My 1994 Honda Accord Champcar Build

The "$500 Viper powered RR" thread is leading to this....

We have a huge team when you account for the friends and family that contribute time, money, labor, and talent to the fun. Two of my closest friends, my father, and myself built the car over the course of late 2014/early 2015. Our original goal was to run in Lemons; however, they stopped running in Florida and Chump was the defacto series that ran close to home. Our first event was the Daytona 14 hours in 2015, I was the only one of 5 people racing the car that had track time there and we were a rolling chicane. Amazingly we only broke one axle and finished 41st overall out of the huge 100+ car field. We were stoked to even finish. We have one class win in the 5 years we've been running now, a few class podiums, and in the end we mainly do this for the fun of it and to spend time with friends and family. Anything else is just extra. 

Car:

- 1994 Honda Accord DX Sedan 5MT (started life with a F22B2) 

Engine:

- F20B out of a JDM Accord Si-R - Dynoed 202whp - stock

Exhaust: 

- DC racing header and downpipe - junkyard catback w/ some BMW muffler

Suspension: 

- Koni Yellows

- Eibach Springs

- Rear subframe from a V6 Accord of similar vintage - this gave us a rear sway bar and rear discs

Brakes:

- Wilwood DHCP 4 piston calipers.

- 1997-99 Acura CL 2.3L front hubs with discs (this got rid of the hub over rotor that CD5 Accords unfortunately come with)

- 1st gen NSX master cylinder

- stainless steel brake lines

Wheels/Tires:

- Knock off deep dish TE37s 15x8; 4x114.3; +0

- Hankook RS-4s

Lighting:

- The retrofit source H1 bi-xenon projectors with 5000k bulbs for Hi/Lo functions

- Randomly donated LED light bar 

Aero:

- Homemade front splitter

- Homemade rear lip spoiler

- Mandatory stupid f'ing wheel arches

Radio:

- Hodgepodge of amazon equipment. Baofeng radios, browning antenna, IMSA connectors. 

That was when we first got it, stripped it, and started putting the cage in. 

This was post cage and started making it look kinda pretty

First paint job and some steelies to look kind of official 

FIRST RACE!!

I'll upload the rest of the build pictures later. I've got work to do. 

This is awesome. 

2016/2017 - Made some minor upgrades at this juncture with an H22A swap, different wheels, a sponsor, some decals, and a light bar. The F22B2 that we got with the car gave us close to 40 hours of racing on top of its 300k miles. It crossed the finish line at Sebring for the 14hr event and died going up on the trailer. We had an H22 waiting to go in anyways, that just expedited the process. The H22A blew up 7 hours into Daytona 14hr event, put an H22A4 in for Sebring later that year we didn't put a rod through the block like Daytona, we just turned a piston into bread crumbs. We moved to the similar but small displacement F20B which we've had much more success with. We also threw on 1st gen NSX brake calipers and Acura Legend GS calipers (same bolt pattern as the Accord). Huge brakes; but, very hard to find parts for both those cars. 

That Neon with organic hood paint - that's our friend Jon's. We pit next to each other at every event and help each other out with food provisions, beer provisions, and pit stops. Jon is good people. 

Unicorn poop streak on the hood really brings it all together. Excellent build!

I love this! Id love it even better if it was on the street!

Ok I'll continue adding to the evolution of this car. 

2017/2018:

- We ditched the H22A after two massive blowouts in just as many races at the same time during the race. We believe it was the tune as well but we tried a new engine platform in the F20B and LSD trans with a proper tune. 

- We put a new homemade aluminum dash in that didn't really go as planned but we had already thrown out the factory dash. 

- We also switched from Koni STR Oranges to Koni yellows after the STRs died. 

- We said buy to the NSX/Legend GS brakes and said hello to the Wilwood DHCP/97-99 Acura CL 2.3L brake setup. 

- Gave it a period correct paint scheme from the early 90s. 

- Multi-color wheels

- Proper brake ducts 

- Got rid of about 25lbs of wiring

Time for some misc. pics of racing over the years and the awesome crew we have. 

Also if you ever see us around in the paddock come say hi, we offer carbonated beverages and food, we also love meeting new people. 

I had to miss a race because of contractual obligations for work. These guys left a space in the team photo and photoshopped me in. 

This one time a Miata decided we were the apex of turn 17 at sebring

I also always through a candid gopro in the car somewhere to watch the hilarous reactions to the guys while they are driving

Also a shout out to my parents because they a ton of property and a detached garage that houses the race car, spares, and our trailer. As you can see pops is def very involved and we could manage without their help but its nice having a homebase for all the racecar stuff that is central to two awesome racing venues. I also spent a large chunk of my high school years helping build that garage so I do have a partial inherent right to use LOL. 

This is a great build - it's been interesting seeing how many people here have been cutting up Accords and using them for something other than family cars.

bonylad said:

I love this! Id love it even better if it was on the street!

I've contemplated buying one for a DD and putting all our R&D efforts into it. Plus it would make for a great parts car at the track. Or a 1st gen Odyssey which rides on the same chassis. 

Update: We now have OEM axles rebuilt by Gator Axles out of Sanford, FL. We had constant issues with the driver's side boot busting open. The zip tie trick worked to make them last a single race; however, we wanted something more potent and didn't require us to replace ball joints on the reg too from replacing axles. 

Also going to look into some different homemade aero options for the rocker panels and rear wing. We've got room in the Champcar points to work on some of that stuff. Not sure if it'll be worth the added weight however.