Trial & Terror - 2000 Honda Civic SI

If there's one truth to life, it's that we leave this world the same as we enter it-with nothing. No matter how valuable the fruits of our labors reward us in our lifetime, how cherished our memories, or how great our accomplishments, all are equally useless come our passing, unless they are used to influence others. Therefore, it stands to reason that the only relevant pursuit in life is that of truth-to learn as much from our experiences as possible, and to communicate our knowledge to others so that they may further build upon it. Bottom line is: A life apart from learning and teaching is a life wasted.

The kick in the pants is that no lesson in life comes easily. In fact, the importance of life's lessons seems to grow proportionately to how painfully they are learned. This principle of "learning the hard way" is especially applicable to sport compact endeavors. The unfortunate people (myself included) who have fought to rescue a project-turned-money pit from its unwavering descent into disaster know how quickly things can become frustrating and expensive. Just one trip down this road may be enough to turn some off the tuning scene altogether, but the brave few who choose to stay the course will eventually be rewarded with knowledge, come success or failure. After all, the logic behind trial and error is that, ideally, we learn from our failures and build upon our successes.

Enter Diamond Bar, Calif., resident and sales representative for Mackin Industries Phillip Phong. Like most of us, Phong's initial tuning projects came from humble roots and followed the well-trodden paths forged by his peers before him. Phong used his friend's advice and suggestions to gain experience in modifying Hondas. What intrigued Phong the most about sport compacts was that they could be made to perform better in all areas with comparatively little effort-all while retaining their streetability. In 2000, Phong drove to a local Honda dealership in one of his previous projects, and away in a new SI coupe. With its stateside DOHC VTEC bump in power, the SI was exactly what he'd been waiting for. Phong applied the tried and true methods of Honda modification he had learned over the years to his latest platform almost immediately. Over time, the typical recipe didn't satisfy his hunger as it had before, rather, only served to whet his appetite for more. It was clear to Phong he would no longer be content following in others' footsteps-he had to forge a new path.

A friend, working as a developmental technician for GReddy, offered Phong a complimentary turbo kit, if he would lend his car to the facility for R&D in return. Phong agreed, and before he knew it, was enjoying a newly boosted ride before becoming sidelined at a street race with a blown motor the result of over-lean combustion from Phong's affinity for running more boost than the kit was designed for. "It was my fault," he says in retrospect, "they told me not to turn it up that high, but I did it anyway." Several months, and several thousands of dollars later, Phong expanded the SI's fuel delivery capabilities, and took another crack at boost, only to have a connecting rod crack put him out of commission for yet another few months. Determined not to be beaten, Phong would give boost another go before nearly throwing in the towel altogether. At the time of his third mechanical disappointment, Phong was gradually becoming more and more involved with street and road racing and seriously doubting whether the boosted route would lead him to realize his dream of a tuner "daily double"-the combination of a daily driver and weekend racer. Coincidentally, most of the racers he was competing against weren't fielding boosted cars; they favored the more consistent, linear power curve of naturally aspirated engines, which gave them more of the low-end power crucial to road racing. "And amazingly, their engines seemed to be a little more reliable," Phong says. "Many of them raced with what they drove to the track in and were winning the races."

"I knew Jeff as a reliable engine builder from years ago when he was with Atomik," explains Phong, speaking of Jeff Schaefer of Import Builders, "so naturally he was my first choice for building a reliable motor." Schaefer's conversations and experiences with fellow racers had convinced him to try the N/A route. Phong had Schaefer press a set of Golden Eagle sleeves, to accommodate new 12.5:1 compression Wiseco pistons mated to Import Builders' own billet connecting rods, into the B20 block that would be the bottom half of his first naturally aspirated engine. The addition of a balanced OEM ITR crankshaft completed the major rotating assembly of the bottom end, and Phong was left with the task of having to arrange a similar plan of attack on the top end.

When searching for a specialist to build his B16 head, Phong was referred to Elton Lo of Raceline Development in Temple City, Calif., time and time again. Understanding Phong's desires to open the head up substantially, but not enough to kick daily driving and reliability to the curb, Lo recommended the addition of Skunk2 Pro 1 cams to serve as the backbone of a streetable, yet potent, build. Porting and polishing to increase the airflow demanded by the new bumpsticks, Elton increased the diameter of the intake valves by 1mm, and the exhaust by half, to accept oversized Supertech valves. Held in place by their titanium retainers, Portflow double valve springs were employed to ensure the B16's rockers adhere to the surface of the aforementioned cams at high RPM, while Skunk2 cam gears keep all the soldiers marching to the same beat. With the engine capable of moving copious amounts air, the surrounding components of the induction system had to follow suit. On the clean side, the combination of a Skunk2 intake manifold, 70mm RPM Service throttle body and an Injen intake give exactly what a modified cylinder head needs to reach its full potential, while outbound airflow aft is channeled away by JDM ITR headers and into a modified GReddy Evo 2 exhaust. Of course, an increase in airflow must be matched by a proportional increase in fuel delivery, so the engine can survive and power can be made. Phong's solution became the addition of four RC engineering injectors fed by a Walbro pump, controlled by the tried and true Hondata S100, and fine tuned by a B&M fuel pressure regulator.