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Ring! Sixth period just ended and it's a mad dash to get the hell out of school. You throw your books in your bag and sprint to the school parking lot, hoping to get out before the single exit lane becomes what we Californians fondly refer to as the 405. As fast as you can open the door and jump into the seat of your car, you hear it. Tires spinning and the tell-tale whine of a spooling turbo in a motor that clearly doesn't belong in a Civic. By the time you pull out of your stall and inch toward the back of the growing line, all you catch is the glint of a muffler as it turns onto the street, trailed by the rumble of an exhaust and the distant chirp of a blow-off valve. High school sucks in a slow-ass ride.
If you looked through Geoff Raicer's old yearbook, you wouldn't see him listed as the guy with the nicest smile, most outgoing, or most likely to succeed. He'd deserve his own category. A new title the yearbook staff would have to create: "most mechanically inclined" or "most likely to appear in Super Street." You see, while most of us struggled to get through algebra, American history, art, or a high school dance (we could never figure out the Cabbage Patch), Geoff was already on his way to graduating with honors in Hondas. How many people do you know who purchased a B-series motor to tinker with at the tender age of 17? While most of us were popping zits, Geoff was busy popping an LS motor into a '94 Honda Civic DX.
After high school, Geoff relocated from New Jersey out to the Southwest to attend Arizona State University. While most would be content to transfer to ASU to study the scrumptious student body, Geoff focused on a different body of work-mechanical engineering. At school he met fellow engineers in class and fabricators at local skateparks with whom he shared a passion for VTEC and all things boost. Geoff would pool his talents with his newfound friends and test their abilities by developing custom turbo setups on his Civic. Guinea pig in tow, the EJ grew progressively faster, as did the reputation of the Arizona boys. After a chance meeting with Tony Palo of Jotech and the ensuing demand for their turbo kits, Full Race was born in '03.
As for the Civic, it's in its umpteenth configuration. Undergoing more radical transformations than Michael Jackson (minus any paling-notice it's still black), Geoff says the turbo kit has finally reached its optimal configuration. Using a GT40R turbo (dual ball bearing) that's been enhanced per Full Race specs, Geoff put together a setup that includes off-the-shelf Full Race items including a 4-inch downpipe and exhaust, 4.5-inch-thick intercooler, plumbing, intake manifold, fuel rail, cam gears, and the star of the show-their top-mount (robotic weld) manifold. An equal-length tubular manifold which, according to Geoff, "took our engineering backgrounds to the next level by applying FEA (finite element analysis) and CFD (computational fluid dynamics) analysis techniques to find huge power gains." Which, in laymen's terms, means that Full Race's manifolds aren't arbitrarily hacked up U-bends paying tribute to the upper intestines-they're designed to actually make, gasp, power.
With the boost in place, Geoff's next goal was to ensure the rest of the motor could withstand what his Stage 4GT turbo kit could blow out. After much deliberation he tossed out his aging high school LS sweetheart and went for the much sexier, albeit higher-pitched LS/VTEC motor. But before he sealed the deal with the new beauty, he had his team go Nip/Tuck on the bottom end and widened the bore to 84mm and upped the stroke to 89mm using ERL sleeves, CP pistons, and Full Race rods. With the block built, improvements to the HeadGames top end were made by infusing Ferrea valves, springs, guides, retainers, keepers, and Type-R cams which stiffened up the head quicker than an injection of Botox.
Syncing the beast of the boost and the beauty within the block is accomplished via a NepTune management unit that allows for manipulation of the stock ECU. To quench the vast volume of pressurized air, fuel delivery is increased by an Aeromotive A1000 fuel pump and 1600cc/min RC Engineering injectors while spark is amplified by a MSD 7AL-2 ignition using the tried and true OEM Honda spark plug wires as the conduit.
After the motor works were completed, attention was paid to the car's suspension and chassis. Because the car was built for drag, Full Race fabricated a 10-point roll cage and installed their ProAm traction bars for action on the strip. Progress Group coilovers and sway bars further provide stability while Competition Clutch's carbon twin-disc clutch, Axle Systems axles, Quaife LSD, Rota Slipstream wheels, and BF Goodrich G-Force drag radials ensure all the power transfers onto the strip.
Once Geoff was satisfied with the setup, the Civic was sent to Evans Tuning, where Jeff Evans was given the task of tuning the machine. After days of tweaking and adjustments, Jeff was able to coax an astonishing 792 hp with a torque output of 610 lb-ft with the turbo blowing a Katrina-like 41 pounds of boost. Mind you, that's at the wheel without the fly. Corrected for loss, that's close to a 1,000 thunderous ponies neighing at an ear-deafening VTEC screech at the motor. All of which has netted Geoff a quarter-mile trap speed of an astonishing 141 mph, but only an 11.07 second finish-a disparity that's easily explained due to the use of less grippy street tires.