For some people plain good is not enough. This Honda Civic EG hatchback started out as a clean fully restored car spec’d to resemble a JDM EG6 SiR. However, Rex Tan wasn’t satisfied with just a clean looking car, he wanted it be different. So began his EG project, the shell was sent to FM Garage for a showcar finish using PPG paint tinted to the color of Vanilla White.

With its minimalist color, the car isn’t a total screamer from the outside. The parts were more for lightening the car and adding a bit of a color contrast. Spoon Sports carbon fiber racing mirrors replaced the heavy stock side mirrors. A lightweight carbon fiber hood and rear bumper diffuser was especially custom made by Stage21, and the CF details were finished off with the Backyard Special front lip and rear wing.

Under the hood, this car is a totally different monster; the B16A engine that originally resided here was evicted in favor of a fully built K20/K24 Frankenstein engine complete with a plethora of go-fast parts put together by engine builder Bong Hilario of H3 Autoworks. The longblock is mated to an Xcessive intake manifold mated with an 80mm throttle body and BPI velocity stack, which breathes out to an SSR header with a 3-inch custom exhaust. It was mapped with a Hondata K-Pro ECU to the tune of 276 wheel horsepower and 190 lbs-ft of torque with a rev limit of 9,500 rpm with E85 fuel on the Autoplus Dynojet. All this is mated to a 5.1-final ratio DC5 Type-R 6-speed transmission with an Exedy Hyper-Single Clutch. The engine and transmission is lubricated exclusive with Motul 300V, Motul Gear FF and cooled with Motul MoCool in the Dynamics aluminum radiator.

Keeping the car on the ground are race-spec Dynamics coilovers, Skunk2 rear lower control arms, ASR rear subframe, and a Fullrace traction bar. To make suspension tweaking easier, Skunk2 front and rear camber kits were installed for adjusting from race to show set-ups. The car rolls on 16″x7″ Rays Engineering Volk Racing TE-37 with 205/45R16 Yokohama Advan Neova AD-08 tires.

Inside the car are leftovers of the former EG6 restoration which include full JDM sidings and flat folding rear seats, and more functional styling parts, which start off with a pair Bride Stradia carbon-kevlar seats mounted on Bride super-low seat rails; a rare Mugen FG360 steering wheel, Mugen sports pedals, and Mugen aluminum shift knob paired with the K-Tuned billet shifter. Monitoring is done via a standalone Innovate wideband O2 sensor, and Defi Link Black-Face oil temperature, oil pressure, fuel pressure meters.

Vanilla may be the most common ice cream flavor, this Vanilla-colored EG hatchback may look normal to the untrained eye, but is far beyond the common examples you’ll see on the road. This car has the show and packs a lot of go.

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The 2009 Tokyo Auto Salon kicked off last January 9 at the Makuhari Messe. Being the biggest custom car show in Japan, it attracted more than 600 car displays and dozens of exhibitors showcasing the latest in tuning and modifications.

Arguably the two hottest machines in the show were the world beating R35 Nissan GTR as well as the newly announced Nissan 370Z (Z34). Despite being barely two months old, several tuners were already on hand to display modifications done to the latest iteration of Nissan’s Z Car. Companies such as Fujitsubo, Sunline Racing, Impul, Cockpit, etc. all had their modified Z’s on display. Zele International had a pair of matching orange R35 GTR and Z34. The two cars were being sold by Zele in limited numbers as completely built, pre-tuned machines.

Also incredibly popular were Mitsubishi’s new Evolution X and Subaru’s STI. Several companies were on hand displaying modifications available for the two rally-bred machines. One of the more interesting Evos was the HKS CZ200S Evo X. It actually wasn’t part of the Auto Salon itself but was displayed outside rather inconspicuously. The white Evo barely had any graphics on it but a closer look revealed just how much HKS has been able to squeeze out of the current Evo. Just a week before the Auto Salon, HKS took the Evo to Tsukuba and with Super GT driver Nobuteru Taniguchi behind the wheel, the car was able to hit the 59+ second barrier, making it the fastest Evo X in Tsukuba.

The Hondas also made a large showing in TAS 2009. Honda Motors Corp. brought out its Fit and S2000 Modulo concept as well a FD Civic Type R Super Taikyu race car. Renowned Honda tuner J’s Racing brought out their Fit (Jazz) and a nice widebody AP1 S2000 designed to commemorate the model’s 10th anniversary. It’s hard to believe that the S2000 is already 10 years old, with countless companies still churning out parts and modifications for it. Arguably the most impressive Honda at this year’s event was the Mugen NSX RR Concept. Outfitted with a full Super GT style widebody kit, Mugen pulled out all the stops, even replacing the standard 3.2 liter NA engine with a 2.4 liter supercharged one.

This year’s Tokyo Auto Salon also featured an “Import Auto Salon”, a separate event catering to mostly non-Japanese vehicles. Popular European cars such as the BMW E92 M3, Porsche 911 series, as well as supercars from Mercedes and Audi were all on display. Some of the more outstanding cars included the ASI equipped widebody Bentley Continental GT, the Rauh-Welt flat black Porsche 930, and two diamond-encrusted Mercedes Benz SL series convertibles.

The Tokyo Auto Salon has traditionally been the place where new cars from the most talented and popular drifters were unveiled. This year was no different as two of the most anticipated new machines were unveiled for the first time. Nobushige Kumakubo of Team Orange showed off his RWD Evolution X for the first time. The car was able to give a few demonstration runs outside to the delight of the crowd. Takahiro Ueno of T&E unveiled his BMW E92 M3, complete with a full widebody kit from T&E’s Vertice Design series. The car was a distinct departure from Ueno’s usual bright red Toyota Soarer drift car. However it wasn’t entirely different as the BMW has had its original 4.0 V8 engine replaced with a 3.1L 2JZGTE engine, similar to the engine used in his previous Soarer.

With all the news about the global economy and the losses incurred by most major auto manufacturers, the 2009 edition of the Tokyo Auto Salon seemed to bring some sort of good news. As the automotive tuning and modification industry proved to be alive and well.

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The Honda Civic is a very popular compact tuner car due to the abundance of performance and aesthetics goodies owners can buy for their cars. The most popular variant is the hatchback brought about by the release of the Type-R version, which boasts of an engine capable of 185ps out of a mere 1.6-liters. The hatch is even more sought after in the country because it was never released locally, and only a handful of units were imported through unofficial sources.

Dondie Mallari, was a die-hard Honda Civic Type-R fan, with no CTRs ever released in LHD, he had to resort to a JDM RHD (right-hand drive) unit for his project car. Mallari opted for the JDM theme for this project, which clearly shows inside and out starting with the Championship White paintjob. The front and rear end is clad with Airwalker aerodynamic FRP bumpers, grill and engine bonnet. The aerodynamic look is finished off with a pair of Spoon Sports aero side mirrors. The car rolls on Limited Edition Volk Racing TE-37s in Millenium Blue wrapped with Yokohama Advan Neova performance tires.

In the heart of the engine compartment is a naturally aspirated B16B Type-R engine bolted with a generous amount of bolt-on parts from Spoon, notably a stainless 4-2-1 exhaust manifold. An ARC intake chamber fed by a K&N filter handles intake duties, while a Fujitsubo exhaust system bolted to the end of the exhaust manifold finished off by a Spoon N1 Muffler.

The stiff stuff is handled by Spoon Sports Dampers with kg/mm coils complemented by a complete array of Spoon front and rear strut tower bars and lower arm bars, and finished off by Omnipower rear lower control arms. Braking duties are handled by front and rear Project µ slotted rotors and Integra Type-R calipers with Tanabe brake pads.

Inside the car, a pair of Recaro SR-3 seats with Sparco racing safety belts, Momo Fighter steering wheel, Spoon Sports Titanium Shift Knob and an assortment of EK9 parts can be found. An Apex-I V-AFC II sits in the middle of the dashboard for minor tuning and digital instrumentation.

This is one white hot hatch you’ll definitely see rolling in the streets and present in club meets and shows.

Engine: B16B Type R Engine, ARC Intake Chamber, K&N Air Filter, Spoon Sports 4-2-1 exhaust manifold, Fujitsubo midsection exhaust piping, Spoon Sports N1 rear muffler, Spoon Sports Racing Thermoswitch, Spoon Sports Racing Thermostat, Spoon Sports Yellow Valve Cover, Spoon Sports Engine Torque Damper, Spoon Sports Aluminum Oil Cap, Spoon Sports High Pressure Radiator Cap, Pivot Raizin Volt Stabilizer, NGK Hi-Tension Ignition Wires, Greddy Air Diversion Plate, CUSCO Oil Cooler, CUSCO Oil Catch Tank
Suspension: Spoon Sports dampers, Spoon Sports Front and Rear Upper Strut Bars, Spoon Sports front and rear lower arm bars, Omnipower Aluminum Rear lower control arm, kg/mm Lowering Springs, Project Μ Slotted front brake rotors, Tanabe Street type brake pads
Interior: Civic Type-R Instrument Panel, Momo Fighter steering wheel with Mugen horn button, Recaro SR-3 front seats, Sparco Seatbelts, Sparco Sport Pedals, 5Zigen Formula Footplate, Pivot Shift Lamp, Spoon Sports Titanium Shift Knob
Exterior: Air Walker front aero bumper, Air Walker FRP aero hood, Air Walker rear aero bumper, Air Walker aero front grill, Spoon Sports decals, Spoon Sports aero side mirrors
Wheels: 15 x 7.0 Volk Racing TE-37 Limited Edition Millenium Blue Wheels, 195/55R15 Yokohama Advan AD-07 tires

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The Honda Fit or Jazz as it is locally known, has been enjoying its share of customization, modification or whatever the owners like to call what they do to their cars. But the problem is, they all seem to look alike. And most have left out what it takes to make their cars look clean.

The small car offers an almost limitless possibilities to modify. When the owner found out about the Spoon modified version, he got inspired and wanted one for himself. First off was to throw away the generic Jazz badge and stick on a JDM Fit badge.

Then came the healthy dose of JDM parts mostly from Spoon, starting with a little diet. A carbon fiber hood and rear wing was in order to remove excess weight and give the car an aggressive appeal. The messy looking stock roof antenna was also replaced to a Spoon antenna. A pair of Cusco tow hooks was installed to add some orange JDM flavor to the exterior.

Under the hood, the oil filler cap and radiator caps were replaced with Spoon ones and a pair of reservoir covers were installed to complete the aesthetics. For performance, the Spoon N1 tail silencer was the weapon of choice coupled with the midpipe. Since Spoon didn’t have an open-type air cleaner, an HKS Super Power Flow intake was used.

Realizing that he had to make his car look different from the rest, a set of 16-inch Spoon SW388 wheels were in order to give the car a really agressive stance and a wider track. Also helping with the footwork is a set of Tein Type Street adjustable coilvers. A Spoon strut tower bar was also installed to reduce body roll.

Inside the car, the most noticeable would be the pair of blue Recaro seats from a special edition DC5 Integra Type-R was installed. Additional instrumentation is provided by three DEFI black face units. Safety was still a concern, so the stock SRS equipped unit stays for the meantime.

You might wonder how this car even got here being modified so little. Less is more in many cases, and this is definitely the answer to what made this car get featured here. Flashy paint and an overly done exterior don’t always make your car look good. Most of the time, a subtle treatment is all it takes to make your car all that.

Engine: HKS Super Power Flow Intake Kit, Spoon Type N1 Tail Silencer, Spoon Midpipe, Spoon oil filler and radiator cap
Suspension: Spoon front tower bar, TEIN Type-Street Coilovers
Interior: Recaro special edition blue DC-5 front seats, Spoon Shift Knob, DEFI Black Face Gauges
Exterior: Spoon carbon fiber hood, Spoon carbon fiber wing, Spoon short antenna, Vision APR side mirrors, Cusco tow hooks
Wheels: 16x7 Spoon SW388 wheels, Dunlop LM702 205/45R16 tires

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