As is usually the case, the 9 psi of boost soon felt like two and it was time to increase the beast's boost. "At 2 a.m., while trying to tune the car out to a nice even 15psi, and fighting boost leaks and wavering from 18 to 15psi all night, I attempted to simulate the car being on the road with cool air coming across it," says Kordenbrock. "So like Joe Dirt, I took a nitrous bottle (mind you we have been doing this in a not-so-well ventilated room for about four hours) and sprayed while the car was doing a pull, not realizing I was spraying right into the turbo the car leaned out and POP, Bang! Cylinder sleeves cracked and pistons were shot, the turbo was DOA too."
"Within a day I had the motor out and stripped. The following month would seem like forever as I waited for Golden Eagle to install some Godzilla Sleeves and D&D Race Engines/Services to clean, balance, and machine the block and rotating assembly. Over the fall and into winter, I bought parts that I thought would be good for the new build; a fresh Precision turbo, ACT clutch, JE pistons, new pumps and all that good stuff to rebuild the motor.
"I also picked up a set of 750cc/min injectors for the additional boost I planned to throw at it. There are a lot of smart and helpful people on honda-tech.com and I give a lot of props to them for supporting this culture and the honest, true people involved in it. Finally back on the dyno, Rick, our tuner at Raceline Tuning, started to play with the car and got a nice 360 hp to the wheels on 15 psi of boost, thanks to the Precision turbo, which I find fascinating and extremely efficient. The GM boost solenoid I was using in part with the AEM ECU managed boost quite well, keeping levels steady."
"We did a pump-gas tune at 20 psi and pulled 426-wheel hp out of it on a semi-conservative tune. Stoked as ever, we added racing fuel (C16) with the same amount of boost and got 456-wheel hp. Not bad for mild boost levels."
With Kordenbrock's ride later pumping out 456-wheel hp on race gas, one might think that he and his would Civic go on to live happily ever after...right? Not so much. "I decided to take a trip to Chicago for the Hot Import Nights show, which I attend annually now," says Kordenbrock. "On the way home I was blessed with parts failure on my turbo manifold. This happened right as we got out of Indianapolis. The forth runner on my SSAutochrome (SSAutocrap) decided to fall off almost entirely. So here we are, in Indy and I have to drive this thing home on 3 cylinders with a top speed of 50 mph. I put an order in for a One-Fab turbo manifold and, after the manifold arrived, I started to bust-ass again and made a new downpipe, 3-inches this time, and dumptube for it. I got it done just in time to hit up Kil-Kare's Import Showdown in Dayton, just north of Cincinnati, for some fun in the hot-ass heat of July. I trapped my best mph at 20 psi (tuned again at 409-wheel hp and 310 lb-ft of torque, I believe), dropping a 12.23 e.t. at 125.51 mph, and finished third in the Quick 8. The manifold and downpipe yielded a lot more torque and keep boost a lot flatter than the old SSAutocrap."
So Kordenbrock scored a podium finish and he and his red barn-stormer lived happily ever after...right? Not so much. "I headed down to another local track and the hot, hot heat in August helped the motor take another crap, due partially to windage in the oil pan which created air pockets in the oil lines, thus creating a knocking sound. After tearing the motor apart, I found, to my surprise, no spun rods; but two were discolored to the `nth' degree. So, new rods and pistons were installed. This time around, I went with a 9:1 compression ratio. I later ran an 11.98 at 119 mph on 16 psi, then noticed that the clutch was acting up again. I pulled the trans and sure enough, it was eaten alive. I am in the process of getting a sponsorship from Competition Clutch and one of their twin-disc race set-ups that are totally re-buildable and reasonable in price."