1997 Honda Del Sol Si - Street Level

William Davidson's 1997 Del Sol Si
LA's got a lot of Sol, and I'm not talking about the city of angels. This '97 Del Sol Si is coming straight out of Creole country, draped in good ol' southern flavor. Baton Rouge, LA-based Hybrid Racing has been turning wrenches and producing quality parts for nearly 10 years. "I really wanted an EG or EK, but when I saw this Del Sol, I knew it was a done deal. We were going to make it into a circuit car, cage it, build a motor, and race it. Plans changed though," said owner William Davidson. For those who aren't familiar with Hybrid Racing, they're a "function over form" group of guys who feel more comfortable in the pits than at a car show. However, when this Del Sol arrived, Davidson wanted to do something a little bit different than they're usual purpose-built track attacker. "We don't build show cars, so this car is as close as we'll get to one. It's meant to be a showcase for us and the parts that we produce. We wanted to make something a little more fun; something that we could cruise around with and take to local spots."

The Del Sol arrived via flat bed, and within a day, had been completely stripped to bare metal. A fresh '95-spec JDM front end was ordered to replace the damaged original front end, and the car was quickly sent off to paint. "It was either going to be white or gray since we wanted the bay to be something different. We really wanted the body to be simple so it would direct attention to the bay." With the chassis at paint, Hybrid's resident mad scientist David Cordell got to work on the engine, tearing down the circuit car-sourced K20A2 and stuffing it with Wiseco pistons and Blueprint connecting rods, and polishing the OEM crank shaft. The head was treated to Skunk2 Stage II camshafts with matching Skunk2 Titanium retainers and valve springs before making its way back to the beefed up block. The hot side features a Skunk2 K-swap exhaust manifold, and the cold side is sporting a fully customized Kinsler 57mm individual throttle body setup. The unique injection isn't too common according to David. "Most street cars don't run this setup because they don't fit, and with the velocity stack's height, the hood doesn't close either. They required a ton of customization to work correctly, including moving sensors, shaving the water pump housing, stuff like that." This car was meant to show off Hybrid's skills, so a ton of time was put into hiding all the plumbing work under the ITBs. "It looks like a predator-the underside is wicked."