Toy Civic

I am the original owner of this 1995 Civic EJ1 coupe. I am active duty Navy for going on 18 years and located somewhere in San Diego County. I am the original owner of this car and it was my daily from 1995-2005. Since then, it has been worked to what it is now. My current daily is a 2004 Honda Pilot EX-L.

In 2005 I tore it down to the shell and rebuilt it, finishing in 2006. I showed it off for a year, then went overseas for a year, returned 6 months ago, and transformed the car again to what it is now. I am currently showing the car again at the major west coast car shows. Unfortunately, no HIN awards. Most recently, I showed the car at Extreme Autofest Anaheim and got a first place. I will be at Eibach this wekeend, Meguiars Pep Boys show in L.A. on 30-31 May, SPOCOM Long Beach 14 June, HIN Pleasanton 18 Jul, Extreme Autofest San Diego on 26 Jul, and Nisei Week in August.

All the specs are on my Honda Tuning Magazine website profile that is listed in my sig. The most important thing about this car is that it is FULLY street and California smog legal. It still has A/C, power steering, cruise control, full interior, and an audiophile grade sound system. This is a performance street car with all the amenities. It is not a racecar with no interior. That is why I used the OEM Type S badging.

My philosophy for this car...............
- I DO NOT STREET RACE!!!!!!!!!!!!! In fact I have never raced it legally either. I do not have any track numbers.
- Keep the car street and California smog legal. Keep the whole car as legit as possible.
- Keep the legal mileage on the cluster. I am not a fan of JDM cluster swaps. That is why I had a custom set of gauge faces made that look and light up exactly like the JDM cluster, but read in miles per hour. I cannot calculate kilometers to miles by 0.62 in my head as I am driving.
- JDM is very cool, but is not everything. Non-JDM parts are OK.
- Build the car to drive it ANYWHERE with about the same comfort, reliablity, and practicality that the factory intended.
- I built and treat this car with the exact same attitude as someone who has a classic muscle car. Sooner or later, our Hondas will increase in value. It would be nice to see a well preserved Honda fetch some dough at the Barrett Jackson auto auction.
- Most important.........HAVE FUN!!! That is why this is a Toy Civic.

Here is the build and history thread as seen on EJ1 Owners Club:
http://s14.zetaboards.com/EJ1_Owners...opic/102743/1/

Here are all the pics. The first pic was 14 years ago, but all the rest are the current ones. Enjoy!!!

McLovin

only thing i'm not feeling is the sidemarkers not in the OEM position. Other then that... looks good.

oddmarz

nice I like your car, I seen this car a palm springs meet your paint job wow who ever did it I tip my hat to them, and your wrapped your seats very clean job, can you pm the name and number of the place that did your seats and inserts

WhiteSlips

The taillights and the painted on emblems kill it for me, but other than that it's sick! The wheels look amazing on there.

Silvertc

iTrader: (1)

ditto. the type-s, i was thinkin it would have a K swap. And not diggin the CF in the interior nor the side marker position. Clean car tho!

smithenhiven

Is it just me, or is the painted "H" on the trunk lid off center to the right just a bit?

Toy Civic

I would like to explain and clarify a few things so people do not hate for the wrong reasons. I had reasons for doing what I did:

1) Sidemarkers………….
Like I stated in the intro, JDM is very cool, but is not everything. USDM Civics never had sidemarkers. Since I was not trying to copy JDM, I felt the sidemarkers were better in my locations. I actually used OEM VW sidemarkers and harnesses. The profile, size, and thickness matched the current location perfectly as I am running the JDM thin moldings. I felt that having the sidemarkers in the “JDM correct” 2 inch higher location adds a little bit of clutter to the body lines.

2) Tailights…………..
Yes they are not OEM. But I feel they resemble OEM Honda enough because the clear translucent lenses and LED lighting were used on later model Hondas from the factory. These give the car a more updated modern look. The LED’s light up better than regular 1157 bulbs. Plus the positioning of the brake lights, turn signals, and back up lights has not changed compared to the OEM taillights.

3) Emblems………….
These are meant to smooth the body lines even more. Regular OEM emblems can be pried off by thieves leaving the mounting holes. I got the idea from an episode of Overhaulin’ when Chip Foose did the same to a ’56 Chevy. The reason the H emblem looks a little off center was to give a 3D effect like the logo is floating off the paint. If you look closely, there is a shadow painted on behind the main H logo. The logo itself uses silverleaf to add a reflective quality. Unfortunately, the pics don’t show the reflective quality.

4) Type S……………
Honda made all kinds of cars with different engines that had Type S badges………Prelude Type S, TL Type S, CL Type S, etc. There is even a Civic Type S in Europe. Type S is not just the the K series RSX. The Type S theme is more performance with all amenities such as power moonroof, A/C, power steering, and cruise. Type R is more suited for track use as there is less amenities and lighter weight.

Also I wanted to keep the car legal with California smog and registration. K swaps can be possibly legalized, but at too great of a cost. Plus A/C, power steering, and cruise control were just too important for me with this particular car. This also adds to the streetcar theme vice racer theme. Another reason to use Type S.

So that is it. No more discussions please about why I did what I did. I am not going to change the car anytime soon. Everything is pretty much permanent. If you don't understand or just don't get it, then so be it.

SoCal EJ1

why not just put the EX badge back on? or no badge at all?

redcivic13

why is everyone hating on mods? lol
i give him props for his creativity

kp

Your Civic looks awesome. I think the painted emblems are very unique. Did you paint them yourself or have someone else do it? And I have to ask...is that Vtec cluster light functional?

jksmith

Nice car, few things i would do different, but overall CAR IS CLEAN AS HELL, good job

Toy Civic

I had the paint job and emblems done at Syndicate Automotive Concepts in San Diego in March 2005.

VTEC light works wonderfully. I ran one wire to a nearby ground, and the other wire to the VTEC wire coming off the ECU.

kp

Very cool. I plan on repainting my Civic soon and the painted emblems greatly appeal to me.

SoCal EJ1

really? i took my car there a couple months ago for an estimate and the guy was a total jackass and said he wouldn't touch my car for less than $9000, claiming that half of it was to detrim the car. I smirked and he just turned around and started talking to someone else and didnt even acknowledge me when I thanked him for his time. **** those guys - i didnt even really like the final finish of the cars and truck in their showroom (fisheyes and other crap in the paint of their SHOW cars?)

Toy Civic

I have not been to Syndicate for a little while. Remember my car was painted 4 years ago. They have gone through some changes over the years. Thier lead painter Nick, is just one guy. They do tend to go through help pretty quickly. If you felt like you were treated poorly, the main guy there is Cliff Leeper.

My bill was $6K. That was with my taking the car completely apart, having it flatbeddded over, several custom body mods, "one off" grill insert, 3rd brake light added, new windshield, engine bay painted and cleared, multi stage paint and clear, and the painted logos.

In the end, you get what you pay for. If you saw flaws with the cars there, that is unfortunate and may not be the norm.

ImporTProphetZ

Makes me wanna kep my ej1!

SoCal EJ1

nah, i'm taking my car a couple streets over to another shop that does great work for a reasonable price. the guy at syndicate seems to be hot headed because they've got tv coverage and i'm not about to give them my business. when i asked for a simple estimate, he told me it'd take like three hours to get done, and I asked for a verbal estimate if i pull the car apart and flatbed it in - his response was something like, "we'll figure out a price when you have your car towed in here, completely apart - then we'll talk numbers"

with a response like that i was like "f_ck you dude"

DxBurnoutKing

not my cup 'o tea.. but at least he has an explanation as to why he built it that way as opposed to "F U MAN.. STOP H8'in"

Silvertc

iTrader: (1)

i believe the civic type s in europe was 05 and up civics....

onceuponaGSR

i like your purpose for building. thats all that matters!

SK8ER B0Y

Loving the Volks Time Attack CE28N

Cambi

What taillights are those and where can they be purchased?

Awesome looking EJ! I absolutely love CE28Ns!

Toy Civic

They are made by Depo. I found them on eBay a couple years ago. Here is an identical set.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/92-95...lenotsupported

SlammedDC2teg

The car looks 100% Orginal, like the owner. So good work.

I may have not used the same size wheel(my only gripe) But still looks cool.

bibby

Kudos for being original. I like everything except the painted emblems however i do understand and respect your ideas for them