There will be no screwing around with this story. Let’s get right into the action …  I met Ben Bodor and his twin brother, Greg (Ben is older by 1 minute and 48 seconds), about two years ago at a Hot Import Nights event in Philadelphia. The Civic that you see used to be bright candy green with all-white interior and white Racing Hart wheels. But that was then and this is now. 

The car was hot-looking back then, but after showing it for about a year and getting some decent exposure, it was time for something new and even more dramatic. The Bodor brothers decided to completely transform their already strong show car into something even stronger. 

The best part about this whole story and its buildup is that all of the modifications were done north of the border. Every time the Bodor brothers bring Ben’s Civic to the U.S. to compete, people are in awe that a car of this caliber was fully built in Canada. I guess some people still feel that the Canadian scene is relatively new and cars like this are not supposed to be popping up at shows in the U.S. Boy oh boy, is that a mistake! This is one of the most complete and impressive Civic coupes we have ever seen—and we have seen more than our fair share.

You may be wondering where we got this title. Well, let me tell you, that was much easier than the buildup of this incredibly sweet-looking, turbocharged, NX-powered Civic coupe. When Ben—aka “B1”—called us early last summer, he was seeking some advice and looking for a couple of pointers on redoing his Civic. While I was hesitant to tell him too much, I did pass along some pointers on what’s hot and what’s not in the States. After a few phone conversations and subsequent e-mails, talks about his project went silent. He only called once in a while, saying his project was coming along just fine and how much fun he had experimenting with carbon fiber. 

At summer’s end, another call came from B1, asking if I would mind that he painted his Civic with the same scheme used on my Nissan S14.5 Silvia. “What do you have in mind?” I asked. He expounded on his theories and I advised him to do what he had to do for himself and his sponsors. B1 had been going back and forth on a few colors, deciding among blue, green, gold and orange. It was taking a toll on him. We understood that B1 was a great car builder and that if he went with candy orange and black, he would be in good shape. We also suspected that he had a few cool tricks up his sleeve using carbon fiber. We knew this would accent the car perfectly. 

While the car was at Technik Autoworks getting worked on, B1 was way ahead of the game. He was thinking of what else he could do to make his Honda stand out from all the rest of the Civics in North America. While the Technik crew was busy detailing all the bodywork, B1 had the guys over at JSP America (ironically, not in the U.S., but Canada) work on a carbon fiber trunk and hood for his toy.

B1 knew that a carbon fiber hood would be a cool addition, but he also felt that he would have to do something else in addition to it. Nowadays, carbon fiber hoods can be found on almost anything from a stock Geo Storm to a fully built Nissan Skyline. B1 made sure that the boys at JSP worked diligently on getting his trunk done in carbon fiber to match his hood and Bomex mirrors. 

Wait a minute—did I just say “Bomex mirrors” and “carbon fiber” in the same sentence? Indeed I did. The Bodor brothers were the first—and are still the only people in North America—with carbon fiber Bomex mirrors. One cool modification on a very cool car. 

While B1’s car was green, it sported a full Driath body kit. Even though this was very exclusive in Canada, he knew that with the new color change and carbon fiber accents, a new body kit was a must. After a few weeks searching relentlessly on the Internet, B1 finally found what he knew he wanted. Can you say Bomex? 

There was one slight problem. Bomex didn’t make a complete body kit for the ’92-’95 Civic coupe. After talking it over with Sumio Niwa, owner of Bomex Aero, they finally came to an agreement and Bomex shipped the Bodor brothers a front bumper, side skirts, a set of Type-1 sport mirrors and a limited-edition Bomex front license plate for their project Civic. 

When I got the phone call from B1 explaining what he had, I just about fell over. This project of his was starting to look more like a “Mini-Me”—a mini S14.5, that is. He asked me if I was okay with it and once again I reassured him that everything was cool. 

B1 is no stranger to building full-blown show cars, so he knew full well that while the car was at the paint shop, he could work on other parts. He decided to start working on the motor buildup. Nitrous, boost and Ben Bodor go hand in hand. Everyone knew that his B16A Japanese-spec motor would have a friend or two in the engine compartment. I can tell you right off the bat that this is a very impressive engine compartment. Even without the chrome bling-bling, this motor screams for attention. No chrome will take you home in this engine compartment, boys and girls. 

Knowing B1’s style, it was a pretty safe bet that the B16A motor was not going to stay in stock form. With the help of his boys at Ultimate Racing, the brothers went to work on the motor. Knowing that they were going to use several goodies from Nitrous Express and a Turbonetics T3/T4 turbocharger, the team decided to go the safe route and install a set of pistons and rods, just to make sure that everything would be okay when the buildup was complete. A set of JE pistons and Eagle rods, along with a five-angle valve job are only some of the modifications done to the motor. 

The custom Ultimate Racing turbo kit includes the T3/T4 turbocharger, along with a custom Evotional exhaust manifold, custom intercooler piping, 24x6x3-inch Spearco intercooler, HKS super sequential blow-off valve and wastegate, RC Engineering 550cc injectors, STR fuel rail and a Bosch in-line fuel pump. If that doesn’t impress, Ultimate Racing also installed a complete direct-port system from NX. 

After all the pieces for the motor were installed, it was time to give the boys at Vibrant Performance a call. B1 used to run a steel Evotional muffler on his car back in the day, but once again it was time to move up to something newer. What better company to call than Vibrant Performance, which just happened to be coming out with its new Titanium Exhaust line. (Good timing, Ben). 

After sitting tight for a couple of days, a Vibrant 3-inch performance, titanium, turbo-spec muffler and 3-inch mandrel-bent, stainless steel piping were installed. Ben knew that he was investing a lot of money into this car, so he wanted to install an engine management system, just to be on the safe side. The Ultimate Racing crew was like, is this guy ever going to be happy? Yet after installing his ACT six-puck with heavy-duty pressure plate and his GReddy E-Manage system, B1 was (finally) satisfied with everything. After all was said and done, the car definitely had the power to back up the look.

With the motor finally complete and the bodyshop almost finished, B1 was getting a bit anxious to get his car back. He had so many more things on his mind and he knew that with the car still in the shop he wouldn’t be able to complete any of them. As the car was in the final stages before getting painted, the Bodor brothers decided to install a set of Progress Competition coilovers and a Vibrant Performance strut bar and lower tie bar. That was it for now and the brothers knew it—no more installing or modifying anything until the car was painted. 

Then it was time for B1 to go home, relax and order the parts for his interior and audio/video work, not to mention the sheets and sheets of carbon fiber that he would need to lay his middle console and door panels. A couple of days later, B1 got a call from the bodyshop—the car was finally complete. Before he even heard the word “complete,” B1 was already in his brother’s Golf, halfway to the shop. 

As they pulled up, they could see the Civic gleaming in the sunlight. The Sikkens Candy Orange paint (which the Bodor brothers call “Ninja Orange”) was a work of art and the carbon fiber hood, trunk and Bomex mirrors worked hand in hand with the black roof. Ben was extremely happy with all of the work and the fitment of the Bomex kit was 100-percent up to his satisfaction. Now it was time to do the thing that we all hate to do … hand over a nice fat check.

As soon as the boys got home—literally—it was back to work on the newly painted Civic. By sunrise, the twins had a whole bunch of new toys put on the car. A set of Driath projector headlights, Vision corners and XenonDepoT.com H3 HID bulbs were installed. And that was only the beginning. Before the sun rose on Toronto, the twins also had the wheels and brakes installed and the car was already sitting on the ground with the Progress Competition coilovers. You can see that these guys are true show competitors—the car was slammed before it ever left the garage!

For the wheel setup, B1 decided to go with something clean and simple, yet catchy. A custom set of 18-inch Gunmetal Racing Hart CP-035 wheels wrapped in 215/35-18 Toyo T1s were bolted onto the car. Before the wheels were set in place, however, a set of Brembo cross-drilled rotors and KVR Performance pads were installed. With the big motor now in place, the brothers wanted to make sure that the car handled right and that it was able to stop on a dime. Mission completed!

The car now looked hot and most of the interior and audio/video stuff had arrived. It was time for the final two phases of project “Mini-Me.” The Bodors knew that time was of the essence and getting this car ready for the NOPI Nationals was a must. With that in mind, they decided to upgrade the Civic’s interior and ICE at the same time. As you can see from the photos, the interior and trunk are just as impressive as the exterior and engine compartment. 

B1 didn’t want to go cheap or booty.com on the final mods. He had already spent so much of his hard-earned money on the exterior and motor that there was no way he could cut corners. For the interior, he once again called upon the services of Vibrant Performance. Its custom fiberglass dash is the centerpiece of the Civic’s interior and everything else that B1 did to the inside of the car started from the dash and moved toward the rear of the car. The front door panels and rear panels are painted the same Ninja Candy Orange as the dashboard, working perfectly with the exterior. 

Installed into the Vibrant fiberglass dash are three Autometer gauges, one for boost, one for air/fuel and the final one being a voltmeter. Other cool gadgets that you can find inside this sick interior come by way of an Ignited Performance C-5 compass, a red push-start button and several nitrous switches. Found hiding behind the suede Sparco steering wheel is a set of APC indigo gauges (indigo gauges are kind of old, but B1 continues to show love to his sponsors). A set of red suede Recaros matched with Driath brackets were also bolted into the car. To finish off the interior, B1 added a Vibrant carbon fiber shift knob and short shifter. 

Speaking of carbon fiber, B1 found the inserts of his door panels a bit boring, so he opted to redo them in carbon fiber—now that is what we call hot! 

Oh, wait a minute, we thought that was it for the interior … but we were mistaken. After the interior was complete and the trunk was starting to pile up, B1 realized that he had nowhere to put his two NX bottles. He didn’t want to throw them just anywhere, so following a recent trend in car building, he removed his back seats. He custom-fabricated a dual fiberglass compartment that would be able to hold both bottles without a problem. (Can you say el fuego!)

As the interior was being worked on, the trunk of the Civic was also being redone. Besides the Clarion VX935 7-inch in-dash TV and the Rainbow Audio series 6.5-inch components, everything else was to be fabricated into the trunk area. So the question became, how do you fit three 12-inch ARC Audio subwoofers, two amplifiers and one farad capacitor into the trunk of a Civic? Only “Crazy Frankie” Valenti of 20hz Audio could make all this work and look good at the same time.

I just got back from NOPI where I saw Ben’s car for the first time and I can tell you in all honesty that this car is even more impressive in person. Nevertheless, our main man Scotty Killeen did an out-of-hand job with this photo shoot. Further down, go behind the scenes on the build with “Beauty and the Build.”