This Shop Is Dropping a Civic Type R Crate Engine Into a 1996 Honda Accord Wagon

Mom's old grocery-getter is about to be a demon at the stoplight.
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Earlier this year, Honda Performance Development announced that it would offer up the awesome Civic Type R’s 2.0-liter turbo-four as a crate engine, not just to certified race teams but to the general public. To drum up hype and show people what could be done with these off-the-shelf motors, HPD handed three of them to tuners for a trio of special builds. One of these happened to be California wheelmaker Fifteen52, a company that’s celebrating its 25th anniversary. And because these guys clearly have great taste, they decided to plop Honda’s hot hatch engine into a 1996 Accord Wagon. (Because 1996 was 25 years ago, get it?)

Of course, Fifteen52 didn’t choose this particular car because it happened to be the only 25-year-old Honda lying around. Instead, the team chose this generation of Accord because it was a bit of a legend in Japanese Touring Car Championship racing, taking home titles in both 1996 and 1997. 

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Fifteen52

The Civic Type R makes 306 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque, which is quite a bit more than the 130 horses and 139 pound-feet this wagon made from the factory.

Mountune USA, an official dealer of the Type R crate engine, will be taking care of most of the actual engineering and engine integration. According to MotorTrend, the Type R motor is being held in place by Hasport engine mounts and the car will feature a full roll cage. Of course, wheels are being supplied by Fifteen52 itself—Rally White Podiums wearing Toyo Proxes RR radials, to be specific. Hiding not-so-subtly behind said wheels are bigger-disced, red-calipered Brembo brakes. 

As for the other two commissioned builds, one of the motors Honda handed out will be installed in a CRX while the final is going in an S2000. CRX, S2000, ’96 Accord Wagon—a supremely solid Honda fanboy’s garage if we ever saw one. 

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Chris Tsui

Reviews Editor

Chris Tsui is The Drive’s Reviews Editor. He oversees the site’s car reviews operation in addition to pitching in on industry news and writing his own evaluations of the latest rides. He lives in Toronto.