EK Civic - Happy tree

“This is your world, you’re the creator. Find freedom on this canvas.” –Bob Ross I’ve always described an unmodified Civic as a blank canvas, just waiting to be turned into something. Not every one can be a masterpiece like this. But each one you see, perfect or not, represents a passion, a progression, and a pursued interest. This is where years of determination, blood, sweat, and perseverance come to fruition: Taylor Malone’s 1999 EK Civic.

Taylor Malone started this project years ago…

It was a stock CX hatch. And he turned it into his ultimate vision of what a Civic should be. I’m going to cut straight to the heart of it all – the engine.

Taylor spent a good amount of time ensuring every part plays well with each other.

The K-series engine is a mix between a K24a2 bottom end, and a CNC’d K20z3 head. Almost all the internals have been replaced: Manley Turbo Tuff rods, King bearings, 88mm CP pistons, Ferrea valves, Golden Eagle head gasket, ARP head studs… the list goes on and on.

Of course, he didn’t stop there…

Taylor slapped a Rotrex C38R supercharger on the engine, running 16-pounds of boost. Feeding this beast of an engine is a polished KTuned fuel rail & a hand-ported Skunk2 intake manifold with a KTuned 80mm throttle body. The Civic makes a total of 475HP and 290TQ and was tuned by a friend of mine, Jason Waters. Jason is one of the best Honda tuners out there. Keep in mind, this car makes all this power with a factory curb weight of roughly 2,300lbs.

Exiting the engine bay to the back of the car…

Is a completely custom 304 stainless exhaust, built by fabricator Chris Miller at Rise Fab. Along with functionality, form is also a key factor under the hood. Everything has been cleaned, restored, painted, modified, and/or altered in some way. When I say EVERYTHING, I really do mean it here. Even his hood prop is made from titanium. Also, for those of you wondering, the engine bay is painted in Mopar’s Plum Crazy.

Moving to the outside of the car…

It’s not a factory Honda shade of silver. The color is called Tungsten Silver, and it comes from a 2014 Aston Martin DB9. It’s a very darkly-shaded, almost gray-silver. The car has a commanding presence in person. Complimenting the color, or lack thereof, is all of the exposed carbon fiber on the car. The hood is Seibon, the wing is from J’s Racing, and the mirrors are period-correct APR units. Even the roof is skinned in carbon fiber, thanks to Ultra Carbon. Usually, when you have a car with this much exposed carbon fiber, you’ll find that the paint of the car is very polarizing. However, Taylor did a fantastic job choosing this darker silver color to accentuate all of the carbon.

For the interior…

Taylor carried over the purple from the engine bay. The purple Recaro seats are a nice touch, and are a color I hardly ever see. Along with the seats, are a set of black Takata harnesses. The door card inserts match the seats, and on those cards are a set of billet window cranks from NSIDIUS. Honestly, going the extra mile to have billet window cranks is pretty gangster… not gonna lie. To tie it all together, Taylor integrated a KPro.v4 unit, KTuned shifter, NRG quick release and a beautiful MOMO Italy steering wheel.

Combine everything above with tasteful aero mods…

Like a Top1 rear diffuser, PCI side skirts and a BYS style front bumper… and you have yourself one incredibly cool Civic. Taylor did an amazing job with this car.

Thanks To… SpeedFactory. Ultra Carbon. 4Piston Racing. KTuned. AIM. TTS Performance. Skunk2. Jason at Jason Waters Tuning. Chris Miller at Rise Fab Shop. And of course, all of his friends & family that helped him along the way.

Text & photos by Ben Battles ……and Bob Ross.