It really didn't start out with any particular plan but it sure did turn into something special. Another local company had an already K Swapped Civic For Sale and the price was right so we recently picked it up. A friend needed a good K20a2 engine so we pulled the engine that was in the car out and sold it off so there it sat with no heart for a bit until the idea was hatched. We still had the stock block K20 engine from the CRX that had run 11.20 in the back of the shop so what better home than this new to us chassis. Tom Creen then took that a bit further with the idea to build it into a sleeper and that is when the snowball happened. With IFO Gainesville on the horizon it would be the perfect event to debut the car at and it actually had a good shot with the K20 engine in it to run competitively in the All Motor Sport Class. We put a MFactory LSD in the transmission, upgraded to some DSS 2.9 axles and had the fresh setup installed and running the Wednesday before the event.
On Thursday Robert Mapps and Tom took the car out to have the alignment done and install some new tie rod ends and everything was working great until that sound came. Driving back from the alignment the ever so slight rod knock noise appeared. Being approximately 4pm on Thursday afternoon the guys started kicking around idea's for what to do to get an engine in the car that could race the weekend. Yes IPG had stock K20 engines at the shop that would run perfectly fine but why do perfectly fine when you can do holy cow. That is when the JBRE K24 shortblock was pulled off the shelf and the prep began to get it into the car. Working feverishly through the evening and night the engine came to life at 1:30am on Friday morning with another interesting internal engine sound to the teams dismay. Sleep was on the schedule now though and it could be diagnosed on Friday. Friday morning came with fresh ideas on what the issue was and how to fix it. The obvious choice for this type of sound was the timing chain so a new one was sourced locally, the engine was torn apart and everything was carefully inspected and re-installed. At 5:30pm the engine fired again....yup....same sound. Mapps noticed it sounded as if it was predominantly coming from the bottom end of the engine, the oil pan area. Drop the pan and bingo..the Eagle Rods were ever so slightly interfering with the windage tray. Throw in some washers to space it out and it was ready to rock. With it being so late in the week dyno time was unavailable so Mapps and Creen did some quick pulls on a closed highway to tweak the tune a bit for Sunday's event. 130 miles later Creen and Mapps arrived at Gainesville Dragway having driven the car to the event.
What more fun to enter it in one class than to enter it in 2 classes with each Creen and Mapps getting their shots at piloting the car. They bolted on some fresh Lenso VPD wheels with M&H 23" slicks and started making passes. Creen qualified it #1 in All Motor Sport and Mapps was midfield in the Forced Induction Sport (yes, midfield in the turbocharged / supercharged class in the little naturally aspirated Civic). They both ran several rounds before getting knocked out but running 11.5-11.7 @ 115mph quarter mile passes all day long. They bolted the street wheels and tires back on and drove it the 130 miles back to IPG headquarters. Somewhere amongst all of this fun it started being referred to as Bad Grandpa and needless to say that name has stuck. It is definitely a Bad Grandpa.
Chassis Specs: 1994 Honda Civic DX
OEM Integra Type R Springs / Shocks
Upgraded 14x5" Steelies Dunlop Direzza ZII Star Spec 185/60/14 Tires (street) Lenso VPD 13x7.5 Drag Wheels with M&H 23x8x13 Slicks (drag)
Engine Specs:
JBRE K24 Block - 87.5mm Bore, 12.5:1 Compression
4Piston Pro156 K20a2 Cylinder Head
Supertech Valve Springs, Retainers, Valves
RRC Intake Manifold with Skunk2 B Series 70mm Throttle Body
Stock K20a2 Camshafts (on the agenda to be upgraded next)
Clockwise Motion Oil Pan Baffle
K20a2 Transmission with 4.38 Final Drive
MFactory Helical LSD
Driveshaft Shop Level 2.9 Axles
Custom 3" Exhaust
Wire-Worx Engine Harness
Fuel Injector Clinic 900cc Injectors
K-Tuned Fuel Rail and Radiator Hoses
Hondata KPro
Our best guess is that the car is making around 260 wheel horsepower on 93 pump gas currently and weighs in the 2300lb range with a driver on board. The next step for it will be some upgraded camshafts. Some larger lift camshafts will really wake this engine up with the increased compression ratio that it has. The plan is to enjoy it, run errands in it, drag race it and take it to a track day at some place like Sebring to see how it works on a road course. Stay tuned, should be fun.
