There are dozens of fairy tales we hear while growing up. Some stay in our mind for whatever reasons, and others are told to us by our parents as a lesson learned. With over 40 different adaptations for different cultures, it’s no doubt in our minds that you’ve heard the story of a little girl called “Little Red Riding Hood.” Though there have been many different versions of this story told throughout the generations, its main focus revolves around a little girl that is walking through the woods to deliver food to her sick grandmother. Getting her name after the red hood she’s wearing, the little girl runs into a wolf, often known as the “Big Bad Wolf”, that wants to devour her as a substitute meal. Not wanting to do so in public however, the Big Bad Wolf convinces the little girl to tell him where she is going so that he can await her arrival. He persuades her to pick some flowers for her sick grandmother and ventures over to the little girl’s grandmother’s home where he cleverly disguises himself as the grandmother. What the Big Bad Wolf actually does to the grandmother has probably been adapted for your younger ears, but long story short, the little girl is rescued before any ill fate can befall on her.
This Formula Red S2000 is hardly a fairly tale that involves a little girl in the woods or an old grandmother. In fact, its aggressive J’s Racing styling combined with plenty of power from an Inline Pro turbo kit would certainly strike fear in any prowling wolf, no matter how big or how bad. Brian Kim of Southern California represents Team Sadistic with his 2000 Honda S2000. What started off as a tame build in customizing his S2000 to his personal tastes has evolved well beyond any fairy tale could over the years. Kim has finally settled, for now, on his ideal S2000 setup but it was hardly a short road.
In the beginning, Kim went through many different transformations as we all have with our vehicles. As with any project, Kim had his fair share of lip kits, body kits and wheel combinations before settling on what he considered to be ideal. Over the years, Kim’s S2000 has been seen with a variety of Volk Racing wheels, including the LE37T, CE28N and GT-N with all different shades and sizes. Carbon fiber skirt kits and even a GP Sports body kit once adorned this bright red S2000, but those all history. Wanting to stray away from appearing like a little innocent girl sporting a red hood, Kim has entered the widebody world and has outfitted his S2000 with a Precision 6176RE turbocharger that elevates his project beyond fairy tale status and ready to scare away the wolves.
On the exterior, this S2000 is unmistakable from any angle. Grabbing a J’s Racing catalog and running check marks straight down every box he could, Kim’s S2000 now sports a plethora of effective body modifications. J’s Racing unmistakable styling starts with the Type S front bumper and carbon fiber canards. The carbon fiber theme continues onto the wider front fenders, lightweight hood, gas lid, bumper extensions and Type S carbon fiber rear bumper. That isn’t all, as Kim’s carbon fiber obsession continues throughout the rear end; carbon fiber trunk and J’s Racing carbon fiber rear spoiler gives it lightweight savings and a great contrast to the red body. Completing the kit are J’s Racing Type-S side skirts and rear over fenders. Being that the car was well over five years old, Kim decided to have the entire car repainted a Formula Red, ensuring that each of his new authentic JDM goods matched the rest of the aged chassis. Accents to the exterior include a Mooncraft hardtop, match painted and custom cleared/painted headlights.
Now that the exterior of the S2000 had far departed the tame and mild body liens of the stock S2000, Kim concentrated on filling the gaping opening from J’s Racing’s front bumper. A massive Inline Pro front mount intercooler lets any prowling wolf looking for a meal to think twice when running into Kim’s S2000 on the streets of Southern California. Under the hood is a complete Inline Pro turbo kit, starting with a Precision 6176RE turbocharger. For those that are unaware of Inline Pro’s accomplishments, their research and development has lead to products that have made their own Hondas some of the fastest in the world. Complete in the Inline Pro turbo kit is their oil relocation kit, 3mm headgasket, 650cc injectors and billet blow off valve. Adding additional flow to the fuel system is a Walbro high pressure fuel pump.
Staring into Kim’s clean engine bay, it’s hard to miss the attention to detail. It can’t just go fast and not look good, y’know? Kim took his time with the details, starting with a J’s Racing valve cover and ARC spark plug cover. Swapping out the stock radiator for a more efficient Koyo radiator, Kim decorated that section of the car with a Cusco radiator plate, Blitz radiator cap and Spoon Sports radiator stays. An anodized blue injector cover along with Project Mu reservoir covers are just icing on the cake in this meticulously kept engine bay.
So how much power does this S2000 really put down to its beefy 17×9.5 rear wheels? How does 321whp and 206 ft-lbs of torque sound to you? Taking into consideration drive train loss on a dyno, that’s well over 100 horsepower over the stock 240hp output from the factory. Tuning comes from none other than AEM’s brilliant EMS system, fully equipped with a 3 bar map sensor kit. A Blitz SBC I-Color boost controller can be seen in the cock pit regulating boost levels. Getting the power to the ground is limiting drive train losses is an ACT heavy duty clutch kit and helping get to that 9000rpm redline quicker is Comptech’s lightweight flywheel.
While we’ll avoid those double entendres with curves and making a girl handle nicer for the sake of this article, we will take some time to see how Kim addressed the handling issues for his personal S2000. Out of the box the S2000 is one of the best handling RWD vehicles out there, no arguments from us. But like any true enthusiast looking for a more complete vehicle, there are always ways to make something better. Kim started by swapping out the entire stock struts and springs, replacing them with Form / Function’s Type 2 coilover line. Cusco’s 3-piece sub frame brace and lower arm bar further tightens up the chassis along with Cusco’s signature 6-point roll cage. A finishing touch that does a fantastic job accenting the engine bay as well is a J’s Racing strut bar.
As we mentioned before, Kim’s S2000 sports wider front and rear over fenders, making way for a wider set of custom wheels. Even though he was an avid Volk Racing fan from the get-go, Kim has settled on a staggered set of 17×8 and 17×9.5 JLine 7SL2 wheels in their custom chrome red finish. Each wheel is wrapped with Falken’s top of the line FK-452 tire. Peeking behind these stylish custom wheels are Project Mu’s 4 piston calipers, slotted rotors and their B-Force brake pads apply the braking power needed to stop this RWD roadster.
You’d think the fairy tale could come to an end here and we’d be content. Not quite, as Kim personalization continues into the interior, which is often seen considering the S2000’s double job as a convertible. The stock seats, as comfortable and stylish as they might be, have been replaced with a pair of Bride Low Max seats in a contrasting black. A Mugen shift boot and ARC titanium shift knob brings in the JDM goodness into the interior while a Prodrive sport steering wheel, quick release and harnesses fulfills the race inspiration. A series of gauges are just complementary as well as a necessity in Kim’s S2000, coming from Blitz and monitor exhaust gas temperatures, oil pressure, boost pressure and water temperature.
Though many of us didn’t have the luxury of hearing fairy tales of wickedly built S2000s while growing up, Brian Kim’s project is a nice reminder of what can be done with a little bit of creativity and patience. There’s no mistaking this Formula Red S2000 as a naïve girl in the woods, and there’s no second guessing that this S2000 makes food runs for a bed-ridden grandmother. Let’s leave that to the stock ones out there, shall we?
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