The appeal of the Honda Civic never ceases to amaze. What started out as a slow, economical little shoebox of a car has matured into something far greater than even the management at Honda could have possibly dreamed.
The car is almost single-handedly responsible for putting the import show and drag scene as we know it today on the map, and has also been responsible for a lot of defections from the ranks of the gas-guzzling, domestic steel enthusiasts. In fact, it seems most guys who make the transition from domestic to import cut their teeth on a Civic.
Southern California resident Jeff Famely is one guy who recently made the jump from domestic to import. Some of his past rides include a Ford Thunderbird and Chevy S10, both fixed up, but not to the extent of his current project, a 1995 Civic Si.
"Fixing up cars has been a passion of mine for about seven years," Famely testified. So why did he decide to go import this time?
"I just like the Civic hatchback body style," he said. "It's small and lightweight, and it looks good."
While the car has been built with the show circuit in mind, like most of our cover cars, this Si also features more than a few performance tricks tucked away here and there.
The engine, for one, has been completely torn down and rebuilt to new, high-tolerance specifications. This process was undertaken at two shops, RPM Motorsports in Queens Village, N.Y. and Golden Eagle Manufacturing in San Dimas, Calif. Golden Eagle built the bottom end, splitting the case, executing a 2mm overbore and swapping out the factory pistons and connecting rods with new units from JE and Crower, respectively. The crankshaft is a micro-polished factory unit.
Golden Eagle also sleeved the newly bored cylinder walls for greater operating strength. RPM gets credit for the copious headwork, including a fully ported and polished intake manifold and AEM big bore throttle body and rebuilt valve assemblies, using Ferrea springs and hardware and titanium retainers. The head was sealed using heavy-duty ARP studs. Other additions to the engine include a polished DC Sports exhaust manifold, GReddy exhaust, Fluidyne radiator and a lightened flywheel. Assisting the engine in transferring power to the car's stock drivetrain is a Clutch Masters Stage 3 set-up.
The high-performance aspects of Famely's Si have been carried into the suspension as well. The car now crouches over a set of big Giovanna Kobe wheels, sized 18x7.5, a posture generated by coilover spring assemblies from Weapon R that incorporate Tokico shocks for their superior damping properties.
Famely loves the new set-up. "It's not too soft, but not too hard either." What more could you ask from a suspension?
Lowering the car's center of gravity has also done great things for the car's handling and brought out the best in the extremely competent Si chassis. Combining the new coil-over springs with super sticky Toyo Proxes rubber, sized 215/35-18, Famely rated the Si's lateral acceleration at "well over 1.0g." In order to stop the show judges dead in their tracks, all non-moving suspension pieces have been chrome plated; check out the detail of the wheel hub for the full story. Looking at this shot, you'll also notice the factory brakes have been traded in for AEM upgrades; this conversion was carried out at all four corners. The AEM kit includes larger cross-drilled and slotted rotors, new calipers with genuine four-piston units up front and performance pads.
In addition to the performance enhancements carried out under the hood and on the car's undercarriage, this Si has seen a lot in the way of custom body work to make it a one of a kind contender on the show circuit. ICS Auto Body in Monrovia, Calif. gets the credit. ICS provided a custom hood with a large central scoop, fabricated custom air ducts into the panels just in front of the rear wheel wells, and shaved the antenna and key holes. They also performed a trick 240SX-style headlight conversion that gives the car an aggressive scowl and combined with the custom Andy's bumper with integral PIAA fog lights, makes for a well-executed front end that can be found on no other Civic. Upper and lower rear wings from Wings West were added to balance out the rear end. Once everything was in place, ICS painted the entire car in 2000 Dodge blue with pearl flame accents flowing back from the forward wheelwells.
The car's interior has been fully refinished in gray leather and vinyl (yes, that is real leather on the seats). The front seats were replaced with Jamex racing buckets and re-skinned, along with the shift boot and visors, in genuine gray leather by Classic Canvas in LaVerne, Calif. Everything else was re-skinned in gray vinyl by the same company: headliner, dash, door panels, etc. Certain dash components were color-matched to the car's exterior, as you'll gather from the pictures.
The driver now grips an ergonomic Ichibahn steering wheel and gathers visual input from Indiglo white gauge faces and a peripheral Auto Meter tach mounted next to the driver's side A-pillar. Three auxiliary Auto Meter gauges have also been installed in the passenger's dash and now provide oil temperature, oil pressure and system voltage readings. The monitor screen mounted above the stereo head unit and APEXi fuel controller is from a company called Necvox and as yet, has no video game or DVD capabilities (but be patient).
Of course, Famely has installed a stereo system that's liable to blow somebody's head off. At the helm is an Alpine head unit, which ties into dual Cerwin Vega amps mounted to a custom rack where the back seat used to be. Sound frequencies are sliced and diced by MB Quart crossovers, then directed to Cerwin Vega components, including two 4-inch and two 6-inch IT woofers and four tweeters, and one massive 15-inch subwoofer in a custom enclosure beneath the rear cargo hatch. Audio Innovations in Glendora, Calif. gets credit for the work.
Famely's blue streak can be found leaving tire marks at an import show near you; however, its owner insists the car still isn't finished and has resigned himself to the fact that it probably never will be. Even so, he's pretty tight lipped about what's in store for the future. "I've always got tricks up my sleeves," Famely assures us. "But like a magician, you never want to reveal what those tricks are."