Formula 1 racing, movies, and Forza. They all let us experience the thrill of speed and place ourselves in in a world where cars become larger than life. That world can be a place to escape to, a place to gain perspective on the real world, or a place to draw ideas from. This week in Heavy Metal Affliction we meet Guido Knuistingh Neven of Alkmaar, Netherlands—Gamertag dinobreezy. His home town of Alkmaar is the home of supercar builder Spyker. This is a story of how real life racing, car movies, and Forza can drive someone to build something in real life that makes a statement, performs soundly, and doesn’t break the bank.

Knuistingh Neven is a 30-year-old married father of two who works for one of the largest steel manufacturers in the world. He earns a comfortable living but, like most of us, has a limited budget. Knuistingh Neven has always been a car and racing enthusiast; he loves Lamborghinis, Ferrari’s Formula One team, and Top Gear. He has even spent some time behind the wheel of a Lambo, done an exhibition run at the drag strip, and drifted with a pro, all for fun. He has been playing Forza since Forza Motorsport 2 and had to drive 14 hours to France to get his Xbox 360 — which he proceeded to play for five hours straight once arriving home.

As far as cars go, he has always loved tuners. When the original “The Fast and Furious” movie came out, it only drove his tuner tastes and love of cars further. He soon began attending car shows, going to Formula 1 and European Le Mans races, and a dream began to emerge. In 2007 he finally took the leap and bought his own tuner project. In keeping with the inspiration of “The Fast and the Furious,” he sought a 1992-1995 Civic Coupe like the ones driven by Vin Diesel’s truck high jacking crew.

The first step was to sell the practical and nearly new Chevrolet Kalos (Aveo) the family currently owned to raise the cash for the project. (This is where we all bow our heads in recognition of the coolness and understanding of Knuistingh Neven’s wife and mother of his two children.) She gave him the leeway to pursue the tuner project dream and abandon the reliability and simplicity of the family’s little city car.

After searching far and wide his eye fell upon the candidate; a 1994 Civic 1.5 DXi coupe with a Wings West kit. You don’t see many Wings West kits in Europe, and you see even fewer done right. Love it or hate it, the kit is done properly and exemplifies the look and feel of the “Fast and Furious” cars. As any Final Fantasy fan will be able to tell you, the decal is of Rikku of Final Fantasy X (something I had to research to learn). It takes a bold individual to choose a car that makes a statement and will get reactions. The key when doing something unique—something that begs for critics to voice their considerable opinions--is to do it well, take your time, and hit all the marks.

When Knuistingh Neven got the Civic, it was a solid base for Knuistingh Neven’s goals, but it lacked attention to detail and was in need of some TLC. The interior had an amateur and ugly, blue and silver paint job. Its imitation Mugen seats were sagging and damaged. The rims it came with were cheap, ill-chosen in fitment and were damaged from the previous owner’s lack of driving ability. In addition to these cosmetic deficiencies, the exhaust was rotten and fell off just after hitting the first speed bump. 

Knuistingh Neven addressed the simple things first by replacing the stock headlights and taillights with a nice set of Angel Eyes headlamps and Lexus look rear lights, completing the exterior customizations. Then, a couple weeks after driving it, the Civic blew a head gasket due to a defective cooling system that warped the head and damaged the ignition module. Knuistingh Neven had a Honda dealer remove the engine and shipped it to racing engine specialist Hurricane Racing. They overhauled the motor and reconditioned the top-end. Knuistingh Neven replaced the cooling system and upgraded the standard air intake with a Tenzo-R cold air intake. Before the rebuilt engine went back in, a Mugen ECU chip was added—all these improvements cost Knuistingh Neven more than $7000. For that investment the car was now running like new and had about 20 more horsepower.

Now Knuistingh Neven had to focus on work and family while saving up for the next step in the makeover. Eventually, with help of a local tire and suspension dealer, he got the worn out and poorly set up suspension sorted, with a new Koni (made in the Netherlands) coil over set. In the process of replacing them, the rear suspension bolts broke and new ones had to be shipped in while the Civic rested on the rack. When the suspension came back together Knuistingh Neven added a Tenzo-R stabilizing strut to the package resulting in a much improved, more responsive ride.

Now that the car’s reactions to the road could be properly translated to the driver, the last bit in handling improvement was to replace the cheap rims and worn tires. A set of 15-inch Wolfrace Matrix wheels with Yokohama AVS Sport tires did the trick. The look and ride was now right, down to where the rubber meets the road.

Having repaired the exhaust once already, after it fell off, Knuistingh Neven understood a new and proper exhaust was needed, so he had a custom 3.9 inch dual exhaust fashioned. This provided a mean-looking rear end, a very proper, deep exhaust note, and a few extra horses.

The last item to get the car right was the inside. He did away with the cheap imitation Mugen seats and less-than-tasteful interior paint work.  The seats were replaced with stylish alcantara sport units, the paintwork and upholstery was updated to match the exterior purple, and a custom dash was fabricated by none other than the shop from MTV’s Netherland version of “Pimp my Ride.” It all came together with some new ICE to provide more than just driving pleasure.

That’s where the Civic currently stands. In the future, after some more saving and family focus, Knuistingh Neven hopes for an eventual B18 swap with turbo that will give it the juice to walk the walk. Until then the Civic has got the “Fast and Furious” look nailed, drives properly and is reliable.

Here is a complete build list including what was done to the car when he got it:

Exterior 

Wings West Avenger body kit

Shogun rear spoiler (single plate)

ABS Dynamics Mugen style carbon fiber bonnet

Angel Eyes headlights

Lexus look rear lights

Clear sidelights

Powertrain 

Total engine overhaul

Mugen ECU chip

New cooling system

Tenzo-R cold-air intake

ACT Sporting clutch

Custom exhaust system

Suspension 

KONI Coil-over kit

Tenzo-R front strut

Brembo MAX front-brake disks

EBC Redstuff brake pads

Wheels and Tires 

15 inch Wolfrace Matrix wheels with Yokohama AVS Sport tires

Interior 

New alcantara upholstered sport seats

Custom made dashboard

New upholstered/painted door panels and headliner

Custom mid-console

New gauges

New sport steering wheel

New aluminum sport pedals

New A-pillar with oil temperature and water temperature gauges

ICE 

JVC KD-DV7402 Car radio/DVD player

Clarion DVD screen

Alpine 480 watt 5-channel amplifier

Ground Zero 500 watt 4-channel amplifier

Kicker 12-inch 400 watt subwoofers

Kicker component system

Rockford Fosgate 4x6 inch 2-way speakers

Farad condensator

Multiple neon lights

Here are some more shots of the Civic: