I shot these photos a few weeks ago when Yasu was in town and he wanted to go visit Kenji at GReddy. Hopefully you guys have seen the Vlog episode on this build by now, but if you haven’t, please watch that because the main purpose of our visit was to have a thorough look-through of Kenji Sumino’s Civic hatchback and to chat with him about how the car came together in the past few years. I didn’t originally plan to take pictures of the car but I knew it was important to capture the little details of it because you get a real sense of how much of a car guy Kenji is in the way he meticulously puts his cars together. The build itself made its first public appearance at the Eibach Honda Meet this year in California but I was in Japan so I totally missed out on the opportunity to see it in person until our visit that afternoon. On that same day, he was unloading a large shipment of GReddy products from a container he just received so I really didn’t want to take up too much of his time and get in the way. We just pulled the car out, did some video, and then went on our way. Give it a look and catch that Vlog if you haven’t already seen it…

I should mention now that it was not a surprise visit by any means, lol. Like we didn’t fucking just show up and be like ‘Oh hey Kenji, we’re here now to do video on your car’. I actually did my proper industry thing and messaged him, set up a time, and all. Kenji and the GReddy staff have a lot going on lately and there was even a ‘secret’ project in there that he asked not to be captured on camera…

It could have been a 2JZ-swapped Lambo or something and I wouldn’t have been that interested because I was there specifically to get a look at his personal Civic hatchback build, a car that many have come to know as the ‘Hot Wheels Super Treasure Hunt’ car…

The engine is an B18C1 that was built by the guys over at D-Sport and is actually capable of making about 1000-horsepower. Kenji doesn’t want to have anything that makes nearly that much power because he just wants it to be a modest street car but if he ever does plan on doing more, it’s a fully sleeved block that can hold the power…

One of the coolest features about this car is the custom air-to-water intercooler set-up which was fabricated to resemble a factory airbox. The factory air conditioning unit provides the chilled air but the turbo set-up can run completely independent of the air-to-water system. The pipe and ‘air box’ were sent off to Chapman Concepts for a black Cerakote treatment to complete the factory-look…

Ignition has been upgraded to a coil-over-plug distributor-less set-up utilizing Ignition Projects coil packs…

Custom breather box complete with a GReddy Performance Products logo…

An original cast manifold from a GReddy GS-R turbo kit is used with a modern turbocharger which combined, are a tight fit when mounted with a full-sized Koyo radiator. Also note the dipstick which replaces the crusty old orange end with a silicone hose. Details matter guys…

The turbocharger is GReddy’s newer T518Z  which they use on their upgrade kits for the FRS/BRZ/86 and other modern platforms…

Only the best stuff for Kenji’s personal car so he chose a Rywire engine harness to bring his B18C1 to life…

Inside you’ll see a mixture of classic Japanese Domestic Market-only EF interior pieces paired with aftermarket upgrades like a Hybrid Racing B-series shifter and a Battlecraft x Chronicles 10-Year Anniversary shift knob…

GReddy steering wheel with titanium steering hardware…

JDM OEM goodies within like these classic Gathers speakers which only serve as an aesthetic touch since they have served their time on Earth and no longer work…

The wheels that inspired Kenji to build a car around it are Speed Star Racing EX-C Neo. He loved these wheels so much that he actually converted his Civic to 96-spec ITR 4×114 layout just so he could mount them…

Kenji’s hatchback sits just right on the Neo wheels and has the GReddy pinstripe that we’ve come to be familiar with thanks to the Hot Wheels toy…

The other side of his Civic hosts a pair of Mugen CF-48 wheels which are 4×100 so he actually has to use adapters to run them…

If you’re wondering, Hot Wheels worked closely with Kenji to have the toy created based on his build and not the other way around. The toy ended-up coming out first before Kenji finished the actualy car itself so people often think that he built his car to match the toy…

One would imagine that Kenji would have a GReddy exhaust on his Civic but he actually liked the Fujitsubo Legalis R so much that he had to put it on…

I gotta say, after finally seeing it in person after following his build on Instagram over the course of two-years, I’d have to say that it was worth the hype. One of the finer, more detail-oriented builds that epitomizes what is great about the classic West Coast Honda-style…

I can’t wait until the air-to-water intercooler set-up is finally plumbed and operational so we can go back and get some in-car footage of it driving around…

That’s all folks. Until next time…

Here’s the Vlog for the lazy people…

Thanks for looking…