That looks like an SiR gauge cluster in my opinion. ANYWAYS I hope I don't get yelled at for stating my opinion, but a valve cover's a valve cover, there's no real function between a spoon one and a stock one. Maybe he just prefers his. I've never had the chance to purchase anything from Spoon, but maybe when he purchased the car/motor he decided not to purchase a Spoon valve cover with it (although that would be one of the cheapest things to knock off of your bill). I'm assuming they'll allow you to do that, especially since (as someone stated earlier) that it's a B20 and was probably made wayy long ago and/or is a custom motor build. OR it could have been a motor they touched up a little bit and was sitting in overstock or something, I don't know.
Spoon or not, it's a shop. IF he submitted his motor to them for upgrades, I'm sure Spoon wasn't going to force him to purchase EVERYTHING from their catalog. HE's the customer, so if he wants custom upgrades rather than an more pricey fully-built motor, and lets just say he was only able to afford what he got, then I doubt they would turn him down.
"Hey Spoon, I want an oil change" "Okay, but you do know that in order for us to perform an oil change you must first have us install one of our race motors, right?"
I mean, seriously.
And cut him some slack with the responses; his English obviously isn't the greatest so the language barrier is most likely restricting what he can and can't say. Before my car was stolen it wasn't an SiR or a Type-R, it was a standard DX-model D16 non-VTEC, rear drum brakes, grocery-getter Civic, and was later fitted with a B16A swap and "CTR"/'99-'00 Si-Spec exterior upgrades, SiR/CTR this and that, blah blah blah, yet I'm still on here. He's simply an enthusiast and race fan like me and is on here because it's an online club for EK9 owners who love the EK chassis and are most likely interested in racing, etc. And I know not everyone on here owns a Type R.
And I know here in the United States we have a particular Honda-only race that I read in Honda Tuning Magazine like a year ago, (and keep in mind that the only cars HERE that came with VTEC anything were the DC GS-R and Type-R models, the B16A2 Del Sol and EM1 Si, and the newer K-series-equipped cars), and I remember it stating that only the B16A/A2 was allowed to run CTR cams, while it restricted the non-R models from running them.
Man this is lengthy. All in all, I see no reason for him to be lying about anything. He has clips of himself racing and everything. Respect his build. He's just another enthusiast on a web forum.
By the way, I love the B16B as much as the next guy, but to many race-oriented enthusiasts (NOT NEARLY everyone) and/or people in the Honda scene here in the United States, I'd be a fool to run a B16A/B over a B20 or LS VTEC (which is a torquier non-VTEC B18 bottom end with a VTEC head hybrid, and I'm saying this 'cuz I don't know what's available to you guys) due to the lower torque and the "bang for the buck" prices.
And now I wait for the responses. ><