1995 Honda Civic

There's no one thing we could say to make you like this Civic. Fact is, if you're predisposed to hating Honda-badged vehicles, you're probably already pissed-off at the fact that there's a Honda on the cover, so we're not even going to try and appease you. Turn to another page and check the news, or look and see if your car finally made it into "The Street" (it didn't).

Then again, if you're into 400-plus-hp figures and low-11-second elapsed times, keep reading. This '95 Civic, owned by Orange, Calif., resident Trevor Scott, claims both. Like many others before him, Scott began racing with friends, competing strictly for bragging rights. Their involvement quickly expanded into underground street racing sessions, with large groups of friends and fellow enthusiasts staying out all night, making bets and racing their cars.

"It seemed pure," Scott says, recalling the raw enthusiasm and camaraderie he and his fellow racers felt on the street. "I loved to street race." Then, street racing began to attract a lot of negative publicity. A far-reaching effort by law enforcement to curtail illegal street racing wasn't far behind. From that point, things degenerated rapidly. "Street racing was on the news all the time, kids were getting out of control," Scott remembers. "I had a few close calls, saw some bad accidents and got tons of tickets. I decided it wasn't worth the risk anymore."

To keep himself out of trouble, he started attending street-legal drags at the historic dragstrip in Pomona, Calif. When he began, his '95 Civic still had a single-cam VTEC motor with 60-shot of nitrous and all the typical bolt-on treatments-basically, the same configuration he'd been running on the street. "I was able to make 195 hp at the wheels with the single-cam motor on NOS," he recalls. "The car was running 13.7 on Nitto 555Rs." In July of 2000, he blew the engine, prompting him to upgrade his powerplant with bigger and better B-series power.

Given the nature of Scott's speed-based illness, most of the modifications present on his car are inside the engine bay. The suspension was upgraded using Ground Control coil-overs (which pair Eibach springs and KYB shocks and struts), and the brakes with stock-sized Powerslot rotors up front, rear GS-R disc assemblies, and metallic pads at all corners. "I did my best to upgrade the brakes and suspension as the power of the car increased, but going fast and straight was always the priority," Scott confesses. "From an appearance standpoint, I wanted to keep it basic. I'm not a fan of body kits or wings; I like simple."

Keeping with his simple-is-best plan, the car sports very little exterior enhancements. Other than a fresh skin of 1997 Toyota Supra blue mica metallic paint applied by Body Pros in Garden Grove, Calif., Scott's ride sports a very mild Wings West body kit and a VIS carbon hood with pins. He also replaced the wheels with a set of 16-inch Racing Hart CP035s wrapped with Yokohama Parada tires. On the dragstrip, he switches the fronts with a pair of 13-inch Bogart racing wheels shod with 24x8.5-inch Mickey Thompson slicks.

Additions to the interior are equally spare, with a MOMO steering wheel and Razo shift knob, and Sparco competition buckets in place of the stock seats. There's also an A'PEXi turbo timer and a small stereo consisting of an Alpine CD player, Alpine four-channel amp and Polk Audio speakers-the car is still his daily driver, after all.

Scott's engine transplant was based on a B18C taken from a junked Integra GS-R, which he acquired with help from Holeshot Racing in Anaheim, Calif., and linked with an Integra LS five-speed. Knowing he wanted to attain disgusting power levels, he played it safe from the beginning, rebuilding the block with forged internals and reinforcing the cylinder bores with a collar-type block guard. He says he was able to tune this setup to about 355 hp (at the wheels) on pump gas, from which he pulled a low quarter-mile e.t. of 11.8 seconds. Eventually, this power overcame the block's capabilities, so Scott had the entire assembly removed and rebuilt a second time.

For the second go-around, the cylinder bores were fully sheathed with ductile iron sleeves. He also had the crankshaft removed and machine balanced and knife-edged, then replaced with forged Carrillo rods and 9.0:1 JE pistons. The cylinder head was ported and polished, and a three-angle valve job cut to seat 1mm oversized Ferrea valves. For his big power adder, Scott said goodbye to nitrous oxide injection and stepped up to a DRAG turbo kit. Based on a T3/T4 hybrid turbo, the DRAG kit incorporates an external HKS wastegate (fitted with a custom dump tube configuration) and sequential blow-off valve, as well as a Spearco front-mount intercooler core and plumbing. Boost is currently regulated with an A'PEXi AVC-R.

Fuel system assembly and preliminary tuning was carried out by Dynamic Autosports in Lake Forest, Calif. The system consists of an SX fuel pump and fuel pressure regulator linked to an STI fuel rail and 720cc Denso injectors. Initially, fuel management was overseen by an A'PEXi V-AFC, but it became evident the unit wouldn't provide the sizeable fuel corrections the car and its gigantic injectors needed.

"It's not easy to make a Honda run 'good' with anything more than 300 hp," Scott professes. "I experimented with some piggyback systems, but nothing seemed to work very well." He decided to switch to a full stand-alone system: FAST engine management, a sequential EFI system that includes a reprogrammed ECU and proprietary C-Com tuning software. Most importantly, the FAST system relies on a speed/density algorithm that provides higher resolution for the significantly larger injectors. The electronics were installed by Holeshot and fine-tuned by R&D Dyno in Gardena, Calif. On its best run, the Scott says the Civic turned 425 hp at the wheels.

Scott's last trip to the dragstrip was short-lived, however. No, the car didn't blow up-it was too fast. "My first pass with the new engine management and the turbo making 20 psi was an 11.3 at 124 mph," Scott recalls. "I was immediately kicked out for not having the correct safety equipment." Despite the very real possibility of cutting an even lower e.t., Scott hasn't posted any more quarter-mile runs, and doesn't really have any plans to do so. In fact, he hasn't been back to the strip since he got that first big boot, and he's currently considering a radical change in venue to slake his thirst for high-performance motion.

"I think I might move on from drag racing and get into autocross," he says, with a gleam in his eye.

InteriorSparco seats, MOMO steering wheel, Razo shift knob, A'PEXi turbo timer, Alpine CD player, Alpine four-channel amp, Polk Audio speakers