Feature: Unexpected K20!

The Mistress is so named because Felix's girlfriend claims he spends more time with it, than her. A familiar story, I'd say. About how much time does he spend? Enough to have squeezed out 520 horsepower, 380 lb-ft of torque, and 11.3-seconds (@ 134 mph) out of its K-series motor, and please keep in mind these numbers represent the Mistress on a bad hair day, or in other words, with a blown head gasket.

Felix first picked up his 1992 Civic CX in May of 2004. “Somebody was selling it on eBay—it was pretty much stock,” remembers Felix. “I ended up bidding, and won.” He drove down to Indiana to pick up the car, and was not disappointed by its excellent condition.

“I did a K-swap (K20a3) right away,” says Felix. “I wanted to be one of the first in the mid-west.” To get the job done, the Civic needed mounts, axles, and a harness. “Nothing had been released in the market at that time for this swap,” recalls Felix. “Everything had to be custom fabricated.”

Featuring one of the lighter frames in the Honda archives, the Civic CX is a natural for the drag strip. “Mine is fully gutted,” describes Felix. “It's got a heater motor, wiper motor, but other than that it is pretty much just an empty shell.”

“I had my fair share of racing back in the day,” Felix reminisces about those good old days. “In 2004, I was running 13.5's with 157 horsepower—for street racing, my car was practically untouchable with a 75 shot.” Nobody knew that he had a K-swap when he brought it out to play for the first time. These were pretty much unheard of in most circles. “When I would pop the hood, people would ask, what the hell is that,” exclaims Felix with a chuckle.

While The Mistress maybe street legal, its K20a3 motor on 15 pounds of boost (93 octane) can heat things up pretty quick on a warm day in traffic. “Right now the car is not so efficient for cooling when I drive on the street,” says Felix. “But it sure is fun on the track”. Felix describes the sensation of driving the car as if it were floating, with the speedometer matching the energy of the rpm needle as it sweeps through the gears.

With 25 pounds of boost kicking in at about 5400 rpm, there is virtually zero turbo lag, despite the ample sized Bullseyepower s366r T4 turbo setup. “The full race twin scroll manifold helps a lot with that,” Felix admits.

Felix's K-series is actually a converted a2 motor. “I used an a3 block, converting the internals over to an a2,” Felix describes the build process.”Right now the chassis has about 100,000 miles on it, and the motor currently around 200 miles since the rebuild.”

“I've never been too concerned about its looks, other than being clean,” admits Felix, proudly. “Body-wise, I just cleaned the exterior up, added a few carbon fiber accessories, changed the color from Milano Red to Lexus Red Mica Pearl, but most of my money has been invested in the motor.”

“I'm actually working on my car right now,” says Felix, as I hear the buzz of an impact wrench in the background. “I am over here at a garage getting a rear disc conversion.”

“You're just getting around to the brakes six years after the fact,” I ask with surprise. Finally, a man who seems to have his priorities straight. Who cares where you've been (braked), just as long as you know where you're going (accelerating), and plan on getting there ahead of everybody else!

And the rest of the interview went as follows:

Open Clutch: Tell us what first got you into cars?
Felix: My dad used to race muscle cars. My mom had a 95' Civic Si I used to work on, and I also had a cousin who was into modifying Civic's (in other words, Civic oil practically runs in his blood).

OC: Why did you pick the Civic out of all the other options out there?
Felix: I like the look of the Civic when lowered, it is one of the better frames to run at the track, and it is fairly easy to modify.

OC: To date, what is your favorite thing about the car?
Felix: The boost is no doubt what I built the car for, and is the end result that I am most happy about. With 25lbs boost, spinning the wheels on the dyno, the car gets 575 horsepower (434 lb-ft of torque), but it should be over 600 horsepower once I get the tires firmly planted. (Felix promises to update these numbers soon)

OC: What future projects do you have for the coming mid-western winter hibernation?
Felix: I'm going to jet hot all the intercooler piping, including the down pipe. I also need to make a custom shroud for the full size radiator and fans. I'm not running the half size radiator everybody is. My buddy does carbon fiber overlays, so I am probably going to do the lining underneath the hood and also on the pillars. I'm hoping all this should be done by springtime if everything works as planned.

OC: Are there any other project cars in your future?
Felix: Maybe a nice luxury car (he laughs). I don't want to start another project right now. I'm trying to get some good numbers with this car first, and then go from there. There are still a lot of things I can do, such as get a bigger turbocharger. But... (he pauses dramatically) If I do get something, it will be rear wheel drive (drum roll).

OC: What advice do you have for anyone building a serious Civic drag car?
Felix: Take your time, especially if you don't have a lot of money. Take your time and do it right if it's going to be abused at the track. If you don't, you're going to start breaking stuff.

OC: What are three 'must-have's' for any track destined import?
Felix:
1. Cage (depends on class)
2. Power adder (blown/turbo), or high compression if running all motor.
3. Slicks (once you get over a certain horsepower)

OC: Do you have any final words before we wrap up?
Felix: Yeah, I'd like to thank ILL Garage for all their help with the car. I'd also like to thank my girlfriend who has allowed me do all this, and has put up with all the money I've dumped into my Mistress (he laughs).

We can hear those wedding bells ringing from here! Or perhaps that is just the sound of more of Felix's hard earned pennies falling on the counter, as he sets to buying more stuff for the winter projects that lay ahead. Cha-Ching, Bada-Bing!