400hp 91 realtime awd ef hatch.....Epic Tuning

Here is the deal on the infamous Epic Tuning AWD realtime ef hatch. As all of you know about this car with the honda-tech writeup and the vids on youtube.
This AWD conversion/setup was designed, fabricated and done by Craig at Epic Tuning. Alot of time and aggrevation went into this car for this to work. I am the owner of this car and to be honest I have been fixing some junk that I didnt like and things i wanted differently. I just about have it to the point were i like it...for now....
The stock engine we bent the rods and decided to build the bottom end so it can handle what we were going to give it. We did the wiseco pistons..eagle rods and arp headstuds....i just had it retuned by Jeff evans and on 93 pump I am safely running 17lbs of boost and im at 320hp....on race gas i hit 420hp and 32lbs of boost. What i wanted was a low key quality looking and mechanically fast car for the street, I know what this car can do at the track so i dont give 2 shits about taking it and launching all day long just to see i will be in the 11's.
As for the drivetrain, that took a shit after all the 80 plus launches this did. I needed to remove the trans and have a friend split the trans and completley go over the entire thing. The syncros were hosed and some of the gears were worn. the fluid and the magnet looked good, we thought the trans was going to be worse than what it was. the clutch pad was good but the pressure plate looked alittle twisted. the clutch cable was hosed and that was due to the awesomeness of a plastic threaded adjuster...let me tell you how good that worked..well from the pressure plate being heavy duty it decided to rip the threaded rod right through the nut....so now i have a new cable that is fabricated so the adjustment stays. soon i will be converting the cable to hydraulic.
now the trans is rebuilt and we talked with the owner of competition clutches to have him put together a clutch kit that can withstand the torque and horsepower with what i am doing. so far so good everything is 100%
here are some pics...
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Comments

  • kamanari1kamanari1 New Wagonist
    thank you for finally coming out with this car. first of all i love this car truely one off..second there are so many people on here swearing up and down that what your car does, cant be done...i have talked to epic myself and everyone seems to believe that the drivetrain can only handle about 200hp max thank you for proving my point
  • kamanari1 wrote:
    thank you for finally coming out with this car. first of all i love this car truely one off..second there are so many people on here swearing up and down that what your car does, cant be done...i have talked to epic myself and everyone seems to believe that the drivetrain can only handle about 200hp max thank you for proving my point

    like i said....before i rebuilt the trans it seemed to be holding the power fine....the only thing that started to go were the syncros....Im sure if i beat on the car and keep launching it something will give. I was told the drivetrain in the realtimes are pretty strong, but still .. your pumping this power through it, something will give soon.
  • HaydzHaydz Moderator
    That is pretty much the discussion that has taken place here, if you're gonna beat on it all day everyday then you probably wouldn't want to go too much further than the 200whp mark however it's gonna handle more than that its really just a matter of when not if, doesn't matter if it was FWD or RT4WD.

    It's really great that you popped over to show us your new purchase, stick around, update us and you may find some good info around the forum here. More is being learnt about the RT4WD and its variations all the time.

    Welcome along!
  • Haydz wrote:
    That is pretty much the discussion that has taken place here, if you're gonna beat on it all day everyday then you probably wouldn't want to go too much further than the 200whp mark however it's gonna handle more than that its really just a matter of when not if, doesn't matter if it was FWD or RT4WD.

    It's really great that you popped over to show us your new purchase, stick around, update us and you may find some good info around the forum here. More is being learnt about the RT4WD and its variations all the time.

    Welcome along!

    The car was originally craigs from epic...my friend keith bought it and did some things to it and worked on the awd setup with craig...i got it from keith and redid the manifold setup, the intercooler piping..placement of the intercooler...touched up some body panels, redid the exhaust and the position of the turbo....I have had this car for over a year now. I will sell it if the price is right.
  • please keep us updated on this!!

    I have a rt wagon with a rev-hard turbo kit that is just WAITING to be tossed on, however I backed out of putting it on due to all the statements about how weak the transmission system is...
  • kamanari1kamanari1 New Wagonist
    what kind of price
  • teamolsteamols New Wagonist
    nice to see the hatchy again, it must be a fun ridei wanted to ask you how does the hood secure latch down with the t bar missing from the radiator support?
  • DarrenDarren Wagonist
    So just out of curiosity, is the 4WD system on this hatch completely stock from a RT4WD wagon or have there been some updates (other than just refurbishing the stock pieces)... just curious cause i'm playing with the idea of going full rear wheel drive and drifting my wagon, but don't know if the system can handle that kind of abuse...

    Thanks
  • Darren wrote:
    So just out of curiosity, is the 4WD system on this hatch completely stock from a RT4WD wagon or have there been some updates (other than just refurbishing the stock pieces)... just curious cause i'm playing with the idea of going full rear wheel drive and drifting my wagon, but don't know if the system can handle that kind of abuse...

    Thanks

    my system is stock except for a competiton clutch....the best person to ask on doing the rear wheel drive is jaker....he has done it
  • unlimited02unlimited02 Senior Wagonist
    i've seen the video of this car on youtube... it's quick... lol...
  • kamanari1kamanari1 New Wagonist
    damn right
  • DD Wagonist
    Can't recall if I ever gave you the actual ratios that are in your box now:
    1st: 3.385
    2nd: 1.950
    3rd: 1.240
    4th: 0.897
    5th: 0.750
    FD: 4.429

    3/4/5 are from the earlier solid axle trans. and you can cross reference here if you need:

    viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6296

    Fix that ghetto ass fuel cell. :)

    D
  • 1RMDave1RMDave Band Wagon
    awesome car, any new dyno numbers?
  • this whip is for sale if anyone is interested!
  • That is awesome, but would be way cooler if it was a wagon.
  • turbo_tegturbo_teg Council Member
    props on on gettin it dialed in i know what a PITA it can be my 4wd CRX was cool but i would never do another. this is awsome but i would love to see a set-up like this in a wagon.
  • wow what a awsome car, im kinda interseted in what kinda price you're lookin for it
  • DD Wagonist
    this whip is for sale if anyone is interested!

    Please tell me you don't want a subaru..... :roll:
  • tritri Band Wagon
    finally someone thinking outside the box! EFAWDFTW!!
  • Sick swap, how does it drive??
  • The original was always going to be too good to be true. It was going to take a beating and break the tranny.
    But Epic got utterly swamped with people asking questions and stopped.
    Can you blame them?
    Anyone remember that guy from Quebec about 6 years ago, stuck a CR-V drivetrain into a CRX and got IM'd to death over it :lol:

    Got any pics of the damage to thr tranny?
    I'm glad I have a spare, but it's good to see someone going out to prove what can be done and what they will take.
    I don't plan on launching it much. It aint no Skyline :lol:

    I'm building my spare with steel caged bearings instead often plastic crap which is supposed to be in there like the other L3 2WD's.
    TBH tho for big power the tranny to use is from the 4WD HR-V which you guys might not have got.
    It's a 5spd with only 3 gear shafts unlike the utter frikkin nightmare which is L3 4WD internals.
    More chance of bracng and stronger supports for the shafts.

    Looks like you managed to squeeze a 2.5" DP in there, or is it actually bigger than that?
    Thanks for the pics, you've given me some good ideas for exhaust routing.

    Got a part number for the clutch?
    I'm trying out an ebay special 6 puck which I don't expect to last long :)
  • nominous wrote:
    The original was always going to be too good to be true. It was going to take a beating and break the tranny.
    But Epic got utterly swamped with people asking questions and stopped.
    Can you blame them?
    Anyone remember that guy from Quebec about 6 years ago, stuck a CR-V drivetrain into a CRX and got IM'd to death over it :lol:

    Got any pics of the damage to thr tranny?
    I'm glad I have a spare, but it's good to see someone going out to prove what can be done and what they will take.
    I don't plan on launching it much. It aint no Skyline :lol:

    I'm building my spare with steel caged bearings instead often plastic crap which is supposed to be in there like the other L3 2WD's.
    TBH tho for big power the tranny to use is from the 4WD HR-V which you guys might not have got.
    It's a 5spd with only 3 gear shafts unlike the utter frikkin nightmare which is L3 4WD internals.
    More chance of bracng and stronger supports for the shafts.

    Looks like you managed to squeeze a 2.5" DP in there, or is it actually bigger than that?
    Thanks for the pics, you've given me some good ideas for exhaust routing.

    Got a part number for the clutch?
    I'm trying out an ebay special 6 puck which I don't expect to last long :)



    dave...
    the clutch is a ACT....the owner from act put it together for me.
    the exhaust is all 3" turbo back...

    and i sold the car 2 days ago
  • turbo_tegturbo_teg Council Member
    how much it sell got and to whome?
  • amazing car...great work
  • turbo_teg wrote:
    how much it sell got and to whome?


    I got it for 9K. It is a blast to drive.

    Eric
  • I would totally buy your hatch.. But aren't you on the east coast?
  • I would totally buy your hatch.. But aren't you on the east coast?

    It isn't for Sale yet, I do have a bad habbit of buying/selling cars I am up to number 98 right now. I am having to much fun driving the Hatch right now. I am from P.A.

    Eric
  • bad biddybad biddy Band Wagon
    Dam build looks sick. Good worl
  • saw the youtube video too....nice! came across the same idea years ago, but never had the system, time, or guts to do it. kudos!
  • saw the youtube video too....nice! came across the same idea years ago, but never had the system, time, or guts to do it. kudos!

    Here is a recent little video I put on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8OHmzcOR94

    Eric
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