Phteven

Hey Everybody!

I recently purchased a 91 CRX DX as a project car. Got it for a steal at $800... just needs some minor work.

It came with a lot of accessories unfortunately that don't fit my style; so that being said, here she is:








Along with the accessories came a few internal issues as well.

• Speedometer doesn't work
• Oil Leak
• Cracked Windshield
• Transmission doesn't shift into 5th
• Broken front motor mount
• Little STANKY in there

Oh yeah, it also needs to be smogged... in California.

So, I got to work.


Changed the air filter, oil, oil filter, fuel filter, and motor mount. Went to change the spark plugs and found the boot was covered in oil. Quick forum search yielded "NBD! Just change the valve cover gasket." So, I changed the valve cover gaskets, torqued everything to spec and went for a quick drive around the block. Doesn't shift into 5th. Thought the motor mount may have fixed that.

After I came back I let it sit and idle for a bit. i checked the spark plug boots and they were dry! But it wasn't long before I noticed a puddle under the car.

Dammit. Back to the forums.

Re-read the post and realized I completely missed the part about the sealant over the cam section. Back to the car, pulled gasket cover, sealant, cover, torque, drive.

Came back and the puddle wasn't as bad, but it's still there. Looking closer, I noticed a lot of built up residue under the dizzy and down the side of the transmission. Nothing on the front, back, or driver's side of the block/head.

Looked closer and noticed the back transmission mount bracket had a bolt missing and the holes weren't aligned. Went to the junkyard, pulled the bolt from another d15b2, jacked up the tranny a bit to line up the hole and torqued to spec. Checked the rest of them to make sure they're not out or going out.

Took it for a drive, thought maybe the engine moving around may have caused a leak. Still leaks. Back to the forums.

Found another post about the rear main seal. I can tackle the job this weekend but really don't want to if I don't have to.

Could it be the rear main seal? The oil leaks on the passenger side, under the dizzy, and also drips (hopefully from the other leak) where the transmission and block meet.

Moving on for a bit.

I found a few CRX donors at the local junkyard and switched out the angel eye's for more of a clean stock headlight look. I also replaced the rear tail lights with a full set from an '89.

Replaced the beat-up civic hatch fenders with a set of '89's and ordered clear turn signals for the '89. The front bumper has some damage so I bought a bumper support in hopes of fixing the unaligned fender/bumper thing that's going on.





After adjusting the headlights, side lights, bumper support, and hood I realized that the hood doesn't shut. After a series of interrogations I found that the bumper support is .5" off centered towards the passenger side. The front bumper wont go on over the headlight and I can't back the headlight down in the bracket enough for it to bolt on.

I'm not opposed to pulling the frame myself (like I said, project car), I'm just not sure whether to pull the left, or the right.

jpciii

yikes, what a project. a steel at $800? I don't think so, but kudos to you for fixing it up.

Freemananana

iTrader: (3)

When I saw rice I wanted Neons and Body Kit. At least crome rims and a racing stripe. This is just abused! I also would agree that $800 wasn't a steal, not a terrible deal, but not a steal. Any plans for doing some motor work?

ownedevo10

Good work so far man keep it up. He def stole your money though sorry to say. But stick with it and im sure you will come out with a nice daily!!

OGxruiner

the amount of body work /= a steal at $800.

he got you good, man. good luck

Freemananana

iTrader: (3)

If you live in Florida, I'll paint this for you. You have to get it straightened out, but it doesn't look like too much that a hammer, bondo, and some sanding can't fix.

Phteven

I know I know I know... $800 isn't quite a steal, but keep in mind i'm in Sacramento, California. I've been searching for MONTHS for a project car and as long as the car is registered and drive-able, they don't go any lower than $1500. I found a couple that I talked down to $500, but they were not running and it would've cost me just as much in gas to drive my truck across the state and tow it back. Besides, you can't put a $ on love can you?

here's a quick peek at the local craigslist results


I'm pretty sure i can recoup a good portion of the $800, I mean the carbon fiber hood goes for what, $300 used? DC Sport Carb legal ceramic headers, magnaflow glasspacks I can probably get another $2-$300 out of. The 17" wheels could easily go for $100. So I essentially paid $100 for a term-true project car that needs headers, exhaust, hood, and 2 steelies. Never thought of it like that... SCHWING!!!

It's not that bad in terms of rice, but with the carbon fiber tails, angel eyes, and 17" black with chrome striped wheels it's a tad excessive in my book. I'll save you the pictures of the insides, there were speakers mounted in the dash vents for gods sake. 2nd day I had it I pulled the whole interior out except dash and driver's seat.

My first car was an '88 CRX Si in near perfect condition that I swapped a ZC into and put 200k miles on in 6 years. When I moved to California the smog gods consumed it and I had to move on so this redemption has been a long time coming.

Thanks Freemananana but I'm on the other side of the country. I'm planning on rattlecan primer until i can get time to do the body work though, can't handle too much of the mismatched colors and oxidation. I'm definitely looking forward to a swap, either d16z6 or b18a depending on what's reasonable, but I need to get it to pass emissions by the 27th. If not, I'm garaging it and stripping it for a complete overhaul.

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More Fixing Stuff Stuff
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After the maintenance I noticed when the car warmed up I had a high idle. I adjusted the idle screw and it calmed a bit.

A few days later I developed a hunting idle issue. That turned into a bouncing idle after warm-up issue.

I pulled the IACV and cleaned it after a quick forum search and it didn't help too much. There seems to be a hesitation when i manually adjust the throttle, almost like it's sticking but it doesn't happen every time.

I'm not sure I have the tools needed to check the MAP sensor vacuum pressure, so I'm open to non-conventional method suggestions.

I tested the TPS voltage and got .49v closed and 4.17v open. is that normal with the car in ACCY but not on?


Went back to the front bumper to work on alignment. What's stock alignment, left arrow or right arrow?


Here's a few shots of the bumper support alignment issue I'm facing:
Driver's side


Passenger's side

Tim512001

Love to see a goner saved from the scrap, good job. As for your oil leak, likely the distributor o-ring, take the cap off and see if there is some inside, if so that's your culprit. Fairly easy fix, and very cheap. If it was rear main it would be well below the dizzy before you see oil.

Glowicki

You shouldn't be able to see oil in your dizzy if you take off the dizzy cap. The best way to check if it's your dizzy o ring that's leaking is to pull the dizzy. Three 12mm bolts, two wire plugs, fifteen minutes, and an o ring from autozone...

sorwdfish

Man oh Man!! that rex went through hell... well it good to see that its in good hands i did the same with my rex it was a ricer and now its what i like to call clean.

Tim512001

Glowiki is right, I forgot, oil in cap is the dizzy seal.

Freemananana

iTrader: (3)

Z6 and B18A, why might I ask? Budget reasons? They are both fairly 'cheap' swaps. I'm a big DOHC VTEC fanboy though. I just see that as the Honda engine.

And as far as rattlecan primer goes, that's cool if that's all you can afford for it. I'd rather see it running healthy than looking good sitting still.

instrument

my stock 88 si was 1200, 800 is crazy.. I have a stock hf civic that im probably gonna sell for 500....maybe I need to drive it to california and get a couple grand for it.

Freemananana

iTrader: (3)

My standard civic was $1500 and that was about half of what most people ask in my area. Florida in case you are wondering.

Phteven

Thanks for the advice! I'll try the dizzy o-ring tonight and see what happens. I just started a week long vacation so I'll hopefully be up and running by this time next week.

Freemananana Whoops, meant b18c1. Budget isn't too much of an issue because I want to do it right, even if it takes a few years. Primered is just so there's not a different color on every panel. I'm not trying to go harlequin on it hahaha. My plan is that if I can pass emissions I'll start working on the cosmetics and get it cleaned up as I DD it. Then, I'll do a b18c1/d16z6 swap(just depends how hard it will be to get the b18 BAR'd. If I don't pass emissions I'm pulling the d15b2 and completely rebuilding it inside and out.

Wolfsblood

I envy your patience...this looks like a bodywork nightmare.

My_EFsedan

i subscribed because you kept saying, back to the forums. your actually researching and reading. i like how you are tackling your situations with the car. at 800, its not a shabby price for a running car cause out here, 1500 for shells, people are out of their minds. i see this project is going to go somewhere and id like to stay and follow.

Freemananana

iTrader: (3)

B18C is nice. Hmmm. Is it OBD1 or OBD2 as far as the BAR stuff is concerned? I never really messed with it or cared personally.

standy xsi

good luck, i went from this



to this

Phteven

OBD1 preferably. I'm not too sure what it'll take to be honest, it'll be my first attempt at a CA legal swap.

Standy.... AWESOME.


I had her garaged for the last week while I was thinking about what I wanted to do with the front bumper. Early in the week I started smelling gas, but thought nothing of it because i had recently replaced the fuel filter and it's still sitting around somewhere. Maybe my girlfriend knocked it over when she was walking through. At the end of the week it was just too much, so i went to investigate. Found this:



And realized gas would make a good paint stripper alternate. Turns out i forgot to tighten the gas cap all the way(i hope). we've been having 40-78 degree changes each day.

Replaced the dizzy o-ring and Started the car to let it warm up so could set the timing. ECU is now throwing an error 16 YAY!!!!! Let the car warm up and set the timing. Also set the idle screw accordingly, it was idling WAY to high for some reason.

Forum searches pointed towards a fuel injector problem. I did a quick check on the plugs and everything seemed to be good to go so.... on to the bumper.

I still haven't figured out the best way to straighten the front bumper, seems like the driver's side was smashed in but everything's aligned perfectly.
I put the old bumper support back on and was able to finally close the hood wih the bumper cover bolted on.





Drive time!

No problems whatsoever for the entire 40 mile back road trip. No sputters/stalls/idle issues to be seen, solid 750-1000RPM at each stop.
I parked in a dry spot in the drive way and only saw 3 drips after letting it sit for a couple of minutes. I can't tell if it's leftover or if it's still leaking from somewhere.

Phteven

Just reset the ecu to see if that would take care of the error 16.

1. Started the motor and warmed it up.

2. Turn the car off, pull the negative ground cable off and take the 10amp ecu fuse out.

3. waited 15 min.

4. Put the fuse back in, reconnected the negative ground.

5. Started the car without touching the gas or anything.

6. Let it idle for 15min.

7. Turned the car off then immediately back on all without touching the gas.

Didn't see any errors flash so I'm about to take it out for another quick drive across town and see what happens.

Phteven

Terrible idea.

I get a mile down the road and it starts to die out when I take off. The RPMs drop and bounce up when it happens, I was lucky Pumping the clutch allowed it finally to take off.

Parked in the first parking lot i could get to and popped the hood to adjust the idle screw. it was idling at 500rpm after the ecu reset to I turned it up a bit. I took off and it wasn't that bad until I got back to my house. I pulled up into the driveway and it started to bog down again when i'm pulling into the garage.

I'm done for the night. Happy Saturday!

jonGSR

You may possibly have a 4 speed transmission, which is the reason you cannot get into 5th.

Phteven

It's an L3 tranny, how can I tell?

The RPM bands feel right for it being a 5 speed but its definitely possible I guess.

jonGSR

I don't believe any of the markings can even distinguish the difference. The markings are very close to the oil fill hole on the transmission which is above the passnger cv axle input. At least you can drive it, I wouldn't even sweat the transmission for now. Clean that sucker up. Glad to see you are taking on the challenge.