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Before Project Civic EJ would hit the track though, a pair of Password JDM strut tower braces were bolted in place. Password JDM’s front strut tower brace triangulates the strut towers to the firewall for added rigidity.
In the rear, the Password JDM brace stiffens Project Honda Civic EJ’s chassis by tying the strut towers to the bumper reinforcement.
The combination of brake, chassis and suspension mods were then paired with a high compression, long rod B18C1 engine. The build revolved around a half millimeter over bore block, high compression forged JE Pistons, and a longer K1 Technology connecting rod originally intended for a Nissan QR25DE. Check out the complete details on our B18C1 engine build here.
On the Dyno, our freshly built B18C1 would put down 227 horsepower with a modest 151 lb/ft of torque. Not bad compared to the 142 horsepower and 108 lb/ft of torque it originally produced. We figure that numbers north of 230 horsepower are easily achievable with a more aggressive tune using race gas or more experimentation with our header and intake combination.
Before heading back to Button Willow, we dropped Project Honda Civic EJ off at our favorite local alignment shop, West End Alignment. At West End Alignment, the father son team of Darin and Chris Nishimura, set up our Civic with a conservative, street-able alignment that would still compliment a spirited mountain drive and occasional track event.
With 140 pounds of weight in the driver’s seat, Project Honda Civic EJ tipped the scale at just over 2,600 pounds. There’s a huge lap time penalty we’d pay for maintaining the creature comforts of a full interior.
