Building a Road Race Civic

While cruising on my usual web addiction (http://www.honda-tech.com) I noticed that one of the founding fathers of the Honda Challenge was selling a civic tub, caged and stripped.

At the time, I owned a '96 Integra that I was thinking of converting into a pure track car. Further research convinced me that I couldn't afford to race such a car. A "slow-ass" civic, on the other hand, uses less tires, less brakes, the parts are a lot cheaper (ever try to buy a B18C1 block? I found a D16A6 block for free...).

So I bought the tub:

That was back in July 2003. I promptly sold the old 'tegger to another Honda-Tech enthusiast, and started researching what it takes to make a civic go fast on the race track.

Five months later, I have a garage full of parts. the details of what I bought can be found on this spreadsheet. And this is what the car looks like now, before any actual work got done...

Started on the cockpit. I still need to install oil and water temp gauges, the seats, harnesses, mirror.

The rear end of the suspension is done. Yeah! Here's a few pics.

Mugen rear trailing arm bushing

Koni shocks, Hypercoils springs, SBMS upper control arm, ST sway bar and SBMS lower strut bar.

Closeup on the UCA

A rear view