[AutoShow] 1997 Honda Civic - 12 Years Strong

A fully built K24 sits within the confines of a meticulously crafted (almost to an obsessive level) engine bay. The exterior, armed only with a few carefully chosen aero bits and aggressively designed flared corners, proudly sports a new hue borrowed from the BMW family. Inside the cabin, more fresh paint takes the place of any and all “extras” deemed nothing more than dead weight, while a custom rollcage serves as security at multiple points. It’s like a dream—a build that would look right at home on a weekend track sprint, the red carpet, or simply hustling through city streets, avoiding potholes and patrol cars like the plague.

On paper, most Honda heads would assume it’s the perfect hatchback scenario, never even considering the thought of stacking all of that engineering into a chassis with two additional doors. In fact, if you review the last 20 years, as the progression of the Honda enthusiast market has continuously changed at breakneck speeds, one thing has remained exactly the same: The hatchback and coupe platforms are by far the most popular to heavily modify. Perhaps it was that very reason that led Daniel Hernandez, owner of this immaculate Phoenix Yellow Metallic sedan, to stray away from the masses.
If you’re assuming that Danny put together a game plan, ordered a bunch of parts, then executed the build as you see it pictured, you’re sorely mistaken. He admits that the car, through all of its changes over the past 12 years, has been taken apart and reassembled at least 100 times. He adds, “The car was originally purchased as a daily in 2000. I decided to build an LS/VTEC motor…that didn’t last very long. The next motor was a stroked B16, then a poor man’s ITR.” Along the way, he ran across one John Nguyen, aka “Supertwinz,” somewhere around 2003. He’d recently completed a K20A swap, and after taking a spin in John’s 2.0L iVTEC-powered hatch, Danny ordered his own swap just a week later. Along with the swap, the blue DC5 Recaros you see were sourced as well as a slew of other parts and a Laguna Seca Blue color change. With the exception of a few different naturally aspirated builds, the car remained the same for years. Danny states, “The current build happened when I got into a fender bender last May. I brought it to Franklin Autobody (now 5Fifteen Autobody) in SF for Sunny to look at. He said he could repair it, and we decided to paint the outside and inside of the car, but then he gave me the option of a color change.” A longtime fan of BMWs, specifically those draped in Phoenix Yellow Metallic, Danny gave the green light for a complete makeover.

To complement the new hue, simple bolt-on aero bits in the form of a Mugen rear wing and J’s Racing front lip were added to the paint booth, but the customization would go quite a bit further. Sunny grafted a set of Sportcar Motion fender flares to the already aggressive J’s Racing fenders for a one-off look and more wheel and tire clearance. He then built custom rear fender flares to match the wider fronts.
While the body shop performed extensive surgery on the chassis, Danny set out to piece together a new, built K24. He chose Supertech pistons and BluePrint rods as the foundation, while up top, a set of Blox cams with Supertech valvetrain components push gasses through a hand-made DTR header. With Hondata’s world-famous K-Pro calling the shots, the 2.4L belts out 257 whp with a healthy 196 lb-ft torque through its K20A transmission. All of the car’s wiring has been completely replaced and rerouted for a cleaner and much more organized look.

Danny finally brought the car home and, with the help of friends, spent the next two weeks putting everything back together. That was followed by approximately four weeks of working out any bugs and essentially buttoning up the loose ends.

Formerly a member of the infamous AM7 crew, Danny parted ways and, along with a friend in Nebraska, founded Bandits. “I didn’t think it would be much, considering how the scene was going back then. Later, Mike Trevino joined, and we started going to events together. Since we’re always hanging out with the same group of guys and cars, the crew evolved into what it is today. The public hasn’t seen half of our cars because we aren’t primarily a show car crew. We care more about the person being a part of the family than just the car itself. Just because you don’t have the nicest car doesn’t mean that you don’t put your heart into what you’re doing—that’s what it means to be a part of the Bandits family.”