To build a hatchback fit for print and worthy of praise, following all the proper steps, using caution and taking a scientific approach, if you will, are all but requisite. Methodical planning is almost always necessary too, ensuring that the car purchased and the proposed mod's will ultimately agree with one another. Setting aside an ample amount of time and adequate financial resources are equally important.
Screw that. This project car buildup for Hacienda Heights, California, resident Jovito La Victoria was spawned from nothing more than a whim and is arguably better for it.
It was 2003 when La Victoria first laid eyes on his '96 Civic CX hatchback. He tells us the car was covered in primer and played host to more than a few "holes and dings.
"I didn't buy the car planning on fixing it up," La Victoria says of the EK he just couldn't pass up. "I bought it on a whim."
Already preoccupied with two other long-term buildups (a 2003 Civic Si and a 2005 Scion XB), and understandably not wanting to take on another project, La Victoria says he planned to leave the hatchback untouched.
As time passed, the hatchback proved nothing short of timeworn. Mechanical failures and broken parts became predictable occurrences and the exterior appeared more embarrassing each day, La Victoria explains. Still lacking intent on forging the CX into anything other than a daily-driven commuter ride, La Victoria dropped the car off at Monterey Park Auto Body for a makeover. The plan was basic: transform his ride into less of an eyesore, cover up the parking-lot-primer job and rid the body of its war-zone persona. But when La Victoria picked up the freshly painted hatchback, visions of a new project car buildup soon clouded his head.
The glistening of the freshly applied Integra Type R Championship White paint was too much for La Victoria, and the desire to complement the rest of the car to match overtook him. He first turned to the factory-supplied D-series, which he decided, with little persuasion, had to go. He turned to the folks at GTR Performance in La Habra, California, for an engine swap. La Victoria soon settled on the idea of a JDM Integra Type R engine transplant, and had his eye on one B18C in particular. GTR Performance had a fully functional, '96 Type R for sale but, to La Victoria's dismay, we're not interested in parting engine from chassis. Undeterred, La Victoria waited months until a fellow customer-one interested in the chassis alone-came along and left all but body and frame for him.
With the help of a Hasport engine mount kit, the technicians at GTR Performance fitted the B18C into La Victoria's EK, along with the Type R's transmission, suspension and brakes. Elegant Motorsports of Burbank, California, hooked La Victoria up with a set of special-order Volk Racing Gram Light wheels, while Robear Racing of Upland, California, outfitted the EK with a host of suspension add-ons, including their own chassis strengthening bars and a set of TEIN Super Street coilovers. La Victoria says it took nearly six months to get the rims, but adds, "like the engine, they were worth the wait.