RanCRX

Well I got myself in a predicament. Saw the new 370z and got a good steal on it. Its a very nice car and feels and looks similar to the crx body style besides the wide body wheel wells.

I still want to keep my crx, but it needs a lot of work to be perfect, couple of dents, the replica Mugen body kit is kinda beat up over the decade, needs a new fender, turn signal lenses, needs a paint job and the 1st gen b16a second cylinder piston decided to slam into the spark plug punching a hole into the piston and blowing the head gasket with it.

I put a lot of time and money into the engine and suspension and steering, brakes.

So if you were in my position, you didnt make a carp load of money but enough to restore the car little by little but would leave you kinda tight on money for the whole year, would you do it or not do it?

This is a 1990 CRX Si. Any opinions are appreciated. I'm in a pinch in my decision

RanCRX

I also put in new carbon synchros on 3/4 and hardened sleeve. The new spring Lost motion assemblies, new oem bushings on lower control arms and rear trailing arms, Hasport shift linkage, h&r sport springs on tokico hp blues, wagner brake pads with drilled and slotted rotors and few more goodies.

I was thinking of spending my income tax on a b16 long block for $1250 plus shipping, etc

rexb16a

Dude I say keep it no question. I'm not familiar with your particular car but it sounds like its not a complete built restoration which means it wouldn't be worth that much to sell anyway. These cars are going up in value every year. Nothing wrong with changing your priorities and putting a project car on hold or taking a break from it. My CRX build is nearly finished now but it's been almost 5 yrs since I've driven it lol. There were times I didn't have money for something or my financial priorities were somewhere else and the car just sat until I could make progress again.

Now when I walk out into the garage I just smile and its like stepping back in time to see my CRX that is in better condition that it was new in 91. Keep it, it's almost a classic!!!

instrument

why bother spending money on a fwd b-series build, you have a z buy a sohc and enjoy the cheap gas and gas mileage.

RanCRX

True that for sure. I miss my civic lx for that. But the crx is already setup for a 1st gen b16a. It would require more than just the motor and tranny of the sohc

RanCRX

I also replaced the clutch with a exedy clutch kit. Trying to remember what I did

sstupid

I agree with keeping it as a "beater." Only spend what little money you have to on it and use it as a back-up car, or car to drive to work and leave sitting in the sun while your Z sits comfortably in the garage.

instrument

all that money on tokico blues.....lol

but anyway seems like youve made up your mind, personally id save some cash and get a b20 longblock, throw it on that b16trans, and use the rest of the cash to repair the body... thats just me though...prob be more expensive to remove that body kit and return to stock.

was just talking to a friend about how much we loved that body kit in the 90s, and how sad it looks now.

RanCRX

It all adds up. The blues do fine for me, I dont drive aggressively besides straight lines. I dont see the point of having coil overs if I just want it at 1 height and not doing autoX. The Mugen kit still looks good to me, I seen some clean oem cars but its usually jdm conversions or with added lip kits. Besides that, oem crx is like living in the 80s in 2014. But that's my opinion

instrument

I had tokico blues on my si back in the 90s, so horrible,illuminas were a huge upgrade and yellows feel damn near stock.

and to me nothing is more 90s then seeing an old tired body kit, or the occasional supra wing thats been supplying downforce since 97.

and once again you want straightline power....and you have a rwd z....so once again... why waste money on the crx which is gonna take twice as much money to go half as fast.

RanCRX

I get ya man, no worries. But as far as money, you make the crx faster than the z with half the money. I can guarantee, if you do it right, with a good tuner, 15g's will get you at least 11, 10s in the quarter mile. I use to work for a performance shop in San Antonio TX. With decent quality parts and the correct tune, you'll be surprised what Honda's can do. I only bought the Z because I'm open minded to all manufacturers. I want to learn about all of them. But Hondas will always be on the top of my list. But at this point, all i'm saying is, if you doubt honda over a z, then that's probably why your honda will stay slow.

It actually might be less than that but that's if you install everything yourself then tow it to a dyno.. If you pay labor, then yeah that's why you pay so much.

zrickety

iTrader: (1)

Rust is the only deal breaker for a crx. Restore for sure.

RanCRX

Well, I got the money in my account for the engine, guess it is time to decide.

The car has only a little bit of bubbling in the rear wheel wells, and the sun roof has a little bit too. Other than that, not much else.

I say, $5,000-6,000 and I can restore the whole crx with the b16a. But that will take time as well.

That crx was a big learning curve for me, hard to get rid of it.

bheinen74

got my fingers crossed, for having a bunch more of these (the ones with body kits) being restored back to stock. Nothing beats the look of a clean stock looking CRX.

The ones that are hacked, sawed, chopped, beyond recognition that can't be brought back to stock, should be donor cars for what they do have in useable form.
an engine transplant is still fine in my books, if it is done well, correctly, and functions as it was supposed to, with working heat/AC and no engine codes.

Reddead88

I was in your shoes bro.... Have an 88 dx crx...first car I ever bought...started to go sour with the people jerking me around on parts, all types of stuff. Finally put it up and started a real build... Soon to be finished, took about four years and I'm nowhere near done...but... It has been a learning process the whole way...look at it like this...it's your car and it's paid for....why not keep it???

RanCRX

Well, I already ordered a long block, won't get here until the end of the month and i'll start tear down Tuesday. A few people like the fact I'm keeping it but what pisses me off is people making me doubt spending money on it. They'll either laugh because its a "Honda" or because they believe its a waste of money since I got the Z. Whatever the case is, I'm gonna slowly get the car going again and then sell it off to someone who would want to take care of it. It sucks when someone agrees that I should keep the car and after a fww days of rain I open the trunk and water buildup falls from the trunk into the car right in front of them. Damn crx water drains

DCRB

first and foremost. NEVER DO SOMETHING FOR OTHER PEOPLE. there will ALWAYS be people that post up **** talking honda's. if YOU like the car, keep it and restore it. after all YOU are the one that is driving it and enjoying it. not them. i say fix it and KEEP it. daily the z, which is a nice car in it's self, but after a long day of work you'll be able to come home and look forward to busting out the crx. the second you go for a drive you'll get a **** eating grin on your face and remember why you bought it in the first place, then you can easily brush off and laugh at all the people using the bus tokens (aka the **** talkers) because yeah, it's an old crx, but it's still fun as hell to drive! plus that way you don't get tired of either one too much. that's how I am with my cars.

edit: too bad you bought the new b16 block, you could have more fun by building an ls/vtec, you'd only need to order one new piston (can be had on ebay alllllll day long for cheap)

RanCRX

Well glad i didn't decide to rebuild the block and head. The block may be good but it has a water pump bolt snapped into it. The heads screwed. Seems like a valbe stem gave up and blew the motor, rods, bearings and wrist pin all intact.

The engine from hmotors should arrive next week.

I scavenged the cams, crank, lmas, intake manifold and throttle body if anyone is interested in them. Have the oil pump as well but it is as old as the engine

Kept all sensors for backup.

sstupid

O.O Holy crap! did you drive it 100 miles after it started making noise?

RanCRX

Negative, i was stomping it. After the 1st to second gear stomp it just shut off, no noise or anything. I was trying to start it for a few minutes though. It is strange how metal pieces crossed over to the other cylinders. When i towed it back, i was checking compression and found the second cylinder spark plug hard to get out, then it was when i found a hole in the piston, the head gasket was blown as well as the other spark plugs were wet

RanCRX

Well, the crx is up and running, just accidentally swapped the iacv and knock sensor plugs which i'll switch out today. This'll be the first time swapping the engine by myself lowering the vehicle to the engine. Only have to take off the strut forks additionally for clearance and move the engine as necessary while lowering it down. Had 1 hydraulic jack on each side of the cars lifting points and had to lowet each side one by one. I installed the transmission on the block beforehand as well. I kept the engine on the pallet and turned the wide slimmer side of the pallet towards to the front and back of the vehicle then i just turned the engine to line up with the motor mounts.