When I first started getting into Hondas, I started out naturally aspirated. I bought a 95 Acura four-door GS-R as a beginner. I was running bolt-ons at the time, but I only had one problem: the weight. Me, Im a pretty heavy guy, so the combined weight of me with the car was about 2,800 lbs. I ran it all the time and the best I could run with that car was low 14s. I decided, rather than put so much into the Integra, I should just give it to my wife and get myself a little hybrid. This was four years ago. Now I know what youre thinking big deal right? For the West Coast, yes, but for East Coasters like myself it was pretty nonexistent. At least in New York it was.
What I did was I bought a car, a Civic CX, that I found in the ads. It already had a GS-R motor installed into it, and slowly, but surely, a lot of the parts that I had on the Integra made their way into the Civic. I fixed all the wiring that was installed incorrectly from the previous owner and tuned it the right way with help from the Internet, specifically the Honda Hybrid Web page (hybrid.honda-perf.org). I ran a best of 14.34 at 100.03 mph, which was the fastest that Id run in any car. After a while, I started thinking I was tired of the all- motor scene because I would basically fall back into what I was doing with the Integra. That was when I decided to go turbo.
I started selling parts from my VW days to buy everything that I needed to complete my turbo kit. In the meantime, I used performance parts that would not compromise my building the turbo. I met Nino at AXZ Tuning and ran his header because I knew that I could sell it off later when the time came. I found a Type R head, which I knew would lower the compression anyway, and I ran it all-motor. With that setup (GS-R block mated with a Type R head), I was able to pull out a 13.49-second run at the track. On the dyno, the car was putting down 177hp to the wheels. So as you can see, at this early stage, it made good power. At that point, I almost had all the parts that I needed to complete the buildup, so I tore the motor down at Rampage and began the process.
With guidance from AXZ and Rampage, it took me four months to get things done the right way. I wasnt simply opening the motor to put in new pistons and rods, but I also took the time to get it machined, O-ring the head, and use a thicker copper head gasket. At the test and tuning stage, I ran the car without any engine management because I didnt want to have to deal with too many variables at one time. Instead, I wanted to see what made power, what didnt, and how I could improve on it. When I brought the car to the track for the first time after it had been turbo-charged, it ran slower than it did when it was naturally aspirated. Once I put the DFI and bigger injectors in, Rafael at DRT helped me tune it. It finally dyno-tested at 404 hp at the wheels with even more room for improvement. I knew then and there that I had built it the right way.
So what about the name Frog? Well, ever since I started this project, Ive always wanted to make sure the car looked good, and I always liked the Wings West bumper. So I put it on. A friend who would come with me to the tracks to videotape would say, Whats with this animal thing? It looks almost frog-like. So thats how the name came about. People in the stands began to label it as the Frog because it fit the profile so well. The way I launched off the line. Man, youd think it was like a leaping frog.