It’s no secret that the Honda Civic is a byword for front-wheel-drive performance. From SCCA autocross to the CarDomain era to Tsukuba to drag strips across America, insane Civic are still out there doing crazy stuff, thanks to can-do attitudes and the biggest aftermarket support this side of a small-block Chevy.
However, seriously fast front-wheel-drive Hondas have limitations, and one of the biggest drag strip limitations is weight transfer in a front-wheel-drive layout. The harder you launch when the light turns green, the harder weight shifts from the driven front axle to the dead rear axle.
So, what if you could send power to the rear axle as well as the front axle? Well, some people are doing just that, using the five-speed manual transmission, driveshaft, rear differential, and axles from a first-generation or second-generation CR-V to make their EG or EK (1992 to 1995 or 1996 to 2000) Honda Civic an all-wheel-drive warrior.
I know what you’re probably thinking — where on earth does the driveshaft actually go? Well, there’s space for it, because Honda actually made all-wheel-drive Civics, and I’m not just talking about the Wagovan. The fifth-generation Civic RTSi and sixth-generation Civic Ferio RTi 4WD featured a power transfer unit, a driveshaft, and a rear differential, all in a normal-looking Civic. Just take a look at this underbody shot of a Civic Ferio RTi 4WD that sold on Bring A Trailer in 2022. Those models never made it to North America, and even in Japan they were primarily saddled with automatic transmissions, but the same sort of all-wheel-drive technology came to America in the CR-V, and an arguably better version came to America in the fourth-generation Civic Wagon.
See, the first-generation and second-generation CR-V, along with the Honda Element, used two hydraulic pumps to engage the all-wheel-drive system in proportion to slip at the front axle, meaning that the more the front wheels slipped, the more clamping force was applied to clutches in the drivetrain, meaning more torque would be transferred to the rear axle. However, the old Civic Wagon’s available four-wheel-drive system used a stouter viscous coupling that’s more consistent. The solution if you’re dealing with higher horsepower and CR-V AWD components? A little bit of modification.
Yes, several companies sell parts to increase engagement force and shorten the time needed for CR-V AWD components to engage, and some of these kits are shockingly inexpensive. For instance, Famspec sells a $49 kit for the CR-V rear differential to increase fluid pressure, which might come in handy if you’re pushing serious horsepower.
Alright, so now you have the rear differential, drivetrain, axles, and transmission from a CR-V. Now what? Well, you’re going to need to order an AWD conversion kit. Several vendors offer solutions for fitting these parts into a Civic, but they all include trailing arms, camber arms, toe links, and a way to mount the differential in the car, be it a mount set or a complete subframe. One of the more advanced kits out there is from FCS Race, and while it is expensive at $4,197.95, it includes a full subframe, new hubs, and a full Wilwood brake setup. Some slight clearancing of the stock body is required, but for the most part, we’re talking about a bolt-in installation. If you’re looking for something more grassroots, the Honda community’s seen massive success with the Hub City Performance kit, pictured above, which stickers for between $2,405.27 and $2,757.14, depending on which bushings, finishes, and hubs you’d like.
The result is a game-changer in high-horsepower Honda drag racing. Let’s do a little comparison. Back in 2022, Kevin Aleman’s front-wheel-drive 1,500-horsepower Civic became the second-fastest SFWD Civic in America with a quarter-mile ET of 7.803 seconds at 187.86 mph. On that pass, Honda Tech reports that Aleman set a class 60-foot record, meaning the quickest time to the 60-foot marker. That’s cooking with gas, right?
Two years earlier, That Racing Channel on YouTube highlighted an all-wheel-drive Civic built by P-Racing. Although it uses a vastly different formula to achieve an estimated 1,500 horsepower than Aleman’s front-wheel-drive car (K-series versus B-series, AWD vs FWD), it clicked off a 7.45-second pass at 186 mph. That trap speed tells us that all of the time found happened basically in the launch, and in the world of seven-second quarter-mile passes, 0.35 seconds is huge.
So, if you want to go crazy stupid fast in a Civic, all-wheel-drive parts from a CR-V, Element, or Civic Wagon might be just what you need to break through the edge. Oh, and even if you aren’t spending tens of thousands of dollars to pump out hypercar horsepower, all-wheel-drive can improve the launch consistency of a heavily turbocharged Civic.
So, if you’re looking for a next-level project car, an all-wheel-drive Civic is definitely a possibility. However, if weight and height-to-track-width aren’t huge factors, you could also just build a terrifyingly quick boosted CR-V. These small crossovers were available with B-series engines for their first generation and K-series engines for their second-generation, and they have the potential to be serious sleepers simply by mixing and matching Honda parts bin components, then bolting on a turbocharger and necessary aftermarket supporting mods. Either way, the winner is you.
(Photo credits: Bring A Trailer, Famspec, Hub City Performance, FCS Race)
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This has been going on for ages, Bisi of Bisimoto made an incredible EF wagon with the CRV bits
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln4qP1RUoSI
This is awesome. I’ve long had a mad dream of a hybrid AWD Civic with an electric motor in the back. No centre diff required and torque on demand – but nice to know there’s a rear diff and axle that fit in. I’ve just never quite understood how people manage throttle in setups like that – when the electric motor isn’t an integral part of a single drivetrain, how does it “know” how much power it’s supposed to apply? Especially when said power is a function of RPMs and gearing in addition to just the throttle position…
Anyway this is super cool and I love that people are doing it!
Every modern engine control system uses the accelerator pedal as a “torque demand” request. In a hybrid setup, it will then request a certain amount of torque to be provided by the engine and another amount by the e-motor. The request is answered based on a model of the engine that determines how much power it’s making at any given instant based on mass airflow of air going through the engine, throttle position, etc etc.
Now I’m curious whether anyone has ever tried to build a hybrid/AWD system that uses this setup. Mostly thinking about the complexities of managing the power delivery in combination with traction control and making sure that you don’t get any “interesting” experiences due to the front and back wheels breaking traction at different times owing to their vastly different torque curves.
I wonder what that dude who put a Hayabusa into a Leaf did to make it all work…
I would be interested in knowing how much torque the rear end is actually getting on these. Older CRVs are known to send minimal torque to the rear. The components are tiny, like a half or a third of the size of something you’d see in something with full time AWD.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkiv-bWbLIo
I think you’re right…dunno about CRVs, but my wife’s Element is like that. More for traction control than actual power transmission.
Rest in Radness James Earl Jones. Dig the easter egg in the title.
I saw CR-V and instantly thought that this was going to have some joke or something depressing at the end, but it looks like its a pretty solid and affordable way to make a great car even better.
Still, my beef with the CR-V is based my mom’s 2010 AWD Light blue CR-V. While it looks mint (I get the obsessive car detailing and maintenance genes from my mom), it is still one of the most boring cars I have ever driven. It rides worse than my track focused (lowered and on cheap coilover) E85 Z4, while achieving slightly worse fuel economy- 29mpg and I often get low 30’s.
My take away is that maybe for her birthday I should boost her CR-V and use it to embarrass unsuspecting racers at stop lights or when merging onto the Michigan freeways…
I will always remember the craziest all motor build I ever seen was from a CR-V that was insane. They stroked it, bored it, had super lightweight cams and massive valves. Half the mods they wouldnt share but the dyno of it ended up around 500whp which was purely insane for an all motor 4 cylinder build.
Im sure someone here knows more but the thing was sick.
Tuners like the CR-V engine because it is 2.0L. The largest engine form a Civic or Integra is 1.8L.
Yay! The Rice Rocket lives
Can we just skip the whole swap part of this entire thing and just make the CR-V stupid fast? It seems to me if you just do to the CR-V’s motor what you would have done to the Civic’s motor, you can then have a tall, wobbly, stupid fast mom mobile, which seems to add to the hilarity of all this.
Lighting up the rear tires of a civic is pretty hilarious though
Civics are cooler than SUVs.
I’ve said it before, but I love how a lowered first-gen CR-V just becomes a the Wagovan successor Honda never gave us.
“Wagovan successor Honda never gave us.”
I thought that was the Fit.
The day that AWD Fits are available for import will be the day I file for bankruptcy.
You can bankrupt yourself today! Buy a Fit and CR-V and get busy!!
Everyone forgets. The Civic and Tercel wagons were basically the CRV and RAV4s of the 80’s (Yes, I know the RWD Tercel has 0 mechanical in common w a RAV4). A little bit of repackaging in the 90’s to meet changing market conditions, and BAM, best sellers.
Interesting. Had a ’99 CR-V as the wifemoblie for a while and damn if that little motor wasn’t a screamer (talking about the car still). 7k redline as I recall. Way spunkier than it needed to be for a grocery-getter.
screamer
When you want AWD but can’t put up with Subaru shit like head gaskets 😛
Head gaskets, turbos on the XTs, oil leaks because of the boxer layout, CVTs on the newer stuff, the list goes on and on.
Their awd system is fantastic, I could do without most of the rest though. On the plus side, alternators are REAL easy to swap out and since they used like 2 engines for 10+ years….. Lots of tutorials for anything you need to do under the hood. Which is good, because you’ll be there a bunch.
I love this kinda ridiculous part sharing so much.
The CRV driveline swap has been around a looong time. I remember reading about them in the Temple of VTEC (RIP) forums maybe 15+ years ago. I had some short lived ideas for my ’98 Si…
Honda-tech, what upppp
As long as there has been different models of one make, people have been doing this. Not any new trend like the title of this article makes it out to be.
Hot damn this is a great project even without some crazy hp motor! But please, stop with the ideas. After the last trip to the bank I’m considering an alligator filled moat to keep the sheriff from serving an eviction notice.
A CRX given this treatment would be amazing.
Why stop there? Even an AWD Del Sol would be cool too!
wow this is a great idea. brb.
Knew a guy trying to build an AWD Del Sol twenty years ago back in Houston. He got the car apart, but the project fell apart while trying to source parts and put it all back together. It would have been a cool car, but he ended up parting it out and selling the empty shell for scrap.
Or similarly a gen 1 Honda Insight
If everything will fit, this would be the best possible choice of any car Honda has to offer. An AWD k-swapped Insight tuned to like 1,000 horsepower would be nutty, and it would still probably exceed 35 mpg.
It’s just as good in action as you’re imagining; 1320 just did a video where a ~700who awd crx won the unlimited class for no prep 8th mile
It’s just as good in action as you’re imagining; 1320 just did a video where a ~700who awd crx won the awd class for no prep 8th mile
The Fast and the Furious, indeed. Dom, I have your 10 second car.
That top shot is one of the best y’all have ever come up with. I especially love the picnic table reference. It made me LOL which doesn’t often happen at work.
EFs get this treatment as well. You can totally find AWD CRXs. If you go D series, you use wagovan parts. If going B or K series, you run the appropriate CRV stuff. I wanted to do this 10 years ago when I owned a 90 CRX.
My car (a ’98 Civic [duh]) and “Crazy Fast” in the title, makes me VERY happy.