I enjoy reading through race car build threads, and the time has come to create one of my own.
After racing a Toyota Echo for a couple seasons I decided I wanted to move on to something else. The Echo was a great little car, but there are fewer classes where it fits well. I was looking for something a little bit faster. I considered plenty of platforms, but ended up with an '06 Civic Si coupe (FG2 for Honda fans). I have a habit of searching Facebook, Kijiji, etc.. continually and came across this car. The price was very good and I managed to be the first person to show up and see the car. Negotiated the deal and away we go.
Picture after loading it onto the trailer for the trip to it's new home.
Background on the car:
The car was built as a race car from the beginning. I was told that Honda Canada had a few cars built when the 8th Gen Civic was released and this was one of them. The original listed owner is Honda so this story seems to line-up. The car was raced in both SCCA and CASC (Canada) and I found log books for both in the glove box. In SCCA competition it ran Showroom Stock B. Based on dates in the logbook I was able to find the YouTube video of the 2008 Runoffs with the car! (Driven by John Sherk #88)
https://youtu.be/MWj82jGH1sw?si=NP3xIsHkn2srinY9
The racing history that I've found has been earlier in the car's life. At some point I think it was driven on the road occasionally, perhaps back and forth to the track. More recently it went through a couple owners who used it for hdpe driving. The owner before me had owned the car for 6 years but only made it to the track a handful of times.
More details on the car to follow.
Wow, cool. Thanks for sharing. Good color, too.
This is so much better than buying last years championship winning Anycar which is used up.
Nice, looks super clean. Some of the ones that I have been looking at, are fairly rusted.
Very nice. Great platform, in my experience.
I've got an 8th gen coupe, non SI with the 1.8 and five speed as a daily. A friend sold me some koni yellows and a rear sway bar, plus some lightweight wheels. I drive it in H street occasionally. It's very competitive on some autocross courses, as long as the open differential and low horsepower aren't too much of a disadvantage.
David S. Wallens said:
Wow, cool. Thanks for sharing. Good color, too.
I think it's called Habanero Red Pearl. The whole car needs a good polishing for the paint to really look good. Right now the clearcoat feels a bit rough but clearcoat fading was common for these cars. I'm debating what colors would work well with the red when it comes time to add some sort of livery.
trigun7469 said:
Nice, looks super clean. Some of the ones that I have been looking at, are fairly rusted.
Here in Ontario rust is definitely a concern. Road salt kills too many cars. Fortunately this one wasn't frequently driven on the street so it's in better shape than most. Not perfect (especially by southern climate standards), but pretty good.
So, more details on the car.
Basically, it is a completely stock Civic Si with the necessary race car safety items added. Completely stock motor, stock suspension, stock eveything! Sunroof and headliner still in place, power windows still work. I assume this was due to the rules of Showroom Stock from it's early racing life. The only "performance" mods are racing brake pads and RT660 tires 215/45-17 (on the stock 7" wheels).
It's sort of the perfect combination for me. I was originally looking at buying a stock car and converting to a race car. This would have required roll cage fabrication. Although I like the thought of fabricating my own cage, if I'm being honest it would be very hard to find the time. So this car gets perhaps the most labor intensive part out of the way. I have a caged car and a clean slate to make my own modifications.
The roll cage is 1.75", nicely built, and includes anti intrusion bars for both front wheels. Interior could use some cleaning and paint touch-up s but the cage should be good to go.
A few more pictures from the sale ad:
First order of business was a couple repairs.
The windshield was cracked, so I had a new one installed. Quick and easy fix.
The second repair was more problematic. The car had an oil leak. Closer inspection indicated that the leak wasn't coming from common locations like the oil filter housing or VTEC solenoid. Pulling the crank pulley revealed the problem. At some point the crank pulley failed and rubbed on the timing cover. It had worn through the cover at the crank position sensor, so oil would constantly seep out the crack. Thorough cleaning, sanding, and JB Weld has stopped the leak, but a new timing cover will be needed for a more permanent fix.
