2000 Civic SiR
Discussion
Hello all,
After reading so many posts in this part of the forum, I thought I would post some information about my 2000 Honda Civic SiR track car. I am in Canada, and most of the cars featured in this forum were unavailable to us. When you build a track car here, your options are limited. After having destroyed my 1991 Civic on track in 2004, I decided to stick with Honda, as the cars were reliable and quick. I found this for sale locally:
I bought the car for 1500$. It had no engine or interior and it had been imported from the USA, so it had a combination that was unavailable in Canada: 4-wheel disc brakes with no ABS. I bought the car in late spring and had a mechanic gradually assemble it over the summer as I brought him the parts. He installed a 170 hp Integra engine and we added a diff from a Type R. My plan was to make the car road legal, then add the race bits, including the roll cage.
Here is the car just after its road inspection. The car failed the first time due to various small issues (they were not happy with the coilover suspension) and I passed on the second try the following day.
Shortly thereafter, I had the roll cage installed:
Here is a picture from just before the car's first race, a 3-hour enduro at Watkins Glen in the fall of 2004:
The car had overheating problems, as I had foolishly tried to re-use a head gasket from a previous build. Despite this, we still ended up with a class win. The red and black colour scheme was accidental, as the first parts I found when building the car were black.
In 2005, I entered the car in the local Touring Car series. I managed one top-10 finish, which I considered quite an accomplishment, considering my tiny budget and the fact that I had the only car that was actually driven to events. Here is my favourite photo of the year, at the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres, on a temporary street circuit:
In 2006, I was forced to take a year off for financial reasons (I had gone through a couple of engines in 2005...). In 2007, I financed my racing by renting the car out to friends. One of them decided to have the car painted semi-flat black:
I didn't love the result, but it looked much better with his sponsor's stickers:
We entered several 3-hour enduros with the car from 2007 to 2009. Our best result was a 2nd overall at the 2007 Mosport Sundown Grand Prix. Here is a picture of a driver change at Mosport:
In late 2008, after one too many engine failures, I decided to swap back to an unmodified 1.6 liter twin-cam (B16a) which I bought used for 650$. Since then, the car has been ultra-reliable and cheap to run, if not as fast. Lately, I have been using it at track days and local events. The car has seen many trouble-free miles, and so far, I haven't had any trouble with the police. Here are some more recent pics:
This one was taken a few days ago at a track day at the Circuit du Mont Tremblant
I've been working on converting the car to SCCA Improved Touring specifications so that I can enter longer endurance races in the USA without ending up in the same catch-all class with Vipers and Ferraris. I am 95% done...
After reading so many posts in this part of the forum, I thought I would post some information about my 2000 Honda Civic SiR track car. I am in Canada, and most of the cars featured in this forum were unavailable to us. When you build a track car here, your options are limited. After having destroyed my 1991 Civic on track in 2004, I decided to stick with Honda, as the cars were reliable and quick. I found this for sale locally:
I bought the car for 1500$. It had no engine or interior and it had been imported from the USA, so it had a combination that was unavailable in Canada: 4-wheel disc brakes with no ABS. I bought the car in late spring and had a mechanic gradually assemble it over the summer as I brought him the parts. He installed a 170 hp Integra engine and we added a diff from a Type R. My plan was to make the car road legal, then add the race bits, including the roll cage.
Here is the car just after its road inspection. The car failed the first time due to various small issues (they were not happy with the coilover suspension) and I passed on the second try the following day.
Shortly thereafter, I had the roll cage installed:
Here is a picture from just before the car's first race, a 3-hour enduro at Watkins Glen in the fall of 2004:
The car had overheating problems, as I had foolishly tried to re-use a head gasket from a previous build. Despite this, we still ended up with a class win. The red and black colour scheme was accidental, as the first parts I found when building the car were black.
In 2005, I entered the car in the local Touring Car series. I managed one top-10 finish, which I considered quite an accomplishment, considering my tiny budget and the fact that I had the only car that was actually driven to events. Here is my favourite photo of the year, at the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres, on a temporary street circuit:
In 2006, I was forced to take a year off for financial reasons (I had gone through a couple of engines in 2005...). In 2007, I financed my racing by renting the car out to friends. One of them decided to have the car painted semi-flat black:
I didn't love the result, but it looked much better with his sponsor's stickers:
We entered several 3-hour enduros with the car from 2007 to 2009. Our best result was a 2nd overall at the 2007 Mosport Sundown Grand Prix. Here is a picture of a driver change at Mosport:
In late 2008, after one too many engine failures, I decided to swap back to an unmodified 1.6 liter twin-cam (B16a) which I bought used for 650$. Since then, the car has been ultra-reliable and cheap to run, if not as fast. Lately, I have been using it at track days and local events. The car has seen many trouble-free miles, and so far, I haven't had any trouble with the police. Here are some more recent pics:
This one was taken a few days ago at a track day at the Circuit du Mont Tremblant
I've been working on converting the car to SCCA Improved Touring specifications so that I can enter longer endurance races in the USA without ending up in the same catch-all class with Vipers and Ferraris. I am 95% done...
S3_Graham said:
good work! looks very nice and i bet its great fun to drive.
i guess your near Montreal then?
Indeed, I am in Montreal. I don't have indoor parking though, so I leave my car at my parents' house 30 km away.i guess your near Montreal then?
The car received new suspension last year (800F, 1000R springs with re-valved Koni shocks) and everyone who has driven the car (many people...) agrees that it's a pleasure to drive.
badders said:
Nice story, out of interest what were the engines that were failing? B18c's maybe?
The first failure was a B18c, non-R. The second failure was a crank failure on a B18b block under the B16a head. The third failure was when a valve dropped in another B18c, this one an R. Here is a video of the 2nd engine failure:
http://www.youtube.com/user/civic44#p/u/11/Gyy7dBq...
civic44 said:
badders said:
Nice story, out of interest what were the engines that were failing? B18c's maybe?
The first failure was a B18c, non-R. The second failure was a crank failure on a B18b block under the B16a head. The third failure was when a valve dropped in another B18c, this one an R. Here is a video of the 2nd engine failure:
http://www.youtube.com/user/civic44#p/u/11/Gyy7dBq...
I thought I would post this great photo taken from another car last week:
Also, here is a little in-car video from Mosport, one of Canada's best tracks and former host of the Canadian Grand Prix:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJBXahwZBuc
Also, here is a little in-car video from Mosport, one of Canada's best tracks and former host of the Canadian Grand Prix:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJBXahwZBuc
Edited by civic44 on Tuesday 26th October 04:21
civic44 said:
badders said:
Nice story, out of interest what were the engines that were failing? B18c's maybe?
The first failure was a B18c, non-R. The second failure was a crank failure on a B18b block under the B16a head. The third failure was when a valve dropped in another B18c, this one an R. Here is a video of the 2nd engine failure:
http://www.youtube.com/user/civic44#p/u/11/Gyy7dBq...
Would a K20a be cheap enough to put in there, or a H22?
An H22 is not worth the trouble. It doesn't bolt right in and it's quite heavy. A K20 would be great, and the engine/tranny combo is not too expensive. A proper installation is not cheap, however, as the engine faces the other direction compared to a B-series. Figure 10 000 $ installed... too expensive for me. I have driven a Civic just like mine with a K20 and later with a K24 and the power was simply amazing. It's just not easy to justify the cost. I am considering an Integra Type R B18C, as I can probably get one for less than 2000 $ installed.
Well, here is an update for those interested. Since my last post in 2010, I have been through a couple of different engines: a stock B16, which blew up after a frind mis-shifted to 3rd instead of 5th, a stock B18 Spec R, which eventually lost compression on one cylinder, and now an H23a, the 2.3 liter version of the H22 (available in Japan in certain Accord wagons). I decided that for the cost of rebuilding the B18, I could install the H23. What made the project interesting was a kit that allows you to continue to use the transmission from a B-series engine (this setup is called H2B).
I haven't had much opportunity to test the car out yet, but the numbers on the dyno are encouraging: 214 hub hp and 176 torque, vs 184 and 131 for the old engine. My redline is now 7400 rpm instead of 8400. This should help with the longevity of the transmission (which I was rebuilding every 2 years).
Here are a couple of photos from the past few days.
I hope to soon be able to beat my lap records at my local tracks with this setup. Stay tuned.
I haven't had much opportunity to test the car out yet, but the numbers on the dyno are encouraging: 214 hub hp and 176 torque, vs 184 and 131 for the old engine. My redline is now 7400 rpm instead of 8400. This should help with the longevity of the transmission (which I was rebuilding every 2 years).
Here are a couple of photos from the past few days.
I hope to soon be able to beat my lap records at my local tracks with this setup. Stay tuned.
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