The Bulletproof Automotive Honda S2000 Unveiled
 

Hi everyone...it's been about a year since I've posted any pictures of my S2000 to the public. The car has undergone quite a few changes during that time and it's finally ready to be shown to you all. Its still not finished, but its getting close. In the past few months alone the car has had the J's CF hood, the Amuse dry carbon hood (the real one), and the Top Secret CF hood. It keeps getting changed up. Just about every month that Bulletproof imports a new container of parts from Japan, I add at least one new part to the car.

To see how the car looked 3 months ago with the amuse hood, check out your local news stands for Modified Magazine. The S2000 is a feature car in Modified Mag, on news stands now.

This is how it looked for the Modified Mag shoot:

http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com...e/img/11LW.jpg

Since that point, I've added a bunch of new parts to the car, preparing it for another magazine shoot. New additions since then have been a Mugen CF hard top, Cusco chromoly roll bar, and a bunch of other non visual changes. Overboost has completed a photo shoot of the car about 2 months ago, which should hopefully hit their website sometime soon. So be on the lookout for that as well.

The car is sponsored by ShopItOut.com/Bulletproof Automotive (the builders of the car)/Signal Auto/Bridgestone Tires/Vortech

Here are the most current specs on the car:

Aerodynamics/Exterior:
Mugen dry carbon hard top
Top Secret rear carbon diffuser
Top Secret rear carbon kevlar vortex generators
Garage Defend side skirts
Bulletproof Automotive carbon fiber front spoiler
Bulletproof Automotive carbon fiber brake ducts
C-West dry carbon prototype trunk lid
Powerhouse Amuse dry carbon bonnet / Top Secret carbon bonnet
Craft Square JGTC carbon mirrors

Engine/Drivetrain:
Vortech Supercharger with water to air intercooler
Powerhouse Amuse Dual R1 titanium exhaust
Powerhouse Amuse R1 exhaust manifold
Garage Defend GT carbon cooling plate
Toda flywheel
SPEC Stage 3 clutch with lightweight pressure plate
Mugen thermostat
Mugen radiator cap

Brakes:
Willwood lightweight 4 piston front brake conversion with two piece cryogenic rotors
Porterfield brake pads or Carbotech brake pads, depending on event
Bulletproof Automotive steel braided brake lines
Bulletproof Automotive carbon fiber brake ducts for front brakes

Footwork:
Powerhouse Amuse Hi Tech Damper Coilover kit
Corner Balanced Alignment
Volk CE28N wheels 17x7.5

The car is not a show car only, it is raced both on track day events, so cal drift events, and touge. Because of that, the paint might not be as pristine as all of you would prefer. For that, my apologies...but in my opinion it'd be a terrible waste to build a car so capable of performing only to have it sit still and look pretty.

Here is a picture of what it looks like now with the Mugen CF top, craft square mirrors and c-west dry carbon prototype trunk lid.

http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com...re/img/9LW.jpg

more pics!!! two is just not enough!!!

Congrat to you Ben. That is one expensive Footwork list you have there. I love the creative ness of the Blue CE28N and the other Black/polished CE28N. Very nice.:)

The car should be a good representation of the quality and rarity of products that Bulletproof imports regularly from Japan. The car was inspired by me drooling over all of our customers parts that we've imported. After years of importing rare S2000 parts, I finally gave in and started heavily modifying my personal car/company project car about 10 months ago. I basically chose all of my favorites and put them all on this car. I also picked a few that no one had ever imported.

Here is my favorite part of the car...the back. It's just the most unique side of the car at this point. One point of interest that you might not otherwise notice is the modified Top Secret CF diffuser that now fits my Amuse dual R1 Titan exhaust.

So this rear shot features: Mugen CF top, cusco chromoly bar, c-west dry carbon prototype trunk lid, amuse dual R1, Top Secret CF rear diffuser and kevlar vortech generators.

http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com...re/img/5LW.jpg

Thanks guys. :)

Its really satisfying to finally get these pictures out to everyone. I've had to hold them back for a long while because of magazine shoots, trying to keep the car fresh for them.

It's been a lot of work to both afford these parts, and to put it all together as a complete car. I'm glad people appreciate it.

Here are some more:

http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com...e/img/16LW.jpg

http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com...re/img/3LW.jpg

http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com...re/img/2LW.jpg

http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com...e/img/18LW.jpg

http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com...re/img/6LW.jpg

http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com...e/img/13LW.jpg
(how the reflective vinyl over the exhaust tips lights up at night...showing a few :) of the manufacturers featured on the vehicle)

quite an impressive list of mods and awsome car!
:thumbup:

what you doing with the amuse hood?
:LOL:

I have a feature page just about ready to put live on www.bulletproofautomotive.com
It'll be up there in the next week or so and will feature more pictures and info on the car.

Wow. I just added some of the parts together. $34,826. That's before labor and shipping. Jebuz:eek3: :eek3: :eek3:

the amuse CF hood was sold a while back. It's long gone now...We can import another one for ya if you want. :)

haha...well, our Japanese partners and connections are quite good...so obviously I paid a good deal less than that...but any way ya look at it...it sure aint cheap!

:eek3:

And while I'm on the topic...here's a couple of shots from 2-3 years ago when it was a very different looking car.

http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com/pics/29.jpg
(With a earlier version of the S2ki Irvine crew standing behind it)

http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com/pics/60.jpg
(A track day event a couple of years back)

That's amazing! love the rear end shot.... I really want that rear diffuser and the vortex gen. ... I don't suppose you'd be interested in trading cars, would you? :D Congratulations on building an ungodly s2k, and on all he coverage you've recieved! :thumbup::thumbup:

I like the white and blue....... :thumbup:

Did you decide not to add the third brake light on the CF trunk? Just curious.

Beautiful / Mean S2000 :thumbup: :thumbup:

What did you do with the HRE's and the SSR GT3's?

Kudos Ben your car is beautiful. Love the black on one side and the blue on the other.

blue C28Ns
WOW!~

Man you keep that puppy clean... Now just waiting for WRS2K to comment :D

:rofl: so true....

- Andrew

Believe it or not, I'm very targeted in my commentary on other peoples' mods.

And this car--for what it's supposed to be--features quality parts that are a representation of what the vendor sells/makes available for the S2000 customer audience. It's their business.

And for this, it's good to go.

If there's anything questionable here, it'd be bulletproof's carbon fiber front lip. Can't imagine putting one of those gargantuan things on an S2000.

Good job, Bproof. I bought an AEM intake from Ben eons ago. Great guy to deal with and Dan Chen's been doing a fantastic job as well. :thumbup:

[QUOTE]Believe it or not, I'm very targeted in my commentary on other peoples' mods.

And this car--for what it's supposed to be--features quality parts that are a representation of what the vendor sells/makes available for the S2000 customer audience. It's their business.

And for this, it's good to go.

If there's anything questionable here, it'd be bulletproof's carbon fiber front lip. Can't imagine putting one of those gargantuan things on an S2000.

Good job, Bproof. I bought an AEM intake from Ben eons ago. Great guy to deal with and Dan Chen's been doing a fantastic job as well.

Outstanding! Its great to see a car like that used for what it should be used for. Run the living piss out of it!:LOL:

Cusco floor bar brace system --What is this??

Cusco Type-RS 1.5 way LSD -- What can you tell me about this??

Can we get a pic from under your car???

-JB-

The list of mods are impressive, but the exterior is an eyesore IMO...

Sweet :thumbup: :burnrubr:

http://www.tarleton.edu/~catkinson/images/dayum.jpg
I'm speechless. Your car's just absolutely breathe taking, and the list of mods is insanely tight :thumbup:!

-Johnny

wow
:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

It's not bad looking. ;)

Great job, Ben. Haven't seen your car for a long time and what a change. :thumbup: :thumbup:

Nathan

dang, the first real amuse hood and c- west trunk in the states, huh?

Taken from another thread.

I just got my car up on a lift the other day and took a few pictures. These shots will illustrate some of the cusco underbody bracing. The Bulletproof S2000 project car utilizes the cusco 3 pc floor bar kit, rear lower tie bar and spoon x brace. All of which should be visible in the pictures below.

http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com/pics/162.jpg

http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com/pics/163.jpg

http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com/pics/164.jpg

Very cool! I likey

NICE!!!!

Why did you go with the Spoon X-Brace and not the Cusco one??

-JB-

Thanks Dan! Yeah...thats the underside of my car. The LSD and cusco sways actually just arrived today from Japan. They'll be in there probably in time for D1 (still trying to work out a way to get the S2000 driven in the event...we'll see...at this point it's looking like it might just happen!)

As for firsts...yeah, the amuse hood and cwest trunk were probably the first in the states...probably still are actually. This car has had a lot of firsts on it...starting way back with the HRE 10.5" rear rim application that I sort of pioneered a couple of years back (back then the widest rear rim was 9.5"...that was pretty intense...There have been more "firsts" than I can think of actually. I always try to keep it as fresh as I can.

And I agree completely with the comment on the Bulletproof front lip. I love my lip, but at this point in the car's evolution, it just cant keep up with the rest of the parts and styling. The front of the car is it's weakest point right now, IMO. I have a new front bumper en route from Japan. That'll be one of the last steps prepping the car for it's next magazine shoot.

Oh, to answer some more questions:

I chose the spoon x brace because I bought it probably close to 3 years ago, and at that time I dont even know if cusco had their piece made yet. I'd imagine that they are both quite similar in effect, and if I had to do it again I'd probably go cusco...but not for any functional advantage...more so because I have great cusco pricing and it'll match the rest of my blue under bracing!

The cusco "floor brace system" are those 3 blue bars, two of which run down the length of the car (shown in the under car picture). Also sometimes called 3 pc reinforcement bars or a number of other titles. They give the car even more stiffness...probably too much if there is such a thing as too stiff a chassis. I basically wanted to try them out since at the time I bought them, I didnt see anyone with them in the states.

As for the LSD...well, honestly I'm not entirely sure. At this point I'm pretty much experimenting. I do know that cusco is the most favored LSD manufacturer in Japan, so I trust their product (considering that it's used on just about every fast circuit driven vehicle in Japan). Being friends with the guys at Signal, I've been told time and time again that the LSD is a very effective mod for "on the limit" handling in situations like drifting. Since I've been playing around with drifting a little lately, I wanted to give it a shot. The issue was that most drift cars run a very agressive 2 way LSD. The 2 way is supposedly a little unsettling and more difficult to drive on the circuit than a 1 or 1.5 way lsd. I also tend to pay careful attention to Amuse's Tsukuba time attack S2000's setup from time to time, as they revise it. They happen to run a 1 way Cusco lsd. I decided that since I want to do track day events, and drifting that the 1.5 way would probably be the best compromise and most versatile choice. I hope I'm right... :)

And thanks again everyone for the great responses (I appreciate both the positive and the negative responses). For only having this post live for 12 hours it's sure been exciting to hear all of the feedback!

THANK YOU!! Someone made the whole LSD make sense to me!!!

THIS is the correct piece Cusco to take the place of the Spoon X:

This one
http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com/items/319.jpg

OR

*edit* Improper picture removed


-JB-

the bottom image is the cusco equivalent of the spoon x brace. Different design, but same objective and probably very similar results.

OK... well then what is the top one designed for???

-JB-

Actually, I think Ben has that wrong. The top picture is the Cusco Front Lower Bar for an s2000. Which would be equivalent to the Spoon design. The bottom pic you linked is not showing up for me for some reason so I have no idea what you are asking for.

http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com/items/320t.jpg

This is not the correct Piece
-JB-

Turbo_Pwr. What I said is correct. I've updated the website so that our picture for the front lower bar reflects the right item. I know because we have one sitting in inventory right now.

To clarify...this is the cusco equivalent of the spoon x brace:
http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com/items/319.jpg

It just so happens that when I was changing the pictures on the site, it messed up gioire's links.

The other image is a cusco brace for a different car, taken from their catalog. I think its for a zzw30 Toyota MR-S actually...When I added those to the website, I didnt have good shots of the actual S2000 braces, so I used catalog images. Sorry for the complication.

There is no X-Brace really by Cusco for an S2000. The picture you have there is a generic one that they use in their catalogs to represent a lower bar. I think we have it on our site because we did not have a proper picture at the time. That should be removed.

Ben's correct, its Cusco lower front arm bar...and it works like the x brace

Again, Yes and No, (unless I am totally confused) it is a cusco x brace or front lower arm, whatever you prefer to call it, but it's not for the s2000. He stated "the bottom image is the cusco equivalent of the spoon x brace. Different design, but same objective and probably very similar results". The bottom image is not for an s2000, I don't want folks to order it and think that is what they should be getting. The top picture is what you would receive if you order a Cusco front lower control arm.

:eek3:

WOW... I think you could use the Cusco piece and the Spoon X brace and the same time.. LOOK at the mounting point of each

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.ph...mage&img=73973

Am i not or do you think it would work also??

-JB-

I sold one of these to Beroznikmal. He is suppose to get me pictures. I would doubt you could use both without having to change out the bolts to really long ones.

But they dont use the same point of contact ...

-JB-

But parts of the bars would still need to overlay on top of each other.

I keep looking at the pic and I swear it'll fit.. It looks like the piece is designed to stay on the outside of the Oil Pan...

How bout this.. AS soo as yall get a chance take a look and tell me if you can you both at once... IF you can PM me and let me know the answer, cause its hard to tell just by the pictures... AND since you have a car the has the Spoon X-Brace you have the Cusco piece it shouldnt be too hard for y'all to figure it out...

Deal..

-JB-

PS.. WHO knows I just my buy both if they fit...

Ben, I was hoping if you could answer my question. With the cabin rollbar ... Does it fit the OEM softtop and hardtop together? Does it require any drilling or the bar is just a bolt-unbolt installation process?

The bar will fit both the soft top and hard top. As far as drilling/install questions it'd be easier for me to just recommend that you check out the current group buy thread on the cusco roll bars. There should be a decent amount of info there. If you still need more info, PM me and I'll do my best to answer your questions.

Thank you for the prompt response Ben! :thumbup:

He is quick isnt he..

-JB-

Ben, It makes me happy to see things happening to your S after last years fiasco.

That Cusco front brace looks like it gives more ground clearance than the typical x-brace. Is that so?

damn.. thats one hot s2000 man, good work

just wondering.. how much did u spend all together on it.. with your deals for the parts and so on.. plus, wut do u do for a living to get all this money?!

It's just nice to see a private owner here in the USA take this car to a new level with high performance modifications...BEN :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Ben, any sets of old rims laying around?

Responses:

Sideways: Thanks...good to hear from you again. As for ground clearance, I have not installed the cusco unit and taken measurements, but it is possible. Do many people scrape the x brace? I didnt think that the x brace caused much trouble with ground clearance...

KVN: No I cant disclose my company's cost on our JDM parts used on my car. If you'd like, start up a business within the industry, fax us your business license and resale card, you can apply for our wholesale program. With a $10,000 buy in you'll be eligible for our deepest level/discounts in our wholesale program. That'll get you a closer idea to my costs, although obviously I still get them for less than that.

And what do I do for a living? Well...for one, I'm the owner of Bulletproof a long time S2ki sponsor. I also am involved with some other small businesses. But mainly, I was able to afford the car due to Bulletproof. I dont keep my parts very long and because I usually buy them so cheap, I can typically sell the parts in like new condition and get most of my money back on them...so think of my S2000 as rolling inventory for Bulletproof. Other than that, I can afford it by keeping my meals under $6-7 at all times, not buying drinks and just ordering water when I go to restaurants, and just being completely low budget so that I can afford to fuel my passion for cars and entrepreneurship. Does that answer your question? I hope to some day answer: "Because I'm rich and I can afford to buy whatever the hell I want"...but I'm not quite there yet...far from it actually.

Gioire: Yeah...you're damn right I'm quick! :) Its a tough feat to stick around in this chaotic online retail industry for over 3 years with a solid reputation...there arent many s2ki sponsors that have lasted that long. I consider the fact that I've always been quick to respond as one of the key reasons why Bulletproof is where it is right now...Although, since I'm not doing sales for Bulletproof any more, Turbo_Pwr has filled in as the "quick response guy" for our S2000 division.

Ray: No old rims sitting around right now, sorry. (unless you count my stock rims and stock 16" NSX rear rims). In about 3-4 months probably most of the parts on my car will be available for purchase. I'll have a lot of slightly used stuff available then...

Oh...and thanks John and everyone else with the kind words. I do appreciate it.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Ben
[B]... If you'd like, start up a business within the industry, fax us your business license and resale card, you can apply for our wholesale program.

haha...I wish I could pocket it...then I'd have a really amazing S2000.

No $10,000 is a minimum first order to be at our deepest wholesale level. WHen you think about it...it really isnt much given the average cost of a part for the S2000 or any high end Japanese sports car. Figure an amuse exhaust or two, a set of wheels, and an aero kit or two and you're pretty much at 10k.

:thinker:
:lightblb:

Can you read my mind...

:devil:

PM sent

-JB-

looking good.

looking good

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Ben
[B]Responses:

Sideways: As for ground clearance, I have not installed the cusco unit and taken measurements, but it is possible. Do many people scrape the x brace? I didnt think that the x brace caused much trouble with ground clearance...

The X-braces on the market today (possibly excluding the Cusco) hang down and interrupt the air flow under the car IMHO significantly. This probably causes some lift or other undesirable effect. Again, MHO. :)

for the 10g thing.. can u jsut spend 10g on your first purchase.. or do you have to have a company then spend the 10g to get all ur deals

First off:
About the 10g buy in, it is for legitimate businesses only. Our wholesale program is not a preferred customer program, it's for actual businesses who wish to utilize our Japanese buying power and connections.

For individuals (non businesses), a $10,000 purchase will provide you a hefty discount as well. Not quite the same thing as being a wholesale client, but it'll be pretty comparable. Although you need to keep in mind that our regular pricing is already quite low, and is intentionally quite often the lowest on the web.

We look out for our customers, and we always try to offer special deals and discounts to loyal repeat customers and special circumstances (like placing a 10k order). Also when it gets to that level, with some serious parts being purchased, we consider partial sponsorships. We always like to be associated with cars that take performance seriously and who utilize the best parts that Japan has to offer.

Sideways: I've actually never considered what you mention, but I agree with what you've said. Its some good insight and I'm actually quite curious about it now. If I dont sell that cusco piece soon, I might just try it out...I'm getting some new parts installed on the car next week, maybe I'll throw it on. If I do, I'll let you know.

very nice... i like it... :thumbup:

JFY

Yay...tommorow the car is going to be used in a photo shoot with other Signal Auto vehicles for an article in a Japanese magazine. Sounds like it'll be fun...

it will be fun if it is translated!

What stb is that on your car? I've been looking for something to use with my vortech sc.

Sorry if I missed it either in the thread, or on your lists of mods. But I didn't see anything listing it.

Thanks.