Lush Garage: Honda - The power of dreams Mat's B16B EK

The EK Civic was the last of the double wishbone equipped Civics. It is arguable that this is one of the most swap friendly platforms Honda ever produced. D, B, H, K and even J series motors have all been shoehorned into the front end of this chassis. However, this particular example pays homage to one of the best handling FWD cars ever produced, the EK9 Civic Type R.

This car was a culmination of a New Zealand new EK4 shell and a crashed EK9. There is a lot to be said for the interchangeability of Honda parts. Everything from the crashed donor was swapped into the shell. For the uninitiated, Honda put in a lot of effort into the EK9 in an effort to make it lighter, faster, and more accurate on precisely what it's name entails, Racing.

For a start, all the windows, and rear 3/4 glass is tinted from factory and is lighter than your average EK Civic glass due to it being thinner in construction. It may not seem like much, but every little bit counts in racing.

Inside the car was kitted out with the EK9 Recaros in what I like to call Racing Red, EK9 rear seats, and EK9 doorcards with the racey red inserts. The standard EK4 airbag steering wheel remains due to NZ's draconian modification laws.

This car also boasts the 5 stud hubs and 282mm up front and 262 discs in the rear that is a sought after big brake conversion for other Honda chassis that do not have these as standard equipment. The differences between chassis trim levels are more than just skin deep though. This car rocks the same motor and gearbox that came in the EK9, the veritable tome of high revving naturally aspirated perfection that is the B16B and the helical LSD, short ratio equipped S4C. When this motor was released, it had and still does, one of the highest power per capacity ratios that Hondas seem to thrive on. This particular example also utilises the intake, header and exhaust modification that most Hondas run. The headers are 4-1 Mugen replicas and it runs a full 2.5" exhaust to emit that aural scream we have come to love from the Honda B series motors.

I love this paint colour!

Underneath, this car is equipped with the EK9 22mm rear sway bar and EK9 shocks paired with Lovell springs which is a potent bang for buck upgrade for the lesser model EK chassis. The front swaybar remains standard as it is the same diameter as the EK9 one.

While it may not be the wildest or angriest car around, what has been done has been done to increase the thing that matters most when driving a car, and that is driver satisfaction. While some lose sight of this when shooting for crazy power or impractical wheel fitment, Mat has succeeded in preserving one of the determining factors that made the Civic such a favourite among drivers the world over. And that is the smile that one gets when hitting the VTEC crossover and navigating a challenging set of twisties in a well set up FWD chassis.