1995 Honda Del Sol

Lest Anyone Think We've Shunned The Cult Of Del Sol, We Turn The Light On This Boosted B With JDM Stitching From The Appropriately Sunny Climes Of San Diego.

Browse the Web, read the paper or do some channel surfing and you're likely to stumble across some new study analyzing the latest American obsession or overindulgence. We either eat too many Big Macs, put in too many hours at the office or waste too much money. Americans' obsession with excess has been studied and restudied. But it got us thinking: If there were ever a study about Americans obsessed with the H-badge, we wouldn't be surprised to find Noel Hina's name at the top of that list.

The San Diego, Calif., resident is a former F-body fanatic who once daydreamed of T-tops and gas-guzzling V8s. Hina credits his friend Eddie Wallin for his initial exposure to the scene and soon made things more official by purchasing an '89 CRX Si, and then another. And another. One '95 hatchback and six CRXs later, Hina now plants himself in a '95 dual-cam Del Sol.

Initially drawn to the idea of a B16A engine swap for one of his CRX stable, Hina soon scrapped those plans in favor of hunting for a Del Sol with the B16A already underhood. Like many of us, Hina was attracted to the DOHC VTEC brawn, as well as the fact that across the Pacific the Del was tagged a CRX. He soon found himself a pristine Granada Black Pearl '95 sourced from the classifieds for just over $9,000. Cash in hand, he made a trip north with his then-girlfriend who unbelievably negotiated the price down to $5,500. Hina would later marry her.

With encouragement from Wallin and motivation from his friends at Techlogex.com and Autocannon, Hina dove into the Del Sol buildup head first, throwing the usual assortment of bolt-ons into the mix. Nearly two years later, Hina's EG2 has reached that rarely attained state of visual car guy nirvana.

Thinking JDM from the get-go, Hina selected a Mugen front bumper and rear wing. With Mugen bumpers going for nearly as much as one of his old CRXs, Hina scored a deal on one with only minor damage, which a local body shop restored and color-matched. Through Wallin's connections overseas, Hina sourced a set of one-piece headlights, fog lights and side marker-equipped fenders from an EG2 donor chassis.

Realizing all this attention to JDM detail had accomplished zilch in the performance department, Hina turned to Sportcar Motion in nearby Vista to help the original B16A3 grow some stones. Sportcar's John Rusakoff took the job of putting together a turbo kit based around a beefy 60-1 turbo bolted onto a Spark Racing short-length exhaust manifold. Onlookers get a glimpse of the Del's positive pressure status thanks to a mammoth XS Engineering intercooler glaring from beneath the Mugen bumper.

Prior to its forced-fed status, the A3's top-end received Rusakoff's full treatment of Integra Type R internals and Skunk2 camshaft. The intake and exhaust ports also received a thorough reworking.

Transferring all of that turbocharged muscle to the pavement is the factory, Y21 gearbox-only better. An Integra Type R limited-slip diff was retrofitted into the transaxle in order to rid the Del Sol of its peg-leg disability. No more one-tire burnouts here. A Competition Clutch chrome-moly flywheel and street/strip clutch ease shifting duties.

With performance cranked up, Hina came to learn what many Del owners know: When the top is off body roll becomes a predictable, but annoying, occurrence. Sportcar handled the wave-riding motion with TEIN coil-overs at the corners, Mugen strut tower bars front and back, and a Spoon Sports lower tie bar. The factory calipers bring it to all to a halt, aided by Axxis Metalmaster pads biting down on Powerstop cross-drilled rotors.