As my life with cars has lead me to own nothing but Honda Civics, I'd like to think I am more than knowledgeable on the subject of FF Hondas. With that in mind I am thrilled to share this superb example of how a contemporary EK hatchback is built. In my opinion, this car is one of the Honda communities best-kept secrets in terms of coverage, as it has sparked an underground following the internet world over and yet still hasn't seen its time in the limelight... that is until now.
One of my goals since coming on board at Super Street is to occasionally throw you, our readers, something a little outside of the mainstream for your consideration. This is one such car I personally have a very hard time finding a flaw in, although it might not be 100% the way I would build my EK, there is not a single aspect of the build that was overlooked or half-assed. And as such I can assure you that you will be seeing more cars built like this in the future, and although it isn't the first car to feature the style, I believe this is the first car that made people realize that having race-spec parts can actually look very good.
Several years ago when everyone was on the clean OEM JDM tip, Rainier De Leon (know as "Toto" by friends) was off in his garage collecting parts for what he knew would become a very potent hatchback. At the time parts like a large GT style wing, Stack cluster and 2-tone paint (different exterior and interior) could only be found on racecars and were often considered tacky by your average enthusiast. Rainier knew that if he put the type of effort into the build that he was capable of he could not only change minds, but blow them too.
Toto decided to set out on this mission alone, a true do-it-yourself'r. Not at all a "DIYWHFOSYNRDIY", which is an acronym Roel kindly created (short for do-it-yourself-with-help-from-others-so-you're-not-really-doing-it-yourself, for those of you that didn't read the article). And if you sneaked a peek at the spec box already you'll notice that by total coincidence, we have another die-hard builder from Seattle... must be something in the coffee! Get it, coffee... instead of water!? Waka-waka.
But the co-feature similarities don't end there. As with this month's BITD feature, this is De Leon's first car! How he managed to not wreck it or have it stolen is simply amazing, but not as much as the dedication to finish the project and the selection of parts assembling this beast. If you ever have the chance to see the vehicle in person I highly recommend it, you'll instantly see the quality of a vehicle finished by one person who cares very much about the outcome... The type of attention that simply doesn't go into a car built by other people.
When asked about the most difficult part of the build Rainer said "paint was the biggest factor that I encountered because this was the very first car I have ever sprayed in my life. Surprisingly the installation of the motor was cake-work compared to the paint." By looking at the exterior of the vehicle one would never guess that a novice had completed it... that's actually because by the time he was finished Toto was no longer a novice... he ended up painting the EK several times while in the learning process. "[I fixed the] paint issues with sandpaper, lots of sandpaper and lots of paint!! It was basically a trial and error process because I was learning how to lay down paint as I went along."