SP Rides: Run ’em hard
by Michael Kitchens
At 23 years of age, Chad Kalalena Bush has been involved in the automotive industry since he was a wee lad. He was practically born into it. His father owns CJ’s Servicing and Towing and Chad has worked there since he was in intermediate school. Whether it’s towing, mechanical work or otherwise, he’s racked up quite a bit of experience. This has led to a life full of vehicle variety that rivals other older enthusiasts.
His first love was muscle and classic cars thanks to his extended family’s passion for automobiles. Butch Meyers, a previous SP Rides feature, happens to be his uncle. He also has participated in racing since he was young, including Junior Dragsters, as well as driving Bombers at the old Hawaii Motor Speedway.
Motorsports runs in his blood, and his biggest hope is that Oahu will someday have a drag strip again. He drag raced at Hawaii Raceway Park with a modified S-10 while currently racing at Kalaeloa Raceway Park with his beast of a Silverado.
“I want the track so bad. The whole quarter mile. It would stop a lot of people from racing on the street,” he says. Without asphalt, there’s not much else to do besides enter shows if you have an on-road vehicle.
Chad rolls with the Runumhard crew, one of the most prolific and hardcore enthusiast clubs on the island. Apparently, the impetus for this build was due to guys in the club.
“They just said, ‘Why don’t we put some cars in the HIN show?’ and I was like ‘OK. Let’s do it!’” he tells me.
The ride is a stunning 1993 Honda Civic EG6 freshly built in just under three months by Chad and his friends. The first step in the build was to strip the car to the bare metal and begin the bodywork. Rust and damage was removed in addition to prepping the car for some amazing metal work, including the sweet channel removals from the roof of the car. Chad replaced everything he could that was worn or beat up. The car features brand new headlights, taillights, mirrors, rubber moldings, the wing, etc.
The 90-hp grocery-getter engine was swapped out with a 2.0 B20 that he converted to VTEC. With a larger bore and Hondata ECU, he’s hoping to get around 200HP from it in addition to the added torque. It features a Skunk2 intake manifold, Greddy Headers, and a polished cold air intake. The car is intended for show and race only, so the cat has been removed and replaced with a straight pipe.
The undercarriage features Skunk2 lower control arms and Megan tie bars, plus Tein Super Street suspension. The fantastic gunmetal 16-inch Rota Slipstreams are coated in 205/40-16s Riken Raptors and their stance is menacing.
With the guts in, the focus came back to the look. The paint is a gorgeous Dark Red that was painted 3 days before the show by his friend, Daniel Chun. The interior was swapped out with GS-R cloth interior, JDM gauge cluster, and a Skunk2 weight shift knob. The fantastic car show only tint was performed by Tyler Hedemark and the guys at Prestige Glass Tinting.
Although already serious business, the car is still a work-in-progress, and Chad’s expecting to add even more goodies including a new supercharged Honda JK V-6, a built cage, and installing the Recaro seats he has on the side.
It’s amazing what you can do in three months while working a full time job with no sleep. This hot hatch is the proof.
“I do it because I enjoy it,” says Chad.
