6″ Lifted All-Wheel-Drive EK Civic – Ready for Battles

Why??? Bro that’s not the right question. The question is: Why not? And if that makes any sense, allow me to introduce you to Ben Battles’ lifted all-wheel-drive EK Civic sedan. Now, you may know Ben Battles from is short automotive video features that span across all the social media channels under @battles.digital. Or – you might even know him in person from practically any/every car event in the Southeast. And not to toot our own horn here – but Ben Battles has shot some of the most epic photos that ever graced S3 Magazine (check out this lifted 49 Packard too). I’d like to think S3 was a little piece of the inspiration behind this lifted Civic build. But here’s the actual story… 

Battles went to a couple Gambler 500 events…

He went to a Tennessee Gambler with his buddy, Jake Willard from TrboNktr and SlightlyMangled. Now if you know anything about the Gambler events, the whole point is to take not much money, build something weird/cool with it, and take it off-road. Technically they do it to clean up trails & be good citizens. But shenanigans are a heaping bonus. Anyway, Jake built a lifted Civic, and Battles had an absolute blast riding the trails shotgun. Jake’s Civic was not all-wheel drive converted (cost is key for Gambler cars, remember). So being only front-wheel-drive, it was totally a momentum machine. You had to keep your foot in it & commit to the climbs, mud, ruts, etc. But somehow, a Honda in motion stays in motion, and it prevailed. And somewhere along the line, Battles thought,

“For real, what if it was all-wheel-drive though?”

Ben Battles loves outlandish cars… 

Like… a lot. And he’d also been wanting to build a car that would add some of his own style & personality to his quickly-growing social media channels. This was it: Honda roots mashed-up with the off-road, safari, overland trends. There’s something fun & freeing about a car that you can just – ya know – beat on a little bit. One thing led to another, a few sponsors got involved, puzzle-pieces came together, and this is what you get. 

The Civic all-wheel-drive conversion…

This EK Civic sedan runs a B20 engine, 5-speed transmission, and AWD drivetrain from a ’98 Honda CRV. The mounts are from Hasport, and huge shoutout goes out to Brian at Hasport for all his help & expertise. At this point you might be wondering, “Wait… why not just use the whole CRV instead of the Civic, and cut out the middleman?” But remember the rules here: Stop asking why, and start asking why not? That’s the only way any of this makes sense lol. So S1Built got involved with the AWD conversion – supplying their trailing arms, billet LCA’s, and a stainless diff mount. The stock CRV driveshaft has been custom-cut about 2-inches by Hudlow Axle.

Do you even lift bro?

This 4-door EK Civic sports a 6” lift from HRG Off-Road. It runs CRV suspension all the way around. Up front, it’s using 3” lift spacers (and TruHart upper control arms). But in the rear, it’s all spring-lift. Then adding to that, the Civic’s also got the HRG 3” subframe drop and 3” trailing arm drop to match. And – HRG designed a special diff mount adapter/bracket to accommodate the S1 AWD-swap components to the HRG lift kit.

Shifty Civic…

As mentioned, this is a 5-speed Civic now… converted from automatic. The shifter setup is from Hybrid Racing. It’s a TSX shifter, adapted to the EK Civic. The clutch is from ACT. And besides the B20 engine swap, the Civic’s engine is stock, with a tuned P28 ECU from Jason Waters. 

Various Visual Mods…

This is a 2000-model Honda Civic Sedan that’s been de-facelifted front & rear to the 96-98 bodystyle. On the back, the Civic struts a set of clear taillights. And the gnarly steel bumper upfront is from Rugged Ridge, originally for a TJ Jeep Wrangler. Shawn at Schweaty’s Speed Shop did all the weld-work on this lifted Civic build, and he also adapted the Jeep bumper to the Civic. Shawn can do anything… and if you’re looking for some cool inspiration, check out his lifted body-swapped 57 Pontiac we featured a while back in S3!

The wheels are 15×8 Bassetts with a 2-inch backspace… mounted to 235/75 Nexen MTs by Two Brothers Tire & Auto in Tennessee. Inside, you’ll find a nice Bridgemoto steering wheel & a set of seats from an FG2 Civic Si. Oh and how could I forget, this Civic is cloaked in a Slate Grey wrap from Inozetek. 

Where does the lifted Civic go from here?

Well… most anywhere it wants. That’s the plan anyway. But first – Battles needs to get the car back to Schweaty’s Speed shop to get some the wheel-wells cut & re-welded for tire clearance. You can tell in some of these photos that the ties don’t have much space to flex before they’re all-up in the fenders. Other than that, this lifted AWD Civic is a conversation piece wherever it goes. It fits-in with all walks of car culture… from imports to off-road. And that’s what Ben Battles loves as much as anything: To be able to talk cars & share stories… & boost-up all the creative people & passionate companies in this industry. Where there’s a will, there’a way. The Honda culture is proof of that… and so is  Ben Battles. 

Thanks to…

Soddy Daisy Speed Shop

Prentice Performance – see feature here

Schweaty’s Speed Shop – see feature here

Jack Willard from Slightly Mangled & Trbo Nktr – for all the build help

Inozetek

HRG Off-Road

S1Built

Hudlow Axle

Hasport

TruHart

Hybrid Racing

ACT

Jason Waters Tuning

Two Brothers Tire & Auto