Kaizen Tuning LLC

The Background:   This car was a theft recovery that the customer wanted to restore to prime condition. The owner loved the car, but was heartbroken because it was supposed to have an LS/VTEC swap performed by another shop, but thieves broke in and stole the head, and left the rest of the car a mess.   They ripped the head off, left head stud damage to the B18B block, ruined the wiring in the car, broke a motor mount, and made everything a real mess.  The other shop kept the car for almost 2 years, never finished the work, and it has been rotting ever since.  The pictures on the left are when the car was dropped off on a trailer – WOW, right?

The Plan: The owner has always dreamed of having an Integra Type-R engine put in his car, for daily driven naturally aspirated all-motor fun and power.   I put together a package for him that gave him a great hot-street setup:  1998 JDM B18C Type-R engine, Toda Spec-B cams, Toda springs, Toda Timing Belt, Ti-retainers, RC 440 injectors, custom header, and a custom tune yielding nice strong 200whp with a 9500rpm rev limiter.  We also added a full length radiator, fuel system, traction bars, HAsport mounts, new wiring harness, and entire front end to the car.  It’s fun now, and sounds like an absolute beast.

Current Status: Right now we are finishing up assembly of the car which includes a 99-00 Civic Si front end conversion.  New sheet metal hood, fenders, bumper, headlights, and fog lights.  I’m really happy we got rid of the big ricer front end, and went with something a lot more traditional.  Last weekend the HID headlight and foglights went in, it looks clean now.

Kaizen for the Future: We’re still going.  In the near future we will be doing a full suspension upgrade, brake upgrade, rear disc conversion, bushing replacement, and exhaust installation.  With my last Civic, I got pretty smooth at taking off the entire control arm, pressing out the old bushings (or cutting / burning out the nasty ones) and refinishing the surface.  This involved Ballotini bead-blasting the surfaces down to raw metal with 100-120psi of compressor power in a large blast cabinet.  Immediately priming the arms, and enamel-dipping them so they look factory fresh.  New energy suspension or custom bushings are pressed back in, and the finished assembly is WAY stronger and tighter than factory parts.  Ready for high performance abuse.

Here’s how the looks now – not bad eh?  I’ll update it again once we get it back together.

If you have made it this far, thanks for reading this article.  Drop me an email if you have any questions.  Thanks -Brian