1995 Honda Civic Si

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.