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SHINE ON.

HISTORY :

i bought my civic back in november, 1997. it was to be the second car i have owned, and i am still driving it. my first car was my first introduction to honda - and it was a 1984 honda civic, 1500cc single carb, manual transmission, obligatory acid-rain eaten red paint, rusting away. this car started it all. it was bought for me at the end of 1995, by my good parents, and came with 13" 5-star CSA alloys, 175/70R13 Hankook snow tyres, black plastic bumpers, faded to almost pink paint, and a cigarette tray full of ash and crap. but it was mine. before this i had learnt to drive in mum's steady 1991 5speed Corona wagon, which was replaced with a chunky 1995 Corona Sedan, unfortunately an auto, but it was a good solid car and was the last of the Corona's before Toyota phased them out. i began university in 1996 and the red civic was my daily ride.

i began like most i guess, not knowing much about the car in general. but i soon learned. the 1500 motor was a solid performer, and i soon found it revved happily to the 6000rpm redline, making smooth power, and was a joy to drive - enough for a kid like me. modifications were limited to aesthetics - i 'reupholstered' the interior, including door trims and seats, gear knob, and new paint on the worn alloys, but the main focus was a new stereo, amp and subwoofer package that took priority over performance, and started my adventures in car audio. (it was a Sanyo(?) cassette reciever, Hifonics 4ch amp, JBL speakers, and a mighty Cerwin Vega XL12 sub in a ported box. i still have that box i built, it now houses two Denon 12's and serves duty in my room with its own Technics amp)

However the civic's engine remained mostly stock, and was kept in good running order by what i learned about regular oil and filter changes. but the body rust was building, and in mid 1997 it was decided to flog it off. some chick bought it for regular trips from auckland to hamilton - and i never saw it on the road again. i have yet to chance upon photographs of this car - they will definitely be posted if i do find them. by now the shape and style of the car was firmly in my head, and i saw big things possible from its styling, even tho it was one of the most common cars on the road. i liked the shape of the car so much, that my next car was to be exactly the same - albeit this time, the top model of its era. after searching high and low for an example in good condition, a private sale saw me drive away with a then-pristine looking 86 civic, bone stock, a company car when registered in NZ in 1992, then 2 lady owners, then me. again i cant believe i dont have photos of the car when it was newly purchased. but this time i had a much better idea on what to do to get it a bit more individualized.

The car rolled around stock for a few months before the first changes were made. a new steering wheel and a drastically shortened shifter (old shifter position felt like it was a 2ft long pole making you feel you were operating a bus!) were the first mods, then a Jamex freeflowing filter in the factory airbox was fashioned, together with a cold air duct right from the front bumper. this was the beginning of the process of stripping and binning many factory parts of the engine. all intake resonators and trunking were binned - new air intake was directed right into the airbox, improving top end, and releasing the great honda induction noise that seemed to make the car twice as fast. i quickly realised the appeal of a color coded exterior, so then all black trim including the factory chin spoiler were color coded white. this made a surprisingly big impact on its appearance on the road, its 'recognizability' factor largely upped. the standard steel wheels were put aside and i found some 14" alloys second hand after a long period of searching for something affordable. then, after getting an invaluable haynes workshop manual, i attacked the suspension and brought everything alot closer to the tarmac. torsion bar suspension is wonderful.

these arere the earliest photos i have found so far, of the car - circa 1998. most of my money had gone into my primary passion at the time - car audio. by then i had accquired a top of the line JVC cassette reciever, 12disc changer, another amp (soundstream reference 700s) and two soundstream 15" SPL15 subs. already i had discovered the entire underground street racing scene and had started to make an impact on fellow enthusiasts, more for the volume of sound coming from the tiny hatch, and from the increasing number of car audio competitions i had attended and somehow won.

things stayed mostly the same thru 1999, other than the addition of further exhaust mods and various toys being added for the fuel and ignition side of things. all the sketches and concept plans made in uni for body kits, engine mods, and the like, were slowly breaking away from being fiction. a string of soundoffs and SPL events culminated in the car entering the 1999 new zealand fours and rotary nationals, and winning the competition with a consistant 144/145db output.

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VISIT :

▪ NIZAN DRIFT & DRAG PERFORMANCE CLUB /WEBSITE/ /FORUM/

▪ NEW ZEALAND HONDA CLUB /WEBSITE/ /FORUM/

▪ EMPEG OWNERS WORLDWIDE /WEBSITE/ /FORUM/

▪ SELECTED MEET PICS, AS THERE ARE UPLOADED

▪ ENGINE & TURBO INSTALLATION PICS

▪ SHORT VIDEO CLIP OF THE CAR IN ACTION

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