It is clear that Pascual is passionate about Mugen. "I picked out the whole Mugen kit and wheels because Mugen and Honda are so intertwined. Mugen, I believe, is the epitome of Honda performance. Their products have been proven in racing and street vehicles. My particular body kit is, and was, one of the only JDM body kits actually wind tunnel tested. It just doesn't give the vehicle an aesthetically pleasing race look but it actually makes the aerodynamics perform better than how Honda built the car.
"The wheels worked out well because they're Mugen, which means quality, and I believe the look sets off the car well. It also has very good offsets for the S2000, preventing it from rubbing like many of the other sets of wheels out there.
"The downfall of the wheels is the lack of big brake kit capability without using a spacer. When I landed the MF-10 wheels, they were recently discontinued.
There is more to acceleration than horsepower. Consequently, enthusiasts are easily blinded to other possibilities. The secret weapon here is gearing. NSX pilots know that swapping in JDM first gear sets can impact performance. Pascual is aware of the S2000's potential in this area and made mods that address performance and reliability.
"The upgraded Comptech reinforced diff housing has helped reduce the paranoia of the weak stock diff problem S2000's are known for," says Pascual. "Under hard cornering, the Kaaz 1.5-way LSD works well, giving a greater turn-in and providing better grip than the stock set-up.
The 4.57 gear set gives the car the better acceleration that is needed because of the shy linear torque curve of a stock S2000. The gear set acts as a torque multiplier and provides the extra oomph needed in all spirited driving conditions.
Coupled with the Exedy Hyper single clutch that is basically an on/off switch, quite hard to drive through traffic, but none can do it better while ripping through the gears driving hard."
This S2000 loves the canyons, the twistier the better. "The Ohlins coilovers, J's Racing front and rear strut bar and Mugen 31.8mm front sway bar help my already agile S2000 to become a great handling machine," says Pascual. "With the Mugen front sway, it reduces the amount of oversteer prone to AP1 S2000s."
Content at the end of the road, Pascual says none of the products used in his Mugen buildup adventure came up short. "I would probably want stickier tires to handle the power," he says. "Yokohama/Advan R-compounds would better suit my car than the ES100's I currently have."