2003 Honda Civic SI

Some couples meet in a local coffeeshop. Others meet in college. Many have been together since high school. But when you compare the longevity and success of those relationships to Alpine's Chris Yato and Steve Brown, they're hardly worth mentioning. Of course, we don't mean romantically, we're speaking strictly intellectual. In the eight years they've been working on project cars together, Chris and Steve have created rolling machines of pure sonic bliss. Recently, Steve's personal BMW M3, a Wings West Acura RSX, and now this month's cover car, the Alpine '03 Honda Civic Si, have all showcased the duo's evolving talents and knack for working together. Now, Super Street uncovers the secret to their success with a glance behind the office doors.

Super Street: What was the first thing you wanted to change on the Civic?Chris Yato: Steve and I first thought it over and figured we needed something really different, something more than just a JDM conversion or a righthand-drive vehicle because even those are commonplace now. Basically the center-drive idea came up because if you think about it, the center is the optimum position for listening in the car, so we decided to start there and base everything else around the driver sitting in the middle of the car.

SS: So acoustics played a major role?CY: Well, the M3 that we built before was for competition, so sound was paramount with that car. But with reflection from all the Civic's shiny metal surfaces, the acoustics aren't quite as easy to control. The goal was more or less for it to be the talk of the show at a Hot Import Nights venue. It's ridiculously over the top and we were definitely conscious of that when we were building it.

SS: Does it vibrate anywhere it's not supposed to?Steve Brown: Not at all, except for the damn factory mirror.CY: Yeah, it keeps turning up and pressing against the windshield. But we can fix that.

SS: Otherwise it's pretty solid?CY: Again, with Steve's M3 we were really concerned about conserving weight and paying attention to sound dampening, but we built this thing like a brick s#@$house. If the inner cage had an open hole, you could literally tow the car by hooking a crane to it.

SS: So who had the initial idea?CY: We both have different ideas for different cars, but this was a total collaboration. Once you switch a car to center-drive, it completely changes the entire makeup of the vehicle. Within reason, we both thought to make it a four-way speaker setup, like a home stereo, so there's a lot of up-front sound. Steve wanted to do something that flowed all the way up the A-pillar, and the pieces kinda fit together after we started on that.

SS: Sounds time consuming.CY: It took from the middle of July to the beginning of January 5. We got lucky on a couple parts though.

SS: Lucky how?CY: It was hilarious, actually. We had to cut the steering rod because we moved the column back, so we needed a new rod with the right diameter, which is, like, impossible to just find. But I reached down and picked up a pipe from a pile of scrap with a diameter that fit the steering column perfectly.SB: It fit so well, it was like it was meant to be.

SS: Did you guys draw everything out first?CY: Actually, we were going off of a piece of cardboard that I sketched in black Sharpie. It was just to communicate ideas between the two of us. After you've spent time working the way we've worked together, you just don't need all that much preparation. You just have to think ahead practically.

SS: Why do you collaborate on projects instead of working individually?CY: That's the way it's been for the past eight years.SB: There are certain things we build together and others that we do away from each other, like the details. It's more or less that we can bounce ideas off each other very well.CY: It's also faster and it comes out better than just going for it by yourself.