Meet the Guy Behind the Wheel
I'm Greg Henderson, I'm 40 years old, and I live just over the SC/NC border in the greater Charlotte area. I also run a hobby photography page on Instagram at @derpendable, if you want to follow along with the build.
Before the FK8, I had what a lot of people would call a unicorn: a 2017 Accord Coupe in a true 6-6 configuration. Six-cylinder, six-speed manual, in black. That car got totaled by a Subaru Outback, and I still miss it dearly.
The Type R felt like the natural next step. It's the pinnacle of modern Honda performance, and it's been my "obtainable dream car" for a long time. Long enough that I was buying scale models and diecast versions of it well before I ever had a real one sitting in my driveway. So when I finally pulled the trigger, it felt less like a purchase and more like something that was always supposed to happen.
Stock Was Never an Option: Finding the Direction
I'd never leave a car completely stock. That's just not how I operate. But the FK8 community is what actually lit a fire under me. There are so many genuinely clean FK8s out there, and scrolling the forums or Reddit you start to realize how many different directions people have taken this platform. Forums, Reddit, Instagram...there's no shortage of inspiration if you go looking for it. I took a lot of cues from the OEM+/JDM daily crowd out in California specifically. That aesthetic clicked with me, and I wanted to build something that was mine.
What I didn't expect was how much the community extends beyond the screen. Since getting into the FK8, I've had more random conversations in parking lots and at traffic lights than I can count. People come up, they want to talk about it, they wave from other cars. Car people recognize it for what it is. (The ones who don't just think it's a Civic with a body kit, which...fair, I guess.)
The flip side of that attention is the highway stuff, which gets old fast. People trying to bait you into a race, nearly wrecking themselves and everyone around them in the process. Take it to the track. That's what it's there for.
The Laundry List
KTuner V2
PRL High Volume Intake
PRL Coolant Expansion Tank
Hybrid Racing Shifter Cable Bushings
Wunderladen Rear Motor Mount
A'PEXi N1 Evo Extreme Exhaust
Spoon Wide Angle Mirrors
HIC Window Visors / Rain Guards
J's Racing Front Strut Bar
Heeltoe Slave Cylinder w/ CDV Delete
Dixcel M-type pads with FL5 two-piece rotors
Unity Performance Carbon Fiber Steering Wheel
Mugen Carbon Fiber Shift Knob
HFP Red Carpet Floor Mats
Full PPF & Ceramic Tint
Volk Racing CE28 Club Sport II
Continental Extreme Contact Sport 02
The direction is daily driver first, but built with track days and mountain runs in mind. OEM+ is probably the cleanest way to describe it. Nothing trying too hard, nothing out of place.
Night and Day: Why the Wheels and Tires Changed Everything
People always ask what mod made the biggest difference, and for me it's not even close. The CE28 Club Sport IIs wrapped in Continental ECS02s changed the car completely. Night and day, like I said. Downsizing to 18s was part of it, but the rubber really did the heavy lifting. The FK8 is already a capable car on stock rubber, but once you put a proper set of tires on it, you understand what it was actually built to do. It's not subtle. You feel it immediately; the way it turns in, the way it settles under load, the confidence you have going into a corner. It's not a tweak; it's a transformation.
The CE28s are obviously a big part of that too. Volk Racing makes some of the most respected wheels in the game, and the Club Sport IIs fit the OEM+ direction I was going for without screaming for attention. They belong on this car.
If someone came to me with a Type R and asked where to start, I'd say tires before almost anything else. It's one of the first things I'd put back on if I had to strip the car down and start over. Second place goes to the PRL intake. Still puts a smile on my face every single time I drive it.
New Pads, New Rotors, Same Squeal
The one thing I genuinely can't explain is the brake squeal. New Dixcel M-type pads, FL5 two-piece rotors, checked the dust shield for rocks...still happens. Several times a week, randomly, for no obvious reason. I feel bad for my neighbors.
It's the kind of thing that should have a clear answer. You swap the pads, swap the rotors, do it right, and you expect the problem to go away. That's usually how this stuff works. Not here. I've gone through the obvious culprits and come up empty, and at this point it's just become part of owning the car.
Not every problem has a satisfying resolution. This one's still open.
Every Dragon Trip Since: Where the Car Actually Lives
The community pulled me out to events pretty quickly. We've been to every CivicX+ Wake the Dragon and Classic Hondas on the Dragon since I got the car, and pretty much every trip out there is one for the books. Carolina Motorsports Park for grassroots racing photography is a regular stop too, which is where you'll find no shortage of FK8s and FL5s if you want to see what people are actually doing with these cars. Locally, we're at Cars & Coffee most weekends.
The Dragon was really where everything clicked for me as a driver. First time I got to properly wring the car out up there, it performed flawlessly all weekend. I was grinning the whole time. What I didn't expect was how much the community itself would matter. The FK8 has opened up friendships I wouldn't have otherwise, and it keeps growing the longer I'm in it.
27WON Intercooler, RV6 Downpipe, and the Studs I've Been Dreading
There's a 27WON Front Mount Intercooler and an RV6 Cerakoted Downpipe sitting at home right now. Have been for a while. The plan is to get them on the car by fall, but the horror stories about exhaust studs have made me drag my feet on this one. I install pretty much everything myself, and I'm not scared of most jobs. This one's just earned its reputation.
Beyond that, the long-term list is pretty clear in my head. A 27WON Kuro turbo, a full J's Racing front end, either an APR or Voltex rear wing, and a proper street tune to tie it all together. If money were completely off the table, I'd add a 4Piston engine swap to that list and call it a dream build.
The bones are already there for something really special. This platform has endless room to grow, and I've only scratched the surface. The parts sitting in my garage are proof that the build isn't waiting on inspiration, it's waiting on me to stop reading forum threads about snapped studs and just commit to a weekend. It'll happen. Fall's the goal.
Start Small, Do It Yourself, and Mod for You
If you're just getting started, do it yourself. Seriously. Most installs aren't as bad or scary as they seem once you actually get into them, and the FK8 is a genuinely easy car to work on. You don't need a shop for everything. And don't fixate on the expensive stuff right away. Something like an intake or a fresh set of brake pads make a real impact on how the car feels, and they're not going to break the bank. Start small, get comfortable, and build from there.
The other thing I'd say is mod for yourself. Not for the forums, not for clout, not because someone else's build made you feel like yours isn't enough. The community here is great, and there's no shortage of inspiration if you want it. But at the end of the day, you're the one driving it every morning. Make sure it makes you happy first.
That's really it. Figure out what you actually want the car to do, start with the stuff that'll get you there without requiring a second mortgage, and turn your own wrenches when you can. You'll learn more than you expect to, and you'll appreciate the parts a lot more when you put them on yourself.
TSP, Wunderladen, and 27WON: Giving Credit Where It's Due
Two Step Performance has been my go-to for pretty much everything on this build. Parts, advice, whatever I needed...if it's on the site, that's where I went first. It's a genuinely good one-stop shop for the platform, and that matters when you're trying to keep things simple.
The guys at Wunderladen Racing have been great too. I've had a few conversations with them along the way, and you can tell pretty quickly that they actually care about these cars. Same goes for the team at 27WON. Every interaction I've had with them has been a good one. These aren't just parts companies; they're people who are clearly into this stuff.
That kind of thing means more than it probably should. When you're doing all your own installs, usually with just a buddy and some YouTube videos, it helps to know the brands you're buying from actually stand behind what they sell. You end up with a lot of questions. It's nice when the answer isn't just a link to the FAQ.
More Than a Civic: What the Type R Actually Means to Me
I've never made this car my entire personality. That's something I'm pretty intentional about, but I'd be lying if I said it was "just a car." When I finally signed the paperwork and pulled out of that dealership in Tampa, it felt a little surreal. Like something I'd been low-key working toward for a long time had actually happened.
Since then, it's opened up things I didn't expect. New friendships. New opportunities. People I never would've met otherwise. There's something about showing up to a Cars & Coffee or a weekend at the Dragon that puts you in the same space as people who just get it, and that keeps compounding over time.
Every single day I get in this car, I'm still happy it's mine. That part hasn't worn off. I don't know if it will. But this car has given me a lot more than I expected when I flew down to pick it up. None of that comes from the spec sheet.
