Words: Warren Sare Photos: Glen McNamara
Ako ay isang uri ng tao na hindi mabubuhay nang wala ng proyektong sasakyan sa aking buhay.” Translated this means, “I am the kind of guy who can’t live without a project car in my life.” Something that many of our readers can identify with.
“I tried owning a few other cars, I had late model Evos and other things, but I always seem to come back to Hondas.’’ This is how Je Poy describes the habit he has had since the age of 21 of taking things with an ‘H’ badge and putting his own unique spin on them. Since coming to NZ in 2015, Je Poy’s garage has always had something on the go, and bright yellow paint has been something of a trademark. Je Poy is a man proud of his Filipino heritage and it has had a distinct influence on his builds, thanks to his club OthersideNZ and JDMUnderground Philippines.
This is the second of Je Poy’s EK9 builds to grace the pages of NZPC, and this one is described as a bit of a FOMO build, with a desire to race again at Night Speed drag biting hard after the sale of his daily driver. Perhaps this isn’t so much of a surprise, with regular appearances at the top of his Night Speed class results list, being the current Honda Street outlaw record holder for naturally aspirated, and being the second quickest K-series NA EK model at a Honda-only meet.
At its heart, we’ve already given away the fact that a K24A3 calls the engine bay home. The engine was originally sourced from a larger model Accord Euro S and in stock trim these are good for around 149kW at the flywheel, which is potent enough in a lighter chassis. But that’s not the Je Poy way, so he has crammed the engine bay full of top-notch gear to really allow it to sing.
With no turbo in sight, this is a cocktail shaker of air, fuel, and revs with the audible and perhaps signature Honda breathing sound being created by a K&N filter mounted on a custom titanium (because every gram matters in NA Honda land) intake and feeding an aftermarket throttle body and manifold. Buddy Club comes to the party in a big way with a cam, cam gear, and valvetrain offering, while that trademark VTEC noise resonates its way to the eardrums via K-Swap headers and a custom three-inch exhaust. Larger 550cc injectors are used to fire NPD100 fuel into the system via custom lines and a large aftermarket fuel rail. This is a proven way to extract more than a few kW from your Honda’s heart and this particular setup is currently just under 37kW up on standard trim.
Thanks to being a solid circuit platform from the factory, it was destined to cut laps too. Therefore, cooling has been a significant focus as the car lives up on the rev limit. A full size two-row alloy radiator with twin fans do their best to keep heat down and the addition of upgraded hoses and housings mean that there shouldn’t be any failures while this little pocket rocket chases its 1.16 personal best around Pukekohe Park Raceway.
Handling is another big feature that makes the Civic platform popular, and as we’ve touched on, this car sees plenty of spirited driving. To try to keep the wheels adhered to the tarmac, and also for those wheel-spinning launches, Je Poy has fitted a set of BC BR Series coilovers with an increased spring rate. A four-point bolt-in cage and Ultra Racing bracing keep the car from flexing too much and keep it tracking to where the driver has it pointed. There’s nothing standard in the arm and knuckle department as that’s all been replaced too.
Yellow paint takes a certain kind of wheel combo to pull off and we think the Rays TE37s set this combination off perfectly in a very appropriate 16×8-inch size. It won’t come as any surprise given the rev-happy front wheel drive nature of this car to understand why it wears a set of semi-slick tyres full time just to try to get some form of traction. It’s a little hard to see with the smaller 16-inch rims, but a set of Spoon callipers and pads have been fitted in the front just to pull the Civic up deep into the braking zone.
When your engine breathes and revs like this K24 does, you need to be able to swap cogs to suit, and fortunately Honda is pretty good at this with the six-speed DC5 box well up to the task when matched to an LSD. A simple heavy-duty clutch and lightened flywheel complete the lively experience and ensure the driver isn’t fighting too hard with over-spec’d gear on hot laps.
With every one of Je Poy’s builds, there is a family vibe going on, with the cars always driveable by his wife and able to transport the kids — all the way to the redline. Keeping them in comfort is a relatively stock but typical ‘race car’ minimalist interior featuring Buddy Club seats and an array of Defi gauges. The yellow has made its way inside with some of the stitching matching the outer hue.
We’ve said before to anyone who hasn’t driven them that they are an absolute tonne of fun, and this car just reinforces again how good a well-balanced Honda package is. Let’s appropriately close with another native-tongue statement, which really sums things up nicely. “Ako si Jeffrey de los Reyes kilala din as Je Poy, at meron akong problema. Sobra akong nahilig sa pagpapaganda ng kotse lalo na kung Honda. Ito lang ang natatanging bisyo ko, at masaya akong ginagawa ito kasama ang buong tropa na may parehong pagmamahal sa ganitong kultura kahit mahal ang pyesa.” Again, translated to, “Hi … my name is Je Poy and I love modifying cars and Hondas … maybe a bit too much “
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This article originally appeared in New Zealand Performance Car issue 301