Don't get us wrong; Hernandez is no stranger to the Honda world, this being his fourth Civic and all. Although this car already had a B18C1 engine swap when he bought it, the package needed some polishing. While his plans for the engine bay weren't huge, he still needed to enlist some outside help. This meant he needed to build some alliances back home in Arizona, which proved to be difficult and almost killed Hernandez's dream.
"The scene out here in Arizona was pretty crappy back then," he recalls. "I couldn't meet anyone who was into Hondas, which was a problem because I needed help from some wrench heads to give me advice and help out. Everyone I met was either too cocky or too immature. I had lost faith in the Honda crowd. So, I decided to sell my beloved hatch.
Searching for the best place to sell his ride, Hernandez stumbled across the AZHT.net message board. A collection of Arizona-based Honda enthusiasts, the forum was the link to the local Honda heads he needed so badly. While he says he was impressed with the level of knowledge the members showed, he just wanted to sell his car, nothing more. After posting an ad he was overwhelmed with feedback, receiving nearly 20 comments on the first day. Ranging from "Where the hell has that thing been hiding-don't sell it," to "I'll give you $20 to come over and hump that thing," nearly everyone told him to keep it. While the positive feedback made him all happy and tingly inside, it wasn't enough to convince him to keep the car.
"I was still in my 'screw it, I'm selling' mode and the car was sold a couple of weeks later," Hernandez says. "As I watched my car drive away, I thought to myself 'what the hell did I just do?' I almost felt like crying, but it was gone." Although the Civic was long gone, Hernandez still stalked the AZHT.net forums and started to meet a bunch of new local Honda people.
"All of these dudes are very cool," he says, "they love their Hondas, always meet up to take pics and talk about racing. I was getting my motivation and inspiration-and I needed a car.
Hernandez was once again in search of the cleanest EG hatch around. Nothing really tickled his fancy until he found one just like his gold Civic, only this one wasn't golden. He was ready to buy, but the car gods had other plans.
"The kid told me that he was going out of town and I could pick the car up on Monday... I was so excited," he recalled. "So I called him back on Monday to find out that after I left, he sold the car to someone else. I was pissed."
Little did that punk kid know he was actually doing Hernandez a huge favor by screwing him over. In a beautiful twist of fate, when Hernandez returned to Arizona, he read on AZHT that the owner of his old Civic was ready to move on to another car... and luckily, Hernandez still had the funds to snatch it up. The star-crossed lovers were united once again.
As soon as he had it back in his garage, Hernandez got right to work. Keeping with the OEM/JDM theme, he installed a JDM center console, armrest, Si gauge cluster and a new set of Volk Racing CE28N's. Almost on a whim, he decided to try his luck at Hot Import Nights, and although he didn't think he stood a chance, he decided to give it his all. But that meant he still needed to tackle the engine and it's compartment. With the help of his new AZHT buddies, he began where he previously left off.