1992 Honda Civic DX

The expression "dream team" evokes a lot of different thoughts. Some equate it to a sports team, like the crew of NBA greats sent to the Olympics in '92. Others remember O.J. Simpson's dream team of lawyers, a team that lived up to its billing. In the car show world though, only a handful of groups deserve the label; Team Emotion is one of them.

Based on the East Coast, the enthusiast collective has made a staggering impression on the car show world in its first 18 months of competition, taking home 17 Best Team awards (as of June). It has earned the honors by admitting and maintaining a select fleet of impeccable, modified compacts. Even the team's Web site, woefully short on images of sick cars, provides just enough glimpses-a sexy S2K and EK hatch-to pique any car geek's interest.

Eric So and his '92 Civic DX hatch belong to Team Emotion, which alone says much about his car. The Fairfax, Va., resident began his project like plenty of guys do, wanting to build a showcar that was different, which was not an easy pursuit in the competitive world of show cars. So's desire to stay away from head/taillight conversions and widebody kits and to stick with the JDM theme made the objective more defined. But originally he was resistant.

"At first I didn't understand what the big deal was with the JDM stuff," he recalls. After doing his research, he came to respect the simple, clean aesthetics. It also helped that show prizes for JDM categories were better, even if the entrant only placed.

So's investment in JDM parts has been substantial. He has few sponsorships and demanded nothing but authenticity throughout the buildup. During the day So is a systems engineer, but off the clock he and his friends did most of the work on the car to save costs. Still, rounding up parts was a major challenge and in some cases forced a compromise.

"I wanted the most powerful motor I could get [that would easily fit]," he explains. "That was an [Integra] Type R engine, but nobody had one in stock and I grew tired of waiting. They sold me the next one down in power, [the GS-R motor]."

In addition to saving some coin, working on the car gave So invaluable experience in disassembling and assembling a Civic from top to bottom. He didn't have much time turning wrenches on his ride, but he did have friends. "One of my buddies had a shop down in Springfield, and I would go over there and help him after work. I learned from him, and I started work on my own car."

So has had his share of setbacks, especially with the motor gremlins. The engine has had overheating problems (traced to a loose fan wire), injector problems (a bad injector), and ECU programming issues. But his own research, facilitated through a network of friends and Honda-tech.com, has helped him figure out everything in the end.From start to finish, the Civic took about four months and $35K (including the cost of the car) to complete. Rolling deep with his peers in Team Emotion, So's Civic garners much respect up and down the Eastern Seaboard, most recently placing third in Honda Mild at the York, Pa., Tuner War and first in JDM at the NOPI show in Buddscreek, Md.