First time at the track with the new setup. Saturday (5th) wasn't a good day at all. First run netted both broken axles at launch. Second run caused a snapped passenger-side axle at half-track. And third run the car was all over the track, almost wandering into the other lane twice. Arvin did at least run a 12-second run that time, even after letting off then gettting back on the throttle.

July 4 Summer Slam/IDRC
Englishtown, NJ

(Turbo Magazine, Nov. 99)

Temperatures were in the mid/high 90's, enough to cause at least one person to be hospitalized due to heat stroke.
Another bad weekend. We weren't going to race this weekend, just watch. But after finding out Turismo Tuning's race car was attending, Arvin decided to run to show there's more to the East Coast than DRT and Turismo when it came to fast turbo Hondas (and to be the only street car in the bunch was even better).
Result? First and only run the car smacked the rev limiter (which is set a bit higher than last year) right away at launch. Either than rosin powder crap sprinkled on the starting line caused tire spin or the previous car tracked water, because all through the run he was on the rev limiter in an instant. Arvin kept on the throttle and slipped his way to a 14-second run. We feared tranny damage because there was no smell of burnt clutch. We had to tow it back from the return lane. BTW if the idiot in Altima who almost crashed into us on that tow back is reading this, how the hell could you not see a red pickup? I was only going 5mph, and you weren't even supposed to be in that area! You weren't there to race or to show your car! Quit trying to lean back trying to pimp your bone-stock 4x4 suspension-having family car and learn to drive! ok, got that out of my system.
Damage assesment: an almost-new ACT 6-puck clutch (6 runs max) turned itself into a 3-puck unit. Flywheel was resurfaced by the broken clutch bits flying around in there. We pooled together our money so Arvin can get a clutch and flywheel to get him home (he drove it to the track on its own power and he wanted to drive it back too). Wasn't fun doing a clutch job on your back with hand tools. Thanks to "Kuya" Jonas for the clutch $ donation, Nathan Romero (Mr. 12sec low-buck VW Rabbit) for custom clutch alignment tool he whippped up, and Chris for all your help doing that clutch job.
This was also the weekend Ed Bergenholtz ran his first 9-second run in the East Coast (July 3). He gave a friend's little brother one of the spark plugs of that run and signed it for him. Craig Paisley finally broke into the single-digit ETs on his tube-frame Supra, Eddie Bello is still experimenting with his 911's launch (but still had some wicked mph), and Abel Ibarra brought out his new RX7 for some exhibition runs. Too bad we didn't see any of the actual runs because of the clutch install.
Well, at least Turbo Magazine thought the car was nice enough to use it in their table of contents. This was also the event we debuted the Import Showoff bumper.

Englishtown, NJ July 14

Not an event, just a normal test & tune Wednesday night. I didn't go but was told about of the happenings. Axle snapage again. This time at the inner joint, right at the splines, snapped off clean. He had one spare set, installed them to get back home. Arvin was thinking of attending this weekend's Pan American Nationals in Atco,NJ, but there's no spare axles and the weather was unbearably hot and humid.

What I've written from here on was entered in January 2000, when this site was moved from its original url
to its current url here.

August 1 NIRA
Maple Grove, PA

The lazy oversized turbo was replaced with a smaller one. It's a Turbonetics T3/T4 with a pretty polished housing.
Like last year's Maple Grove event, bad luck. The usual axle breakage keeps us from running any faster than mid 11s, but trap speeds were better than the Battle runs.  Arvin was also having problem getting into gear...possibly transmission  problems.

At least our friends DRT finally made the 10 Second Club. Here's their 1996 Civic coupe in action.

Congratulations Javier, Ralphie, and the rest of the Drag Racing Technologies crew.

Englishtown, NJ Sept.

I don't remember the exact dates anymore, both were test and tune weeknights. We replaced the transmission, gone were the hard gear changes. Arvin decided to start trailering the car in case of damage, so we dropped the exhaust system.
We arrived late on the first night, turnout was pretty large, so two runs were done. The first run was in the 11.8's, while a lower 1.9-second 60ft launch netted an 11.3@129. Damn, so close. Later that week we noticed some smoke coming out the exhaust sometimes. A compression test was done, readings were pretty low on one cylinder. We didn't want to pull the head to check the problem...we were getting tired of this.

The next night was to be the last run of the year. I'd love to say we broke the 10-second barrier...but I can't. It was the closest we've ever gotten to the 10's:11.1@134, a mid 1.9-second 60ft. That trap speed was 10-second territory...Arvin let off before the 1320ft mark because the engine was starting to hurt bad. If the 60ft was a 1.8, that would definitely have been a 10-second run. Coming back to the pits, I could see coolant leakin from the engine. We hoped it was just a blown radiator cap or thermostat.
A week later Arvin and Chris pulled the head off. A piston's ring lands cracked, both upper rings broken. Luckily the block wasn't damaged; the Bensons "full metal jacket" cylinders didn't crack, and the one with the damaged piston had a very slight,shallow scratch.

So What Now?

For 2000, the car will no longer be a street car. Right now it's a stripped out shell on steel wheels.
The engine is at a machine shop being looked over. The whole assembly will be balanced. There are new rods (Crower once again) and JE pistons (no more Arias thank you). The car is on a diet, which should help reduce parts breakage by a lot. Exterior-wise you'll still recognize it as the Black Sun Civic.
When we first started on this car, the top race Hondas were running 10s and street Hondas in the low 11s. A year later some street Hondas are running 10s and race Hondas are breaking 9s. We've got some catching up to do if we are to stay competitive and respected.
Wish us luck, and keep the positive comments coming. If you see us at the track, please feel free to say hello.

-Ed, webmaster & co-builder

Back