IMPORT MAKEOVER, ROW - IMPORTS

We've got a bodybuilding program that'll turn this hapless Honda into a handsome hot rod

today on horsepower TV, sport compacts are hot and here to stay, but not just for racing. We'll give AC Rx an amazing makeover with a cool body kit, a

radical rear wing and a lowering kit for a cool stance.

In our race of the week, we'll head to Florida for an annual event of nine second front wheel drive racing,

tricked out import show cars and even some two wheel thrills.

So hang on for horsepower TV.

Hi, welcome to horsepower TV.

Years ago, the term hot rod conjured up images of cars like our 32 3 window coupe here.

But today for a whole new generation, well, having a hot rod could mean something like this 96 Honda Accord coupe.

And while there's a large selection of speed parts for the sport compacts, well, like most of us today's generation wants to look good while going fast. That's right. And the way they're doing it is by adding spoilers and ground effects, slamming the suspension and bolting on a big set of wheels and tires.

Now, other tricks include the billet grill and clear lens covers. And I really like the way the owners color match the wiper arms and the cow cover.

Well, nowadays you can pick up a sport compact like this 91 crx at an affordable price. And then with a little cash and a lot of imagination

transform it into a slick little streeter that turns heads while you turn tires. In fact, that's our mission today

where there are almost as many body kits as there are cars to Bolte

on who in fact, some car models have several to choose from. Now, we could have started with this wild shogun kit from a

bee. It's got the huge openings filled with steel mesh grills and the radical styling that'll separate you from just about any crowd, but check this out, it's made from fiberglass. So the manufacturer recommends that it be installed only by a professional shop

since it's fiberglass, bumping a curb or bottoming out could be a major repair job.

So a better choice might be their urethane kit, not as radical but a lot more durable. Now, in addition to the front air dam, it comes with the side skirts and the rear balance. Now, you can install all of them at home with a few simple tools, namely screwdriver drill and a few wrenches. Well, I'm ready to start spinning those wrenches. But first, let's get the crx up in the air on Jack Stan and we get rid of the wheels and tires. Good deal.

No.

Now, before we do any drilling, we need to make sure everything's gonna fit properly. So we'll position this front air dam, make sure it wraps around the wheel wells properly. Now, you also wanna check the grill opening and the contour of the bumper lip here to make sure everything fits up. All right.

And man, I gotta tell you we're looking good here.

Then go ahead and drill the hose for your sheet metal screws.

Then using a marker, make an outline of the new air dam.

That way you can properly clean all the contact areas on the vehicle

as well as on the air down.

Finally apply the double sided tape that comes with the kit to the air dam.

Then just peel off the backing

starting at one wheel, well, secure the air down with a couple of screws

before you move on to the other wheel. Well,

once the screws are tight, firmly, press the air down to attach it to the face of the bumper cover.

Finally secured the air down to the bumper cover lip using the 10 millimeter boats from the kit.

All right there it is.

What do you think? Hey, this thing's looking great and already this Honda has got a whole new attitude. Sure does. Now, the side skirts and the rear valance attach in pretty much the same way as that front air dam. But first, we need to remove the stock rocker trim.

Well,

this kitcher install is easy

and it uses most of the stock hardware.

The final piece to our air boonie body kit is the rear wing. Now we'll start the installation by first inserting these plastic guides into the mounting holes.

Then once the wing is positioned on the hatch,

you can go ahead and tape the guides down,

then we can go ahead and lift the wing

leaving the guides in place. Now, with our holes perfectly marked. All we have to do is drill them

for that last screw, how to get it.

All right. Wait to wing it there, partner.

That's gonna do it for our bodybuilding exercise. But we got a lot more in store for this slick little Crx right after the break.

We've got a line on some serious sport compact competition. We head to West Palm Beach Florida later on horsepower TV.

Hey, welcome back to the shop and our Crx Street fighter build up. Well, we've got the body kit and the wing bolted on and, well, now I guess it's time to slam that suspension.

You know, there's a direct correlation between the generation gap and your tired offender gap and there's no doubt about it. Us young guys like them low.

Now, we wanna drop our CRX by about an inch and a half using these speed tech springs from suspension techniques.

Now they're progressively wound, which means they're tighter down here at the bottom than they are at the top. And what that'll do is give us a more compliant ride

under most driving conditions than when the driving conditions get a little more aggressive. Well, they tighten right up.

They're also powder coated to keep them looking good for a long time.

Yeah, I agree with everything you said,

except that young man

anyway, to complement our new street stance, we're gonna swap out the stock sway bars for these that we also got from suspension techniques.

Now, in addition to being larger, the front bar here uses urethane bushings at both the end links and the mouses and check this out.

The rear bar uses spherical rod ends for a solid hook up and the capability of adjusting preload. Well, now let's check on Chuck and see how he's doing. Getting that suspension apart

start by removing the brake hose, clamps

and the damper pinch bulk,

the fork boat comes out next.

Then the fork drops right out

in the engine compartment, remove the upper flange nuts.

Then by pulling down

and out

the coil over, shock comes out as one piece.

Well, back here, we've got to remove this panel to get to the top of the strut.

Then after popping out this rubber cap here,

we can access the nuts that hold the strut in place.

Then from underneath, use a floor jack to support the rear suspension at the control arm

and lord of the jack

and remove the strut.

Now, with this rear strut out, we need to take all of them down to our local front end shop to swap out the springs.

They've got a special compressor down there to do the job. And, well, that's the safest way to do it. By the way, it should only cost us about 10 bucks a spring.

There we go. That didn't take too long notice how we had the shop reinstall, the rubber isolators on the coils without these things. Well, your suspension would make noise as you drove down the road.

Now, with the springs compressed, you can get a better idea of how they're progressively wound.

Well, let's start up front here first by inserting the strut assembly into the fork. Now, you wanna make sure that the tab assembly here is indexed and facing to the inside and that it's fully seated into the fork

with a fork on the lower arm,

insert the bolt and hand, tighten the nut,

tighten the damper, pinch bolt to 32 ft pounds and the damper fork nut to 47 ft pounds

reinstall the brake hose clamps

then install the upper flange nuts finger tight only

that will torque these to 29 ft pounds once the car is back on the ground and the weights on the suspension, but for now, let's go to the back and get started.

Since we're selling a sway bar kit later, I've removed a nut that was spot welded onto the lower strut mount at the factory. Now, we can just slide it up into place

and reinstall the mount nuts finger tight only

for a bottom through bolt. We're using a new one that was included in the sway bar kit,

installing the nut loosely. Since we'll be putting a bracket on here later,

we'll talk everything down once the weight of the car is down on the suspension. Well, speaking of that,

we can't wait to finish the suspension upgrade on our CRX here. But while we get it in the air so we can do our sway bar swap. Don't you go anywhere? We'll be right back.

It just stems actually from trick riding on bicycles is where we got the idea and then we just bigger, bigger bicycle

as all as it is

a team of two wheel trick artists live it up. The

Rosso import races, horsepower heads to Florida later in the show. So stay tuned.

Hey, welcome back to our Crx Street Fighter build up. Well, we got the body kit bolted on the suspension slammed and, hey, we're already hard at it with our sway bar swap. In fact, I think I got this front stock one ready to come out.

Now, we told you how our suspension technique bars were bigger.

Well, just check out this side by side comparison.

Of course, this new one boats right up into the stock location,

tighten the end link enough to get rid of all the air caps,

then you can tighten them out.

Now, the rear sway bar swaps just a little bit more involved. In fact, I've already gone ahead and bolted up the new sway bar mount right here under the tow hook. Now, our end link mount

goes right up here on that through bolt that Joe showed you earlier.

Now, before we mount the bar, be sure to leave the pivot bushing

with some of the special grease that comes with the kit.

After installing the new pivot bracket on the sway bar,

position it on the mount

and install two bolts,

then connect one end of the spherical bearing link to the center mount of the sway bar

and the other end to the new mount.

Now, besides being able to adjust, preload with rod and adjustment,

you can also dial in your oversteer and understeer by moving to one of these other two holes.

Now being able to fine tune your suspension is pretty cool.

Well, here's something else pretty cool. The wheels and tires. We used to set off that little street fighter

for rims. We're using 17 by seven F ones from Oz racing.

They are lightweight aluminum casting with a silver clear coat finish. Oh, by the way, that dual boat pattern will come in handy if you ever trade the car for rubber. We've got need.

05 50 fives. Now they're 205 by 40 ZR seventeens which is the biggest tire you can put under AC Rx. Now, the tread pattern here is pretty aggressive for good handling and wet or dry conditions. Oh, and by the way, that Z speed rating, well, that's higher than you'll ever run in a Honda like this. Let's get this thing down so we can mount them.

Well, there it is not too bad for a little pocket rocket. Huh? I gotta tell you, man, I am impressed but uh speaking of rockets, we need to launch into another break. But hey, you stay tuned. More horsepower TV is ahead.

Sport compact car events are flashy full of nine second front wheel drive racing machines and features that make for a 21st century style power picnic. Coming up next

horsepower T V's race of the week is brought to you by Wyotech. The nation's premier technical training school.

Yeah.

Well, this week, what else for sport compaq racing? And we've come to

Moroso Motorsports Park for one of the year's hottest events.

It's an annual car show and shoot out where the quickest compacts from the Sunshine State and beyond come to compete in their hot rod Hondas and other tricked out pocket rockets.

Yep. It's the fastest scoring, fastest of high performance fun where the cars get quicker and the atmosphere is kind of like a carnival. We're all here to have some fun, but

you know, we're all here trying to win. That's the bottom line

man. That was quite a run. You know, it's amazing. All the cool technology that goes into making these sport compacts go faster here on the track. But meanwhile,

here on the concourse, just about need your shades to take in all the bright colorful aftermarket boltons. These guys are putting on their show compacts.

Chandler's 91 Acura gets an A for attention getting with its colorful tricked out engine, obligatory booming stereo and most of all eye grabbing graphic statement.

While heavy with Hondas, you couldn't miss this American show car entry. A 2000 Ford focus. The owner fitted with all the aftermarket goodies he could muster. Everybody's got Honda, Honda, Hondas. You know,

I wanted something different. You know, I didn't want it just, you know, a Honda, you know,

Miami's Jeff Hackman enjoys the best of two worlds. He's got one fast Lexus that he's built up and a gearhead girlfriend that likes working on it.

Well, the primary work is the turbo charge

and

the additional injectors

which are 550 CCS,

the secondary and the primary injectors which are six are 440 which is an upgrade from the stock injectors.

Well, we've dyno

at the rear wheels at 15 pounds of boost. We've put 440 horsepower at the rear wheels which averages out to about 550 at the motor.

We run 11 2nd quarter miles.

Hey, let's head back to the track where we wait to see how many, if any of these four cylinder pro front wheel drive cars make it into the nines.

Yeah, we're talking nine, second quarter mile et

now one guy who's already done it is John Brown.

His 2000 Civic si with the seat mounted in the middle makes 725 horses. Thanks to 30 pounds of boost from his turbo charge. I've driven a lot of fast cars

but it, it's just a wonderful sensation. I mean, every gear that we shift in this thing, it's just

the power is just

intense,

linear

and it feels like we're about to take off at the end of the tr

another guy and second candidate can be Chicago's Greg Feinstein using Nitrous and a turbo in his Civic powered by an integra non V

tech engine.

So when you see something

of this nature going as fast as we're going so far, it's, it's real, it's real nice and it's really the underdog type of set up. So we're pretty, pretty happy with the performance of the vehicle so far. Another front wheel, front RR

is Steven Thompson from Fort Lauderdale. About the only thing stock on his turbocharged 98 Civic is the body and the headlights.

It's got, you know, fully built motor turbo charger. I mean, rod

pistons imported head. I mean, everything you can think of all the goodies

brown broke into the nines first for the top qualifying 963. Although engine troubles would put him out of the running.

Einstein found his way into eliminations with an 11 2nd run.

Then it was Thompson with a 995 to help pave the way to the finals.

Wait

before the big race. Let's sample some of the side shows of this sport, compact carnival. Well, like this exhibition of amazing two wheels ski.

We're the Miami Zoo crew out of Miami Florida. We're a motorcycle stunt team.

Uh We performed tricks and

I know acrobatics, as you would say on motorcycles, how you learn to do all that, man. A lot of practice. We go out to a certain

roads. We have special roads where no traffic and everything like that. And we

just basically try to impress each other like, hey, look what I can do this today and then we go. Oh, ok. Well, let me try this and this and

it just stems actually from trick riding on bicycles is where we got the idea and it was just bigger, bigger bicycle is all as it is.

Of course, the bikini contest is a good way to kill time waiting for the finals. And obviously these guys would agree.

Well, you can also pursue the moroso midway full of aftermarket goodies.

Oh, did I mention the bikini contest?

Meanwhile, back at the track, the racer who grabbed the top prize and pro front wheel

is Stephen Thomas and his 98 civic here with another blistering run in the night. I'm real pleased with the car run, car and fun

and I give uh props to my crew

uh moroso

for putting an event on. But overall it was a good day for me today

next year. Who knows? Maybe it'll take an eight second run on four cylinders to win

as the power and popularity soars in this fast growing province of sport, compact racing,

horsepower TV. S hot parts. A close up. Look at the latest in high performance hardware.

Hey, here's a hot tip for you and it's attached to this universal thunder muff from air mass.

Now, the muff is made with a 2.5 inch spiral pin

lever core for maximum flow. Then it's filled with a ceramic glass packing for a mellow sound. Now, the whole deal is wrapped inside this fully welded and polished stainless steel case to help your import look as good as it sounds and the price sounds pretty good too about 250 bucks.

Well, here's an easy bolton

to hop up your Honda. It's a high flow BBK throttle body from Edelbrock, available in an oversized 62 millimeter diameter, its emissions legal and with 25 to 35% more airflow than stock. Well, they claim

it will give you 10 more horsepower at 5000 RPM.

Now, the aluminum body here is fully polished and it comes with all the necessary hardware.

It'll be necessary for you to cough up $360 to get one

if you want a hotter spark for your Honda well, crane's got a new high-performance cap and adapter kit to help you upgrade your ignition.

Now, the cap and the rotor are made from high dielectric alky

to reduce the possibility of cross fring.

Plus, they've got a close tolerance fit for maximum voltage transfer. Now, the kit also comes with a high temperature sleeve and a new primary wire with a positive latch here on the coil in. Of course, if you want to latch on to one of these, you're gonna need about 65 bucks.

And if you want to catch a great show next week, catch up with us. And here's what you'll see.

We'll finish the wiring and under hood plumbing before we fire up our pro touring pony,

we'll show you how the experts have up a custom exhaust system before we vote on our one off glass hood with four inch cow

scoop

in our race of the week two lifelong friends off the track become fierce foes at the starting line in an I hr a top sportsman shootout.

And remember high performance fun is what this show is all about

for information about the products used in today's show. And more check us out online at Horsepower tv.com

Horsepower TV is an RTM production.