UNDER CONSTRUCTION
There aren’t many people who have the balls to buy a pretty much brand new car and chop into it something serious. Allan Grant is one of those people, having bought his 1995 EG Civic back in ’98 and quickly transforming it into a turbocharged showstopper during the early 2000s. It appeared at the likes of Auto Salon and 4&Rotary events, collecting a gaggle of awards over the years before being put into hibernation when Allan moved over to Brisbane with the car in tow, where it spent the next 11 years under a cover. It wasn’t until that cover was pulled back, piquing Allan’s curiosity for what the car scene was doing now, that it managed to escape its prison. Allan has now stripped it back to a shell in the garage and given near-on every component some form of attention: every bolt, washer, and nut has been replaced with a new item, and, underneath, every arm, strut, and chassis rail has been cleaned off and repainted.
Inside the bay, you’ll find new mounts, all new wiring, including the plugs, and a fresh Haltech ECU. The only factory wiring is the connections for the locks, windows, and wipers; the rest is brand spanker. And that same view extends to the brakes, with Wilwood six-pot front and single-pot back calipers that clamp 330mm rotors. The brake booster has been deleted, too, for a cleaner bay. The interior was ripped out as well in order to respray the cabin in gunmetal grey, while the dash was smoothed out and the door cards covered in black suede with red stitching.
And the B16A remains internally the same as it was back in the 2000s, having only done 1500km since the last rebuild; however, externally everything has been changed up. There’s a new turbo, which sits atop a fresh manifold, while fuel is now delivered to 2000cc injectors.
The package has been tuned to the sum of 310kW on 18psi, although he’s keen to run more boost, which will see the block sleeved eventually. Meanwhile, a genuine Pandem kit is being fitted up, and Allan has the hard task of deciding whether to run a set of Works, bronze Rays ZE40s, or perhaps TE37SLs …
Regardless of what he chooses, Allan tells us that it’s been a blast ripping back into the car over the last two years — having done everything bar the paint and tune himself — and promises that it will come back with them when they finally decide to come home.