Features

Bulldogging Si

With all the huge craze of the Turbo 4 and Sport FWD classes, more and more daily driven FWD cars are getting faster and faster. Using technology and knowledge people are gaining with building street-spec race cars, it’s not a surprise to see heavy horsepower in a daily driven Honda. Brian’s Si is one of these cars; his rear sticker says it all: “Don’t mess with Texas.”

Popping the hood, an 84.5 mm Darton sleeved B16 greets your eye. Built for boost, the motor received a set of CP 9.5:1 pistons along with Crower rods to reinforce the bottom end for forced-fed goodness. ACL bearings along with a bored-out head gasket by Golden Eagle help seal the deal between the block and the head. Speaking of the head, the B16 top half received goods from Ferrea in shape of valves and Rev equipped the valve springs and retainers. The stock B16 cams were scraped for a set of GSR cams to get the motor ready for boost. Flowing in all the extra air is a JG Victor X intake manifold and JDM ITR throttle body.

With the entire motor setup ready to rock, a custom turbo kit was fabricated consisting of many mix-and-match parts. The center of attention is a GT35E turbo bolted onto an Inline Pro exhaust manifold. A TiAl 38 mm wastegate equipped with a 0.7 bar spring begins all the optimal settings for the turbocharged setup. The HKS SSQV BOV pops out from the custom black 2.5 in intercooler piping. Leading out on the exhaust side is a custom 2.5 in downpipe that’s flared to a 3 in custom exhaust. Peeking behind the front bumper is an extremely efficient Precision large intercooler. To handle all the tuning and boost to shoot this Si down the quarter mile is a Turbo XS dual-stage boost controller, and PLX M300 wideband. The Neptune system dials in the fuel and timing curves on the socketed P28 ECU that’s attached thanks to an OBD2-to-OBD1 conversion harness. For fuel and ignition, the stock injectors clearly couldn’t keep up so Precision 1000 cc injectors were called in for the job. An STR fuel rail along with an Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator ensures the Walbro 255 lph fuel pump works extremely efficiently. Helping spark the entire motor is an MSD 6A ignition box. A pair of GReddy gauges can be seen at the races with a 52 mm boost and a 52 mm EGT.

Bulldogging Si

To help get the car down the track with a more optimal gearing, the stock B16 transmission was swapped out for a JDM GSR transmission with the stock LSD. Helping make sure every horsepower gets to the ground safely is a set of stage 2 Gator Racing axles. A Clutch Masters Stage 5 clutch with a 4-puck disc is probably a great workout on the left foot.

Keeping the rest of the car stealthy and simple, this extremely heavily boosted Si runs harder than the ones that look pretty. Suspension-wise, the car receives an extremely nice set of TEIN Super Street Damper coilovers along with a Skunk2 rear lower tie bar. A Civic Type-R rear lip along with a Bodykits West carbon fiber hood was installed onto the Si to give it a somewhat different look. At this point the finishing touch is a clean set of wheels—and the Rota C8’s do just that.

This Si is a great model for those thinking only race cars can have high horsepower. If smoke was any forewarning of what this Si is capable of doing, we’d like to see another burnout!