Grounded

Basit Mirza was originally into motorcycles until an accident left him unable to ride for an extended period. During the away time from his bike, Mirza tagged along with his cousin, Asim Mirza, at all the local hangouts and import drag events. It wasn’t long before he got hooked and gave in to his cousin’s push to buy an import car.

Mirza came across a black 1993 Honda Civic already sporting some minor upgrades. He was pleased about the head start, but promptly took the car to his friend Jack Chung, owner of CarDresser in Scarborough, Ont., for an interior makeover. He was so impressed with the job the decision to continue the car’s build-up was relatively painless.

Enter ImportStyles Promotions Inc., a partnership between both Mirza cousins and Brett Zheng; the organizing body for Toronto’s largest import event, ImportFest. Several highly secretive years in the making, ISP had plans to put on some of the largest sport compact car shows ever held in Canada and Mirza’s Civic was chosen to become ImportFest’s flagship car for. And so it began…

Yes, Mirza’s Civic is virtually a festival of aftermarket parts. Yes, the Civic is living up to its billing, but we’re equally impressed with the seamless integration and installation of all the parts. Make no mistake; with its boisterous looks, inside and out, and plenty of power on tap, this car is visible. In fact, if there’s one car in the province that absolutely everyone knows, this is likely it!

The Next Level

Not until after the trip to CarDresser did things start to snowball. Extreme Auto in Scarborough was next to get involved; Roy Soogrim and brother Firoze are responsible for all of the extreme bodywork you see here. The extreme skin started to take shape alongside the addition of a full body kit from VIS Racing. The kit consists of an Invader Type 1 front end and Quest MR2-style widebody fender flares. The only deviations from the VIS Racing theme are the Xenon side skirts and rear bumper, but the finished look is unspoiled. The body kit installation is harmonized by a number of custom tweaks, the most significant of which is an Acura CL headlight conversion featuring HID bulbs. In order for the front end to properly receive the CL beamers, however, Soogrim first had to perform some very trick modifications to the hood, quarter panels and bumper.

For a truly custom look, a set of RX-7 turn indicators was tucked inside the front bumper. A Mugen-style racing hood was added next, along with a Mugen Prelude hood cowl, Kaminari Accord-style front grill and M5 mirrors by APC. Soogrin took special care when performing the headlight conversion so the stock hood dimensions were retained, as Mirza keeps three other hoods that he can swap on, including a carbon fiber unit, clear Plexi as well as the stock hood.

Out back, we find a Lexus GS400 taillight conversion to complement the Altezza rear lights, which are equipped with PIAA bulbs. The car is topped off with an APR Performance adjustable aluminum roof type spoiler, VIS mid-wing as well as downforce-enhancing lower lip spoilers on the front bumper.

We find more improvements to the suspension setup including a B&G coil-over system married to a set of prototype RO_JA Formula 5 wheels sheathed in 215/35/18 Nitto 555 rubber. All that was left was to add APR upper and lower strut bars in the front and back to tighten up the chassis for some wicked high-speed cornering. It’s no wonder that Mirza’s Civic sticks to the road as easily as Spider-Man does to walls.

That pretty much sums up the exterior modifications, except, of course, for the stunning custom paint job. Technik Autoworks in Thornhill applied the custom Candy Blue Metallic base coat, after which the car was sent to Dominique Designs in Ajax for the marvelous airbrushing. While searching for sponsors for the inaugural ImportFest event, Mirza approached Autocannon.com for permission to use its popular Max Boost cartoon as the basis of the car’s exterior design. After discussing it with the president, the official Autocannon.com Max Boost Civic was born.

With the official go-ahead, Dominique Nguyen spent the next week spraying on the design that Autocannon.com had created. A job of this magnitude usually takes at least two to three weeks to complete, but thanks to Nguyen’s speed, the car was ready for its inaugural SkyDome outing.

Before we go inside the car, let’s take a glance under the hood. Kaliber Performance Group in Scarborough gets the credit here. The first thing to jump out at you is a JDM B18C powerplant with Type R internals and an AEM valve cover. The motor has been fitted with a JUN flywheel and headers as well as a Skunk2 intake manifold and AEM air intake. A five-inch Brullen cat-back exhaust system rids the potent engine of used gases while adding a deep exhaust note. To maximize the performance potential of all these upgrades, a MISE engine management computer was added to the mix, and an AEM Big Brake upgrade ensures the car comes to a safe stop even with the increased pony count. For maximum show appeal, a Weapon R dress-up kit gives the engine bay a nice, clean appearance.

Inside Out

Moving inside the car is akin to entering the flight deck of your wildest fantasy ride. Not surprisingly, CarDresser did a fantastic job of colour-coordinating the entire interior with the theme that has been chased in from outside. The seats and door panel inserts have been wrapped in a luscious red and black vinyl theme, with custom embroidering on all of the seats. The remaining interior panels and dashboard were painted and gel-coated charcoal-grey and Mirza also keeps a pair of matching Sparco Torinos that alternate with the vinyl-wrapped buckets on show days.

Accessories for the driver include a series of Auto Meter Pro-Comp gauges. There are three above the glove box providing information about the EGT, intake temperature and oil temperature. Additionally, the driver’s A-pillar features readouts for boost and air / fuel ratio and just below that we find a five-inch Monster tach from the Sport-Comp series keeps a watchful eye on engine speed. The glove box, however, is home to a custom-made switch panel – made by Mirza’s father – featuring a fivesome of Ignited functions. From left to right, there is a push-button start, three starter kills and a NOS activation toggle switch, but they’re all dummies. Ignited also supplied its new C-Tech digital performance compass / timer and the real push-button starter is found on the back of the center console, away from curious onlookers and pranksters.

The dash also features carbon fiber trim panels and an AC Technik instrument cluster featuring Hiper EL-face gauges. An A’PEXi V-AFC was also added and ensures proper engagement for the VTEC. Lastly, a sponsorship by TEKNIQ AutoSport brought a Snap-Off Street System and Leather 123 steering wheel, which features an aluminum ornamental trim ring. A matching TEKNIQ Range 505 shift knob, Signature series shift boot and a pair of Racemats accompany these.

Knowing his own car had to be the perfect example of what an import show car ought to be, Mirza smartly followed up with a full I.C.E. installation by 20Hz Car Audio in Brampton. Here’s where both Audiobahn and Sony got involved with sponsorships of their own. The basis of the system is Sony’s newest and coolest head unit, the MEX-5D1, which features a built-in 32,000-colour TFT / LCD display. This links up to a Sony CDX-646 six-disc CD-changer as well as a Sony mobile colour monitor system module that’s used in conjunction with a pair of Audiobahn monitors found in the back.

Sound reproduction in the front end is performed by a 5.25-inch ABC5002Q component set. The set includes a pair of carbon composite drivers mounted in the factory locations, 25mm silk dome tweets mounted high up on the front door panels and an 18 dB / octave passive crossover network. A pair of custom kick panels will soon follow, as they weren’t ready at press time.

Back in the hatch area are two inverted 12-inch AW1200Q subwoofers fixed to the baffles of a custom fiberglass enclosure, which also features an integrated roll bar-style amplifier rack that holds a pair of Audiobahn amplifiers as well as twin five-inch AVM150 TFT / LCD monitors. The custom enclosure is a one-piece design made up of six layers of fiberglass and finished with a gel-coat skin. At present, the only video source is a Sony PlayStation2.

A three-farad ACAP15 capacitor bank stiffens the Audiobahn powerplants; a two-channel A1300HCQ and four-channel A4075HCQ respectively. Proudly displaying its flamed shroud, the A1300HCQ controls the subwoofers while the A4075HCQ governs the front stage. Finally, a 75 hp Nitrous Express bottle was integrated into the install and is found in the left rear corner of the hatch. It should be noted that 20 Hz was tight for time in the weeks leading up to the photo shoot, yet did a superb job on the install.

Suffice it to say, Mirza is heavily involved in the scene now and has got his hands full between working on his car and organizing shows. ImportFest 2002 will go ahead as planned, only this time there will be two, the other being held in Vancouver later this year. To learn more about ImportFest visit www.importfest.com.

Mirza would like to thank those companies who got involved with the project, as without them the creation of this car would not have been possible. Special thanks go to 20 Hz, AC Technik, Audiobahn, Autocannon.com / Max Boost, AEM, APC, APR, B+G, CarDresser, CFD Auto Collision, Dominique Designs, Extreme Auto, Ignited, Kaliber Performance Group, Meguiar’s, Motegi Racing Wheels, Nitto Tires, RO_JA, Sony of Canada, Speedoptions.com, Strictly Imports, Technik Autoworks, TEKNIQ AutoSport and Weapon-R.

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