Red Hot

Some people can just turn out feature cars like it's a habit, nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary, they just get a car and wave a magic wand, and VOILA, feature slot in a magazine or blog.  Minnesota resident Dana Nguyen is one of those people that car turn out neck-snapping cars at an alarming rate.  Since I have known Dana, he's had an ultra-clean GSR Integra, a ground scraping AR IS300 (our cars were confused for one another's a lot!), and now his current NFR S2000.

Dana bought the car in late 2009 and not even a year later, this is what he has produced.  Talk about turn-around time!  Most people spend years on a project to get it to this level, but not for this veteran tuner.  However, this time he took a little bit different route than his previous cars.  While his GSR and IS300 certainly had the show areas down, the first plan of attack on the S2K was the engine.  To address this area, he chose to go to the local Honda maestros over at Full Blown Motorsports.  You see, the owner LJ has been working on his own personal S2K, building it into a mind-boggling street monster.  While Dana's goals weren't as lofty, Full Blown still came up with a nice turbo kit consisting of a custom exhaust manifold, Garrett 60-1 turbo, Ultimate Racing FMIC, FBM intercooler piping, FBM 3" down-pipe, and 3" dual exhaust.  A Tial 38mm waste-gate coupled with a FBM boost controller keep the boost in check, while a FBM oil-catch tank helps keep the crank ventilated.  The head is held down with ARP head-studs, while an ACT clutch ensures that the 400 ponies get to the ground easily.  A walbro 255 fuel pump supply 725cc Injector Dynamics injectors while an AEM EMS coordinates everything.  An APR CF coil-pack cover, S2Carbon CF cooling plate and CF strut tower bar add to the under-hood bling, while a wire-tuck from Renown Performance really cleans up the engine bay.

With the engine bay all sorted, it was time for Dana to address the other areas of the car.  He kept the mods simple and subtle, a trend these days, but with these results, it's easy to see why.  The front bumper was exchanged for a newer, OEM, AP2 item and fitted with an OEM AP2 front lip.  Out back, Dana swapped the AP1 tails for OEM AP2 items as well, another subtle touch that usually goes unnoticed.  A Seibon carbon hood and carbon trunk break up the red and compliment the custom Blitz Type 01 wheels nicely.  The 17x8/9 Blitz wheels were split and refinished in black with red bolts before being bolted up and fitted with Falken Azenis tires..  The ride height issues were addressed with the ubiquitous Koni/Ground Control setup that is commonly found on many Hondas.  Hey, when something works, why change it?  The setup rides great and performs awesome.  The clean and simple theme carries onto the interior as well.  The dash houses a 6.5" screen fed by an Alpine head-unit.  Alpine Type R speakers and tweeters provide the tunes while an AEM wide-band, and Pro Sport gauges provide the engine vitals.

After only a year, Dana has build a winning setup, receiving a lot of local praise and attention, having taken the car to many local shows and events as well as HIN Chicago.  Of course, like a lot of projects, the road doesn't stop here.  Over the winter Dana has a lot of changes planned to take the car up another level for next year.  I won't say much, but "wide" and "fast" are two key words.  I certainly am looking forward to seeing it next year and will probably be taking some more photos and writing another feature.  All I know is, it's certainly going to be Red Hot.

Gallery:  Photos by Kaien