The only great sin the Honda S2000 ever committed was living in the shadow of the NB and NC Mazda MX-5. All the high-revving, 9000 RPM screaming a stock S2000's four-pot engine puts out just wasn't enough to surpass Mazda's own drop-top sports car in the all-important area of raw sales. But what if the S2000 sported a V6 instead? Could that have moved enough units to vanquish Mazda? Well, probably not. But what Jared Floyd, the owner of Sector One Design in Washington State, managed to come up with is still pretty spectacular.
Using a once bone-stock 2002 S2000 as his base, Mr. Floyd took what was already one of the most capable front-engine, rear-wheel-drive sports cars this side of an exotic supercar and added a 3.2-liter J32A2 V6 engine you'd find in early-2000's Acura CLs and TLs roughly 20 years ago. Of course, a full-on custom build of this caliber needs to begin by taking the S2000's stock two-liter, four-banger engine and promptly ripping it from its confines like the most ungraceful C-section you've ever seen. Once the old drivetrain was removed, Jared Floyd started reforming the internals of this S2000 in his own image.
It started by ordering a set of InlinePRO J2F motor mounts to pair the new J32 V6 under this custom job's shallow hood. But don't think this V6 was ripped from an old junkyard CL without even a little TLC. Happy additions to the engine include ported heads from P2R Power Rev Racing, the intake manifold off a 2009 Acura TL, and Hybrid Racing 70mm throttle body, and a custom fabricated winged and baffled oil pan to keep that outsized V6 from exploding due to ineffective cooling. When it's all said and done, Jared managed to make the new engine almost appear stock as it sits under the hood of this S2000. It's a feat as impressive as it is respectably ambitious.
The stock four-cylinder S2000's always been celebrated as an absolute screamer. A car that makes an exhaust sound so distinct that petrolheads wouldn't have trouble identifying it from a mile away. To keep up with the tradition, Jared's J32 engine is paired with modified ASP performance headers that dump into a custom three-inch exhaust from Sector One Design. But what good custom sports car is complete without suspension mods? Luckily, aftermarket lower tie bars and rear toe links pair wonderfully with an aftermarket Sector One Design X-brace, beefy coilover shocks from Swift Springs, and Yokohama A052 255/40 tires running on Forgestar 17×10-inch wheels with Urge Design Essex AP Racing disk brakes.
From just about every conceivable aspect, this S2000 takes the very essence of what makes a light, nimble Japanese sports car and beefs it up just enough to impress without jumping the proverbial shark into overkill territory. There's something universally appealing about a custom sports car build that toes the line so terrifically between a badass restomod and a genuinely useable vehicle that normal people might actually be able to drive that one can't help but respect. It's for this reason, plus the true-to-form DIY craftsmanship on display with this build that makes us want to call Jared's V6 S2000 one of the coolest custom jobs we've seen all month. Check out some footage of this beast at work down below.
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