598 REASONS
SUPER-RARE TYPE R CIVIC
TAKING THE RAREST OF FACTORY TYPE R COLOUR CODES AND CRAMMING IT FULL OF LEGENDARY HONDA BRANDS AND A 136KW NATURALLY ASPIRATED B-SERIES HAS BEEN A DREAM TURNED REALITY FOR THIS FEATURE CAR OWNER
Crack open the high-security storage vault that is more commonly referred to as your home garage and dig through that series of ‘strategically’ arranged piles, and you’ll no doubt find more than your fair share of parts that date back to a car that you owned five or more examples ago. For the seasoned car enthusiast, no part is ever wasted, because there’s always that niggly thought in the back of your head that says you might need it one day. While this usually relates to small items — an old steering wheel, a spare set of tyres, or the likes of engine-bay components that aren’t model specific — on some occasions, it can mean hoarding away a special set of rollers that you’d simply never find again, your favourite bucket seats that have been in every car you’ve owned, or that engine package you’ve been saving for the right chassis to dump it into.
It was the last of these that saw prolific Honda owner Jepoy de los Reyes acquire his latest example, this 1998 Honda Civic Type R (EK9). It’s one of many in a very long line of Hondas that have fallen under his ownership since he moved to New Zealand back in 2015. The Philippine native explains that, back home, EF and EG Civics are easily accessible, much as they are here. However, unlike here, EK9s are few and far between, driving the
One of an estimated five in the country, you can bet that you won’t see another Y-56, Phoenix Yellow, EK9 making backto-back passes at the drags
prices through the roof and making them almost impossible to get your hands on unless you’re rolling in dough. So, when he first landed on our shores and almost immediately found this very EK9 for sale on the local auction site, it was love at first sight, albeit that it would turn out they would not actually be united until much later.
You see, fresh into a new country and on a lowly student income, Jepoy would need to work his way through a number of lower spec EK-series Civics, including stints in a 96-spec DC2 Type R as well as a CL7 Accord and FD2 Type R in order to sample the K-series hearts. By the time he was done trying out all the
Hondas that our shores had to offer, he had already found himself owning two examples of the EK9, both in the coveted championship white hue, but couldn’t shake what he refers to as an indescribable calling to this specific example. Why? For Jepoy, it was the extremely rare factory Phoenix Yellow (Y-56) paintwork that adorns its panels. This is one of just 598 examples produced by Honda for the worldwide market, none of which was ever sold locally. We don’t know about you, but to us that makes it a sure sight harder to find than your typical EK9, and Jepoy has based the entire build around the chassis so that he can lay claim to a legitimate example.
Spent gas is ejected rearward via PLM Tri-Y stainlesssteel headers connected to a Kakimoto 2.5-inch stainless-steel system and finished by a G-Medalion stainless chambered muffler
If Jepoy loves one thing more than the colour code, it’s Spoon, which is why you’ll spot those lush Spoon four-pot calipers hiding behind a 16x7-inch (+45) set of Spoon Desmond Regamasters
Through his long-running list of owned Hondas, Jepoy was able to amass a serious collection of parts, and, more specifically, an engine package that he had been saving for the right chassis: this chassis. Purchased within an EK4, the heart was originally found inside a DC2 Type R, making it the big daddy of the B-series, a B18CR. It also came with a stack of receipts detailing a block fitted with a set of high-compression CP forged pistons mated to forged Eagle rods, and the head had been ported and polished before being crammed with Skunk2 Pro 2 camshafts, adjustable cam gears, oversized valves on both sides, valve springs, and retainers — all serious kit when you’re looking to make solid naturally aspirated (NA) power. Pair that with a Skunk2 intake manifold and 70mm throttle body, a full exhaust, B16B injectors, a Neptune OBD 1 ECU, and a tune from Jonno Fowler, and you’ll see 136.3kW on tap — a figure that will impress those who know what putting down anything of the sort through a lightweight front-wheel-drive hatch like this amounts to.
Aside from the engine package, which has been mated to the factory S4C five-speed gear-swapper that makes use of a helical limited-slip diff (LSD), Jepoy has opted to keep the exterior styling subtle. This is, after all, a desirable model, thanks to its timeless design and even more sought-after hue. To satisfy his itch for upgrades, Jepoy has chosen to create somewhat of a tribute to legendary tuning house Spoon, collecting up numerous parts that are to be fitted to the car. As it sits, you’ll find Spoon twin-block fourpot calipers adorning the front corners, fittingly hidden behind a set of Spoon-commissioned Desmond Regamasters that measure in at a Honda-friendly 16x7-inches (+45). There’s also a Spoon front strut brace and a number of trinkets that have been ported straight over from Japanese styling. Jepoy tells us that there’s even more Spoon goodness sitting in the storage vault waiting to be fitted.
Don’t for a minute think that this EK9 is locked away and only seen on the rarest of occasions such as in the Honda New Zealand showroom where the photo shoot went down. No, in Jepoy’s eyes that would be a damn shame, because rarities like these need to be seen and appreciated, which is why you’ll find it regularly servicing his love of drag racing. It’s run him a personal best of 13.7s at Meremere Dragway in full street trim and has the potential to shave more off with a few key upgrades that are already in the pipeline.
Away from the strip, Jepoy tells us that the EK is used nearly more than the daily-driver, something that is hard to hold against him.
Jepoy has done well to achieve a final product that not only makes him happy — which, he tells us, is critical with any of his cars — but also mixes potent performance and a firm respect for the design that left the factory floor all those years ago. It wears all the right pieces and nothing it could do without, which, in our book, makes it one solid car and just one of the 598 reasons why he knew all those years ago that he’d own it some day.
We aren’t sure who gave Skunk2 the shakedown, but the B18CR head has been crammed with what seems like the full catalogue; Pro 2 camshafts, adjustable cam gears, oversized valves, springs, and retainers — it’s all there