CHRIS LUANSING'S S2000 GENERATES SCORES OF TUNING AND DETAIL IDEAS, NOT TO MENTION 322 WHP.

Chris Luansing first sat in an S2000 back in 2003. The impressions made at that moment were so profound that they would carry the La Crescenta, Calif., native on an odyssey that ultimately led to the custom creation you see here. But his was not a direct flight, and there were ups and downs along the way.

"My previous car has just got stolen", Luansing says, in a still-grieving voice. "I was looking for another car. I was at a dealership and there was a used Silverstone S2000 in the lot. I had seen S2000s before and loved them, they were always too expensive for me to even consider. So I ended up buying another car. Fast forward two years to 2005 and S2K prices had dropped considerably. I found a '00 Grand Prix White S2000 that had black and red interior and only 19,000 miles. It was the exact color and interior that I wanted so I jumped on it."

Now in the position of not having to fantasize about s2000 mods, Luansing showed restraint. "I didn't want to change the aesthetics too dramatically because I loved the lines already." Luansing added a Seibon carbon-fiber hood, trunk and lip and proclaimed phase one complete.

There is a lot to like about this Honda. We asked Luansing what revved his engine. He was quick to respond, "The three favorite things on my car are my wheels, the turbo kit and the hardtop. I love Work Meister S1 two-piece rims. They were the first mod I mad. I had never seen and S2000 with red rims before and I thought it would flow well with the interior. I knew I was taking a risk with these wheels. You either love them or hate them, nothing in between. I believe that wheels are the most important aesthetic feature of a car. I am glad I made the right choice."

He, continued, "I knew I wanted to go turbo right from the start. I did not make any other engine upgrades before the kit to not waste money on parts what would be replaced. Picking a kit was not hard at all. I wanted something reliable with good power so I dropped my car off with Myles, Jonathan, and Allan over at Rev Hard and the turned my car into a street monster. Then I took it over to Church Automotive Testing for tuning and it was all set." The tuning sessions at Church's resulted in 322 whp, 202 lb-ft of torque and a supremely driveable power curve.

"Lastly," quips Luansing, "the hardtop was a must. If they made an S2000 in a coupe version I would have bought it. I don't like the soft top and hardly drive with the top down. I was so excited when I got my Mugen hardtop from Chucky and Rocky and Showstoppers USA that I took it over to Francis at Donlyson Auto Body for paint right away. Once I put on my Mugen FRP hardtop it made my car look totally different. It made everything on my car look better. The fitment of the Mugen hardtop is perfect and it just sets off my car." Other items setting off Luansing's ride include Toda Racing cams, Spoon valves, Toda retainers and springs as well as an HKS 3-inch exhaust and a truckload of engine dress up parts.

"The biggest challenge I have to overcome during the build up of my car was transportation," Luansing said. "The S2000 was, and still is, my only car. Sometimes I went weeks of even months without my ride. I work close to home so I started walking to and from work. And even though I have my car now, I still walk. School was harder because it was about 25 miles away. I would either carpool with a friend of borrow a friend's car to go to school. I also couldn't go out as much with my friends or other things, I was pretty much stuck at home."

Well Luansing can fly the coop nowadays at will and he reports that rolling in the S2K is plain amazing. "I am not the type of driver that mashes through all six gears all day long. I drive pretty conservatively, but if someone starts something on the freeway I won't back down. The car idles perfectly and drives smoothly like it came out of the factory with a turbo, which is a testament to the tuning. The handling is like nothing I have ever driven. It was great stock, but with the Mugen NZ coilovers and all the other suspension mods it handles like a dream."

"In the future I am going to completely remove the soft top and motor to save weight. I also have a JDM Navigation system that I picked up and I would really like to build my motor but I don't have to money for that right now. There are also some other top secret things I have plannedÉ haha."

Living in the highly competitive Southern California, Luansing knows it takes a Herculean effort to roll a car that truly stands out, especially one wearing a Honda badge. But he is confident that his S2K has attained that next level status and Luansing hopes to keep refining his masterpiece.