The owner of this 2008 Honda Civic Type R, Mr J, is a big track day enthusiast (he’s pretty fast as well), and he regularly takes his car up for “fast times” at the Sepang Circuit.
However, aside from a few obvious external cues, like the quick-release catches on the bonnet, lowered ride height and the lime-green Alcon brake callipers, it’s a little difficult to discern exactly how racetrack-worthy his car actually is.
Of course, upon closer inspection, there are several signs of this Civic’s “track special” nature, as evidenced by the Cusco roll cage, the deep, fixed-back bucket seats, five-point racing harness and towing eye on the front bumper.
Impressive as that may be, it pales in comparison to what’s going on underneath the bonnet of this Civic Type R. Dominating the engine bay are the gold “trumpets” of the AT Power individual throttle bodies. It makes for quite a sight, and it’s no wonder J says that this is his favourite mod.
But those (extremely handsome) throttle bodies are just scratching the surface, because the 2-litre inline-4 has been so heavily modified by J and his car’s tuner, Torq Project, it has precious little in common with the unit that left the Honda factory in Suzuka.
Make no mistake, even in stock trim, the K20A engine is a work of art in itself, but the one in J’s Civic Type R is a true masterpiece. In addition to the aforementioned throttle bodies, it features CP pistons, forged conrods, a forged crankshaft, a CatCams camshaft, Skunk2 exhaust manifold, RDX fuel injectors, and a custom ported-and-polished cylinder head. Rounding up the engine mods is a custom oil catch tank, oil cooler and oil pan, plus an uprated Forged Motorsports radiator.
On the “footwork” front, J has opted for a Kaaz limited-slip differential, an Exedy clutch and Moton suspensn kit, in addition to the aforementioned Alcon 6-pot brake callipers. If you need more proof of how much J has sweated the details on his car, you’ll just need to look to an unassuming-looking cylinder to the right of the engine, which is none other than part of the electric power steering system.
Now, hold on a minute, “doesn’t the Civic Type R have a hydraulic power steering setup”, you might be saying. And you’d be right, except in this case, J had to switch to a more compact electric setup to make room for the individual throttle bodies.
Going by that lengthy list, it should be clear that none of J’s mods were done in the name of aesthetics, and if you need further proof of that, just look at how stealthy his car looks on the outside. Of course, the bark the engine produces when it starts up is a completely different story – that’s courtesy of a Toda exhaust system.
But it might surprise you to learn that while the Civic Type R was love at first sight for J (“I took it for a test-drive and immediately fell in love with it”), he never really intended to mod it as heavily as he did.
“I told myself, ‘No more mods!’, but unfortunately, old habits die hard, and one thing led to another…”
Indeed, J is so attached to his Honda, he intends to renew its COE after when 2018 comes around, and why not? A car of this calibre deserves to be kept on the roads (and the racetrack, too) for as long as possible.
THE LIST
+ Exterior
Custom quick-release bonnet
Custom towing eye
+ Interior
Defi ZD Advance gauge
AEM air/fuel gauge
Cusco roll cage
Cobra bucket seat
Schroth racing harness
Skunk2 gear lever
Pioneer DVD head unit
+ Engine
AT Power individual throttle bodies
CP pistons
Custom forged conrods
Custom forged crankshaft
CatCams camshaft
Custom ported-and-polished cylinder head
Custom electric power steering conversion
Custom pulley conversion
Custom oil catch tank
Custom oil cooler
Custom oil pan
RDX fuel injectors
Forged Motorsports radiator
Skunk2 Alpha exhaust manifold
Toda exhaust system
Exedy Hyper clutch
Vipec v88 ECU
+ Suspension/ Handling
Moton suspension
Alcon 6-pot brake callipers
Kaaz limited-slip differential
+Wheels/Tyres
Volk Racing TE37 18-inch wheels
Bridgestone Potenza S001 225/40 R18 tyres
