The aftermarket parts company based out of Sacramento, known for supercharging Honda and Acuras, is out of business.
Update 10/1 – Heeltoe Automotive will continue to make CT-Engineering Icebox intakes and short shifters.
Head over to CT-Engineering.com and you’ll be greeted with one of the shortest messages wishing all its customers and fans well and thanking them for the memories. As per members on NSX Prime’s official Facebook group earlier this week (Sept. 25,2018) it looks like CT-Engineering is no more. With only speculation and rumors why they closed down, it’s a bittersweet moment for arguably one of Honda’s greatest aftermarket parts companies in the United States.
Most probably know CT-Engineering as Comptech Racing, the race engine shop that produced some of the best engines Honda and Acura ever used in their racecars.
It should be noted Comptech Racing lives on as Comptech USA although purely by name, under Penney Racing Supply and I assume they’ll still build you a badass engine if you ask the right people. Click on “engines” in the link above and you’ll see what I mean.
Comptech Racing’s claim to fame was their Comptech Racing IMSA Camel Lights Spice Prototype racecar that saw Acura win the IMSA Light manufacturers championship three years in a row from 1991-1993. Under the engine cover of that prototype was a tuned NSX engine worked over by Comptech Racing. Also, in 1993 that same Prototype took home 1st for lights in the prestigious 12 Hours of Sebring.
Before that, Comptech worked with Mugen Racing on American Honda’s first assault in racing on American soil by strengthening and tuning American Honda’s SCCA GT-4 Class winning Honda CR-X. Super Street does an amazing job at chronicling just how well Comptech and Mugen worked together to produce a winning racecar.
As mentioned, CT-Engineering branched off from Comptech in 2007 as an aftermarket parts company and is where the whole “11 years in business” comes from. It would be a disservice to CT-Engineering to not mention its Comptech history as it was their reputation that drove a lot of Honda and Acura fans to their products.
CT-Engineering is probably most known for its supercharger kits engineered for bolt-on ease of use, kits that added close to 100 more horsepower to the wheels. It probably helps that CT-Engineering in Rancho Cordova is located a stone’s throw from the California Air Resource Board’s office as almost all of their products are 50 state legal, important for Honda and Acura enthusiasts.
With that type of engineering history, ease of installation, and CARB certification it’s no wonder so many Honda and Acura fans, as illustrated by this NSX supercharger kit, flocked to their products. Where else could you turn up the dial on your NSX from a sedate 270 HP to a legit freeway bomber at 340 HP. Paired with a Comptech header and intake, and close to 400 HP wasn’t uncommon.
Check out this OG video of a S.C NSX ripping it at Auto Club Speedway in 2003. Music to your ears. Youtube is of course filled with more recent videos of CT-Engineering Supercharged NSXs but this one’s a classic.
The same can be said for their S/C kits for the Civic Si. Bone stock, the K24’s put out 205 HP at the crank, but after a Comptech supercharger install, owners regularly saw power numbers touching 300 HP.
As mentioned, since the announcement dropped on their website, there’s only been speculation why they went out of business. Some are saying that they sold their operation to a new owner so we might see CT-engineering rise from the ashes albeit with new management.
My guess is that with this new crop of turbo engines coming out from Honda and with the original NSX going the way of the dodo, new NSX owners opting to preserve its OEM nature rather than tune them, CT-Engineering saw a drop in business. A quick search on CARB’s website shows no new parts certified for newer model Hondas and Acuras, a red flag that new R&D on this new crop of imports isn’t being done.
If its any consolation, their social media sites are still up. But, as it sits, CT-Engineering is no more, closing a door to Honda and Acura aftermarket parts with a foundation in racing that started in the late 70’s and took off in the mid 80’s till today.
Hi there, thanks for the great chronicle here. We would like to mention that parts of CT will live on, as Heeltoe Automotive has officially taken over Icebox Induction manufacture for the 04-14 TSX, 09-14 TL, S2000, EG/EK/DC, and various other models. Also taken over are short shifter products.
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