I <3 CRX project

I picked this up a few weeks ago, for no real reason other than it was an insanely good deal, and I’ve kinda wanted one for a while. And the air conditioning works. It’s a 1990 CRX Si, almost stock other than the KYB shocks and the driving lights. The goal is to make a fun “summer beater” for as little $$ as possible.

The first thing I did was take off the stock Si wheels and all-seasons, and replace them with my 14" EX alloys and last year’s Azenis RT-215s :slight_smile:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1298/772830157_6167cb71ec.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1354/772837785_f76fa5ce1f.jpg

The interior is in great shape (I already fixed the hole in the seat). The exterior is rough in a few places but overall it’s not bad.

Anyway, the clutch wasn’t working. (I knew this before I bought it.) It really didn’t want to engage, but once it finally did, it held fine. Problem was sometimes I had to shut the car off to get it into gear. :bloated:

So it took me about 6 or 8 hours to get ready to drop the transmission… :smash2: Once I got it out, the problem was obvious. Some of the fingers on the pressure plate were bent. One of the clutch springs had broken and was just rattling around in there.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1391/834362730_75406b53d7.jpg

So I replaced the clutch and pressure plate with the original one out of my 99 Civic. One free clutch and a $30 throwout bearing later, it was perfectly fine.

then I immediately filled the car with all my camping gear (holy crap that thing can hold a lot of stuff!) and went to the ProSolo at Seneca Army Depot.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1330/879832951_9e009d8094.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1304/880818082_7a511fd7fd.jpg

Next up: brakes, exhaust, suspension, and cleaning the engine bay…

Did you get this from “theblue”?

Yes

more hondas, you got the collection going now.

I just think of
http://www.tooled-up.com/artwork/ProdImage/BDAV1260.jpg
:redface:

are those rims 4x100?? i like those

Oooo boxy hotness. :drool:

looks good man :tup:

Not so much a man, lol.

Hey I will trade ya exhausts?Just the axle back. Is your good on the car now? Let me know please. I have a decent one, axle back that is homemade. Sounds good though, not like a can of bees.

MXS=GIRL

looks great marnie, wish i could have picked this up

cool! i like these things :slight_smile:

Nice
those shifter bushings rock

Thanks, dude-bro. :stuck_out_tongue:

yeah! I don’t see them very often, maybe 5-6 sets in the last 4 years. Nobody wants 14s :slight_smile:

That’s another story… There’s a giant hole in the muffler, but the rest of it is mint. I got an exhaust off of a 91 hatch, planning to use just the muffler, but it doesn’t line up right, and the flange is different. So now I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I might get the good muffler welded onto the right flange or something. What are you looking for?

Then that must be the one that he told originally that he wanted $2500 for.

What yr. were those wheels an option for?
I’ve never seen those 14" alloys before.

it must have been running at that point :stuck_out_tongue:

I think the wheels were just a 99-00 option? I’m not sure, I didn’t buy the car new.

Got some parts in. New OEM plug wires and this shifter bushing.

Old one:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1154/834354228_b593d38baf.jpg

New one:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1324/953004154_f33809e30d.jpg

I wasn’t happy with the brakes, so I ordered new front pads and fluid. $75 shipped from RaceShopper.com, and they arrived in 24 hours!
The pads are Hawk HPS (their “street” compund – should be sufficient for a light car)
The fluid is Ate Typ 200. The car already has Super Blue in it. This is the non-blue version of Super Blue. Exact same stuff without the dye. The idea is, you alternate the fluids, it makes it easier to see when you’ve completely flushed the system.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1431/952148387_939b6517e3.jpg

Then there’s the exhaust. It had all new piping, except for the muffler, which seems to have been rejected by the car. http://www.hondacivicforum.com/image/s3.gif I got an exhaust off a 91 hatch, just to use the muffler, which looks 100x better.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1143/952264471_3c545e55f7.jpg

But it doesn’t line up right. The flange is different, and the piping isn’t the right length, doesn’t show too well in this picture though. Not sure what I’m going to do here. I haven’t actually tried to fit it on the car. Maybe I’ll get the good muffler welded onto the right axle pipe.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1135/953121168_bb32d0d592.jpg

Moving on… http://www.hondacivicforum.com/image/s2.gif
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1066/952149149_0fba3e9271.jpg

Dropped the rear suspension in 30 minutes. Fronts took longer because the shocks were kind of rusted to the forks. PB Blaster and B.F.H. fixed that.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1158/952147873_97d6475b66.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1075/952149815_d4395d7ce9.jpg

The springs are the standard kit rate (380/280 or something like that) but I switched them and pit the stiffer springs in the back. Shocks are KYB GR-2 (non-adjustable). Tonight I trimmed the dust boots and reassembled everything. The suspension is all back in the car now.

I was going to paint the calipers black, but I scrubbed all the rust off, and now I like the way they look…

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1188/958716084_7ff7edbe83.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1339/957862619_b1565f4a63.jpg

Tomorrow I will actually change the brake fluid, adjust the ride height, and then I’ll be mostly done for now. Need to hide some of the rust before the honda-tech meet this weekend, I’m thinking either touch-up paint, or stickers…

I don’t know you MXS, but you are instantly cool in my book. Looks great. I had a CRX myself…first car…I loved it.

Car looks good. Sounds like it’s going to drive a heck of a lot better than when I drove it. Maybe next time I am up there I can take it for a spin

Aww, all it needed was a little love! It looks awesome Marnie! I’m so glad you are giving it a good home!

I’m having fun :slight_smile:

Messed around with the exhaust some tonight. It’s not going to work, the piping hits the gas tank and the control arm.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1106/968913488_1137611756.jpg

Comparison:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1174/968061311_e0ac84655b.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1296/968915338_bfdbbccdff.jpg

I’ll have to come up with something, it’s just too loud with no muffler at all…

Got the car off the jackstands too. Here’s how it sits:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1178/968062737_82efd5f28d.jpg

The back of the car won’t go any lower. The perches are all the way down. This is what I get for putting the 8" front springs on the back of the car. I did find a set of 7" 350# springs sitting in the garage, but now I don’t want to take it all apart again. It might be low enough as it is. The front can come down some more, but not too much. About 1.5" of clearance to the mudflaps right now :slight_smile:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1118/968063939_c2cc14bdf7.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1209/968923302_151502c006.jpg

It’s pretty stiff but I think it will work out okay. For the record, 250/350 in a CRX on GR2s, feels a lot stiffer than 425/500 in an Integra on Koni Yellows…