There are three people responsible for my roll bar obsession. They are Bob Falfa of Modesto, California and Bo and Luke Duke of Hazzard County, Georgia. If it wasn't for these three men, I never would have called Art Morrison (www.artmorrison.com) and ordered up one of its bolt-in four-point bars for my flamed Civic.
You remember the flamed Civic, don't you? It's a '99 Si I built when the car was new and I worked at another magazine. For the past year, we've been upgrading it slowly on our Web site www.sportcompactcarweb.com. Some might say too slowly. The idea was to remove the now aging parts and replace them with the latest and greatest. So far, it's been fun.
In part one, which is still on our Web site, we swapped out the scratched set of chrome American Racing wheels for an ultra-light set from Centerline. Then we added an aluminum strut bar from JIC to dress up the engine compartment and stiffen the chassis. And finally, we installed fully adjustable coil-overs from TOKICO. The car immediately felt 5,000 times better. It's amazing what a difference the right parts can make.
At the end of that installment, I promised to address the car's interior, which remained stock, except for the DCSports short throw shifter. And now we finally have. In addition to the roll bar, Project Flamed Civic is now equipped with a great set of seats from Arospeed (www.arospeed.com), which are actually rebadged versions of Recaro's Speed model, and a cool full set of Faze gauges (www.fazegauges.com) in an R1 pod (www.24hiper.com). You should log on to www.sportcompactcarweb.com for the whole story, including step-by-step installation of all that stuff.
There's always more to do. The car will go to Jackson Racing for upgrades to its Jackson supercharger, and we're shopping for some rubber and a sound system. Nitrous, too. After that I'm up for almost anything. E-mail me with your ideas. Have the flames finally grown old? Maybe I should paint it orange and put on "01" on the doors.Send Us Your VideosWe know you have something cool on tape. We know you do. And we want to show it to the world. It could be a smoky burnout, drifting, race action, anything unusual, unique or amazing. We want it for our TV show. Here's what you do: Make a copy on CD or VHS, and send it to us at: 2NR TV Reader Video, 2400 East Katella Ave., Suite 1100, Anaheim, CA 92806. Be sure to include your name, address, phone number, and a little information about the footage. We can't return your video, but if we use it, we will mention your name on the air, pay you $100, and send you a staff T-shirt. We can't wait to see it. Do it now.