SEMA 2024: 1993 Honda Civic EG Hatch Tesla Swapped by RyWire

Posted on November 14, 2024 by bryan lusk

The 1990s Honda Civic hatchback is one of those cars where you either had one, knew someone who had one, or wanted one. Cheap to own and endlessly modifiable, the Civic EG hatch was a favorite among tuners.

I remember high school classmates rolling up in Civics with neon underglow, painted interior bits, and the ever-present “fart can” exhaust. This was an era of questionable taste and boundless creativity. Keep in mind, this was only a few years after the original Fast and the Furious movie came out.

Fast forward to 2024, and the Civic is still a staple in the tuning world, but the game has changed. At the 2024 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, the Toyo Tires Treadpass area featured a remarkable build that represents just how far this 30+ year-old platform can be pushed. Enter RyWire Motorsports’ fully electric 1993 Honda Civic EG hatchback, which combines JDM style with cutting-edge EV tech.The car was built by Ryan Basseri of RyWire Motorsports of Santa Ana, California. Basseri is no stranger to high-end vehicle builds and custom wiring. He previously did a full EV conversion on a Honda S2000, which is documented on the RyWire YouTube channel. But this Civic? It’s next-level.

Gone is the original gas-powered Honda engine, replaced with a Tesla-sourced electric powertrain. He salvaged a Tesla motor, inverter, and charge controller and adapted them to fit the EG chassis.

Under the hood, the exceptionally clean installation shows off Basseri’s attention to detail. The electric motor delivers an estimated 300 horsepower, which is triple the car’s original 90 horsepower. In the trunk is a 16 kWh battery pack, which was salvaged from a Chrysler Pacifica hybrid. The pack runs through an AEM battery management system and offers roughly 70 miles of range, which is more than enough for short trips around the neighborhood or silently rolling up to the local cars and coffee.

And yes, it even has air conditioning! A stock Tesla compressor has been adapted to work in this setup, ensuring the essential passenger comfort of cooled air on a Southern California day.

Braking has also received a high-tech overhaul. The factory vacuum-assisted system has been swapped for a Bosch iBooster unit from a Honda CR-V, complete with a custom reservoir. The fully electric iBooster provides consistent and reliable brake pressure, which is essential when dealing with instant torque.

Inside, the car is just as impressive. Instead of the rattle-can-painted dash, the RyWire EG features Recaro DC2 JDM Type-R front seats, with the rear seat reupholstered to match in black suede with red stitching. The cockpit is rounded out with a fully digital AEM dash and a Spoon steering wheel.

The stance is proper, sitting on custom Nitron springs and a set of 15-inch Volk Racing TE37 wheels in dark silver. These one-piece forged wheels are a favorite among JDM enthusiasts and lend a timeless motorsport look to the modernized hatch.

The RyWire Civic wasn’t alone at SEMA this year. Sharing the spotlight was a second Civic in the CSF Radiators booth. That car was a red 1999 EK hatch with a dual-motor, all-wheel-drive swap and a larger 85 kWh battery pack built into a custom-fabricated floor. But while that car was technically more impressive, the 1993 EG in the Toyo Tires pavilion was the one that caught my eye for its super clean setup.

This build is more than just a show car, it is pushing the boundaries of the Honda tuning scene into the EV era. While many see electric conversions as soulless, RyWire has shown that with craftsmanship, creativity, and respect for the platform, even the humble Civic hatch can be reborn as something truly electrifying.

For more, follow @rywire_motorsport on Instagram.

Ricers: The Next Generation

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Mike Ross

Let’s play a little word association game. If I say the word “ricer”, what words come to mind? If you are in your mid to late 20’s your brain is probably flooded with words like “body kit”, “spoiler”, “a-pillar mounted fire extinguisher” or “roof scoop”, right?

Guys, this is 2012. The dudes who drove the cars with all that bullshit on them have moved on. Most have lifted trucks now, a few probably have stock, newer Civics. All the dickheads who could actually afford them just have BMWs. The cars are long gone too. Either driven into the ground by an ex-girlfriend, parted out, or sold to tweakers. Anyways, they aren’t really around any more. Don’t worry though, I’ve got you covered- while not an exhaustive list by any means, this is pretty much everything you need to know about the concept- the theory, if you will- of what this new generation of dumbfuck kids are doing with their parent’s debt.

The ricers of yesteryear were at least attempting to look like they knew a little bit about cars. Sure, a chrome hot-air intake from eBay does fuck all for performance and makes you look like a tool. But at least it signified 2 things: 1. You knew how to open your hood, and 2. You owned or were otherwise able to gain access to a flat head screwdriver. Ok, maybe they watched The Fast and the Furious a few too many times. At least they were still trying to be car guys, even if they were failing miserably at it. Modifications were meant to give the illusion of speed. They meant well, one could argue. Everything is different now. It’s no longer about going fast, it’s about-and I use the term loosely- “looking good”. Today, you can show up at a car show with a stock-motored car with cut springs, your wheels painted baby blue or RC car neon yellow, and 14 or 15 of the same sticker carefully plastered in a perfectly arranged pattern on one your quarter panels and turn some heads.

Fuck that. It’s almost like it’s not only not cool to have actual car knowledge, its actually uncool to know about cars. Like only a slobbering, inbred redneck would want to modify a car for performance. And American cars? Forget about it! Nowadays, it’s all just about showing off your “style”, and the car is a fashion accessory, merely a giant, rolling Trapper Keeper to cover with stickers so the whole world can see you and know that you’re too cool for school. It’s bad. Smugness abounds. I do have to say, however, that going to the Pavilions on Saturdays and seeing the number of stickered up, rusted-hooded shitboxes multiplying exponentially every week has really put things into perspective for me. It really helps me appreciate pretty much every other little subculture going on within this bigger subculture I love to complain about so much. Even the kind of lame ones, like Minis.

Even the jocks in their impossibly mean sounding 5.0s and 4th gen F-bodies, even the greasers with the permanent “fuck you” look on their faces, even the billet-and-tweed-everything old guys, the eBay turbo kit import guys, the I-hate-to-admit-how-fucking-fast-they-can-be-made diesel trucks, the old Corvette guys who all look the same, even all the 240sx guys (where do all these 240sx’s keep coming from anyway?), the transformer-dorks with their new Camaros, the guys who apparently just found out about LEDs, the sleazy Euro-trash guys with the Ferraris, the regular-Joe looking guys who try to park their NSX’s right by the Ferraris, the guys who ride street bikes who put those weird mohawks on their helmets, the guys in newer GTO’s who look like they should be riding street bikes with mohawks on their helmets, even the guys with the Grand Nationals with eight miles on them, even the SHO guys who all neglect their cars terribly, and God, even the Mopar guys. I (heart) you all. Each and every one of you.