There are times when you go to shows and people have lights everywhere on their cars and doors, hoods and trunks that open every which way but normal. However, sometimes it's good to get back to the simple things, although sometimes the simple things can be hiding deep, dark, and powerful secrets. Leonard Yee's Civic is something like that. Quiet, calm, and serene on the outside, but it's all a cover-up for what's happening on the inside. Leonard wanted to make a J-Spec-looking sleeper, and this being his first car, he wanted to do it correctly from the beginning and make it look damn fine to boot. The standard factory blue just wasn't cutting it. Many of the people who tune cars do so because they love all kinds of cars, garnering ideas from other branches of the enthusiast market. While cruising the local hot rod shows, Leonard found a shade of blue that knocked him out of his shoes. Barefooted, he marched right over to Image Autobody and had Phil Weaver lay down a couple of high-gloss coats of House of Kolor Blue Pearl to cover the myriad of body work done to the car by Oakland Performance.
What bodywork you say? Well, the car looks so smooth that it's not hard to overlook the details. Yes, the body kit is is pure C-West, straight from the land of the rising sun, but Leonard wanted to add a twist to the J-Spec theme. This car was given the complete once-over and everything was shaved: the moldings, the door handles, the antenna, even the taillight line. A VIS carbon-fiber hood and trunk top off the look and provide visual contrast to the sea of blue. In addition, Leonard was tired of seeing all those cars sporting those pseudo HID blue bulbs and opted to put in the real thing, just like the cars that cruise the highways of Osaka. An HID Plus kit was installed into the JDM Civic Type R headlights. While he was spending his hard-earned cash, he felt the need to go all out on the rolling stock as well. This car sports none other than 17-inch Volk Racing GT-P wheels wrapped in Toyo Proxes rubber.
While many of the car's internals were left stock, the parts that needed beefing up were swapped out in order to handle the power that the Drag 3 turbo kit was going to put out. Lenthrax Performance ported and polished the head for more flow, and Skunk2 titanium retainers were dropped in for good measure. A Walbro in-tank high-volume fuel pump was added to make sure the engine had enough fuel to match the incoming airflow from the T3/T4 hair dryer. To go with the whole J-Spec theme, Leonard chose a 5Zigen Fireball after-cat exhaust to help free up the flow of gasses. All the while, a Blitz Dual SBC boost controller and a FATT turbo timer keep everything safe. Going is good, but stopping and turning has its merits too. Leonard knew that his car had to handle and brake as well as look good and go fast to get into the pages of Super Street. Not that we're all that important, but hey, what can we tell ya? If you stop gawking at the Volk hoops long enough to look behind them, you'll see the Wilwood Big Brake kit staring back at you with its 12.2-inch rotors up front and 11-inch Fastbrakes discs in the rear helping with the halting duties.
Leonard built this car to be driven, and the 3-inch drop is not just for looks. This ride handles like it's on rails thanks to the Skunk2 coilovers wrapped around Tokico Illumina five-way adjustable shocks, giving the car its lowered stance, and the Benen front and rear strut braces and the Skunk2 rear lower tie-bar, which help keep the chassis tight. Speaking of tight, that would probably be the word that best describes the interior of this car. This is where the real JDM flavor comes into play. Everybody has his or her own idea of what true JDM interiors are supposed to look like, but it seems that the general consensus agrees that his Bride seats are a must-have, and Leonard patiently waited three months for his set to arrive. Once the Ergos showed up on his doorstep, Leonard began working on the rest of the interior, reupholstering the rear seats in the Bride micro-fleece fabric. The entire interior of the car was given the direct-from-Japan makeover. Basically, all the inside components, except for the LCD monitors and DVD player, were swiped from a Japanese EK9. Everything from the steering wheel and carpet to the armrest eliminator and the air vent pocket tray made its way into Leonard's ride, and all of his new JDM toys are safely surrounded by a custom-modified Cusco four-point rollcage.
Leonard knows what it takes to be a winner, and waiting patiently for your parts to arrive from overseas is all part of the game if you want to have a J-Spec show stopper like this one. He also proves that looks can be deceiving. 0