Turbo Honda Civic JDM - Dual Duty
Mike Ghadimi is a veteran of the Honda performance scene. Having previously built a '97 EK hatch and a '98 Integra GS-R for his personal automotive arsenal, he knew his way around a Honda long before this fifth-gen. Civic entered the picture. He scooped up the '92 hatch in 2003 in a deal for $2,000 from a friend at work. At the time it was just a beater to roll around in. He had no idea it would become the masterpiece you see today.
Mike G's main priority with cars is drag racing. His two previous whips were all-out street race machines with attention paid to what's in the engine bay and nowhere else. Originally this was the plan for the EG as well. The hatch received a B16 swap with a couple of naturally aspirated mods to hold him over for a while.
Eventually Mike got tired of rolling in a beater and decided it was time to paint the hatch. He got a hold of his buddy Miguel Ortiz of MOBworks fame, and together they decided on BMW's Z4 Urban green. Miguel promptly performed a full color change from the inside out. Mike was awed by what came out of the paint booth. The way the car looked after paint changed his intentions for the car in a matter of seconds.
"Why can't a car be pretty and fast?" he asks rhetorically.
From then on the car's main priority was still kicking ass on the dragstrip, but Mike wanted it to look hot on the way to the traps. The B16 put down a bit of power, but wasn't enough to sate Mike's desire to go fast. He dropped the B16 in favor of a Jerry Built B18C1 and a bolt-on turbo kit from Camp1320.com. The head was given to Joe Alaniz to give it his full race treatment. Joe ported and polished the head, and performed a race valve job using Alaniz race valves, springs, and retainers. This setup made an admirable 303whp at a mild 10psi, but still wasn't enough.
"The first turbo kit had a lot of restrictions, mainly a small wastegate and a restrictive manifold. So I decided to start all over."
Mike called Gary Castillo from Design Craft Fabrication to build a new setup. Castillo fabricated a new manifold for the Precision SC34 turbo. He also built a custom downpipe and 2.5-inch intercooler piping to accommodate the new Evotion Intercooler. With its enhanced breathing capabilities and a set of new, larger 750cc RC Engineering injectors, the GS-R motor made 351 whp at 13 pounds of boost after a tuning session with Shawn Church at Church Automotive Testing. Mike plans on retuning to the dyno with a threebar map sensor at 20 psi or more for an expected 450-500 whp.
Throughout this, Mike continued to add to the car's fashion sense. A rare Benen carbon spoiler and a VIS carbon front lip were added to give a bit of flair to an otherwise OEM exterior. Vision mirrors and Honda Access window visors were also added to round things out.
"The thing that sets my car above the rest is that it is all one off, you can't buy almost any of these parts off the shelf. I love parts that other people can't get their hands on." Over the years this car has had more wheels than its had oil changes: Sprint Hart CPF's, CPR's, and CPF-G's, White Regamaster Evos, and Black NR5's just to name a few. For Honda Tuning, Mike's EG is sitting on a set of 16-inch Work Rs-Betas. Mike told us he's got a brand new set of Regamasters to replace them already, though.
"I get bored with wheels quickly. Someday I'll find the perfect set and keep them forever, like a set of 16-inch [Mugen] M7s."
Future mods are mainly to get the car ready to hit the track. A custom chromoly eight-point roll cage by ASC Fabrications will be installed by the time this issue hits the newsstands. A Type R limited-slip differential has been sourced and is soon to be installed to put power down to both wheels. Mike also picked up a set of slicks for the car, but before he puts them to use he plans to get a set of upgraded aftermarket axles. Mike expects the car to run in the mid 11s on the 1320 but he will not be satisfied until he sees a 10-second time slip.
There are only a handful of cars in the world that can boast that kind of quickness and be this good looking. Three years and $25K later, Mike G's hatch can count itself among them.
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