Project Car: Crx

And right now I bet all you are going, wtf was he thinking?  He is showing something other than his S12?

Well, my S12 is currently in the process of being prepared for it's next step after last spring's short lived resurrection.  It failed due to faults in the upgrade from a year ago.  There were issues with the installation of the cams so I ended up shutting it down right after Thanksgiving.  I assembled more parts and stuff to solve the issue, worked on it, got it going.  It was scary with the cams... such a difference such mild cams could do in a RB... but other parts started to give way due to the previous cams being ground down (previous installation) and other details I asked to be addressed and werent.  In addition to this CRX, I have been playing with other S12s and tearing them a part...literally in 6 hours from a shell to nothing but a frame with a busted engine in there.  I have spent the past 3 or so years working in car shops learning, assisting doing jobs here and there.  I'm far from a noob but not close to a technician.

I had always done stuff to my car and assisted in things I was particularly weak or didnt now about.  And there are some stuff that I knew of but since I dont fully understand it, I refuse to work on it.  I personally dont like doing something until I feel that I have a firm grasp on the situation or the concept.  For example, wiring is one.  I have played with them and all, but dont understand it enough for my satisfaction to play with it when concerning my car.

So I delved into this car to kill some time.  Honda CRX, 1988/1989.

Started as 2 shells.  One black with almost all good clean interior and stock Si motor.  Then found a clean white shell.  The project began.  Mind you this is all done in a storage unit.  I live in an apt. so I cannot do it at where I live.  Everything comes out of my pocket and my roommate's pocket.  We didnt borrow.  Neither of us have any lifelines to someone for help.  We both work full weeks, have our own project cars besides this to work on and live on our own and pay all our own bills for whatever we do.  In part, this is for all those nay-sayers out there who think I dont work on cars. ~.^

Black shell:

A kid who hit a curb and then gave the shell to a buddy he owed money to.  That person we bought it from.  He didnt just 'hit' a curb.  He hit the curb maybe but it went airborne and landed.  The damage on the axle, oil pan, front core support, wheel, frame under the front driver's fender, etc., led us to believe there was more to it than just hitting a curb.  Basically, shell is busted.  Grab engine and interior.






White Shell:

A guy was working on a swap and gave up and went to his other project, RB20 S13.  Blue mint interior and clean white shell.  He already did the rear disc brake conversion for us.  That was easy.  Had to remove the interior to put in the black interior though.

looking forward to seeing how this build turns out, as i love crx's

Yeah for me they're second to Preludes, I like CRX's. Fun little box on wheels.

Tight shit dude, CRX's are the BOMB.  I want to own one someday, or perhaps the new version that comes out soon.

So light, so small, so low.  And damn quick with the right motor under the hood, with relatively little work and $$.  That white one is in MAD shape, too.

I'm confused tho, the white one's got a motor, is it no good?

What are you gonna sink in there man?! do tell

The white one had a turboed B16, but the original owner of it wanted it back for another Civic swap he was gonna do after the S13 project.  So that was taken out.  For now, we are just sinking in the stock Si engine that came in the CRX of the time.  I dont want to fully build another engine and turbo it and all that good stuff.  I still have a Nissan I'm working on/gathering funds for/planning for.

Right, right.  Should still be pretty peppy, and get you good MPGs when you need it.  Which is good, considering your other car is a built RB'd S12, lol.

BUT later, you should K24.  dunno if it fits tho  

Project Car magazine did a shoot out in the recent issue... EF civic hatchback w/ a b16 and a couple mods vs. a crx w/ a turbo d16 and the crx walked all over the civic. just goes to show ya that a boosted single slammer is just as good as the jdm magic they dropped in the civic.

K24 would def. be an idea... and turbo that thing... Dear go.  By the way, I do have that 944 I'll be starting to work on here in the next 6 months.  Friday I take it in for a quote for some body work and a paint job.  I'm thinking black but IF I can afford it, I'm gonna have it in white.  Dont know if I'll make a thread about it.  Not much to be done on it.  Just some interior, exterior and a deep tune up for the engine.  70-80% of my energy is into my S12 and the rest between the other cars.  And even though it may not seem like I do much with the Sil at the moment, it is constantly in my mind and constantly being tinkered with either on paper or in actuality.

Right on man.  Welcome to the dark side.  Handle that shit.  Swap should be done in a day.  No joke.

When he did the rear disc did he swap the master cyl too?  Check if the white one was wired for MPFI or if they hadn't gotten to that yet.  Did the B16 run in it?  If yes then its wired.  If they're both 88/89 you can do a SI conversion on the white one.  Pull the dash and swap the SI's dash harness (and thus engine harness with no modification) into the white one.  

I could go on and on.  If for some strange reason you wanna ask a honda question on a nissan forum just hit me up.  I kno EFs inside out.

BTW I read that mag julies talkin about.  They were both sweet rides but it was a little unfair cuz the JDM hatch didn't have that much motor and was full interior, heavier to begin with, etc.

Oh and K20/K24 is very easy into CRX.

CRXs are FUN!!!

Yeah good luck with the CRX. Im looking forward to seeing where this car goes in the future. A CRX would for sure be my FWD car of choice. The white one looks like its in great condition too. Good job

Thanks Iggy.  I'm aware of the whole issue with the wiring.  Yes, it should be wired correctly.  Also the Si and the HF model were wired for the multi-link (I believe that's what it's called) and the DX wasnt.  The white shell I believe is a HF so we are good.  Also the B16 did run and was a beast.  Otherwise, yes, totally know about that issue many ppl overlook and end up not having a running car for.

The swap isnt done in a day.  First off, we are doing more than just a swap.  And the condition the black shell was in, it took about a good part of a day to get the engine out.  The motor mounts were busted and one was slightly twisted.  I didnt have a cherry picker when I dropped that one, so that was a pain.  More pics to come.

And yes, Master cylinder was swapped too.  All we need to do is fill it up with fluid, bleed the brakes and test run it.

IggyEGuana
BTW I read that mag julies talkin about. They were both sweet rides but it was a little unfair cuz the JDM hatch didn't have that much motor and was full interior, heavier to begin with, etc.

wow that engine is gross looking. good thing you guys decieded to pull it apart

And with the engine out, we were able to further examine it and get a better feel for it.  We knew between the high miles, the look under the valve cover and what we figured out from the kid who previous owned it, that the motor needed to be seriously opened and looked at.


By the way, for the picture above, tell me, how does you hitting a curb break this?  It was more than just a: "Oooops I hit a curb.  Silly me."  I just love how kids try to cover things up when to anyone who knows cars and a basic understanding of physics and who has seen many other cars in accidents can figure things out.




The head separated.



The block.







The clutch was said to be new so we looked at it... looked good enough.  We are gonna send it out and get it resurfaced by the parts shop before reassembly.



Front core support and bag full of wiring.  That core support was seriously effed.  LOL

Jesus.........how many cars do you need.  Your house must look like a used car lot

That pressure plate (clutch part) is seriously heat checked, I'd consider getting a new one.  Someone was really ragging on this thing.

KeithJesus.........how many cars do you need.  Your house must look like a used car lot

Awesome about it bein a HF.  Those are rarer.
MPFI is Multi Port Fuel Injection aka normal intake port injection we're all used to.
DPFI is Dual Point Fuel Injection aka throttle body injection.  Uses less gas per mile but is less thermally effiecient than MPFI so less power yielded per gallon.

I wouldn't sweat the motor so much man.  Its just a Honda.  Granted the D16A6 isn't dime a dozen anymore since the turbo single craze hit the honda world but its still a non-vtec D.  $0.50 a dozen, lol.
Can you tell I'm jaded on hondas?  Too many of em.

BTW do a full rebuild on the bottom end, get forged rods, throw on the head from a D16Y6, get your preferred electronics to run the vtec and fill tha tank with high octane.  REBIRTH OF THE MINI-ME!

Mini-me is fun I've done it, very fun.  It strips axle splines, lol.

Maybe you should clean it with the engine cleaner like before the oil change sometimes before taking it apart? It would be cleaner then.

So now that the engine was dealt with, it was time to work on the interior.  First, pull out the black interior out of the black shell.

Then it was time to start swapping the parts from the white shell that had blue interior to black interior.  Man... that car is small it's annoying.  Wish I was smaller doing this job... would have been a little easier moving around.  lol

First when in the passenger door panel then soon after the rest followed.





cleaned up the bit of surface rust and dirt collected.






Several parts needed to be swapped from the blue interior due to the condition of the parts that came with the stock black interior.  This meant I needed to paint them and such.  Used several different products on some test pieces of plastic that were broken interior pieces and found the best product.  I right recommend it.



The speaker covers were slightly grey dude to the stock color and sunfade so I decided to paint them.  The speaker covers in black were broken so I took the blue ones and painted them.

Then there was the privacy cover that needed to be worked on.  The blue one is the best so decided to work with it and make it so the stock cardboard it was made of wouldnt break so easily in the future.

good job

not a bad looking project one I'll get one and build but that is aways down the road I've never really liked hondas because of all the ricers but I have run into a few that were done right and made me respect them for the work done to it and after driving my buddy's eg hatch I kinda fell in love with it so I guess  you can say I'm a fan now lol...hey nuthin wrong with having an open mind right?

Looks niiice.

Lucky you on the rear cargo privacy cover.

Either I'm trippin or that bumper is 90/91.

You are correct about the bumper. I had 2 different years of crxs and one was like mk2 and another mk2 series 2. Doesnt make sense but small details like rear trunk light module is different.

Wow, shit looks good man, that is going to be one CLEAN car when you're finished!

Seemed that every CRX i had access to and both sets of seats I had in the shells I bought were only 50% good.  Passenger side was perfect.  Drivers was down to the metal so I went searching for a new set and found some stock Si seats.

ok, now that the body and interior was setup for the most part, it was time to spend energy on the motor.  The kids were dumb and didnt really take care of it.  Motor mounts were shot on either side due to their accident along with the oil pan.  Amazingly, the oil pickup was fine.  From the looks, I couldnt even say how often they changed their oil or stuff... but it was obviously used aggressively without proper maintenance.

The crank had to be micro beaded.  There was oil burned onto it so when rebuilding the motor, it would impeded the rotation for the rods.  Not expecting that.  Then the head had some issues with the valves when they compression tested it so that had to be torn a part, cleaned then reassembled.  Everything was decked, cleaned and re-honed so it was in perfect condition.

This is the most valuable part of the car imo and some of the prettiest.

As I posted up yesterday, here's the cylinder wall:


and the rest

























Parts that were replaced all with OEM Honda parts.

thermostat
gasket set
water pump
oil pan
rear main seal
rod and main kit
oil pump
piston rings
oil pan kit
belts
rebuilt alt.
all seals not stated above
oil filter
fuel filter
spark plugs
spark plug wires

3 angle grind and ports not polished but cleaned and smoothed

only a few hondas id drive.that in the top two

Did some prep work on the engine bay and finished the motor.  Went out and got new axles/drive shafts since the one I had were messed up and were in no condition to be reused.  Planning to do more later this weekend and if my buddy can get his family's SUV, he's bringing over the cherry picker.

Looks good. I have a old hf, and I'm starting to love it, It is a 85 hf and it is only about 1600lbs. I was woundering if I can replace my moter with A 88 and later? Mine is a d15b but, I heard the it is not same as the later d. In your pic the mounts look the same as mine and, so does the trans.

You can swap engines but the biggest issue will be dual point to multi point injector harness and stuff.  I think those are the right terminology for it.  Anyway, other than that, it should be a pretty straight forward swap.

Yeah, I don't think anybody here would say, "What were you thinking?".....

Most of the smart guys here appreciate S12's because we appreciate well-thought-out, well-engineered, well-built cars.  And a CRX of any year certainly falls into that category.  Maybe one of the overall best cars Honda has ever built.  I don't know what the economy will be after all your mods and replacements, but a stock CRX will kick the crap out of any Prius with regard to fuel economy, and be a lot of fun in the process.

it looks like the engine is OEM spec, so id estimate it to come out to atleast 35mpg, as the new cars were rated at 38mpg.

and yup, a $2500 crx will be cheaper in the long run then a prius, so for the MPG conscious groups, this is a good plan.

hurry up and get the engine in so we can hear it run

DraconisYou can swap engines but the biggest issue will be dual point to multi point injector harness and stuff.  I think those are the right terminology for it.  Anyway, other than that, it should be a pretty straight forward swap.

so far, the engine is in.  It was a pita to get the mounts to line all up.  Dont know why exactly.  Out of all the bolts, all but one lined up perfectly.. the last one had to be moved just enough by way of engine and it lined up.  I guess normal adjusting of everything.

I did the engine harness and found out that it was wrong.  Someone did modify the one I got but the wrong setup... looks like they modified either a hf or si harness for some retarded reason.  So now I need a dx harness and then modify that one so that it will work with my dx shell.

one of my friends up in Alaska is into crx's big time, pretty much knows those cars inside and out. here's a vid of his race crx he built
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3394170628736679296
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1775219262272096907