Like plenty of drag racers, Canadian Mark Gentile got his start on the street. I have to give credit to myJames and boy, who took me for my first blast in a B18C5 swapped EG Honda Civic hatch many, a long time ago. When we pulled out on the road and he permit it to hang First through Fourth, my life was changed and would never be the same again, lol. In the winter months of 2006 I acquired a 1990 Integra, as well as time or money I had was invested in that car. It was my daily driver that started with a stock B18A motor that lasted a couple months until a compact t3 turbo found its way underneath the hood (shout out to my boy Matt, who gave meabout the turbo crackpipe was all it took for Mark to swap in a boosted B16, combined with a t3/t4 LS/VTEC setup, and then straight back to a stock block B18A with a Garrett t3/67mm snail, lumpy Crower 404 cams, and a 14-psi Crome tune that made 380 whp. This car was my introduction to learning about forced induction, as Mark place it. It saw every bootleg option to go turbo utilizing the stock ECU – FMU, check valves on the MAP sensor, and Prelude injectors that made black smoke pour out the exhaust. Happy times! But being 18 to 19 yrs old with a mid 11-second street Honda is a potential recipe for disaster, especially when sportbikes pull up next to you on the highway. Or another boosted Honda. Or even a Camaro. I’m just thankful those days have come and gone withoutplenty of living into those first couple of years of Honda hooning, in 2008 making the surprisingly mature decision (for the 20-year old hooked on boost) to obtain off the street, sell his Integra, and make the 1990 Honda Civic hatchback shell he’d bought from a friend a year earlier. Why the fourth-gen? As Mark explained, My neighbor used to have this beautiful black cherry EF slammed on Rota Circuit 8’s by using a JDM SIR front bumper. Seeing that gangster little car sitting so pretty made me say to myself, ‘one day I’ll create a Civic as cool as his.’ Besides, the track is obviously loaded withEGs and EKs, and DCs, therefore it only made sense if you ask me to be different and choose an EF.

1990 honda civic magnus motorsports intake manifold 02

1990 honda civic PIC drag suspension 03

1990 honda civic moroso catch can 04

, although the cost of being different turned out to be steeper than Mark anticipated I can’t even begin to total the amount of time I’ve spent on this car. It basically ended up being being a full restoration. If there was rust, it had to be removed. It was if it can be sandblasted and repainted. Whether it was broken and couldn’t be replaced, it was repaired. Well you will get the point if it could be bought brand new from the dealer. The rocker and quarter panel replacements were a whole lot work, I’ve sworn never to do that to myself againthe age of the Honda Civic and refreshing it to like-new standards were a few of the many challenges Mark faced while transforming his car into a 24.5-inch Mickey Thompson tire roaster. The most significant challenge with this car was trying to fit 20 pounds of stuff into a 5 pound engine bay. I spent hours and hourssitting and staring, and visualizing. Because off the shelf doesn’t exist, the other downside to building an EF is race parts availability. I had to fabricate a variety of custom one-off pieces, plus I have this weird obsession with figuring things out on my own. Basically If I do fail, there are many points to be learned in doing so.”, i don’t really like to bother people, so I’ll attempt to make it happen until I fail, and also”ago therefore far it’s stood the test of your time extremely well, as has his custom 3-piece frontend having its trademark Universal Spinners blood splattered velocity stack poking out of the Honda Civic nose. The frontend of the car is something that I’m thrilled with. At the time, a 3-piece frontend had not been available for the EF, thus i had no choice but to make my very own. The front fenders were spun from steel (thanks Dad) and took me 14 days to finish. It absolutely was a very painstaking, meticulous job but was worth it once I got the automobile back from the paint shop.

When Mark started this build, his goal was to go mid- to high 10’s. Then, on his first outing within the Honda Civic, back in 2009, it went 10.44 @ 137 mph while making only 565 whp. That’s when he realized he had to change his goal from 10’s to 9’s. The built LS/VTEC, featuring Darton sleeves, Eagle rods, and Wiseco 10: 1 pistons, now spins the Magnus Motorsports Dynojet for the tune of 760 whp and 470 whp at 34 psi on VP Q16. Proving the effectiveness of a Magnus tune and Mark’s ability to put it to the ground can be a best ET of 9.68 @ 157mph at Toronto Motorsports Park in September, which makes it the fastest ’88-’91 era hatch north of theHe’s actually thinking about going in the opposite direction, even though you might expect a guy like Mark to keep chasing the carrot by setting his sights on a sub 9-second pass. To be honest, I’m really considering the possibility of putting a stock B-series in the car and putting it back on the street. Besides, the cage and necessary safety equipment, it’s still a stock, uncut 1990 Civic with working headlights, brake lights, turn signals, windshield wipers, and complete front trim. The carpeting remains intact, and then in true Canadian fashion, the heater core and blower motor are set for winter.

, though don’t let his talk of returning to street-spec fool you into thinking he’s gone soft I would desire to make it to Honda Day at Etown again [where HT head honcho Rodrez spotted it], as Mark use it. We possessed a fantastic time last year, plus we’ll do as much racing up here as our work schedule permits.

For GREAT deals on a new or used Nissan check out Mossy Nissan TODAY!