TDSAutoMag

 

Welcome back guys, I’ll be kicking off yet another K swap build. This time from somewhat of a legend in the car community, often referred to as the Honda Boss. Today I’m bringing you guys a first look at Kerry-Dan’s K swapped EK3 build.

Kerry has been in the car scene for quite some time and over the years he has earned his title. Being one of the first to really push Hondas in a serious way on the streets with his EK4 Civic SiR hatch, Kerry built a reputation and quickly became a household name. Over the years he would go onto being the owner of several other popular Honda models, DC5 Integra Type R, FD2 Civic, EP3 Civic Type R then finally landing on his most recent Type R, a late generation DC5 Integra Type R with a Modulo bodykit. 

It has been roughly about 4 years since Kerry parted ways with his widely recognized DC5 Integra Type R and physically been away from the car scene. Although he was no longer the owner of performance vehicle, Kerry’s attention was still focused on the inner workings of car scene. Being close friends with many of the big names within the culture he started to notice the hype emerging around K-swapped cars. In recent times the guys seem to be making great progress in dialing their setups for both the 1/8 mile and the circuit. Being witness to this, sparked some serious interest which pushed Kerry over the deep end.  And it wasn’t long before Kerry started to get the itch for another project car.

Before we head into his new build, let’s take a look back at his DC5 and work our way forward to where we’re at today… 

Those who may have followed the site from the beginning would remember Kerry’s DC5 rocking a TDS banner at the Honda Craze show back in 2013. At the time, Kerry had the car on a set of 18″ Tenzo R wheels… 

Rear angle of the car to get a look at the Modulo bodykit…

Following the Tenzo R wheels, Kerry opted to switch things up a bit. With the paint on the Brembo calipers starting to show signs of wear, it was time to give them a new look. Along with this, he went a bit further and was able to get his hands on a set of O.Z Racing Superleggeras in Silver finish…

A holiday drive Kerry attended with a gang of B Series Civics and Integras… 

A random gas station shot… 

Ever so often Kerry would swap between wheels, taken here at one of JDM Squared meets…

There was a point when Kerry attended one of BADD’s official quarter mile drag events. At the time Kerry had swapped out the PRB intake for a more capable RBC. He also went ahead and ditched the factory 4.7 final drive for a 5.8 unit. On the day the car was able to run a 13.8 secs making it one the fastest all motor cars at the event…

An evening at the Garrison Savannah rocking the Superleggeras.. 

In the final stages of ownership Kerry had the O.Zs sprayed in black; which ended up being his favorite look on the car. He would go on to race at a few other BADD 1/8 mile events where unfortunately the gearbox developed some issues. This caused the car to sit for a while until Kerry finally decided to get rid of it…

 

That was a summary of the DC5 in most of its glory now lets get cracking on the EK3 build; as I mentioned earlier, the idea of a K-swapped car peaked his interest and the initial plan was to build an all out swapped car to signal the return of Kerry-Dan. The first thing on the list was to acquire a shell with the bare basics and begin the transformation into a full out war machine. As the hunt progressed, Kerry’s initial concept of the build started to change as reality began to set in. The once drag focused Ferio build was slowly turning into a fully streetable version of itself. Sadly it was proving difficult for Kerry to find a suitable base chassis to work with and he made a decision to go a step further and seek out a complete and fully functioning EK instead. Having this new target in mind, it didn’t take long before Kerry came across what would be the car to kick off the build… 

Kerry landed on a relatively well kept EK3; after a quick run through of everything he sealed the deal and snapped a couple of photos… 

The car had a non VTEC D15 motor mated to an automatic transmission. It was 100% stock down to the steelies and OEM hubcaps, making it a great starting point for Kerry…

Naturally, the wheels would be the first upgrade to the car. A set of OEM Honda Fit wheels in a 16×7 sizing, wrapped in some Dunlop tyres were the Civic’s replacement rollers… 

After the car was collected Kerry went straight to the tyre shop to have the wheels fitted… 

A full view of the car in the daylight to get a good look with the new wheels mounted. With a vision in mind, Kerry wanted to get the ball rolling as quickly as possible. After a quick assessment of car, the next phase would be having the car repainted… 

Being a daily for the entirety of its life could be seen as you take a closer look around the car. All the minor dings and dents needed to be addressed before moving onto the next step… 

With the minor body work completed for the most part, the necessary bits were removed and the car was fully primed as Kerry won’t be using the factory silver the EK3 originally came in. There were also a few pieces that Kerry was able to acquire to ensure a better overall finish on the paint process…

The shell was then further sprayed and a new rear bumper fitted… 

Upon closer inspection, the driver door was slightly damaged and rather than have it repaired Kerry was able to source another one… 

With everything complete the car was able to roll into Butcher’s Lab where it received a few coats of a custom pearl white… 

The paint stage went to plan for the most part; the car as it sat fresh out of the booth and taking in some sunlight… 

With everything going to plan it was jus about time to start the reassembly… 

But first a decision was made to respray the front crash bar and radiator support in black…  

Following that, the fenders were fitted along with a new custom set of OEM headlights done by Raj over at Vehicle Aesthetics Management… 

At the back, the new bumper and lip combo was fitted with new OEM tail lights… 

A first look at the partially assembled front end, still missing the grille…

Kerry went with a Type R replica front lip… 

After collecting the car, Kerry took it to have the interior fitted back together as the car was gutted for the paint process…

He went ahead and added the H emblem along with the RS badge to the rear… 

The front end as it started to come together with the Type R styled grille fitted in place… 

As nice as the clear windows were, the blackout look was Kerry’s preference as the car’s purpose has evolved and will be built with daily capabilities in mind similarly to his DC5…   

Following the tint, the final pieces were the addition of the a trunk lip and the Ferio badge… 

Kerry pays close attention to details and with this in mind he went ahead and added a RS badge to the front grille…

Thanks for taking a first look at Kerry’s EK3 build; a huge shoutout to everyone who aided in the process up to this point. Stay tuned for more on this build where we get into the performance side of things.