If you’re into Hondas and you haven’t heard of Speed Science, there’s something seriously wrong with you. Speed Science is New Zealand’s largest Honda performance parts store, and it has one goal in mind — have high quality stock on the shelves. Adam Plews — the ‘mad professor’ as he likes to be called — is the man behind the show, and it just so happens that he enjoys building the odd race car. What do you do when your NSX-powered Integra DC2 is taking too long to finish, and you want to get into a bit of drag racing? Well, you build something else, as Adam has done.
“I found a dirty cheap 98-spec Integra Type R down the line and snapped it up with the thought to dismantle it and make a couple of bucks,” Adam says. “Around the same time, this maroon Civic EG came up for grabs super cheap. It was manual, injected, and New Zealand new, which meant an engine conversion to the B18CR I had just obtained was literally bolt-in with no wiring or any other conversion bits.”
If you didn’t know, Adam used to own FBI Performance back in the day, and had a strong presence in drag racing in the early 2000s, with his black Integra DC2 with the number plate ‘EVLTEK’. Running a blacktop B18C engine with bolt-ons, his quickest time was 13.3 seconds. This time around, with a lighter chassis and the want to go a little quicker than years gone by, Adam set a goal of running a 12-second pass on an internally stock engine in the EG. Adam achieved this goal over the weekend of November 28–29, at a local test-and-tune day with a best time of 12.954@103mph.
The New Zealand–new 1992 EG Civic was stripped of its excess fat and at the same time given a new name: ‘Project D’. Project D had another purpose as well: showcase a wide range of the high-quality stock that Speed Science offers. What this meant for Project D was that it would be getting some extremely trick componentry, whilst remaining a relatively simple set-up.
With a modified rear bumper in place, Adam set about installing a Speed Science rear diffuser with Golden Eagle rear bumper diffuser panels.
This no doubt provides a serious-looking rear end, matched with the CCC Racing drag spoiler, which has been mounted to a lightweight fibreglass rear hatch.
Up front you’ll notice that the factory headlights have now been replaced in favour of a Password JDM carbon-fibre headlight duct and block-off plates with amber corner lights. Although not WOF-spec, it does provide the coolest of air into the high-revving B18CR.
The front bumper isn’t your usual New Zealand–new affair either. Adam installed a KFED Motorsports drag bumper, which smooths out the front end somewhat, not to mention giving it an angry drag-like appearance.
Completing the exterior appearance is a pair of PCI sideskirts, and a set of Lenso VPD drag wheels measuring 13×7.5 inches up front, and 15×3.5 inches down back.
Getting the power down, which is not an easy thing with a front-wheel drive, comes thanks to a pair of M&H 205/60/13 drag radials. To hold the rear end of the car up off the ground, the 15-inch rears are shod in M&H front runners.
Tucked away in the strut towers are Skunk2 Pro S2 coilovers, with 18kg Yellowspeed Racing rear springs. And no Honda build would be complete without a set of trick lower-control arms, so Adam installed Blackworks Racing items.
There’s also Blox Racing camber arms up front, and a Blox Racing traction-bar kit for good measure.
As you can see, the interior doesn’t have the same luxuries that it once did. The interior has been completely stripped, and everything that wasn’t needed for the vehicle to run has been thrown away or sold. All that’s left is the KW fixed-back seat, a K-Tuned billet shift with K-Tuned billet gear knob, and a Momo steering wheel.
The factory New Zealand–new gauge cluster has been retained, however the tachometer only goes to 9000rpm, which is just below Adam’s ideal shifting point of 9020rpm. The Hondata S300 ECU has been tuned so that the factory-engine check light is now the shift light, eliminating the need for further bulk throughout the vehicle.
The engine installed from the wrecked DC2 is, in fact, an extremely high-milage engine that could probably do with a freshen up to release a few more kilowatts.
Power comes courtesy of an array of components, including a set of custom PLM 4–1 drag headers, Skunk2 intake manifold, 70mm S90 throttle body, custom ram intake, an MSD ignition, and the Hondata S300 ECU.
Now producing 135kW at the wheels, it’s no slouch, but it has been made even quicker with the addition of an MFactory gear set, and an Integra Type R LSD. To provide additional drivetrain reliability, an Exedy flywheel has been mated to a Competition Clutch button clutch, which then sends power to the Insane Shafts axles, which are good for much more power than this B-series is producing.
With the engine freshened up, and a track that has been suitably prepped, Adam hopes the Civic will get down as low as a 12.5-second pass, or possibly even quicker. We’ll continue to update you on the progress of this affordable dragster.