a sledgehammer to "massage" certain areas like I did with the Civic.

I definitely want to go turbo. I like the peak power numbers that the superchargers are putting out, but I like the low end fill of the turbo. For 400whp, I can run a small enough turbo that I can have some serious low end torque. With one of the best tuners in Houston, I think I can do it. That and unlimited dyno time in Dallas.

Ever put a golf cart on a dyno? It's fun.

[ajay]

Welcome Mike. Do you plan to track the S... The crew will be at TWS this weekend.

[JonBoy]

Mike, good to see you on here.

[jimmynumbers]

Welcome Mike! The 03 GPW w/tan interior looks great (but I may be biased...)

[Calesta]

Welcome Mike. Do you plan to track the S... The crew will be at TWS this weekend.

I do, but budget (baby) and time currently don't allow it. Maybe after I move in a few months- but before that I have to finish fixing up my house so I can sell it without a loss and finish tearing apart my Civic!

Mike, good to see you on here.

Thanks Jon! You said in another thread that there were 4 Lufkin people- you mean 4 other Lufkin S2ks on the site? Who are they besides you and George?

Welcome Mike! The 03 GPW w/tan interior looks great (but I may be biased...)

Thanks! I like the look. But the seats may have to come out soon and be replaced with something non-tan.

[JonBoy]

Thanks Jon! You said in another thread that there were 4 Lufkin people- you mean 4 other Lufkin S2ks on the site? Who are they besides you and George?

George, me, you (you were meeting up with us, even if you weren't a member) and Jim (a professor up in Nac, though we haven't met him yet).

[Geo02s2k]

Mike!!!! Welcome!

Two more and we can start a Lufkin chapter.

We'll have to all get together for another mini-meet when Jon gets a moment again. Haven't seen your new front bumper yet.

Welcome Mike! A Lufkin Chapter would be awesome

Shameless plug: If you got some spare time in July, check us out in Houston (Lone Star Chapter) at our July BBQ, Car Show & Drive with 65 people signed up and counting https://www.s2kca.com/S2000/showthread.php?t=22553

[HG_S2K]