Twin-turbo J32 V6-powered S2000 Visits the Hoonigans
Wild S2000 build features a nearly symmetrical turbocharging and cooling system, plus a cage built to work with the interior.
For most, amping up the S2000’s 2.0-liter or 2.2-liter inline-four is a step into high performance. There’s enough support from the aftermarket to turn up the heat on the stock setup to transform any given S2000 into a track-day superstar.
And then, there’s this insane build. Builder Jason Schmuck recently brought his 2006 S2000 to The Hoonigans’ Donut Garage for a once-over before its showing at SEMA 2018. And this S2000 is no ordinary roadster.
“It’s a 2006 Honda S2000 [with an] Acura TL motor and a couple of turbos,” Schmuck told shop foreman Dan Sommer. The hood is stock, but lets in plenty of air now thanks to Schmuck’s body guy. The blue paint isn’t a stock color, though, instead coming from the palette of the BMW i8; the shade carries over to the carbon fiber trunk lid via the paint’s blue pearl coat. And of course, the custom side exhaust embedded on either front fender is a cool touch.
“The guy that [made my cage] has been doing cages for, like, ten years,” Schmuck said about the custom cage inside the S2000, which was made to conform to the mostly stock interior panels. “[I] dropped the car off, and he was kinda like, ‘Ooh. That’s gonna be rough.’ I got it back, and he was like, ‘That’s the hardest cage I ever put in.’ And the guy builds tube-chassis cars.”
The white cage is accented with carbon fiber, and is certified by the NHRA for 1/4-mile runs of 8.50 or slower. The carbon fiber continues with the transmission tunnel block-off plate, and a pair of aluminum plates made by Schmuck have replaced the dash radio and HVAC buttons on either side of the steering wheel.
“It’s an ’03 TL Type S, J32A2,” Schmuck says of the unusual engine swap. “[It has] Garrett GT 3576s, the Gen 2 GTX stuff, and it’s [a] mirror image, the reverse rotation setup. And then they both have the OCD Works T51R mod.”
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Though he used a swap kit to connect the Acura V6 to the S2000’s six-speed manual, he had to build everything else to make it all work, from the cooling system to the pie-cut titanium exhaust pipes. The powertrain uses a six-inch thick vertical-flow intercooler, and it’s controlled by a tuned AEM Infinity ECU.
“It’s got the stock S2000 [fuel] tank, 450-liter per hour pump, and then the 8AN feed, but splits the dual eights, and then runs through the rails,” Schmuck said of the fuel system setup, which runs E85. Nearby is the the rear pair of radiator plumbing, which is enhanced by an electric pump to keep everything cool. As for the radiators themselves, a pair occupies the space where the dual exhaust tips used to be.
Schmuck also had to modify the stock oil pan of the J32 to accommodate the starter, which Acura places on the transmission instead of the engine like Honda did with the S2000. The rear axle is a Ford 8.8-inch, which will see plenty of action on the strip in 2019. The stock transmission, however, will likely be replaced before its first run, as Schmuck considers it the weakest link.
But not before it helps the S2000 perform a big, smokey burnout in the Donut Garage. The symmetrical turbo setup howls, whistles, and pops while the rear meats go up in a white cloud of power, backlit in red.
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