The Perfect EK9? Perhaps A Case Of OCD.

Since seeing this car on the internet a long time ago I've always wanted the chance to do a feature on it. As some may know this has to be one of the cleanest EK9's around, at least on this rock that is Britain. It is a mixture of pure bred parts, time and the ambition for driving perfection. During the interview below you'll notice that Steven mentions that he doesn't follow trends or scene's, but i find it funny that i would class this car as setting trends and setting the scene for other people, me for example. So after waiting until the right moment i enquired about getting a feature done on this home grown masterpiece and i was thrilled to see what we could get done when i got the thumbs up.



First of all, would you like to introduce yourself?

Name is Steven, I'm 23 years old and from Aberdeen. Typically being from Aberdeen i work in the oil and gas industry as a Mechanical Design Engineer.




We'll kick off with an easy one, when did your passion for car's start?

From an early age! Always loved cars, my uncle used to own a showroom so was taken out in a few nice cars when i was younger, couldn't wait until i turned 17 to get my license!



More specifically, have you always been interested in Honda's? If so, what is it about Honda that you love?

Well I've always liked the shape of civics, don't know why, guess when you're that age you are looking at typical hatchback cars and the civic has always stood out for me. For a while i was looking at importing an EG6 SIR2 as it was the cheaper option, but when my mate Darren turned up one day in his EK9, i just loved it! Never got a chance to have a drive in this but later got out in his DC2 and i was just in awe of the way the car revved and handled, so knew i just had to save up more and get myself an EK9.





As we can all see from the pictures, your car is far from standard. Would you say you first started modifying your car purely for the passion of speed, or was it to stand out from the crowd?

When i went to pick up my car from Private Imports, I told John i had all intentions on keeping the car standard and clean (at least it's still clean!), John and David did say that lowering it a bit would be nice but i was content with the car at the time. I've built the car for me, I'm not fussed about standing out from the crowd or following some of these cliche scenes/trends. The car looked very standard for ages, i just slowly worked my way through upgrading the brakes, then onto suspension etc, but then once i got the car onto track for the first time things kinda got a bit out of hand.....



What inspires you to do thing's to your car and perhaps gives you new ideas?

My mind wanders sitting in the office all day, I'm pretty fussy and always seem to be able to pick fault at certain areas of the performance of the car, striving to improve things. I don't tend to look at other civics and think "wow I'm going to do that to mine too", i guess my inspiration is thinking how i can make the most out of each area of the car, the more hardcore the car gets the more of a laugh i have driving it.



I've noticed that you are taking your car to track events a lot, do you see yourself taking this further in the future or just doing it for fun? Your car must be up there with some pretty top spec track cars!

For now it's just for fun, it's great attending track events and hassling some bigger cars in the little civic. Once i finally have the new engine built and it's got some decent power i may look at entering a couple of time attack races - Knockhill in particular.



Finally, where do you see yourself going in the future? Will you be sticking with the EK9 base, or can you see yourself moving onto something else later down the line. Perhaps something like drifting or does that sort of thing not take your fancy?

Well the car is coming off the road this winter for a fair bit of work, should have my new engine built by then and will be taking the car to the next level with some other bits and pieces. With the amount of money and effort that has gone into the 9er i honestly can't see myself parting with it, puts too big a smile on my face every time i drive it. Once i get a place of my own I would ideally keep the civic garaged as a track/weekend toy, always had a hankering for an AE86 Levin so can see me buying one some day and restoring it to use as a fun daily, nothing wild, just clean and standard on the outside with some trick suspension/diff and a decent supply of rear tyres.




As you can probably tell from the pictures the car has been built to an extremely high level, and has a very impressive spec list to boot. There are parts taken from racing cars, rare parts and Steven's ingenuity has certainly been put to good use.


Engine:
Standard engine
P28 ECU tuned on Crome by Henry Roy (204.5bhp / 128lbft)
Moroso baffled sump
OEM honda N1 crank pulley
Innovative 75A engine mounts
Lower torque mounts removed
Ngk blue leads
Taper ported TB
Coolant lines bypassed from TB
Mugen intake
Short jap Hamp filter
Koyo full width radiator
Samco radiator hoses
Heatwrapped Fujitsubo manifold
Spoon b-pipe
Spoon n1
Spoon oil cap
Spoon radiator cap
Shaved valve cover
Headlight looms tucked in inner wings
Engine bay fully repainted
Proper breather with PCV system removed



Running Gear:
Mugen shift bushes
DSS stage 0 shafts
ORC 309 plated clutch
HEL clutch line
Motul RBF600 fluid
Spoon 1.5 way plate LSD
ATS 3/4/5 cross gearset
Synchrotech carbon lined synchros
ALL new oem honda bearings/seals

Stopping Measures:
ABS removed running non abs oem 40/40 prop
Brembo 4 pot touring car race calipers with 300mm discs
AP dixcel discs, 2 piece FCR front on brembo bells / SD rear
Dixcel R01 full race front pads
Endless CCX rear pads
New remanufactured rear calipers
Goodridge hoses
Tegiwa MCS
Motul RBF600 fluid

Suspension/Steering:
Power steering removed
Fully rebuilt Tein circuit master N1 dampers with spherical top mounts
Swift springs - 22k front / 20k rear
Hardrace bushes throughout
Mugen RTA bushes
Superflex rear ARB bushes
ES front ARB bushes
Eibach SPC front/rear camber arms
All new OEM Honda TRE/TRI/ARB drop links
Buddy Club extended lower balljoints
Password JDM upper strut braces - 3 point front / 2 point rear
Unit 8 h-brace
Cusco rear lower brace
J's racing inner wing braces

Wheels:
Buddyclub P1 SF 15x7" ET35 wheels
6mm front spacers
ARP extended wheel studs
Toyo R888 195/50/15



Exterior:
Honda access wind deflectors
Honda aerial blanking plate
Carbon bonnet with aerocatch locking flush catches
Spoon carbon wing mirrors
Jazz washer jets
Nurburgring boot decal
Rolled rear arches
TRS front tow strap

Interior:
Recaro SPG seats
Buddyclub racing spec seat rails
Takata harnesses
Maximum strip
non AC heater box
Safety Devices full 9 point bolt-in roll cage
OMP Velocita Superleggaro 350mm suede wheel
Mugen steering boss
LTB 1" wheel spacer
ARC brushed Ti sphere shift knob
SPA dual oil gauge/VDO water gauge in oem honda blank
Broadway 300mm flat mirror




I can't emphasize how much i like this car. As much as I'm ashamed to admit it, I've never been a big lover of EK9's, they've never made me turn my head. However, when i saw this for the first time it changed me opinion of them. This, to me, is the ultimate Trackteam$$$ car, I've always been a fan of doing things for performance rather than looks and this just emphasizes that idea to the full.



I've got to thank Steven for taking the time to do this feature, and setting up pictures as i wasn't able to travel all the way to take them! The pictures were done by Chris Johnstone, top man for doing this and i definately recommend you check out more of his work HERE.