Building a 260 WHP Fire-Spitting, All-Motor S2000

When this F22C blew up, he took his AP2 S2k from mild to wild without tearing into the bottom end. 

We’ve seen a few Honda AP2s spin the rollers in our day, and a stock F221C has time and again put down around 210 horsepower to the rear wheels. When someone builds a flame-spitting car putting down 260 rear wheel horsepower, we sit up and take notice. A 25% improvement in horsepower over stock is a massive jump, and to do so without even opening up the bottom end of the engine is ludicrous. The engine’s maximum torque has also been improved, up to 161 lb-ft to the wheels. Check out this video from Chase Diaz on YouTube documenting the complete engine build. Stick around for the dyno run at the very end in case you don’t believe us.

Chase sent the cylinder head to 4 Piston Racing, where the ports were all cleaned up and enlarged. They also installed a full complement of Ferrea valvetrain components to go with custom DDTech camshafts. The engine briefly sees 9,000 RPM now before ignition cut sets in. Extra fuel is fed to the car with Acura RDX injectors, and it’s all powered through a Haltec tuneable standalone ECU. Air is sucked into the engine through a passwordJDM carbon intake. Those spent exhaust gasses are expelled through a Skunk2 header and Tanabe “Medallion Touring” header-back exhaust. In a bout of something we call “while-I’m-at-it syndrome,” Chase decided it was time to upgrade the clutch and pressure plate. He opted for a lighter OEM AP1-style flywheel.

These dyno runs were done on pump gas. The car is now being optimized to switch between pump gas, E85, and race fuel, or run on a combination of all three. Power can be a dangerous thing, but when it comes to this S2K, we think it’s just right.