The Rarest of Rare: I Scored the World's Only Honda EF Civic Rocket Bunny Kit
Last week it was getting fresh tires for a new set of wheels, and as promised, we're here to show you what could be considered one of the rarest pieces from the TRA Kyoto/Rocket Bunny collection: the body kit off Kei Miura's personal Honda EF Civic. And I was lucky enough to score it. Unless you've been to Japan personally, the only way you would know of this kit is from attending the 2008 Tokyo Auto Salon (where the kit first debuted), some social media posts and a handful of Super Street/Import Tuner/Speedhunters photoshoots. Other than that, the car was left mostly unused at the shop except for the occasional car meet. Most wonder if it still exists, like his S13, but yes, they both do (although they've seen much better days).
From the time I first met Miura-san, I've always wanted to have him create some new version of the kit for the EF/ED ('88-91) hatchback, similar to how he did for the EG recently, and after our second or third meeting, he told me he'd give me the one off his car. I always thought he was joking, but each time we saw each other, he'd always say he'd forgotten and that he'd get around to it. I still wanted to see if he was into designing a new kit, but it wouldn't be a big deal either way if he decided not to. For four years, our conversations always ended with "I will send you the body kit."
Fast forward to 2016 and you wouldn't believe what happened.. The very last time Miura said, "I will send you the body kit", one of his business associates, Norihito Watanabe of Pancross LLC assured me it would finally be sent. I shrugged it off as usual since I was more happy to be hanging out with them again and shooting their cars.
A few weeks after flying home from the Tokyo Auto Salon, Watanabe texted me, asking for my address. The kit had already been pulled, boxed and was waiting for shipping arrangements. I can't go into details about pricing but let's say that I was beyond floored by it all. This thing I'd been drooling over for years was suddenly on the cusp of being mine. Forget the questionable Mugen kits on Yahoo Japan auctions!
Next thing I knew, a large box was sitting at the back of my parent's driveway. Dad handed me a box cutter and I carefully broke it down. Lots of bubble wrap had to be sliced to reveal what was beneath. Here's the big shocker: this whole time I'd thought only a front bumper existed but to my surprise, there were more bubble wrapped pieces on the bottom of the box. Side skirts! I don't think I was this happy to find something for my car this exciting since the Super Fins and Mugen exhaust.
The next week or so the kit sat in my garage. I'd go in there just to stare at it. I wanted to test fit it but was lazy at times until the clock started ticking on a couple of upcoming events: AutoCon and Wekfest. Then I had the problem deciding: leave it original and have mismatched pieces, leave it original and wrap my car to match, or paint match it all Suzuka Blue? There was a small part of me that wanted to preserve its original state but to be honest, the kit was pretty beat; Miura urged me to paint them. It looks great in pictures because the white hides the flaws, and everyone's thinking "Dude, mint! Don't paint it!" but what they couldn't see up close was that it was still the original raw fiberglass finish with the gel coat. It was extremely dirty from sitting around so much. A clear case of "good from far, far from good." I made the decision to paint them all with the mindset of preserving its history while creating a new vision for myself. That's what building cars is all about: putting your interpretation on the mods and suiting it to match your own personality.
I'd been following Signature Autobody ever since writing about them for our fourth issue, and they've been taking care of several high profile builds within the industry so I knew I'd be in good hands. With my gas door as a paint match sample, they sprayed all the Rocket Bunny pieces perfectly, as if it had been painted together with the car back in 2008. Now for the moment of truth: installing the damn thing. This was a moment I'd long waited for, and watching it go on, I'd imagined, would be something similar to when Indiana Jones swapped a sandbag for the golden idol. But remember that boulder that came chasing him down shortly after? I was almost about to get the same thing...
After pulling the OEM JDM bumper and side skirts, the real test fitment began. The side skirts were taped in place and fit fine...so far. The bumper was a problem. There were only three bolt holes on the top of the bumper and the two bolt holes on each of the sides where it's to attach to the sliding plastic brackets. How did he attach it? We figured out that pulling the bracket from inside the OEM bumper is how he did it.
Though it fit perfectly with the OEM bolt hole openings and was fairly secure, there was a part of us that felt it could be made more secure by drilling a couple more holes (one on each side). We sourced new bolts from a nearby hardware store to give it a better than OEM look, and once we finished the bumper modifications, Signature was finally able to mount the bumper in place. Now, the bumper didn't fit perfectly as the fenders were already pulled and rolled, so on the driver's side it's a bit off. Plus, we don't know if Miura's car was straight to begin with and if you look at photos of his car, it lines up perfectly. I have some wider Osaka JDM fenders to test fit in the future to see if it'll help with fitment, but for now, it's not too bad. I'm just picky.
Back to the side skirts: after careful inspection, it was determined that they would need trimming to fit on properly while allowing the doors to close shut. Even then, it was such a tight fit that the doors had to be adjusted and even then it would still scrape anytime it opens or closes. Not a surprise as the original pieces had plenty of scuff marks so that wasn't going to be a huge concern to me.
With the bumper and side skirts on, it was time for one final modification at Signature: adding the Osaka JDM rear carbon wing. This wing only fits onto the JDM OEM wing, so I used a spare wing that Osaka JDM had given me as a gift. Some heavy duty double-sided tape was used to help secure it to the OEM wing in addition to the rivets.
It's been a long time coming but I'm thrilled with the outcome of the Rocket Bunny kit on my car. It looks totally different than Miura's and somehow, that's OK with me. I want to show you some final images of the car but that's coming up in my next update. The next big question is: do I leave it clean or add the traditional TRA Kyoto graphics?
Check the gallery below for extra photos from the body kit install and the new Optima battery that I picked up from Nemo's Garage.
