With the SEMA show soon approaching and a few late nights in the garage area I am reminded my of first real build. A 1993 Civic CX. Started as my daily driver with a B16 swap and ended as a fully built Honda Challenge ready H1 car. Pardon the picture quality.
Rollin on 14″ blacks was the way to go and check out those Euro clear lenses.
I had the normal street built Civic hatch for the late 90’s early 2000’s. B-series swapped EG, Champ white paint, gutted interior. After getting ticket after ticket I decided to build a track car. It would eliminate the number of tickets and allow myself to build something crazier. The process took years as my inexperience led me to replace parts with better parts many times as I learned more about each particular part.
Cleaning up the engine bay for new rattle can paint and very mild wire tuck.
GSR block with B16 head. Erick’s racing header, electric water pump and old school Iceman intake.
Starting to get really serious with a custom 8-point cage. Removed all the tar and glue I could find. Plus gutted the dash and removed almost everything to save weight, even the E-brake system (big mistake, so inconvenient not to have an E-brake).
Removing all the tar was a pain but it reduces weight and looks good.
Thinking that BIG HP and good suspension would make up for my novice level of driving skill I was always in search of new, better parts. Swapping to a new head with a better port&polish, new valves, springs, cams, etc… I did this many times as newer parts became available. (hint: power is not the most important factor but I think reliability is)
Check out the Haynes manual in the corner. I tried to do as much as possible by myself so that I could save money.
Final engine setup with oil cooler, coated header, Koyo rad, etc… Made 215WHP from a 1.8L with ITR pistons, Skunk2 Cams and Hondata.
Car was featured in Super Street magazine courtesy of Mr. Ricky (RikDaddy) Chu.
Starting to look like a proper race car – interior painted and graphics completed.
Car coming together with gutted dash back in, custom DEFI setup and some nice door covers.
Another angle of the interior. Got to have the EDFC for practice which allows for more track time and less time in the hot pits. Accusump system, Sparco bucket, roll cage padding, fire system and master kill switch, etc…
Finally got out to the track (Streets of Willow) for some testing and fun. We did some product testing and comparisons as a TEIN engineer was on-hand. My FLEX coilovers worked great with some stiffer springs and adjustment.
Fun time at the track. No timing, just lapping for fun.
Me behind the wheel.
My car would never enter a wheel-to-wheel Honda Challenge race but it did go to Time Attack (now called Super Lap Battle).
Time Attack at ButtonWillow raceway. Driver is Mr. Dennis Caco of AutoCanon (creator of MaxBoost which was a cartoon in Import Tuner magazine for those youngsters who might not know).
I sold the car after learning that having a quick street car is more fun than a full blown race car. Race cars are just too complicated with towing, spares and the limited amount of time you actually get to drive it (can’t just go for a weekend cruise or to a buddy’s house).
In the end I discovered that learning, researching parts and actually wrenching was what I loved most. Maybe someday I will build another track car.
