more upgrades and rotted away in storage.
The real story? Allan had jumped the ditch with his family
not long after and chucked the car, along with all the spares, in a
container to tag along with them. It sat dormant in his Brisbane
driveway for a decade, exactly as it was last seen on our shores,
until Allan finally said, “It’s been long enough.”
With the rapid advancement of technology, his first move
was to upgrade all the bolt-on components with parts designed
for this decade. Near-on everything has been replaced, making
use of only the original forged long block and intake manifold —
having done a mere 2000km since it was built back in 2002, the
car’s racked up just 67,000km total!
Gone is the T3/T4 and low-mount manifold, binned in
favour of a suitable-sized Garrett GT3076R that sits atop a
custom mid-mount manifold crafted by Allan’s mate Alec. All the
Turbosmart gear has been switched out for current models, and
the fuel is now provided by a Walbro 460-litre-per-hour in-tank
pump and 2000cc injectors on an AEM fuel rail. AEM coil-on-
plug ignition has rid the bay of the distributor, while all plumbing
has been replaced with far cleaner examples.
Allan makes mention that, for the rebuild, it was important
to unload the car of all the ’00s-era flashy pieces such as
the red and blue slipover fittings and the blue silicone, which
is undoubtedly why the engine bay now looks half empty in
comparison. The new package makes a cool 310kW on 18psi,
as tuned by Matt at Division Motorsports, with a much fatter
power curve — bringing it into the current year not only in terms
of performance but finish also.
Registering the Civic for use on Australian roads wasn’t an
issue — it had been in the country long enough to avoid difficult
import laws — although getting it the equivalent of our warrant of
fitness was another story. Every inspector that Allan contacted
was too scared to touch it; not because it was modified, but
because they weren’t used to seeing something so cleanly
finished! It was during the process of obtaining the government-
approved tick that Allan had the entire car resprayed in Mazda
Soul Crystal Red at Cameron’s Bodyworks, a step that would
ultimately decide the final direction of the rebuild.
“When I went to reassemble it after paint, I found that the
front bumper was twisted by about two inches, so it looked real
dickie. I couldn’t find another Buddy Club bumper, and this wasHaving been turboed since the turn of the century, the hot side
has been brought into the current year with a Garrett GT3076R
and custom mid-mount manifold along with the full suite of
Turbosmart gear — making it good for 310kW on 18psi!