2004 Honda Fit S - DJ VU - Feature Car

Pump your brakes cuz we're about to stop this magazine for a minute. Pause button's been hit, now we're going to flip on the rewind. We're taking it back-way back. Back a whole decade to the year of '96.

To a time when the initials MJ stood for a "bull" in the entertainment industry, setting NBA records for 72 wins including his fourth championship, and not some self-exiled Bahrain pedophile. The same year hidden explosives rocked the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, GA, setting the tone for a series of rocking import tours that would consequently end in the ATL.

To a time when the only blond musical Simpson sister you cared about was a saxophone-toting eighth-season television vet, Lisa, who was, and still is, far from being a newlywed. And the same year that Tupac took a fateful ride after a Tyson fight in Vegas transcending from a living legend to a lyrical legend of mythological proportions, which, coincidentally was about the time the legend of Super Street began.

Back in October of '96, Super Street both literally and figuratively leaped onto the import scene with its bright and bold cover-a clean-flying yellow DA Integra. The street car represented an era when Hondas dominated the import movement, and was reflective of a time when our scene was still considered underground, an automotive sub-culture at best.

Now let's fast forward, back to '06. Ten years long and strong, and bigger than King-Kong, Super Street's done it again. Same yellow Honda. Same flying stance. Same type of location. Same photographer. Damn near dj vu except for the model-the Fit. Like the Integra ten years before it, the Fit represents where our industry is at now-soaring gas prices and the increasing demand for practical sub-compact cars. So when it came to picking our 120th cover car, to put it succinctly, a Fit, ahem, fit the bill. Particularly a proper fit (puns damn-well intended) like the one in front of you.

Owned and operated by Norman Tong, he knows a thing or two about Hondas. Having performed his first B-Series swap into an EG Civic back in '97-(warning: gratuitous backpatting ahead) thanks to a guide featured in this very same magazine-Norman was soon running 11s in the quarter-mile during the late 90s, all while working towards a degree at UC Berkeley. Upon graduating, Norman fulfilled one of three lifelong goals by taking his book knowledge degree and mixing it with his masters in street smarts, and opened up N1 Concepts out in San Francisco. After he hit his elusive second goal last year, a 10 second run down the drag strip, the last item on his lifetime achievement agenda was to build a car that would be Super Street cover worthy.

Experience at Berkeley taught Norman to think outside the box in order stay ahead of the curve, which often meant hours of research and studying. In the case of the tuning market, the body of work to read up on lied across the body of water known as the Pacific-the trend-setting land of Japan. Peering and often leering through Japanese magazines and videos, Norman noticed a reoccurring theme-B spec cars. The streets appeared teeming with tuned sub-compact vehicles unavailable in the States. Being a fanatic from the house of H, Norman saw nothing more fitting (another pun damn-well intended) than building a Fit. "I saw the popularity of the Fit overseas in Japan and saw the enormous potential for the car in the US market," Norman explains, "I believe this car will bring back a resurgence of something similar to the EG/DC2 era for Honda enthusiasts."

Having nominated the Fit as a viable candidate , like a diapered kid with uncontrollable diarrhea, Norman couldn't wait for Honda to launch it Stateside. Luckily for Norman, he had Koji, a buddy over in Osaka, Japan, find a tip-top yellow '04 Honda Fit S to ship to his shop. The minute the car cleared customs and landed into Norman's eager hands, he had his boys at N1 yank the frail and feeble Screech-like 1.5L motor out so they could figure out how to shoehorn in a bigger and buffer AC Slater-ish K20. "The engine bay is a real 'tight Fit' [see, I'm not the only one with puns!] so it took a lot of convincing to get the K20 to sit in there without having to cut," Norman explains. "It was difficult to do the swap without any manuals and a lot of components needed to be customized as they aren't interchangeable like other Honda swaps."

With deductive powers rivaling that of Sherlock Holmes, once Norman and his Watson-like N1 crew figured out the mystery of a swap, they stuffed the hood with a pre-prepped K20 loaded with BLOX prototype cams, valve springs, retainers, and cam sprockets. Opting for a N/A route, a TWM 52mm individual throttle body setup complete with four Bosch injectors, TWM fuel rail and carbon fiber velocity stacks is aimed forward with marksman-like precision at the cool air coming in from the front grille. Freeing up the exhaust side is a custom Golden Auto dual muffler and 4-1 headers from Midnight Performance.

Although N1 Concepts got the motor to fit in the Fit like a glove, the team still had the task to get the Honda to run. As with most custom swaps, the stock axles and shift linkage didn't line up, so custom axles and shift kit had to be fabricated. The final hurdle was finding a compatible steering rack shaft that would work on the newly equipped Fit. After some good ol' fashioned trial and error, Norman found that a modified rack from an RSX did the job. After slapping on a stock Type-R LSD and a Clutch Master twin disc clutch, the K setup to put down a respectable 253hp to the wheels at 7,800 rpm-that's all VTEC motor, mind you.

With the complicated K20 swap completed, Norman had the Fit's stock suspension, ahem, retrofitted with prototype N1 antiroll bars and coilovers, and then slammed the car 3-inches closer to the ground. With stock OEM rear disc brakes, the stoppers were left stock, however the 4-wheel JDM disc brakes now slow lightweight 17x7 bronze Volk CE28s shod in Toyo RA1 tires.

The biggest hit on the Fit has to be the new outfit (OK, I'll stop now)-a KFC jumbo bucket-like 22-piece Type D widebody kit from N1 that's more than finger lickin' good. Karry from, you guessed it, Karry's Collision was burdened with theresponsibility of molding all 22 components and spraying the tiny, yet wider mass the stock Spa Yellow. After the bodywork was completed, Joel at Import Trix added subtle graphics to finish off the new exterior.

On the interior, the Fit rocks the stock, rarer-than-a-hymen-intact-import-model, Phoenix Yellow Recaro SRD seats out of a DC2 Type-R Integra, as well as a DC5 Type-R Momo shift knob and steering wheel. A Gathers Double-Din Navigational head unit and speakers pumps out the latest J-Pop, and in case Norman's friends should feel the urge to rock out to the latest Final Fantasy soundtrack, the OEM JDM tint'll hide his flush-with-embarrassment face.

Satisfied with the results, Norman debuted one of the first privately owned US Fits at a local show. Fate working in mysterious ways as she does, Jonny and I so happened to attend the same show, and after seeing the Fit, went on a mission stormin' for Norman like he was holding onto WMDs. Anniversary issue in mind, Norman ended up not only accomplishing his third goal, but landed on the cover of what we think-scratch that-what will be a historic ten-year milestone. A, cough, fitting ending to a, ahem, fitting car.

Fast Facts
'04 Honda Fit SOwner
Norman Tong

Hometown
San Francisco, CA

Daily Grind
Importer and seller of fine JDM goods

Power
256 hp @ 7,800; 181 lb-ft torque @ 6,300

Under The Hood
Blox prototype camshafts, valve springs, retainers, cam gears; Bosch injectors; TWM 52mm individual throttle bodies; carbon fiber velocity stacks, fuel rail; custom Golden Auto 2.5-inch exhaust with dual mufflers; Midnight Performance 4-1 headers

Drivetrain
Custom axles; Integra Type-R LSD; N1 custom fabricated shift kit; Clutch Masters twin disc clutch

Stiff Stuff
N1 prototype coilovers, antiroll bars

Rollers
17x7 Volk Racing CE28; Toyo RA1 205/40ZR17 tires

Outside
N1 Type D widebody kit; Spa Yellow paint; Import Trix graphicsInside Recaro SRD seats; Momo shift knob; Type-R shift knob

ICE
Gathers Navigation Double-Din head unit, speakers

Props
Thanks to Jeff Morales for all his help; the awesome crew and friends of N1 (Johnny, Ryan, Felix, Kenneth, Rich, Eric, Vince, Bach); Dimensional1 Racing for all the support; Koji for finding us this car; Rob for all his engineering and machining expertise; Karry's Collision Center for the awesome job with the paint and body; BLOX for the great products; TWM Induction for the individual throttle bodies; Clutch Masters; Warren at Midnight Performance for the fabrication work; Joel at Import Trix for the logos; and finally, go Bears!

WWW n1motoring.com; dimensional1.com; bloxracing.com; twminduction.com; clutchmasters.com; midnightperformance.com; importtrix.com;mackinindustries.com; toyo.com