Some help?

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Honda Newb

Junior Member
Ive always been into domestic rides but just picked up an 86 CRX for the gas mileage for my long drive to work. I never planned to do anything with the car but ive found the damn thing is just a load of fun to drive. I stumbled across this site while browsing and have been trying to read up and learn about the car. First I just wanted to say that im blown away by the amount of information on the site. I think its great...but I cant find near as much info for my year model more for 88 and up. Anyway back to the point. After reading some of the articles I wanted to find out for sure what it is that I have. In 1st gen facts I found the vin id info for my car but it doesnt match up with my vin right for some reason. The article said the 8th number should be 1=HF 2=Dx 4=Si but when I checked my vin it was 3. I got a parts car with the deal on buying the car so i checked its vin its also a 3. To be more specific since in the example it showed two #s to look at "xx" my driver is 32 and my parts car is 35. Both are fuel injected so I figured its the SI (the title reads CSI ?) and the motor must be the D15a3. Is this right? Does that mean its the "D series". My driver car has 230,000 and runs great no smoke but I want to pull the motor and tranny from the parts car (86,000 miles) and get it ready. I really dont want to get into swapping to a different type of motor but was looking for suggestions on what to do to pep it up. Can this head be shaved? How much before I have to change cam gears? Does it have flat tops or dish? Can I put some domes in it with stock cam without haveing to worry about valve clearance? Is this an interferance motor? Anything you guys can suggest would be appreciated. I dont want to spend a bundle and I need it to stay dependable but just like everything it just needs more power. Of course.
Thanks
 
now now.. before you all start going on about b16 this and b18 that...

realize that its a 1st gen crx, doesn't want to dump a butt load of cash into it, and moreover, he has a parts car, and he wants to use that motor with less miles than most of us are driving.

First I just wanted to say that im blown away by the amount of information on the site. I think its great...but I cant find near as much info for my year model more for 88 and up.
Click to expand...


Thanks =) and welcome.

Vin issue: No clue. Some of the older models may have used a differen't system. 90% of this website is dedicated to 88+, as those tend to be the "swap cars". Few of us have cars older than that.

If its an 86, and its injected, its the Si and has the EW4 motor in it, which, effectively is an old-school d15a.

my buddy had one, and it was a decently quick car. No complaints from me, especially for the year.

Pistons are a mild dome... at best. they are pretty flat, but do come up a hair in the center around the valve reliefs.

As for what fits without hitting the cam, i can't say for sure, cuz i never built one.
However, there are a ton of options. pretty much any d15 or d16 piston will fit in the bore and onto the rod. the ZC and d16a1 from the 1st gen teg offer a good compression bump, and can be had for probably $50-100 on ebay.

shaving the head isn't really a good idea. just run a thinner head gasket if you want a little more compression. that way, if its too much, you can always put the thicker one back in. if you shaved your head, you're throwing it out.

interface motor? never heard that terminology before. V8 term?

A good resource for your generation crx is http://www.redpepperracing.com
the site is slow, but everyone there has your car, or the equiv. civic hatch back, and can probably offer more insight than we ever could here.

However, we do have one article, if you haven't seen it yet...
https://hondaswap.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=29805

Hope this helps.

-B
 
Thanks man for the info guys. I will check up on the Red Pepper Racing site. Im gonna go look at a 89 CRX this week that my buddy said he would GIVE me. Said it runs good but the neighborhood he just moved to has some car restrictions and he has too many cars. So I might just go with a stock rebuild on my 86 and see whats up with this other car for playing with. Interference motor = if your timing belt breaks and your pistons bend your valves. Non interference = just replace belt.

Thanks again
 
Pretty sure all honda motors are interferencew motors, at least all the b and H blocks are. I bent my valves on my b18a :(
 
The EW or D15 block on your 86 is also an interference-style engine. Trust me, I learned the hard way. :)

And yes, get on over to Redpepperracing, we'll be glad to have ya. :)
 
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