The 1993 Honda was bought in Memphis. They choose a '93 Civic because parts for the cars are readily available and it represents a car that is commonly raced at Import/Sports Compact drags.

The Honda originally cost $3,400 and Comp Cams has invested another $2,600 into the little shoebox. The result is a 12-second, 100-plus mph street car put together for a total budget of just six grand. It would be pretty difficult for the average hot rodder to duplicate that performance with a piece of Detroit iron from the Sixties or Seventies.

Although the body is a '93, the engine is out of a '95 model Honda.

"I really like the Honda B18C engine," Comp Cams engineer Mike Bond told DRO. "The rotating assembly didn't need any modifications to make it strong enough to be used with nitrous. The stock parts are very well engineered and durable."

The all aluminum Honda B18C fits under the hood with plenty of room to spare. This is a maintenance friendly engine bay. The Comp Cam guys did install an aftermarket air filter to help feed air to the little engine. Fuel delivery was aided by the addition of an in-line ZEX booster fuel pump to feed gasoline to the fuel injectors. Nology plus wires were added to the stock electronic ignition to help fire the gasoline/nitrous oxide fuel mixture with the help of the ZEX plugs. The ECU is a stock Honda unit. In order to give the small motor a little more pep, a six-pad Copper/Ceramic ACT clutch and pressure plate is used with a forged chromemoly flywheel that weighs just 9.8 lbs.

The only aftermarket parts used inside the engine are the JE pistons and rings which are used to raise the compression up to 10.2:1. The stock cams were replaced with a pair of ZEX 57200 grind cams that have .490 degrees of lift on the intake side and .450 on the exhaust. ZEX dual valve springs, cam drive, and Ferrea valves complete the cylinder head package.

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