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Everyone builds their car for their own personal reasons. Some do it because they love the attention, others do it because it just plain-ole’ feels good, regardless of public opinion. Then you have the special circumstances, in which a build comes together for reasons that inspire and pay homage. This is the case here for Miguel’s Honda Civic that has progressed over the past few show seasons, each time taking the necessary steps to stay ahead of the competition.

The build of this EG started quite a few years ago, when Miguel’s very good friend, Valentin Otero had painted it the color he had envisioned for the build, H2 Orange. Sadly, Valentin Otero, along with his brother, Jesse Otero and their best friend, John Richardson passed away in a car accident on March 14, 2007. Losing a close friend is very hard as one could imagine, and if you have gone through this kind of unfortunate experience, you would know that time no knows boundaries during the mourning period. For two years, the hatch sat parked in Valentin’s backyard before the car was handed down to Miguel.

When Miguel inherited the hatch, it had a GSR motor. He went right to work on the build and has over the years, taken the hatch from a simple street build, into something that was built to compete on the show circuit. Putting his blood, sweat, tears and hard-earned dollars into this build is all about honoring a friend. True friendships last forever.

The first thing that stands out to most people, when you see Miguel’s civic is of course the beautiful H2 Orange. But what is surely to catch your eye and break your neck will be what’s sitting in that super clean engine bay. Hoodless or not, that Juicy J-series makes it’s presence known in all it’s shiny glory, rocking polished valvecovers and intake manifold, stainless steel fuel lines, stainless steel headers, custom v-band clamped 2.5 inch piping. Mated to the 2003 Acura TL Type-S 3.2L V6 swap is a 6-speed Honda Accord transmission with an Exedy stage 1 clutch, Honda S2000 clutch master cylinder and a checkered sports adapter plate.

For that proper stance and suspension setup, Miguel employed the services of Tokico illumina coilovers along with RE Works front and rear strut bar, powdercoated front lower subframe, Function7 rear lower control arms, Darkstar Inc. subframe brace and a Beaks polished bar.

To continue with the ultra-clean setup, the brake lines are fully tucked and hidden. A Wilwood master cylinder, Down Star Inc, booster delete plate, cross-drilled rotors on the front and rear along with ceramic pads and stainless steel brake hoses round out the brake setup.

The wheel and tire setup is one of those setups that makes you say wow. Usually a familiar sight on VIP vehicles, seeing this wheel setup on an EG hatch is truly a mash-up of two genres of rides and their modding styles, which Miguel managed to execute very well on his hatch. The wheels are VIP Modular VXS 210 Black Label Series. FRONT – 16 x 8 with a 0-offest. REAR – 16 x 9.5 with a +25-offset. TIRES – Falken Zeix Ze912 with 195/50/16 in the front and 205/50/16 in the rear.

As we mentioned before, the paint is 2004 GM Hummer H2 Sunburnt Orange, with the engine bay colored GM Chevrolet Corvette Devil Yellow. The engine bay is fully shaved with a tucked/hidden radiator. On the exterior, we find a Mugen front lip, Spoon mirrors and duck bill wing, AC Auto rear diffuser, as well as the front and rear fenders rolled and the hood cutout for engine fitment.

Lighting mods include JDM style headlamps with amber city lights, amber corner lamps, amber LED running lights in the front bumper, factory Si taillamps. Taking a look inside the EG hatch, you will notice Black Racing front seats, GSR black leather rear seats, JDM center console, EX sedan center arm rest, NRG quick release, PERSONAL pole position steering wheel, JDM Type R shift knob & shifter boot, custom gauge plate with 3 Autometer gauges. ICE setup is Pioneer with DVD, navigation and full Pioneer component speakers.

Representing New Jersey and their crew, Dark City Racing.

It’s always quite awesome to see builds that come together with a sense of purpose that goes beyond what you typically see out there. More than just someone that has money to spend, and more than just doing a build for the purpose of one’s own personal gratification, when you see a build that sets out to make the world take notice, all for honoring a fallen friend, the proper build becomes that much more special.

Words by: Kenny Bascon

Photography by: Jonathan Melendez Photography.

If you are interested in working with Jonathan, please click on this link for more information, or you can email him at [email protected].

About the author

Co-founder, Managing Director, Photographer, and editor for SNTRL. To many in the Tri-State, Kenny aka "MAD JDM" needs no introduction. Always out there, always ready, always down.