laextreme5

Hey everyone, figured id make my first post a build thread for my crx. Little bit about me. Im a subaru guy through and through. Never really was into hondas all that much, but the crx always appealed to me.

I currently drive a 12 wrx, and its getting to the point where i want to start doing some serious work to it, but its currently my only car. I just recently swapped in a built block after getting the age old typical ring land failure, and i was without a car for a month bumming between a rental and a friends spare car.

Enough about the subaru. About a month after getting my wrx back on the road a friend of mine informed me of a crx for a great deal that was for sale by one of his friends. He currently drives a del sol with a b18b, which burns oil.He said he was going to buy it, but all he wanted was the motor in the car, which was another b18b in good condition. I told him id buy the shell and his bad motor from him if he buys the car. So i deal was struck and i made of with a steal on the car.

The goal for the car is to restore it, make it into basicaly a new car. With as many new parts as possible and use it as a daily for a few months and then sell it. I mainly took on this project because I've always wanted a crx and wanted to experience building one up. And I'm a HUGE fan of small cars with gokart like handling. Im a back road/canyon road junky.

Onto what i want out of the car. I can't deny my need for speed, so I've come to the conclusion that i want some decent power. Now with the crx being so light it won't take a ton of power to meet my needs. My wry currently makes 310 to the wheels at 3200 lbs, which is roughly a 10:1 power to weight ratio, I figured thats a good goal to shoot for for the crx. Since the crx weighs 1900 lbs is it would take 190-200 to the wheels to feel as quick as my wry, just not quite the same toqure.

As stated before I'm a handling freak, i won't drive a car that can't handle. So this car will have full adjustable suspension, good coilovers, and sticky but not semi slick tires.

Enough rambling and onto the pictures. Heres the condition it was in when we purchased it.

IMG_0223 by lawrx, on Flickr


IMG_0222 by lawrx, on Flickr

IMG_0212 by lawrx, on Flickr


The same weekend we purchased it we trailered it to my dads shop where we swapped the motor from the crx into my buddies del sol


IMG_0238 by lawrx, on Flickr


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IMG_0239 by lawrx, on Flickr



Once we had the bad motor out of the del sol i pulled the head to check out what was causing it to smoke. Sure enough one of the vlave guides was leaking into the combustion chamber. My friend had only had the car for two weeks and barely drove it. Theres no telling how long the previous owner had driven it like this. The end result was the head needed to be rebuilt and the cylinder walls were scored to the point of needing to be bored over, and wouldn't come out with just a hone.
IMG_0243 by lawrx, on Flickr

IMG_0244 by lawrx, on Flickr

laextreme5

Over the next few weeks i started to tear down the car. Mainly looking for any previous wreck damage or any rust.
IMG_0275 by lawrx, on Flickr

IMG_0297 by lawrx, on Flickr

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DSC_0007 by lawrx, on Flickr

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DSC_0016 by lawrx, on Flickr


After getting it torn down i started to remove the seam sealer on all the seams in the engine bay, just minor steps to start shaving the engine bay. Mind you it won't be completely shaven, but tastefully so. The main purpose is to make it easier to work on, pleasing tot= the eye but still having the mechanical feel to it.
DSC_0080 by lawrx, on Flickr

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DSC_0082 by lawrx, on Flickr

That about brings me up to speed. Currently in process of tracking down a b20 bottom end to rebuild to start the engine process. Along with slowly purchasing suspension components.

laextreme5

Did some organizing tonight. Wont be too much updates for the next few weeks other than ordering parts. Ill be dropping in a built short block for a buddy of mine in my garage. So the crx gets pushed to the side for a paying job to order more parts for the crx haha. Ive had a few parts come in already. So heres a few shots of the parts that have come in.
DSC_0157 by lawrx, on Flickr

DSC_0158 by lawrx, on Flickr

DSC_0160 by lawrx, on Flickr

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DSC_0176 by lawrx, on Flickr

TraytenB

Nice progress man I'm looking to do a crx build myself. Only problem is the one I found is automatic, which is and sort id isn't a problem at the same time. Definitely gonna watch this one!

laextreme5

Minor update, got a few parts that came in. Not much progress on the crx as my wife turbo decided to take a **** on me so I've been problem solving that issue. Anyway back to the crx. Had some EDM tailights shipped in from germany, some minor scuffs and scratches but they will buff out and look good as new. Biggest thing is there are no chips or anything. I also had a gsr head come in. Only problem is the the cam caps are FUCKED so I've got that delima to deal with. I also got a set of em top hats in that will be used with progress coilers, which I've yet to order.

DSC_0213 by lawrx, on Flickr


DSC_0216 by lawrx, on Flickr

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DSC_0216 by lawrx, on Flickr

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DSC_0220 by lawrx, on Flickr

Bently_Coop

Looks like a solid start. Why the progress coils when you already have Ground Controls on there? Can get any spring rates desired and pair well with Koni yellow's.

laextreme5

There not actually Ground controls sadly, just ebay knockoffs. Im not completely set on the progress, still doing some research on what to get with a 1500 limit.

Bently_Coop

Is the 1500 for suspension only? If so that will easily cover the GC/Koni suspension including top hats or the Progress adjustable suspension. CS2s from progress are typically on sale for under $600 in the vendor section.

laextreme5

Yeah i know either of those options is well within budget, but I'm still keeping my options open for a better setup. For instance ill be getting a set of JRZ's for my wry, which are fantastic coilovers. I wouldn't mind something nearly comparable for the crx. New to the honda world so still trying to figure out who makes what for them.