“I would never mix Mugen and Spoon parts.” How many of us have heard someone say that statement or some synonymous variation of it? If you haven’t, you’ve invariably read it on one of the numerous Internet forums that are so popularly frequented, which can be a double-edged sword: On one side, with vast amounts of technical information and first-person experience available at the push of a button, and on the other, with hearsay and regurgitated disinformation from opinionated so-called “gurus” whose egos are driven by their post count and those who gauge their credibility accordingly. As unfortunate as it is, the general enthusiast population’s perceptions of what is “cool” and acceptable often begin and end right on a computer screen. Fortunately, for the rest of us, San Francisco’s Ditus Dela Cruz doesn’t give a damn.
Within each niche community of car enthusiasts, certain procedural standards have come to exist, regarded simply as “the way it is”, especially with the creation of the Internet. Some are common sense, such as not putting wider wheels in the rear of a FWD car (oh wait . . . ), and others are more opinion-based rules created by purists dedicated to their particular brand of choice, like the aforementioned two in the Honda circle. Brand-specific threads have become forum mainstays, with their loyalists willing to pay truly obscene amounts of money to stay true to only the items their favorite manufacturer has/has had to offer. You just don’t dilute dedication like that, or split it between two manufacturers, Right? Well, Ditus did.
In Ditus’ words, “Integra is the best platform to build.” His build began from the moment he picked this chassis up seven years ago. He went through various looks, ranging from a ’98-spec USDM ITR, to the common JDM ITR, and then to a Spoon DC2 theme. But when it was all said and done, Ditus decided on a path that went against the grain, a proverbial “no-no” mix of Mugen and Spoon parts. He doesn’t care what the forum trolls think; to him the combination is quite logical. “Mugen and Spoon are among the top Honda tuners. I built my car to have the best of both worlds.”
Ditus’ DC2 brings two words to mind: subtlety and contrast. Taking an authentic Mugen front bumper and side skirts, he had the exterior sprayed in Porsche Macadamia Metallic paint, which balances nicely with the signature bronze finish of the beautiful Mugen MF10s, all of which lend to the subtlety of the vehicle. The contrast begins with the red Bride Zeta III driver seat and Ergo passenger seat with green Takata harnesses, all of which are surrounded by a slew of JDM ITR interior pieces, and a Spoon Sports ITR gauge cluster. The engine bay and engine itself proves to be an interesting mix of the two prevalent values. First off, the bay is painted a “leather brown” finish to subtly contrast the exterior. A custom Rcrew header modified to take the OE ITR heat shield is on the exhaust side of the motor, while the intake side has an OE box with a Spoon filter. Continuing with the Spoon theme, Ditus used their head gasket, oil and radiator caps, and even ignition wires with a Kevlar wire cover signed by Ichishima-san himself. The motor was built by DNR to achieve 12:1 compression using PR3 pistons in the bottom end, with Toda Spec C cams and valvetrain being employed up top to output 215 whp. And what puts that horsepower to the wheels? An official Spoon Sports transmission with LSD, of course.