The ad for today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe S2000 says it should rightfully be called an “S6200.” That’s owed to the 6.2-litre LS3 it has seemingly swallowed. Let’s see if that swap makes its price something you might be able to swallow.
The world is a big and scary place these days what with all the political upheaval, massive fires, and disintegration of the British royal family with which we all have to contend. It’s no surprise that these and other factors weigh heavily on the average person’s mind, especially when they consider actually venturing out into the maelstrom we call life.
That was a possible contributing factor in the huge 90 percent Crack Pipe loss suffered by yesterday’s $31,500 2004 Land Rover Disco II camper. No one, it seems wants to go out into a world rife with dangers in an old off-warranty Land Rover, lest they get stuck there.
Getting stuck in a convertible like today’s 2003 Honda S2000 is rarely a problem. They have that whole no-roof thing going on that makes leaping either in or out pretty easy should you be reasonably athletic. Of course with its LS3/T56 conversion, this particular S2000 may be a car that you’d stick in of your own accord. See what I did there?
The S2000 is a desirable car even without the big pushrod mill. The original DOHC four produced enough power to make the car fun, albeit at revs this car’s present V8 could only dream of. Diminutive proportions, handsome timeless styling, and reaspectable lightness all contribute to the car’s continuing appeal.
This one seems to go a different route when it comes to power application, but with a claimed 430 horsepower and 424 lb-ft of twist doing its thing in a car weighing in at under a ton and a half, that seems a pretty acceptable detour.
The engine is said to be out of a 2012 Camaro SS with about 42K on the clock. That’s been mounted by way of an Import Muscle swap kit and routes its exhaust through that company’s headers. As noted, the engine is mated to a T56 six-speed manual, and that feeds a custom driveshaft and upgraded pumpkin in back. A custom exhaust system with cutouts lets you choose whether to be a good neighbor or not.
According to the ad this all this all took four years to complete, during which time the rest of the car apparently saw little attention. That has resulted in a top that looks like it was patched by a road crew and a sizable scrape in the passenger-side fender. Kudos to the seller for making these foibles explicit in the ad.
The Silverstone Metallic paint looks otherwise to be in decent shape and pairs well with the car’s aftermarket alloys. The factory mirrors have also been replaced, and are now smaller manual units that look a little rinky-dink but which could easily be replaced.
The interior looks remarkably stock save for the shift knob. The digital dash is a bit of a mixed bag with the new mill. If you watch the run-around portion of the seller’s video you see that the thermometer-style tach seems to be working just fine, but the speedo can’t find its way off zero. There’s no word on whether any of the other gauges work.
Getting a new drivetrain to speak in your car’s native tongue can always be a hassle. The S2000's digital dash just exacerbates the problem. That’s finish work, however, and here it seems like all the heavy lifting has already been done.
The title is clean and apparently the car can pass smog. I mean, maybe? I question that since it’s in California—he’s driving around Monrovia, just east of Pasadena here—and our state does not take to kindly to this kind of fiddling on contemporary cars.
The seller says he has about $35K invested in the Honda and is “testing the waters” for its sale since he is expecting an addition to the family. Pffft, babies, they ruin everything.
To make this LS3 S2000 your baby, you’d need to come up with $19,000, as that’s the depth of the water the seller is willing to test. You’ll now need to decide if that’s too deep a dive for this badass Honda.
What do you say, is $19,000 a fair deal for a V8 S2000? Or, for that much would you want the original mill and maybe the mirrors too?
You decide!
Los Angeles, CA Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Dan P. for the hookup!
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