Every car magazine has its own fetish. At SCC we've been accused of a metaphysical addiction to the Honda Civic.
Here we go again.
Steph Papadakis' 2003 Civic is just the latest in a long line of hybrid remixes of Honda drivetrain components. We've seen plenty of Civics with Accord engines, Integra engines, Prelude engines and engines swapped from other Civics. This, however, is the first one we've encountered with a twin-turbocharged DOHC, 24-valve V6 from the Acura NSX crammed under its hood.
This sort of swap, by its sheer audacity if nothing else, entails radical changes to the Civic's structure in order to be successful. After all, it's one thing to put an NSX engine into a Civic, but it's something else altogether to make it perform reasonably.
Papadakis and his partners at AEM started by dispensing with the Civic itself. In its place is a tube frame built by chassis builder Don Ness. Based on the chassis Ness builds for NHRA Pro Stock Cavaliers (the smallest of the current Pro Stock racers), this one is, naturally, designed around rear-wheel drive.
Yeah, this Civic's front wheels are just there to keep the nose from scraping on the pavement and provide some slight directional control.
The Ness formula for a Pro Stock chassis is straightforward and differs little from the chassis built by competitors Jerry Hass or Jerry Bickel. That means Papadakis' features conventional Pro Stock elements like a massive four-link rear suspension and spindly Lamb front struts.
There's no problem in setting up the NSX V6 for rear-wheel drive-the NSX is rear drive-but the rest of the NSX drivetrain was ill-suited to this application. So the standard transaxle was dumped in favor of a Pro Stock standard five-speed Lenco transmission.
That, in turn, drives a Mark Williams aluminum driveshaft and a massive rear end with a Mark Williams titanium center housing, axle tubes and a gear set at least distantly related to the classic Ford 9-inch rear end. "Only Honda's four-cylinder engines had leftward rotation," explains Papadakis, "so we didn't have to do anything on that issue with the NSX V6."
Going against popular trends that have enthusiasts shoving 18-, 19- and even 20-inch wheels to their Civics, Papadakis settled for Motegi Racing wheels in the modest 15-inch diameter used by the production Civic EX coupe.
In fact, the 25-inch tall Toyo front tires are only 4.5 inches wide, more than 3 inches narrower than the 195/60R-15 rubber fitted to the stock EX. Papadakis' rear tires, in contrast, are 33 inches tall and 17.5 inches wide. That's almost 10 inches wider than stock.
With the chassis in place, the trick was turning it into a Civic. Papadakis ordered up a carbon-fiber replica of a Civic coupe body and had those panels affixed to the tube-frame structure. The panels are slightly warped compared to a stock Civic's and there are certain aerodynamic enhancements, but that doesn't mean it's not a Civic, right?
Papadakis could have carefully fit his Civic with the amenities expected of a Civic-a ventilation system, radio, seats for three more people, maybe a sunroof and electric windows. Being a hard-core performance addict he instead decided to dispense with the amenities.
However, there is a racing harness, a Sparco steering wheel and a custom-molded Pro Seat racing throne. If you want to know what Papadakis' ass looks like without actually looking at it, just look at the seat in his car and imagine what fills that impression.
As with any innovative sport compact, the crowning glory of Papadakis' Civic is the engine. Starting life displacing 3.2 liters mounted midship in an NSX, this V6 was stroked slightly to 3.3 liters before the turbochargers were mounted.
Built at AEM in Hawthorne, Calif., with machine work done by Cosworth at the same Torrance facility where they service the turbocharged Ford V8s used in the Champ Car World Series, the engine could be taken out of the car and displayed as sculpture if it weren't busy actually powering the car.
Filling the Honda block are Wiseco forged pistons on GRP aluminum rods that churn the custom-built stroker crankshaft lubricated by a Bill Dailey Engineering dry-sump system. On top of those slugs are the NSX heads fitted with custom-ground Crane camshafts with AEM cam gears.
Those cams act on AEM-built rockers that in turn open and close Ferrea valves. The fuel injectors come from RC Engineering while the intake manifold was custom-built by Hogan's Racing Manifolds. A Wilson 80mm throttle body controls what makes it into the combustion chambers and Denso plugs provide the ignition spark.
All the plumbing for the turbo system was done by AEM, with two Garrett GT4OR turbos doing the heavy lifting, while a Tial wastegate keeps the turbos from building so much boost that the engine turns into shrapnel.
AEM's own engine management computer and wideband oxygen sensors do all the decision making. A Bob Marker stainless-steel exhaust channels the waste gases without pausing for a muffler.
Based on the car's performance, Papadakis estimates the twin-turbo NSX V6 is whomping out something like 1,600 hp. That's almost as much as 13 stock Civic EXs and exactly as much as 10 Civic Si hatchbacks.
And it weighs in at 2,350 pounds, about 229 pounds less than a stock Civic EX coupe. Do the math and it turns out that each of the horses in Steph's Civic has to move only 1.47 pounds, while every horse in a stock Civic EX has to move 20.31 pounds each.
OK, this thing is a racecar. And right now it's the quickest Pro RWD car yet built with a best e.t. of 6.541 seconds at 211.73 mph at the NHRA Englishtown race last year. That's quicker than the NHRA Pro Stock record that Greg Anderson holds with a 6.61-second blast at 207.75 mph.
Papadakis' Civic would be the quickest Pro Stock-chassis vehicle on Earth if not for the mountain-motored (think 700 cubic inch V8) IHRA, where the e.t. record is down at 6.435 seconds.
Papadakis is one of the few sport compact racers out there who runs in both Pro FWD (with a yellow Civic companion to this car) and Pro RWD and finds driving each a different challenge.
"The front-wheel-drive car takes a lot more of your attention," he explains, "and you might hold a gear longer depending on how much traction you're getting. Rear drive demands a lot more precise execution. I need to cut a good light, shift on the shift light and keep the car in the track's groove. You can't get behind the car because once you're out of the groove, you can start spinning the tires and that's the end of the run."
Except for being pushed through the Sonic drive-through for our photoshoot, Steph's rear-drive Civic has never set tire to pavement that mere street cars use. For daily driving, Papadakis has a Honda Element to putter around in and an F-150 that he likes because he can "motor over things."
Also, he's sort of a health food nut who rarely eats junk food at all. But any food in this car is, by definition, fast food.
AEM/Driverfx.com RWD CivicEngineEngine Code: C32BType: V6, aluminum block and headsInternal Modifications: Wiseco forged pistons, GRP aluminum connecting rods, custom stroker crankshaft, Ferrea valves, Crane cams, AEM rockers, AEM cam gearsExternal Modifications: Twin Garrett GT4OR turbochargers, Tial wastegate, Hogan intake manifold, AEM intake system, RC Engineering injectors, Wilson 80mm throttlebody, Bob Marker Fabrication custom stainless-steel exhaust, Fluidyne radiatorEngine Management Modifications: AEM engine management system
DrivetrainLayout: Longitudinal front engine, rear-wheel driveDrivetrain Modifications: Lenco five-speed transmission, custom aluminum driveshaft, Mark Williams rear end
SuspensionFront: Lamb front struts with coil-over shocksRear: Don Ness Race Cars four-link and coil-over shocks
BrakesFront: Lamb carbon-fiber discs with Lamb billet-aluminum four-piston calipersRear: Lamb carbon-fiber discs with Lamb billet-aluminum four-piston calipers and parachute
ExteriorWheels: Motegi RacingTires: 25/4.5-15 front, 33/17-15 rear Toyo racing slicks
PerformanceQuarter Mile: 6.541 sec. @ 211.73 mph