Famed American author Ray Bradbury penned the classic "Something Wicked This Way Comes" in 1962. The book chronicles the desperate actions of two teenage boys, Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade, as they struggle to save the fate of their hometown from the evil Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show, a carnival that threatens to steal the souls of the citizenry by granting their deepest secret wishes.
When properly prodded Hugh Le's 1997 Honda Civic can be just as menacing as a Cooger & Dark sideshow. The pristine indy yellow EK reminds us that sometimes it's good to be bad.
Since this Honda is representing on the cover of our 20th Anniversary issue it is quite telling that our Senior Tech Editor, Robert Choo, built the long block of this beast. The Civic relies on a B20B block fitted with Benson's Full Metal Jacket ductile iron sleeves with copper o-rings to withstand the torturous stress of big boost. At the inner core of the block a shaped and lightened LS crank swings JE 9.0:1 slugs on beefy Crower con rods. A Mugen baffled oil pan, Toda oil pump gear, Toda timing chain setup and Honda CTR N1 crank pulley round out the block build.
The engine was completed at Raceline Development where a Type-R cylinder head was affixed to the bustling B-series bullet. Tom Fujita of Portflow sculpted 84mm combustion chambers, port matched the unit and assembled the head with stainless steel oversized valves, titanium retainers and dual valve springs. The head was fitted with Top Fuel Japan turbo-spec cams and JUN cam gears. A JG Edelbrock intake manifold was secured to the head via a Hondata insulated gasket designed to reduce heat transfer to the intake charge.
Fuel and ignition are addressed with a hard-hitting array of components. Big, 1000cc Blitz injectors are fed by Aeromotive SX gear: high-flow pump, filter and regulator by way of Earl's -8 Pro Light lines and a trick custom fuel rail from ADF. The spark side is an all-MSD affair with a Digital 6 Plus ignition box, Blaster coil and Pro Cap putting the zap to NGK V-Power plugs.
Raceline then installed the engine and an Integra LS transmission using Mugen mounts. The gearbox features a GS-R fifth gear and final drive, an OS Giken twin-plate clutch and lightened flywheel, KAAZ LSD and The Driveshaft Shop 36mm Stage 5 axles.
The next stop on the Civic's power tour was TSR Fabrication where Datsun 510 fanatic Mario Lozano flexed his considerable fabrication muscle in creating the turbo manifold and three-inch downpipe, which are masterpieces in their own right. The medium was stainless steel and Mario related that not all turbo manifolds are created equal. "People don't realize that the turbo accessories they choose have a big impact on how I go about fabbing a manifold," says Mario. "In this case, special buttressing for the TiAL wastegate they were running was essential because that thing is an anchor. I fabricated the manifold to position the turbo and wastegate in a comfortable position as far as access to work on it and how it looks when you pop the hood.