We here at Super Street love a good challenge. Sure, we've taken many a beating in the past for being the mechanically challenged, not the best source when it comes to tech or the slowest of the bunch-but that doesn't mean we won't try (and besides, we have won a few build competitions in the past with the help of some really great mechanics). Recently, we got ourselves into a pissing match with the boys over at Project Car to see who could build the better EF after seeing us take on one of our own. After seeing what our build plans and budget were, they've decided to do try an EF of their own-a CRX-and will try to make a mockery of our budget build by taking our leftovers and building whatever they can with their sorely limited resources. Well, we're here to accept their challenge because this is a game we simply cannot lose. Hondas are our forte! We'll build our car over the course of a few months, then put our money where our mouths are with a tried and true drag race where the editors of both books will be the sole drivers to determine which EF will come out on top. We won't even challenge them to a showoff because they can't even afford to paint their car.
EF You See...
When i initially thought of starting a new ef project, I was elated that Project Car decided to step in and lend a few helping hands. They needed their next project and Gary's expertise is always a welcomed opportunity in my book. Things started off great and the PC staff was eager to get started, but when they mistakenly took my car for a 130K beater when it was in fact a 310K beater, the jokes came flying. Now, I'm hardly a confrontational guy, but their constant jabbing at my "rust bucket" (hey, it needed some TLC; I didn't say it was perfect!) and the "Man, these parts alone cost more than the POS you're installing it on" were enough cause for war.
They can laugh all they want at the dollar amount spent on restoring this car, but this is the one project that I refuse to take any shortcuts on. While the PC boys don't consider a nice paint job a necessity, I do. "Spend the money on building your engine instead of painting it DX blue," they laugh; they're not even sure the B16 I picked up was going to be worth its weight. But I like to look towards one of my mentors for inspiration: Junior Asprer. Back in the day he drove a "baby blue" Civic, but more than turbocharging his D16 and getting it to pull 11-second runs, he cared about the way his EF looked just as I do with mine. He saw the benefit in sporting a clean Mugen body kit and wheels; mine's only going to be the JDM body panels because there's no way in hell I'd be able to find a Mugen kit today. Who says you can't be fast and look good at the same time?
As far as my engine swap, I never set out to build a killer K; I don't even plan on going to town on my B16's internals. All I want is a reliable power plant that can hopefully pass smog for the state ref. Stock intake tube, header, just a HKS Sport exhaust. PC thinks the coin I spent could've been used to boost my stock D16 but there's a good reason why I didn't (actually, there were 310,000 reasons why I didn't). Yeah, we'll see how long their little turbo holds on as I blow past them. You can laugh all you want at the $30K Civic, but it's going to cost them a lot more than the $3K they used to build theirs in order to fix it. Hell, they should've used that money to get rid of that burlap sack interior. And they're laughing at me?
JDM Wong, Super Street
Project Underdog
Some things in life just aren't fair. When Jonny approached me to take over as the editor of Project Car I didn't waste a second to accept. I had no clue what I was getting myself into. Not only do they make us build three cars in two months and write a magazine about it, but all they give us is a home garage, two guys on staff and a budget controlled by Jonny's tight wallet. I just entered the world of indentured servitude.
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