The Honda scene has had a welcome resurgence in the past few years. Clean, tastefully modified and heavily invested Civics, S2000’s and Integra’s are becoming more mainstream alternatives to the tried and tested Evo’s and Silvia’s you see rolling around. However, that hasn’t always been the case.

True enthusiasts would argue they’ve stood by the brand before it was “cool” which I don’t refute at all but for a long time, the majority of Honda’s were simply the first car for most p-platers and none more so than the trusty Honda Civic. They were the hand me down that your family owned longer than your pet dog, or were your elderly neighbour’s car they’d owned and had decided to move on to a shiny new 2019 Honda Jazz.

How could your parents fault these as first cars for young p-platers? Cheap, quiet and about as fast as a rock rolling down a mildly steep hill. All characteristics you’d sadly be mistaken for attributing to Keenan’s Spoon inspired, flame throwing Honda EG Civic.

Keenan’s Civic doesn’t hide that it’s not normal. But it wasn’t always like this. The Honda life for Keenan started much like our story above. Keenan recalls it was in high school of 2012 that he decided to get his first Civic. His other couple of mates at the time were also picking these cars up and Keenan though, why not.

While the big plans of a turbo build were not even conceived in his mind at that point, Keenan says that his preliminary goal when getting the car was to just tidy it up within reason and cost. As Keenan started stripping the car of the previous owner’s tacky modifications he started to explore the Honda modding scene. After trawling through modding catalogues and browsing the web, Keenan found one brand that he wanted to align to for his build; Spoon.

So as the boxes upon boxes of Spoon parts arrived at his door, Keenan in the background spent time preparing the chassis for the build. Keenan started with the paint that was in serious need of redoing. While the car came as an acceptable Milano Red from the showroom floor, the previous owner had taken it to the booth for a custom Gold. While this was great for maximum bass and Autosalon shows, it wasn’t really the colour Keenan was after for his Spoon inspired street build. Keenan settled on Honda’s OEM Captiva blue for his car saying it was his favourite all time colour for the EG’s. It’s always refreshing to see a car restored in period correct colours. It just looks right. Along with a new paint job, Keenan also took up the gruelling task of shaving and tucking the engine bay to provide a cleaner view of the madness that was yet to be put into the car.

During the paint job, Keenan also decided to run wider quarter panels which perhaps was foreshadowing the need for wider rubber up front to keep traction. With finally assembly of the painted shell coming to an end, Keenan was then able to start dressing the car up with all the Spoon goodies that he’d been hoarding in his room. A carbon Spoon lip, duckbill, side mirrors, window banner and subtle decals were all added to complete the package. And if you were still unsure what parts the car was running, the Spoon big brake kit sitting pretty behind the bronze CE28’s should let you know that the car wasn’t modded for dress ups.

While it would’ve been awesome to see the car running with the iconic, 13k rpm bat out of hell crate motor that Spoon builds, I think you’ll agree that Keenan has made up for it with the package he eventually settled on. The motor is still period correct in that it’s a B16 but that’s pretty much it. With Keenan opting to go down the turbo route, the whole motor had to be reworked to cater for the additional power that the Precision 5452 turbo was going to be dumping to the front wheels. An array of upgrades to the manifold, radiator, cooling system, fuel system and drive train all orchestrated by a Hondata S300 has given Keenan 300WHP to play with.

Where’s the fun in turboing a Civic if you’re not even going to let people know about it? Sure you can go with the sleeper approach but you’ve already angered a mob of Honda purists by turboing it so why not wear it proud. Influenced by both watching American Honda Civic drag videos and also a few too many beers with a fabricator mate, Keenan says that was all it took to convince himself that a bonnet screamer had to be done. A bonnet screamer does come with a cost though.

Keenan says he’s constantly worried driving the car around in public and while never pulled up on it by cops and luckily being waved through RBT’s a few times, Keenan seldom takes the beast out of its cage. As far as future plans go, Keenan says he’s got an upgraded head with GSC cams and a Supertech valve train that will be paired with a new e85 tune to finish off the car. However thereafter is still undecided. Personally, I’d love to see this thing go around the track!