Sport Cars i8 Concept

You don’t have to be heavily involved in the Honda community to know who Alex Soto is or what he’s accomplished. He’s built two of the more notable Hondas within the last couple years and has become a household name. The term “Sheepey Built” has been seen plastered on images of both his engine bays all over the internet and in more magazines than we can even count.

This Jade Sea Metallic Civic hatchback should look very familiar to any reader of Honda Tuning because it has graced these pages before. It actually appeared on the cover almost two years ago, and while he was busy building his DC2 Integra, his hatchback went into hibernation under a car cover inside the garage of his Perris, CA, home.

2007 Honda Civic CX Front View

This Civic started life with Alex as a race car, then went on to become an immaculate magazine-cover show stunner, and most recently has come full circle back to its racecar persona. As with most occurrences in life, how this Civic came to be was very random and unexpected. “One day last year, my buddy John Perry and I were on our way to grab some food and beer after getting my Integra ready for a car show,” Alex explains. “I told him that I wanted to make more power out of the Integra so that I could take it to the track. The setup I had in my DC made some really good power, but it was more of a street trim build and for car shows. He suggested that I use the Civic instead, since it was a race car back in the day, and the rest is pretty much history.”

The hatchback wasn’t necessarily rotting away. It had just been placed off to the side as other projects had taken all of Sheepey’s attention, and he had plans to build another Civic altogether. The shell itself had remained in perfect condition, almost frozen in time since it was last immortalized in print. Rebuilding wouldn’t be difficult; it was just a matter of getting the perfect combination of parts. When someone builds to the caliber of Alex Soto, the right mix of parts and execution is essential, whether it be race or show.

2007 Honda Civic CX Engine

Soto’s B20/VTEC is a modern-day masterpiece. No bolt left untouched, every possible detail has been covered from top to bottom.

“My ideal plan was to just reassemble the car and motor, make a ton of power, and keep it in street trim, but after I started to gather the parts I wanted, I knew it would never see the street again. The turbo that I got from Bullseye Power was massive and all the fabrication work that was going to be involved with it gave me motivation to make this thing a competitive drag car.”

His weapon of choice to handle the high boost ensemble is a bigger displacement, non-VTEC, B20B block. Up top, a GS-R head with a completely reworked valvetrain carries some top secret specs that Alex likes to refer to as “custom Alex Soto-spec.” Mounted to the head is a Full Race intake manifold and BDL 72mm throttle body.

2007 Honda Civic CX Pipes

Fuel and ignition spark is definitely a necessary evil whenever high horsepower applications are involved, and Sheepey spared no expense. “The problem with Walbro pumps lies in the fuel pressure. They don’t really like being pressured high at all. For street applications I’m sure it’ll suffice, but I don’t feel safe with them whatsoever. The Bosch 044 pumps are much larger and can handle the amount of fuel that my motor requires.” Dual Bosch pumps lie in wait, ready for service at Soto’s beck and call. The responsibility of getting the fuel into the B20B is held by a Skunk2 Pro Series fuel rail and a set of T1 Race-spec ID2200 injectors. Sheepey called on his close friend and wiring extraordinaire Ryan Basseri to help him assemble his ignition harness. The custom Rywire harness ensures that adequate ignition spark is delivered from the T1 Race-spec M&W ignition box to individual Honda CBR ignition coils.