From showroom stock to state of the art, what would you do if this was not only your first car but first build? Many years ago the famous hot rod builder Boyd Coddington passed on a good piece of advice to me, “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” Now that saying isn’t original to Mr. Coddington, but it does embody what the best cars and car builders have in common - very hard work which leads to “luck” with many friends contributing to how a build up turns out.
Such was the case with Rainier DeLeon’s Honda. He purchased the vehicle new, and then immediately enlisted the members of HondaTech.com and EKForum.com to help lay a good foundation. With the collective intelligence of the masses on his side, he also lists as his long term influencers, L.J. Garcia and his ubiquitous Widebody EK Civic and Jon Duppong’s white EK.
A succession of engines were planned and some even made it under the hood, long before the K20 that you see now - a Prelude H22A, an Integra GSR 1.8L DOHC VTEC, and then a Japanese spec Civic Type R. Simplicity and time finally reigned supreme and DeLeon’s Civic ended up with another Japanese Spec R motor, the K20. Displacing 2.0 litres, Rainier liked the factory “unmodified” horsepower rating available and the high-revving 8,600 rpms offered plenty of top end and room to tune. Although K motor swaps are becoming more and more commonplace, when DeLeon started the swap three years ago he had never personally performed one nor knew of any of the intricacies involved in mating the engine, transmission, and ECU to his new donor platform. Once again, a quick click of the keys found him online and browsing the HondaTech.com forums again; help came from John Nguyen, HondaTech regular and full time employee at AEM. Nguyen’s suggestions gave him some much needed direction, advice, and even a few pointers toward where he could source some extremely hard to find parts that would make his Civic standout even further from the cornucopia of other Civic build-ups.
Wish lists are a good thing to help you figure out the plan of attack for your particular build-up. Additionally, they are indispensible as “cost sheets” that help keep you in check of just how much money you have left in your budget. To increase the size of that budget, DeLeon took a job in the service department of the same Honda dealership where he first purchased the car from. As the addiction was fed and more parts were being checked off the wishlist, DeLeon’s parents’ house was slowly filling with all the components recommended by the collective fellow Honda builders. Meanwhile, the garage was turned into a halfway house where DeLeon appointed himself paint and body technician and began stripping the car down to its mare metallic accessories. After all the requisite bodywork, he managed the skill and ability to paint the two-tone race scheme that you see here. The garage was now smack in the middle of a transformation into a dream garage workspace, with DeLeon’s Civic hoping to roll out as the end result.
With the chassis basics done, it was time to turn attention to the powerplant. The D-series to K-series swap was first anchored with the help of Hasport’s EKK2 mount kit, made specifically to fit the K-series engine into the cavities of the EK-coded hatchback chassis. A Hybrid Racing plug and play wiring harness connected all the wires and saved DeLeon from a wiring nightmare. The factory ECU was supplanted with a Hondata KPRO engine management system to keep the K20A running smooth. Fuel is provided through a Canton Racing remote fuel filter, via a Magnafuel fuel pressure regulator, and into a AEM fuel rail. The air that flows thru the RBC intake manifold passes thru a custom built cold air intake and K&N filter. Keeping the engine cool, a Visteon C&R radiator was installed along with Samco silicone hoses; a Carbing coolant expansion tank catches any coolant overflow. A new DTR SSR 421 stainless steel header vents the spent exhaust exhaust gases through a Carsound hi flow catalytic converter and into a JDM-geek dream Fujitsubo RM01-A Cat back exhaust system.
Suspension duties are handled Integra Type R style; virtually the entire suspension was from a 98 Spec Integra Type R, including 5 lug wheel conversion, front cross member, and sway bar, and steering rack was pilfered and installed into the similarly dimensioned EK chassis. Rear swaybar duties are handled by a Comptech unit, with a matching rear lower tie bar not too far from that. Around the corners, a set of Tein RE coilovers hold up the chassis, while a Mugen Gen 1 rear strut tower and Carbing Type II aluminum 3point front bar stiffen up the rest of the chassis from the outside.
Rolling stock consists of a set of Volk SE37K rims wrapped in sticky Yokohama ES100 tires. A triple threat combination of Brembo slotted rotors, Spoon twin block brake calipers, and Hawk HP brake pads bring the speeding shenanigans to a quick halt.
Keeping with the DIY-Hands On theme, DeLeon went to work customizing the cabin interior to suit his personal preference in part and appearance. Of particular note is the SARD Stack meter custom fabricated into the OE dash area, complete with working OE warning lights! A pair of Recaro SPG seats provide the two-person seating capacity while some serious Takata 5point seat belt harnesses make cockpit ejection little more than a faint possibility. Mugen fans would be quick to note the other “requisite” detail goods scattered throughout the rest of the cabin.
As we started the description of what hard work and luck will bring you, DeLeon wanted to make sure to shout out to his mom and dad for putting up with his taking over their garage; to good friend Dennis Liu for emotional support; to Sean Edwards of Status Racing for knowing everyone in the industry; and to Chris at Intec Racing for the final tuning to make his moving bucket of bolts an actual pleasure to drive.
Seeing the passion and perfection that went into the build up, I couldn’t help but ask if he would ever sell his car. “Never," he answered quickly, adding that he wants his own children to see what his blood, sweat, and tears built by hand in his parents garage.
Of course, as with any project, you’re never quite done; future plans including getting inside the motor with a more aggressive camshaft profile, a set of super-sucking individual throttle bodies, and of course more tuning. And, in addition to all that, there’s an Integra sedan with a smoothed over engine bay in the garage and whole lot more online discussions going on.

Exterior

CTR parts:
Headlights w/ carbon inserts
Tail lights w/ UK rear foglight
Moldings
Grill
Rear lip
Smoked amber side markers
JDM door visors
Rear wing with tilt adjusters

JDM parts:
Mugen front lip
Arc front splitters
Zspec air duct
White crow canards
Spoon rear tow hook
Vision type MC side mirrors
Antenna block off plate
Cusco GT wing

Interior

CTR parts:
Carpet
Manual door panels
Armrest delete
Emergency road flare

USDM parts:
ITR floormats
Canada-spec airbag tray
Ashtray console
SI tweeter pods
Weave Kevlar fuel pump cover
Hondasport ebrake handle

JDM parts:
C’s shift plate
C’s shift knob
Mugen battery kill switch
Mugen pedals
Mugen seat rail
Mugen ECU stay
Mugen heel adjustment plate
Recaro pro racer SPG
Takata 5pt harness
Dead pedal riser
Honda access roof console
Honda access steering column light
Honda access floor courtesy lights
SARD stack meter in custom enclosure utilizing stock warning lights
Pioneer Premier CD head unit
Safety 21 “13 point” roll cage
Custom powder coated gloss black side impact beam
Odyssey mini battery
Odyssey aluminum battery stay
Remote battery terminals with carbon insert
SRR ignition panel
Relocated fuse box

Suspension

Tein RE full coilovers
Comptech rear lower tie bar/sway bar combo
Comptech/ARP extended studs
Muteki lugnuts
SRR rear lower control arms
98 spec ITR 5lug conversion
98 spec ITR front cross member and steering rack/ sway bar
Miracle x bar
Mugen gen 1 rear tower bar
(suspension continued)
Carbing typeII aluminum 3pt front bar

Volk SE37K 16x7 wheels
Yokohama es100 tires
Spoon twinblock calipers

Brembo slotted rotors front/rear
Aem rear brake pads
Hawk HP+ front pads
Goodridge stainless steel brake lines
Tilton steering reservoir
Aeroquip fittings for power steering delete
Feel’s master cylinder brace

Engine

2002 Integra type R k20a
Hasport EKK2 mount kit
Hasport hose adapter
Hybrid racing pnp harness
Hondata KPRO engine management
Canton racing remote fuel filter
Magnafuel fuel pressure regulator
Marshall fuel pressure gauge
Earl’s ano-tuff an fittings
Earl’s prolite350 braided hoses
Jiffy-tite quick disconnect fuel line fittings
Top fuel power neo
AEM fuel rail
Golden eagle oil block adapter plate
RBC intake manifold
Karcepts throttle body adapter
Karcepts shift plate mount kit
Visteon/C&R radiator
Samco radiator hoses
Carbing coolant expansion tank
Carbing valve cover catch can
Carbing radiator cooling plate
Greddy PCV catch can
Custom cold-air intake w/ K&N filter
(engine continued)

DTR/SSR 421 stainless steel header
Carsound hi-flow catalytic converter
Fujitsubo RM01-A cat back exhaust
Spoon radiator stay
Full wire tuck

Text by R.K. Lee

Photos by Kyle Johnson.