Feature: From Show to Go

A magazine article sparked Greg Carter’s interest in modifying cars while he was installing car audio systems in college. That 1998 article, about a car similar to Carter’s, led him to build show cars. After awhile, however, “all show and no go“ proved too boring for Carter, now owner of Go-Autoworks (www.go-autoworks.com).

“I went to shows, won awards and got noticed,” explains Carter. “Then it got to the point where you have a really good looking car that’s really slow. I wanted to go faster.”

Soon after, Carter and his friends started building Hondas with more power. “We got into pushing our cars,” explains Carter. “We started building turbo kits and manufacturing our own parts.”

Greg Carter’s 1988 Honda Civic is the sixth Honda he’s built. He built this Civic primarily for drag racing to support the Honda D Series engine enthusiasts, the majority of his customers.

After building a Civic hatchback for a customer, Carter looked until he finally found what he wanted for his next project; an 88-91 Civic hatchback, preferably a stock car or one that was essentially a non-running shell. At the time, Carter owned a ’95 Civic coupe. He came across a customer that owned 88 Civic Hatch shell who wanted to get rid of it. Each had what the other person wanted. They completely stripped down each car and traded bodies.

Starting with the hatchback shell, Carter set out to build an all-around “triple-threat car” to race at Talladega ’s road course, the Import Face-off events and drive on the street. He previously built two CRXs, so he was familiar with the chassis setup. In his first CRX, he removed the single cam engine and installed a twin cam B16A1 motor with bolt-on parts, but was disappointed with its power output. With the second CRX, he went the turbo DOHC ZC route. With his hatchback build, he switched to a single cam JDM D15B motor, added a turbocharger and pushed the limits of a 100% stock engine (which made 330whp @ 17psi until a rod broke). That setup recorded a 12.3 ET @ 117mph. Now it was time for a fully-built engine.

“We took a non-VTEC single cam, D16A6 block and had it sleeved by Exospeed with forged pistons,” explains Carter. “We ported a VTEC Z6 head and put together a full race package that would be able to support 500 or 600+ horsepower.”

Carter first used his own GO-AUTOWORKS Spec turbo by Bullseye Power, but then replaced it with an upgraded S262 62mm turbo built by Bullseye Power for the power band that he wanted… over 600hp! That change altered the car dramatically. “It turned the car into strictly a drag racer after we installed the big turbocharger to make a lot of power,” confesses Carter.

“We eventually cranked the boost to about 35 psi, on the dyno” continues Carter. “The setup made 588whp at 35 psi and will cross the 600whp mark at 37 psi on the top end in fourth gear.” He later found that those power numbers were made with a severely blown head gasket (damage that was caused at the Gainesville , FL IFO race). “We thought the issue was there, but due to a combination of things, we couldn’t pinpoint the gasket,” continues Carter. “We were able to run the car for months before tearing it down and pinpointing all the bugs. At that point, the car’s best pass was 10.9 @136MPH!”

Although many of his drag race competitors regard his car’s D16 motor as a “junk” motor that is usually replaced with a B16, Carter sticks to the D Series to prove a point. “We push this car to compete with all of the cars running big turbos and engine swaps to show that the D Series can still run with the ‘big boys,’” explains Carter.

Greg and the GO-AUTOWORKS team have three “shop cars” that they drag race. “We go to meet people,compete, win races and show that you don’t have to have a $20,000 built short block to compete and win events,” says Carter.

According to Carter, his parts ease installations and make the kind of power his customers want withoutbreaking the bank. Everything on Carter’s car is available. “You can basically mail order the setup on this car,” says Carter. “It’s a built single cam motor with one of our 62mm D Series turbo kits on it tuned on a Hondata S300 ECU, all shelf parts.”

Carter admits his shop is not the only one pushing the limit of the D16. “There are other shops that build single cam engines and cars that are faster,” says Carter. “You have to give them credit for pushing the single cam engines and doing what they do. I’m still shocked by what I’ve seen done at times. It just makes me want to push it further…a competitive downfall I guess.”

In his never-ending quest for lower quarter mile times, Carter continues to upgrade his car’s components. According to Carter, his Civic is one of the few 88-91 Civics that is completely converted to a full hydraulic transmission system. The transmission also includes an OBX limited slip differential built by Tranzsex. Suja-1 made the adaptor to mount the cylinder to the pedal assembly and Innovative Mounts provided the transmission’s mounts.

Carter recently obtained a new twin disc SPEC clutch to test late in the season. Although the car ran a 10.98 ET at 136mph, Carter says it takes a lot of effort to shift with the old clutch. The new clutch should shift faster and help lower the ET to the target 10.30 or 10.40 range consistently. He has also upgraded the camshaft to a new GO-AUTOWORKS Spec camshaft by Web Cams.

Next, Carter plans to improve the stock axles. Even though he preloads the car at the line with the transmission, the axles have snapped in half during the car’s 7,000rpm launch.

Carter’s goal for this car is to produce over 40 psi of boost and 650 to 700hp turning a low 10-second ET at over 140mph. “We’ll continue to push this setup, push our products, and push the car to its limits. I’d love to see a 10.1 at the end of the year,” says Carter. At the rate his development is going, that’s entirely possible.

Big Thanks to:
The crew @ GO-AUTOWORKS
Greg & Crew @ Innovative Mounts
Danny @ Spec Clutch
Dave & Amy @ Bullseye Power Turbos
Everyone @ D-Series.org http://D-Series.org> http://D-Series.org> http://D-Series.org> http://D-Series.org>
Brent @Garage PWR
Will @ Exospeed
Dustin@ JLB Motorsports
Everyone @ Turbod-16
Everyone @ eastcoastefcivics.com http://eastcoastefcivics.com> http://eastcoastefcivics.com> http://eastcoastefcivics.com> http://eastcoastefcivics.com>
Everyone @ NWP4LIFE
Everyone pushing theire D Series to the limits!