Bobby Coulter’s Civic Si had been stripped and left sitting on a lot for months when he found it. He had wanted an EM1 Si coupe since he first heard Honda was bringing the model back, and after months of searching, this was the one he bought. Gene Tjin photographed the finished car for the March 2007 issue of HCI, and we’re adding another of his Northern California shoots to our archives.
The first goal was to get the Civic back to stock. Starting with the exterior, Coulter tracked down parts online and began piecing it back together. But as the car started taking shape, he got tired of the stock look and began modifying it. Arthur’s Auto Body in Fresno resprayed the car in its original Electron Blue Pearl, and several VIS Racing carbon fiber pieces went on, including a front lip, an OEM-style hood, and a trunk. Later additions included AC Schnitzer-style mirrors, a Civic Type R rear lip, and ion blue headlights, continuing the black and blue theme.
His engine plans changed more than once. The B16A came out in favor of a B18C1, but before the replacement went in, Coulter sent the 1.8-liter block to Darton to be sleeved and enlarged to 2.0 liters. The cylinder head went to Portflow for a port and polish, resurfacing, bronze valve guides, and a valve job. While both were away, he shaved and smoothed the engine bay and started building a wiring harness from scratch. He had planned to run boost, but after picking up a set of individual throttle bodies, he decided to go naturally aspirated.
Once the block and head were back, RevSpeed assembled the engine and installed it. A ProFab header went on with 2.5-inch exhaust piping from Method Works and a 5Zigen Fireball muffler. A Walbro 255 pump and Bosch 440cc injectors supplied fuel, while RevSpeed also handled tuning the P28 ECU. Cooling came from a Koyo dual-core radiator and a custom stainless steel reservoir.
For wheels, Coulter found a set of 17×7.5-inch Volk Racing TE37s. With plenty of Hondas and Acuras already running them, he had the centers powder coated gloss black and the lips finished in custom candy blue to set his wheels apart. The brake upgrades included Hawk pads and 808 Customs stainless steel lines running from the calipers all the way to the master cylinder. Tein Basic coilovers handled the suspension, along with a Suspension Techniques urethane bushing kit and front sway bar.
Since the Civic was his daily driver, Coulter also wanted to upgrade the audio. Superior Sounds installed a Phoenix Gold amplifier, Pioneer Premier mids and highs front and rear, and a single 8-inch Resonant Engineering subwoofer in a custom trunk enclosure. Up front were a Sony M800 head unit and a 7-inch XO Vision LCD screen.
The seating was a mix of two brands: a MemoryFab S58 carbon fiber bucket for the driver and a Bride Ergo in black gradation for the passenger. Both were mounted on Method Motor Works low-position rails and fitted with Takata four-point harnesses.
Coulter called the car Project 808. HCI noted that it wasn’t as extreme as many of the builds the magazine featured, but getting it to that point still meant rebuilding a car that had been stripped and left on a lot. Nearly 20 years later, Tjin’s photos give us a chance to revisit the finished result.
GalleryPhotos by Gene Tjin
