Things have been busy around the Super Street headquarters for the past few months. Yes, its that time of year againno, not the annual Super Street Chili Cook-Off/Belly Dancer Bonanza, but the Tour 2001, which unlike the CC/BD Bonanza is more than a lame figment of our imagination.
The South Leg of the Tour will kick off at Hurricane Power Racing in Miamithe home of this very lean, very mean, and very green Civic hot hatch. HP Racing is no stranger to things Super Street. The aftermarket parts manufacturer joined us at our recent Spring Break Tuner Bash, which is where we snapped these pics.
The car is owned by HP Racing marketing director Frank Pasquis and, given this little bit of info, it doesnt take a genius to figure out that the Civic was outfitted with the entire HP Racing catalog. Lucky brat. Everything from the intake to the shift knob wears the HP badge. Not quite powered by a hurricane, but close.
Extra power topped the mod list, so out went the stock Civic D15 motor as Frank swapped in a 1.6L B16 from a 92 J-spec Civic SiR. Then, to provide maximum horsepower and torque, he added a Cyclone cold air intake and tunable MSX-I exhaust (both from HP). A 4-2-1 race header was also installed to accompany the exhaust with a nice, deep rumble. Then, the car was taken to Tony at T-Bone Performance in Miami who ported and polished the intake manifold. Other goodies that went under the hood were HPs Ultra-Lite cam gears and high flow fuel rail, NGK spark plugs, and Jacobs 8.5mm spark plug wires. Finally, the engine was dressed nicely with a kit from Doken.
After the engine was assembled, Frank called T-Bone Performance to help install a 94 del Sol tranny on the Civic and a short throw shifter kit from HP. The car was also lowered a couple of inches and its ride height was tweaked with HP Racings Gen2 24-way adjustable coilovers. The factory wheels were replaced by 18-inch HP Racing Lightnings, then wrapped in Toyos to ensure a grippier ride. The rollers come to a smooth but sudden halt with braking power from Stage 2 brakes up front and prototype brakes out back.
On the inside, there are even more HP badged items such as Indiglow gauges, a two-tone steering wheel, Chrome Dome shifter knob, and Pro Race pedals. The ICE is kept low key yet powerful with an M600 Sony head unit and CD player, and the tunes are delivered via ten-inch Bazooka amplified subs and three-way Rockford Fosgate speakers.
It took a lot of time and patience for Frank to be completely satisfied with the final result. And judging by the look on his face at Spring Break, it was evident that he was definitely pleased with the little hatch. Are there more HP Racing products on the way? Unfortunately, we dont have the answer to that question, but you can find out if you come on the Tour to hang out with Frank and the rest of the HP crew.