Honda Civic EK4

HONDA CIVIC EK4

The One That Got Away

Text and Photos: Reinis Babrovskis

We all have that first true love, a car I mean of course; for Andy it was a Honda.
It is hard to explain why a certain car or manufacturer can have such an impact on us, but when that “vtec goes braap braap braap”, it is either a love or a hate with these cars.

His love for Hondas begun with his first proper car - a Honda Civic EJ9. It only took him a few days to realise, selling it was a huge mistake; a mission to find a new clean, low-mileage EK Civic was under way. Finding a clean, well looked after, low-mileage Civic in Northern Ireland proved difficult, near impossible; however, trolling through all the car sales places known to a man paid off: success at last. Andy eventually had found himself an EK4 with 61,000 miles on the clock; ticking all his boxes the car was bought and two weeks later it was in his driveway.

The car had barely settled in the driveway when Andy begun his hunt for the parts. It wasn’t a random shopping spree either: a well designed plan of what the car needs to stand out from the rest. “I dared to be different from everyone else, well at least try”, Andy adds when asked about the design of his EK. 

First on the to-do-list for Andy was the suspension/brake set up. The EK4 got treated to new brake discs, pads, ball joints and track rod ends. Once he was happy enough with the mechanical side of things it was time to spice up the wheels; Michael from Polished Alloys gave the wheels a new layer of BMW Bronze. Very shortly though Andy realised a fellow Honda enthusiast was running a similar colour/style set up of his and decision was made: “It was time for me to step up my game and go down a different route”. 

The cold winter nights left Andy sitting at the PC browsing for more parts, resulting in his bank balance getting a beating. In the spring of 2015 the car had received a set of majestic Bride Brix bucket seats, alongside the Honda Civic Type-R EK9 suspension set up, including Koeni shocks and springs, B18C intake manifold, B18C throttle body, Mugen front lip, Kode quick release bumper kit...the list goes on...

“It is amazing what a year can bring, a whole new look to my car. I wasn't done; I began to purchase more parts”. Along the way I was lucky enough to meet Andy, who is a very good friend of mine now. Once the photo shoot was done Andy informed me on his future plans, so we both agreed Part II of the shoot has to be carried out once the upgrades have been done. Andy was determined to get the car looking even better for the next shoot, so he booked his car in for some bodywork jobs fixing wear and tear the time had done to the Civic. 

Part II of the shoot never came... Sadly on the 1st weekend of August Andy had a car accident. Due to the bad road conditions and possible oil leak on the road the car ended skidding. Andy was lucky to walk away from the accident, the car wasn’t so lucky. When I asked Andy If he is planning on building another one, he responded: “I don’t know, time will tell.” 

SPEC LIST:

ENGINE BAY & PERFORMANCE:

B16A2 engine
Carbon kelvar Whale induction kit
DC sports 4-2-1 manifold
Cusco purple battery tie down
B18c intake manifold
B18c throttle body
Slimline radiator
EK9 cams
Port and polished head
H-tune chipped ecu with launch control
Mugen purple radiator cap cover
Purple ID vaccumm hoses
Mugen purple oil cap
HKS 5 point purple earth kit
Rocker cover candy purple
Kode purple washers throughout engine bay
Purple vtec solenoid cover
De-cat pipe
Centre section Magnaflow 5" backbox
Samco red radiator hoses

INTERIOR:

Bride Brix buckets
Luke purple 2 point harnesses
Stripped out rear only plastics intact and sprayed black
Dual bend short shifte
EK4 door cards
EK9 steering wheel
Pioneer head unit
Upgraded front and rear speakers including tweeters

EXTERIOR:

Full facelift front end conversion including wings, bonnet, bumper, grille and lights
Genuine EK9 headlights
Genuine EK9 rear spoiler
EK9 facelift rear lights
Back 3 windows tinted
Kode quick release bumper kit
Mugen splitter
Top 1 motors front bumper canards
Stuke bumper lower winglets
S2000 spoon diffuser custom fitted
Team heko wind deflectors

SUSPENSION & WHEELS:

Koeni shocks
EK9 springs
Rota circuit 10s finished in custom purple
Skunk2 gold control arms
Beaks purple tie bar