A'PEXi's 2000 Acura Integra Drag Car - Answer

Pressure Situation
Since the engine had to be mounted backward to accommodate the X-Trac gearbox, designing a turbo system would take the APEXi crew where no other Honda tuners have gone. Why twin turbo? One may think the reverse-facing engine is why twins are used. The truth is APEXi wanted to show how well its off-the-shelf parts work in a drag race environment. The turbos used are from the APEXi Japan Skyline street upgrade kit.

The exhaust header was not of the standard off-the-shelf variety. The stainless-steel creation has an artistic flair, looking like intertwined, golden-hued snakes leading into the turbine sides of two APEXi turbos. Boost is provided by AX53B70-P21 turbos, which are similar to a T28/T3 hybrid in the Garrett world. Once spent gasses have spun the turbines, they exit through 70mm downpipes and 46mm titanium exhaust pipes. The system's maximum boost of 1.6 kg/cm2 (22.8 psi) is maintained by APEXi racing-spec wastegates and an APEXi AVC-R controller. On the pressure side, the turbos feed a one-off custom liquid-to-air intercooler positioned perfectly between the turbos and the intake. This direct route drastically reduces lag. The cooler is an APEXi air-to-air core converted to liquid-to-air operation. From this point, charge air runs through an Infiniti Q45 throttle body and stock intake manifold that APEXi fitted with an expansion adapter to increase volume.

Under Control
One of the things we like about this high-tech marvel is that APEXi was smart enough to use its line-up of street electronics rather than a race-only system to control the H22A. The stock ECU has been replaced with an APEXi Power FC (December 2000, Turbo) "oversees the ignition timing and fuel delivery to the engine. The fuel system consists of two Bosch fuel pumps, -8 AN lines, 1,000cc injectors and an APEXi regulator mounted to a custom rail. The ignition side of the equation is made up of a system that retains the stock distributor cap as a crank sensor for the Power FC, but fires from a custom, direct fire set-up for maximum efficiency. The Honda H22A-based powerplant pumped out a fierce 609 hp on APEX Integration's Dynapack chassis dyno.

There are certainly a number of questions still to be answered. Will the car compete in only four events while on its U.S. tour? Can it compete with Papadakis who, as this article is being finalized, just ran an 8.7, 8.6 and 8.58 in an ID Drag Wars event in Texas? Is "The Answer" truly the answer? One thing is for sure, just like its NBA counterpart, the APEXi Integra definitely has a big hill to climb. This should be awesome.