GTcarz - Automotive forums for cars & trucks. - Charles Trieu's 1989 Honda Civic SI

If you think you can build an EF like Charles Trieu’s, don’t; it wouldn’t be worth your time. Not to say that it couldn’t be done, but the guy is such an artisan when it comes to crafting project cars, we have a hard time believing that anyone else could do the same. We’re fully aware that most people can do a fairly competent makeover of any Honda on the field, but Charles goes the extra step, by taking it down to the shell and piecing it back together with new factory everything, including the glass, rubber seals, and anything else someone with OCD might require to make it a true rebuild. It may seem like a stretch to have to go so far to modify and restore such an old car but the fine details of this Si make every penny spent a penny well spent (did that make sense?).

In the beginning, the EF wore a suit of red in its USDM form before it was resprayed Honda Frost White and the entire JDM makeover was placed into action, all of which included the front/rear end, front/rear lights, side skirts, rear lip and rear bumper. The front end takes on a meaner stance with a front lip from Charge Speed and the side mirrors were replaced with one-piece Vision Type-MCs.

The engine bay was up next for modification, so once the stock single cam was pulled, an OBD1 twin-cam VTEC B16A was dropped in and set into place with HASport engine mounts. A short geared YS1 LSD transmission was also mated to the B16 along with an Exedy clutch. The super rare and exotic Mugen exhaust can be seen from beneath the rear bumper with the all too familiar Mugen Power emblem and is perhaps one of Charles’ nicest pieces on the EF.

Although the F1 inspired, double-wishbone factory suspension was hard to beat, it always took well to improvement. Charles hooked the EF up with ST sway bars, strut tower braces from Spoon, a Cusco front lower tie bar and aluminum lower control arms to tighten up the ride. Mugen front end bushings were also pressed in for a much stiffer ride. Through a small parts company he previously ran, called Circuit Hero, Charles also fabricated his own master cylinder brace stopper and changed out the front Si brakes for a larger master cylinder and calipers off the Civic EX model while converting the rear brakes for the SiR rear disc setup.

Charles is also a serious wheel collector, as if you didn’t notice, and has owned many of the most sought after Mugen releases, like the CF-48 and MR-5, complete with all of their respective accessories. However, most of the time, we found him rolling around on these custom painted Racing Sparco RR wheels since he kept the Mugen wheels deep in storage.

On the inside, you won’t find a RHD conversion, which is perhaps the only non-JDM part of Charles’ EF – but it doesn’t need it. Simply, the SiR seats from the JDM version replace the stock seats while a carbon bucket handles the driver. Another one of Circuit Hero’s products is a steering wheel hub extender, which attaches to a Mugen SW-36 steering wheel. The gauge cluster is from a SiR but the speedometer has been swapped out for a Spoon Sports meter. Charles also changed the center console to the CRX’s for a more ergonomic design and a soft, subtle change from the standard Civic.

Sadly, Charles no longer owns this automotive beauty. Long since sold, he tried to revive his EF spirit with a true RHD SiR, but also sold that to pursue dreams of a turbocharged SC300/Soarer conversion and an American classic. If we’ve learned anything from Charles, it’s that we’re guaranteed that any of his future projects will be just as great as this EF.