Rywire Honda S2000: The Devil is in the Details
Getting up close and personal with the Rywire S2000, an AP1 built like no other.
Upon first glance, this white S2000 should look familiar to you. If not, then you must have been living under a rock. Owned by Angel Ramos from Northern California, his beloved 2000 AP1 is the latest and greatest in the line of builds created by Ryan Basseri and the folks over at Rywire Motorsports Electronics in Garden Grove, CA. The last time we saw the Rywire AP1 in person was at the SEMA Show last year when it made its first public debut. It has recently appeared at Auto Conduct No. 10 – Shosai at Platform LA in Culver City.
For those of you unfamiliar with Auto Conduct, it’s a monthly car show held at different locations in Los Angeles that feature five distinct and tastefully modified vehicles. Think of it as a real life car magazine. Instead of just looking at the featured cars on paper or on your screen, Auto Conduct gives you the change to see them up close and personal.
For Auto Conduct’s 10th show dubbed “Shosai,” the theme this time showcased five exceptional builds from Land of the Rising Sun. One of the five featured cars was none other than the Rywire S2000. Before attending Shosai, it had been a while since the last time I saw Ryan, so it was nice to have a chat and discuss the all the crazy wizardry going on with the AP1.
All show and no go? Nope! This AP1 makes some serious power.
Usually a car’s exterior would catch anyone’s attention right from the get go, but this was different. Knowing that it was a Rywire project, the party piece was going to be located in the engine bay. With the hood removed, the precision wire tucked F-Series engine displayed is nothing short of a work of art. The factory F20C1 was ditched for an F22C and was sent to Bisimoto for a full teardown and rebuild. The factory 2.2L was disassembled starting with the block. Gone went the stock internals and replaced with forged pistons, connecting rods, and a stroker kit to increase displacement to 2.5L. The cylinder head was then sent to Portflow and a set of Bisimoto camshafts were tossed in as a final touch.
Now that you know what’s inside the motor, let’s take a look at what you can actually see on the outside. First thing you’ll see is the traditional Rywire green valve cover along with similarly colored stainless steel braided hoses that replace the OEM rubber units. The second thing you notice are the set of Kinsler individual throttle bodies. Not only that, but you’ll also see a second of set of injectors mounted right above the throttle bodies. Yes, this 2.5L is using staged injection. While the first set is used for normal driving, when more power is needed, the second will be activated to provide more fuel. Neat right?
As Ryan and I were talking, he mentioned that the stroked 2.5L was making just around 300 horsepower, give or take. Tuning is still on-going, but 300 ponies is not too shabby for being naturally-aspirated.
More than just a work of art, this AP1 was built to be driven on the track.
From the very beginning, Angel wanted to build an S2000 that doesn’t look and go fast, but one that can also tear it up on a road course. With that in mind, KW Suspension Variant 3 coilovers were chosen to replace the OEM dampers and springs. Out also went the OEM bushings in place of spherical bearings thanks for Ballade Sports. To help make sure the AP1 stops on a dime, Rywire opted for the StopTech Trophy-Sport big brake kit on all four corners.
Good suspension and brakes can only do so much without a proper set of wheels and tires. With the extra clearance from the widened front and rear fenders, an unusually wide (for an S2000) set of Volk Racing ZE40 in bronze perfectly complement the white Mugen AP1. The fronts are 18×10” while the rears are a staggering 18×12” wrapped in Toyo Proxes R888 265/35R18 front and 315/30R18 rear. Wide enough? We think so.
Continue reading about the Rywire S2000 on the next page.
