This is Kevin Boehm’s 2017 Honda Civic Si… with a Type R CTR swap. Yes I know what you’re thinking. Why in the HELL would you buy a new Civic and immediately swap it with a different engine out of the same chassis? Why not just buy the Type R from the beginning? I had the same thought initially. But for Kevin, it’s not just about the car. It’s about the passion! In the Honda world, motor swaps are at the core of the game. And Kevin found his situation as the perfect opportunity to give Honda’s new technology a test.

He acquired the CTR engine from Honda Performance Development, as it was actually a leftover from their Formula 3 open wheel race car program! He then purchased the bare whitebody chassis from HPD, and convinced them to let him part out two different partial cars and swap over to his whitebody.

As far as the swap goes, it was actually easier than he thought! Honda designed the 10th generation Civic with a lot of commonality between the different cars. In doing so, the OEM Type R engine-mounts allowed the CTR to be mounted directly up to the Si chassis! Kevin is still running the Si suspension, however, only causing an issue with his axles due to the fact they needed to be shorter! To combat this, he took a few measurements, and sent them off to Driveshaft Shop for some custom axles that use the Type R inboard joint and the Si outboard joint.

The biggest issue Kevin ran into with the swap, was getting all the electronics to communicate properly. Because of this, he decided to run a stand-alone ECU, versus the factory ECU from the CTR.

Overall, the new Civic platform is DEFINITELY a force to be reckoned – with or withOUT some fancy swap left over from an open wheel race car. There’s no denying that Honda’s back in this thing! Just ask any Ford ST owner & watch him start to squirm a little. An Si might not be the quickest out of the box, but it’s set up for endurance. The 10th generation Si/CTR has less understeer than any other factory Civic platform, making it that much easier to rail around corners and give it the sauce. It’s proving itself to be a real competitive contender amongst the other performance 4-cylinders out there. And I’m personally looking forward to seeing how far these Honda boys keep pushing this thing. 

(photo by by Clayton Hooker)

PARTS LIST

  • 2017 Civic Si Chassis
  • Full Roll Cage
  • Chassis Powdercoated Grey
  • Gutted Wiring Harness
  • Heated windshield to delete HVAC
  • Lexan windows
  • 2017 FK8 Type R CTR Crate Engine from HPD
  • FK8 Transmission with a Cusco RS Type Adjustable LSD
  • Stand-alone GEMS GDi80 engine ECU
  • Custom 36mm Turbo Inlet Restrictor
  • Custom Acuity Instruments Cold Air Intake
  • Acuity Instrument shifter bushings
  • Acuity Instruments short throw shifter
  • Custom RV6 Performance radiator
  • Custom RV6 Performance 3in stainless turbo-back exhaust
  • RV6 Performance Suspension Sphericals
  • RV6 Performance 3-way adjustable rear swaybar
  • HPD Camber/Caster Plates
  • Bilstein Double Adjustable Dampers front and rear
  • 2.5in racing springs front and rear
  • SPC Rear Camber Arms
  • Custom Driveshaft Shop axles
  • Brembo Endurance Racing Brake Calipers with 332x32mm two piece rotors from Stoptech
  • Full Carbotech Brake Pads
  • Goodridge Fuel Lines, Brake Lines, and Clutch Lines
  • Recaro Racing Seat and 6 point harness
  • OMP deep dish steering wheel
  • Custom 3D printed steering wheel box
  • Race Technology Data Acquisition
  • Wedsport TC105n 17x8in wheels with 38mm offset
  • Custom front spliter
  • Custom Carbon Fiber rear wing
  • Seibon TS Type Carbon Fiber Hood
  • 2350lb’s making almost 400whp without the restrictor
ACT clutch