Idespise the color yellow. Out of the entire spectrum of colors, it's by far my least favorite. But Jeff Diaz is starting to change my mind. When I first caught wind of his authentic Civic Type R from one of my buddies in Seattle I figured, eh what the hell, I'll check it out. I was expecting your run-of-the-mill Spoon theme, but what I witnessed was actually quite different. The fact that Diaz has the balls to run a yellow car on yellow wheels is what really hooked me.As impressive as an automotive marvel the CTR is, it's old news. Living in Los Angeles there is no shortage of these legendary circuit Civics. But that's not to say that the car is any less amazing. In stock trim the Type R is a very potent vehicle - one that many enthusiasts spend upwards of $8k transforming their USDM CX or DX into clones of. The most popular conversion parts being the coveted 5-lug brake upgrade, B16B engine swap and Recaro SRD seats - none of which were good enough to make Jeff's varsity roster.
Not that there is anything wrong with those parts, but Jeff had bigger plans. Over the years it seems that the Spoon calipers fitted to his car have become a staple upgrade amongst Type R owners (both Integra and Civic). The four piston calipers allow more even pad wear and better pedal modulation - all without having to run a specialized proprietary brake pad like many other brands. They also fit under nearly any 15" wheel which makes them very appealing to our scene. Played? Maybe. Baller? Definitely.
Next in the pile of this man's trash and most men's treasures were the stock Recaros, tossed aside for a lighter, better-holding duo. In the driver's side corner, weighing in at a lot less than the stock seats wearing carbon-kevlar trunks we have the Bride Maxis II. In the passenger side of the ring, weighing in at roughly the same, wearing FRP shorts we have the Bride Zeta II. With the help of this potent gripping duo, Jeff is ready to lay down the 1-2 knockout punch on the track.
Undoubtedly the main contender in this equation is the power plant - the venerable K20A. By now I can presume that most of you are familiar with the engine and exactly how awesome it is. I mean, you read the FF Battle article right?
(Ed note: I wrote this story prior to the outcome of the FF Battle, that's how sure of the K series I am. SK). But the decision wasn't quite that easy for Jeff as he had originally planned on going with a B18C Integra Type R engine.
"Back and forth I decided between a B or K series swap" Diaz tells me, "I actually bought two motor swaps, a B18C and a K20A, just in case." After speaking with some of his friends with K swaps in their EKs his mind was quickly made up. "Yee Vang's response was 'third gear pull is the best!' " Jeff laughs. Rainer DeLeon, who's Civic we featured in our April issue earlier this year added "Don't go B series man, it's the new age and you won't regret going K." And with that Jeff admits "without knowing anything I just dove right in and started buying K series parts so it would run."It just so happened that those parts needed "so it could run" are at the top of most of our wish lists. Like the car really needs an SSR/DTR header just to run? This guy is a sicko! A three-inch exhaust terminating into a Spoon Sports N1, yes please! I swear if it's not bad enough we have to drool over a K-swapped CTR while our CXs are sitting there falling apart with a breach in the D16's head gasket right around the corner, this guy has to have parts worth more than our car just to run!? Bastard.