Matt Makarucha’s stanced Honda S2000
Matt Makarucha, owner of this stonking S2000 maybe a techno geek by trade, but he’s a passionate stance geek by nature, he even runs his own stance show, Squeaky Clean, in Canada.
Ever since pushing the fitment boundaries on his MX-6 way back in 2003, Matt has grown into a fitment freak: “I wanted to see how far I could go with my MX-6, at the time I was still learning about modifying and wheel fitment. It took lots of trial and error before I learned how to stance and tweak camber, offsets, height, fender rolling and pulling to maximize fitment,” explained Matt. So when he got his hands on his dream S2000, it was natural for him to follow the same philosophy: “The aim was to see how far I could go without going widebody, or overfenders,” said Matt.
Under those pulled and rolled arches sit a set of serious rims, and when I say serious I’m not just talking about their status but their size too. His daily wheels of choice are 10.5 and 11.5×18- inch 3-piece WORK Meister S1s. “They’re one of those wheels that makes you drool at first sight, and they’re from a reputable company with a long heritage. Fake wheels are okay for daily drivers, and beaters, but for your prized possession or your main car, nothing but real will ever do,” proudly explains the Toronto resident.
Being a full 4-inches wider than stock, getting them sitting pretty required a fair bit of research, oh and 7.8-degrees of camber (rear). Matt adds: “All my cars have to have wide and low offset wheels with a deep lip, stretch and some poke. It’s all about tweaking those aspects and picking the right tyre setups.” And I think you’ll agree, Matt’s got the fitment spot on.
However running this degree of fitment does have its challenges. The retro sneaker addict and part-time DJ continues, “Of course keeping the body stock, one has to sacrifice camber to even be able to fit a wider wheel, otherwise it’s impossible. This triggers a lot of tyre wear as something has to give, however no one has ever said that looking pretty and aggressive was cheap.”
For those haters who think it’s a crime to tamper with an S2K’s handling, think again, because this car is as much at home at one of Matt’s Squeaky Clean shows as it is on a track.
Matt explains: “The SPC adjustable camber ball joints are the best part of this car’s suspension setup, it gives me the flexibility to go from maximum negative camber for stance, to minor negative camber and track alignment in a matter of hours. So for those who say, ‘Ohh look at all that useless negative camber,’ it’s not like it’s like that permanently!”
If Matt does ever feel the need to unwind the camber and get the car on the track, he’s got enough designer names under the hood to keep most track day whores honest. Spoon, EXEDY, ARC and Skunk2 tuning gear all reside in the engine bay.
Matt finishes; “I didn’t build it to catch people’s attention, I built it through improvisation, putting an image in my head of the final product, and then improving the end result. I guess it’s modifying’s equivalent of free-styling, building a car until you’re happy with it, but then, are we ever happy?” I think this quote just proves that Matt is a stance perfectionist, because I’d be over the bloody moon if this S2K was sitting on my drive!
TECH SPEC HONDA S2000
STYLING
AP1 to AP2 Honda OEM conversion including front and rear LED lights, and front and rear bumpers; rolled and pulled front and rear fenders; bumper tab relocation and shaved rear bumper (for wheel fitment; OEM AP2 Honda front lip; OEM Honda side strakes; Honda Club Racer clear side marker lights; Downforce front under lip splitter; J’s Racing short antenna; official Squeaky Clean windshield crew decal.
TUNING
JDM AP1 motor with 9K redline; AP2 Honda OEM valve cover; JDM AP2 transmission; EXEDY racing Stage 3 hyper single plate clutch kit; Fidanza fl y wheel; ARC full air induction box, ARC rad air diversion plate, ARC spark plug cover; J’s Racing headers; ARK Ni2 exhaust; Invidia free flow test pipe; Innovative engine mount and transmission mount kit; S2carbonworks coolant reservoir; SPOON fluid reservoir covers; SPOON radiator catch tanks; SPOON oil cap; SPOON temperature switch; SPOON thermostat; KOYO aluminium radiator with KOYO rad cap; Skunk2 Racing VTEC solenoid cover; Skunk2 Racing battery tie down; Password JDM valve cover washers and bolts, Password JDM fender washers and bolts.
CHASSIS
NEO Motorsport coilover Suspension; HASPORT differential mounts; GTSPEC front strut brace; SPOON steering rack rigid bushing kit; SPOON front cross member bar; SPOON rear differential bar; SPOON centre brace bar Powerflex full poly bushing set; Mugen front and rear lower damper bushings; SPC upper adjustable camber balljoints; (show wheels) WORK Meister S1 3P, black flat face with custom offsets, 10.5×18-inch front, 11.5×18-inch rear with very low offsets, Hankook Ventus V12 EVO tyres 235/40×18 front, 255/35×18 rear; (track wheels and tyres) Rays TE37 9×17-inch wheels all around, Hankook Ventus Z214 C51 medium 245/40×17 tyres all round; Spoon Monoblock 4-pot calipers; Spoon pads and rotors; Goodridge SS lines.
INTERIOR
AP1 to AP2 interior centre console conversion; Bride GIAS Low MAX carbon Kevlar adjustable bucket seats; Defi BF series oil pressure and oil temperature gauges with control link unit; SPOON rear view Mirror; SK Performance interior LED kit; Hybrid Racing shift knob; Bride shift boot; Works bell hub; NRG short quick release; Nardi Torino 330MM steering wheel.
AUDIO
Custom-made fibreglass 12-inch sub box, covered in Bride fabric; Squeaky Clean decals on amp covers; Sony Xplode 12 inch sub, 2x GTR 800-watt amps, front speakers.
