Ichigo's first CRX! ^_^

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Ichigo1174

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I had 1994 Honda Civic Sedan, 240K+ miles (actual unknown). The car had cheap Short ram intake, cheap strut bar, and 17" Motegi RM7 rims painted white, and I had a full sony explode system. Oh and it just had a axle back exhaust.

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No one wanted it because the speedometer only worked about 40% of the time. After a long amount of time I found some one who was wiling to trade and they had a CRX.

Its a 1988 Honda CRX Si
The good:
It has a homemade short ram intake :(, projector headlight (eh..), Lightweight flywheel, aftermarket clutch (not sure of brands), a Phantom Grip LSD, short shifter, Carbon fiber hood, Hasport mounts, 4-2-1 header>straight pip(I think it came with the cat-back)>Tanabe Cat-back exhaust.Has Brembo slotted rotors and calipers (I think). AEM Fuel rail, and a chipped ECU. He also said he replaced a bunch of things like the timing belt, head gasket, and some more stuff (i don't remember).
The Bad:
I think it needs a thermostat, A rear wheel bearing, and I think the Pilot bushing needs to be replaced...
There is no rear interior at all, seats are shit, door panels needs to be redone, got some rips at the top.

I knew and expected all of this, I've always wanted a CRX and I will turn this car around and bring it to it's potential.
pics
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He said the guy before him drilled the holes... :whatafucktard:I'd like to kick that guy.
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So yeah i finally got what I've wanted and it needs some TLC. I'm happy.
I'm just wondering can I replace just the rear bearings or do I have to get the whole assembly? I Think it also needs a brake booster because while I expect the the pedal to be harder than the civic (I had a weak pedal) its like a brick :(
It also has a few leaks about where the hatch shocks are. I've read that it could be leaking under the black molding pieces that run along the roof of the car, so imma carefully peal those up and put down some 3M seam sealer to see if that will help and I made sure the rear drain hoses were clear.

But overall I'm happy that I finally got rid of the sedan, and I'm even happier that I got a crx. ^_^
-Nick

(If I have questions on fixing a few things here and there should i post them here and keep this thread strictly to updates? or make spin off threads of the problems and post them in the ef section?)
 
Ditch the hood and replace the lip and youve got a pretty decent start on the outside at least.
 
Ditch the hood and replace the lip and youve got a pretty decent start on the outside at least.
I sorta like the hood (even though if it is a lil ricy), but I do want some HIDs.
so I can just replace the black lip on the rear bumper or would I have to replace the whole rear bumper?
 
Lip is gone, that's just the bumper. You'll have to replace the whole thing.
 
That thing looks pretty beat. Good luck with it, the old car looked much nicer.

True, but a set of rims (16's are hard to find near Florence,SC), paint, rear interior (or not, it doesn't bother me too much), seats and then i'm pretty good on just looks. I plan on keeping this car for a long time so Imma get nice and personal with her. :p
 
I got a couple of odd problems hopefully you guys can shed some light.

The other day my car threw a check engine light. I pulled down the carpet to check the window and see the code but it just steadily blinks. (In the civic when it threw the VSS 17 code I could clearly see the different between the long and short pulses) But its like a steadily slow blink, so is it just saying error 1 for the primary oxygen sensor?
Its only started 2 days ago and it only comes on after about 10 min of driving. :confused:

Also my temperature gauge is messed up, it'll shoot straight up like my car has no water but if you hit the dash it'll drop back down to where it is suppose to be.

Now that I think about it, I've never seen my radiator fan turn on!
So I pull over and the top hose is hot but the other one is just warm.
I don't know if it's just never got hot enough to need to turn on or I need a new fan or.... I thought about maybe running a hot wire to it but I don't want to burn up the fan by leaving it constantly on when the car is on.

(as soon as I get paid I want to install a aftermarket water gauge and what not but I'm just not sure where, like do I use the factory sensor or put it in the top radiator hose right after the water comes out of the block?)

So paranoid that maybe my thermostat is messed up and not cooling the engine like it suppose, one day I pull the thermostat out but it seems fine to me. (I never seen one before, but I'm going to go to a parts store to see how hard it suppose to move).

My car doesn't have air conditioning or heat. (the heater core is unconnected), so do I even need a thermostat at the moment considering, water just flows from the radiator to the engine, (from the mani back to the mani) then out the block back to the radiator?

Imma record the code and post it just in case I'm reading it wrong or something. I need a help with the idea about the fan, and I need a water temp gauge. These are just a few problems. :/
Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated. :)
 
good find man!
what are plans?
My plans... whew boy, this is gonna take forever!
Track down and get all of the interior (gonna try and get it from people, or get it from Hondapartsnow.com but it'll cost $1114 that way)
Found a guy with a set of mint SI door panels, so thats a yay, needs seats, I prefer another si set.
Lower a couple inches with 15's or 16's rims, i had 17's and they were slightly too big for my tastes.
Eventually I'd like to take another D16 block, rebuild it, Keep my tranny since it has a phantom grip LSD, and build a Z6 head and then later turbo, nothing too greedy, like 8 to 15psi. at least 250 whp, but i want it to be reliable and not something that is gonna fall apart, i'm not a racer or weekend warrior. I would love to lift my hood and be like "Yeah, this is my pride" or "You see that car over there... Its mine :D:p"

I'm mostly worried about the interior since the motor seems to run just fine. (with the exception of this weird roaring sound in 1st, (slightly in 2nd) and 3rd gears, my friend told me it could be a pilot bushing. :/

Oh I fixed my problems sort of. The ecu was my o2 sensor (wire came apart), and as far as the temp goes, imma just wait and get a glowshift water tempt gauge and monitor the heat, but I figure my car just never really got hot enough to turn on the radiator fan, that and this car has a huge radiator for a small car (so to speak).
 
I got a couple of odd problems hopefully you guys can shed some light.

The other day my car threw a check engine light. I pulled down the carpet to check the window and see the code but it just steadily blinks. (In the civic when it threw the VSS 17 code I could clearly see the different between the long and short pulses) But its like a steadily slow blink, so is it just saying error 1 for the primary oxygen sensor?
Its only started 2 days ago and it only comes on after about 10 min of driving. :confused:

Also my temperature gauge is messed up, it'll shoot straight up like my car has no water but if you hit the dash it'll drop back down to where it is suppose to be.

Now that I think about it, I've never seen my radiator fan turn on!
So I pull over and the top hose is hot but the other one is just warm.
I don't know if it's just never got hot enough to need to turn on or I need a new fan or.... I thought about maybe running a hot wire to it but I don't want to burn up the fan by leaving it constantly on when the car is on.

(as soon as I get paid I want to install a aftermarket water gauge and what not but I'm just not sure where, like do I use the factory sensor or put it in the top radiator hose right after the water comes out of the block?)

So paranoid that maybe my thermostat is messed up and not cooling the engine like it suppose, one day I pull the thermostat out but it seems fine to me. (I never seen one before, but I'm going to go to a parts store to see how hard it suppose to move).

My car doesn't have air conditioning or heat. (the heater core is unconnected), so do I even need a thermostat at the moment considering, water just flows from the radiator to the engine, (from the mani back to the mani) then out the block back to the radiator?

Imma record the code and post it just in case I'm reading it wrong or something. I need a help with the idea about the fan, and I need a water temp gauge. These are just a few problems. :/
Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated. :)

I don't have the codes in front of me but the primary oxygen sensor code would make sense because you stated that it only kicks on after 10min of driving. That gives the time to warm up to running temperature.
Yes you need a thermostat. They help your car get up to the correct running temperature and stay there. They cost about $5 and its 2 bolts to change them plus a bit of coolant. If your fans not turning on I'd try to pull the wires off the switch and jumper them while the car is on (not running, just the key in the on position). If your fans still not kicking on then you need a new fan but if it turns on the its the switch.
I have my money on the switch being bad. I've had a few bad ones in my Honda owning days.
 
Update:
Side thread, Bad booster? Bad calipers?
The Oxygen sensor, Was disconnected, the wire was butt-conected. it fell apart so I reconnected it. Yay me.
I know the fans work because I unplugged them and ran a hot wire to the battery and they turned on, I didn't see any blown fuses.
So maybe it is a fan switch. i'll see about getting one and replacing it, (can I open it or turn the top of it to see if it will work?)

I also replaced the rear wheel bearings (well one and then I switched the used ones for now), and I tried to stop the water from leaking in but it worked for a while. :/ I have to cracks, one at each side of the car where the roof mouldings are, that meet the hatch, I tried to put some body seam sealer on it... but I guess I need more, and imma take the headliner out too see if I can hit it from the inside. :rimshot:.
 
So I thought the 88 CRX Si came with rear disc breaks... I guess not. I got past for a 88 Honda Prelude so the previous owner did a disc swap on the back, I guess I'll need to get slotted rotors for a 88 prelude. I swapped the springs out for a another set I have (the ones I put in I think are Skunk 2, I could be wrong) and the ones I took out are tanabe GF201's or something. Imma sell them or trade them, i don't need them. They ride a little stiffer than I like.
 
do you have those springs still? and idk but 16s almost seem too large for me... im gonna sell my 15" icw wheels at some point if youre interested... im mainly wanting to get rid of them when i buy some newer 15 inch ones in a slightly wider size...

i see u live in sc... i think i have seen that 4dr at work before... i work at nucor steel in huger. man i wish i lived closer to darlington though! charleston area sucks for the import scene... not many shops anyways
 
Small update.
Finally got me a set of 15" rims, sanded them down painted them. Had a tire shop change 2 tires and they scratched them up to hell and back. :( So I repainted.
Slapped them on the car. (will post pictures after work)

Grabbed rear quarter trim interior pieces and painted them black and installed some rear 5.5" kicker speakers in them. Sounds AWESOME! ^_^

After Christmas I'm going to order a tube of Tiger Seam Sealer and see if that will stop the leaks at the top of the hatch, I heard a lot of good things about it and how it doesn't shrink and crack.

I also have this sort of sputtering problem that Matt had with his Sexy Rexy, I'll just replace the distributor cap, rotor button, plugs (imma put Iridium plugs back in it) and the timing may be off by a tooth or so.

I also need to change the gear oil, and I keep reading either oil, or Honda MTF. i don't have a new tranny, odometer says 232k and I think the oil may be bad because while driving in 1st gear or 3rd gear it sounds almost like a roaring noise only when accelerating. Or could it be the pilot bushing(bearing ?)
 
Update (I'm still here, pretty much on stand by until I get the phone call to leave for basic)
I went from no rear interior pictures to now having a complete rear interior. Tomorrow I will make sure everything (vinyl pieces and the carpet) are evenly painted black. Then I'm going to run up to advance to see if i can pick up a bunch of mounting screws (like the plastic ones where there is a holder and the screw).

I had a friend sell me the rear quarter panels for $60, then she sold me the quarter glass trim pieces, headliner trim, hatch trim, and the tailgate trim for $30, and then yesterday I went to a junkyard (and to my surprise they had 10 crx's!!!) I got Cargo cover, cargo divider, Trunk/Lock box, (some small pieces) and a red rear bumper for $80. Everything was in good condition too!!!

So basically $130 for full rear interior (then 35~ish for paint supplies and Smirnoff :p ) so $165! not bad if I say so.

I'll post some pictures soon. My brother and I are going to paint it soon, just haven't decided on a color (and i really want to replace the fenders first).

I'm also bouncing some ideas around. I like fog lights but since I have the 88 they would go in the grill. I like them and the "tuner" look but I don't want to make it look too ricy.
I'm trying to find a good deal on the oem headlights because my projectors are dirty and they are the cheap ones so Imma either put my hids in the stock headlights or attempt the ... TSX projector retrofit thing...
Now as for the hood, I like it it but I think it is just a little much but i'm going to keep it until I can find the (I think my friend said it was the) ZC hood? there there is a hump on the driver side.

Wheels are off because I got a flat and I hate the huge bobo tires, so I need a change in rims or a good deal on some small 15" tires.

Car needs to be lowered(more) and some other random stuff. I am working on it and it just takes some patience. I love my car and am learning more and more.
 
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