jlk16188

Updated to condense the build log

I have been a long time Honda guy and as of 2011 switched jobs requiring me to have a long daily commute of 55 miles one way to work 5 days a week. So i decided to re-purpose my weekend race car 1990 CRX into a daily commuter car, stiff suspension, no ac. This lasted about a 2 months before i started swapping out stock parts back onto the CRX to make it more "comfortable" but I could only stand the lack of room and ac for about 8 months total

Picture of my CRX the day I bought it and then again after owning it 6 years and restoring it in daily driver mode.



So after some searching I found basically the same car I drooled over in high school but rather than buying the SI model I opted for the VX instead, for obvious commuter car reasons. I bought what I thought was a relatively unmolested and original 1992 Civic VX.

After 1 day of driving the VX it became obvious that this car was not an unmolested and original car so the tear down began.
-blown struts due to cut stock springs
-Bad transmission bearings
-Blown heater core
-“wire tucked” engine bay which caused an under-hood fire
-Bad brakes
-Broken del sol seats
-Leaking oil and coolant from every possible location
-Bad O2 sensor

So, I rewired the entire car and replaced all of the suspension and brake with OEM replacement parts. All new gaskets, seals and hoses. Mounted new tires on the stock VX rims and sold the Integra wheels. Bought new injectors and did what I could to return this car back to stock form.
At some point this car had a K series engine swapped into it so the transmission mount to the body was missing and there was a hole cut into the floor for the shift box. So this warranted me buying a new welder to patch the hole and install the mount back onto the frame.
Excuse some of the pictures, its rather hard to take good quality pictures with your phone in a single car garage in subzero temperatures











So I drove the car then like this for a few months before sending it to the body shop for some minor rust repair

Then, happy with my progress, fast forward about a year I began parting out my CRX and decided to try on the wheel onto the VX just for grins. They hurt the gas mileage pretty significantly so they only lasted about a week before selling them as well.

I bought and installed a MPGuino from a fellow member on here

My normal one way commute results

By this point I have put over 30,000 miles on the car since I bought it and have been relatively happy with it. I have had a few minor repairs like radiator replacement, main relay, and water leaks.


I did however have my crank pulley bolt shear off, I am assuming due to having it loosened and torqued many times but the previous owners and over torqueing it or stretching the bolt causing it to ultimately fail.

I recently bought new tires and decided to repaint the stock wheels

And more recently I have added some creature comforts to the car, a 2000 civic center console and 2001 integra seats.
I stripped the interior and added sound deadening and solved some lingering water leak issues




And this is how the car sits as of today



I did buy a new OEM Honda O2 sensor to test the difference between the OEM and a $100 aftermarket replacement. The results are looking promising thus far and I will continue to update the community to share my findings.


At this point I have 35,000 miles tracked driving this car to work and back and have been very happy with the transition from CRX to civic.

sleepyaccord96

very nice little hatchback!!!

sleepyaccord96

how much did the qtr panel replacement run you.

jlk16188

$700 but the body guy was a nightmare to deal with and i will never go back to him. He was strongly recommended to me by a good friend. The guys son took over the shop and made a nightmare for me be with his hack job work. I ended up doing a ton of the work myself and he painted it.

doctorake

Nicely done. Should look into making an MPGuino in the car.

Danronian

Looks great! I had a teal 95 Vx that I used similarly for MPG saving purposes while in college and the first few years after. Sold it to a friend who still uses it for money saving.

Mine was similarly hacked with burnt wires all the way from the engine to the fuse box and a broken suspension. I wasn't as adventurous and just replaced the bad wires. My main issue with the car as a daily driver was its lack of A/C and no way to really ventilate the inside of the car (no moonroof or opening back windows).

I miss the Vx in ways. My Si is quicker and more fun but gets at best 30 mpg instead of the 45ish I was getting in the Vx. The TL has working A/C but gets horrid MPG. I just need to up the MPG in the Si and repair the A/C and I might miss it less.

Either way, nice little daily driver you have there!

jlk16188

Well my VX has AC already in it so im quite comfy on long hot days

jlk16188

I would really like to but I am intimidated by the electronics and programming. Anyone want to help me out here?

doctorake

ElectronBlue00

Beautiful Hatch! Glad to see you got a lot of the issues straightened out.

Rare to see these in this good of condition, and original as well!

jlk16188

thanks! I get a lot of comments locally

Eddie

Looking good awesome to see you talking car of the Z1

Skillachie

Awesome work and good job

rickjames8

Don't be intimiated. I'm not real good at electronics and I installed one in my 94 VX. There's a guy who sells them pre-assembled for $48. Then the unit fits under the tach just perfectly.

The guy I bought the MPGuino off of was this guy:
http://www.dschmidt.com/MPGuinoJBD.html

Looks like he is out of stock. However, there are others on ecomodder.com who sell them. Poke around there and you'll find people. $50 is about the going rate.

There are quite a few VX'ers on ecomodder.com.

By the way, since I installed the MPGuino, my MPG average has gone from 43 to 46, just by adjusting the nut between the steering wheel and the seat. I have seen 50+ on a few long trips.

You'll need to do some minor soldering. I called a ton of places trying to find someone to do it for me with no luck, gave up and bought a soldering iron and kicked myself for not doing it sooner, it was so easy.

I followed these directions for the install:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...l-w-19295.html

And did this with my external buttons:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ons-25883.html

rickjames8

By the way, the instruction link I sent has you going under the hood to hook to the injectors and speed sensor. No need, just pick those up at the ECU.

jlk16188

Well I tackled the MPGuino task.... So far so good. I have improved my driving habits even further, bringin my average MPG's up from 41 MPG combined city and highway to 56+

Jack 4TT4CK

Real nice build. I used to have a "teal" VX myself. Nothing beats fuel economy like that!

ElectronBlue00

Wow. That's insane! New cars have a hard time even getting close to the MPG you have achieved. Hats off to you sir!

jlk16188

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I have a lot of fun with this car and get a ton of attention while on the road. 246000 miles and counting. My plans are to take it to 400k

jlk16188

Friday driving home from work i got a random CEL. Read the code to be code 41, oxygen sensor heating circuit. I traced through the troubleshooting in the repair manual and pointed out a bad thermostat ground. Bypassed that ground wire with a new wire directly from the O2 sensor to the thermostat and BAM. CEL is gone and the car actually is running better than it was before.

54 MPG on my way to work today where as I normally barely break 50

mangogsr

I'm jealous. I want a vx so bad! None in my area though. Great job with the car! It's nice seeing a car being treated right. Props

jlk16188

couple of updates:

Ive been chasing oil leaks and ended with a bent oil pan so I bought a new oil pan and changed the cam and front crank seal while tearing into the motor.

I had a persistent water leak which would result in 1/2" of water on the floor anytime it rained. Turned out the windshield frame was rusting and the windshield was only sealed on the bottom side of it. I was able to push the windshield right out of the car without cutting any glue. It was only held in by the moldings. So i cleaned up all that rust and painted the windshield frame with POR-15 and everything seems to be cleaned up now

Been doing pretty well with the car. I had some issues which lead me to tear down the timing belt side of the motor resulting in me finding the timing belt set 1 tooth off by yours truly which surprisingly drove fine for 25,000 miles like this. I re set the belt correctly and now I've been getting even better mileage. Running consistently around 54-55 MPG on my daily commute to work

here are some random pictures for interest

doctorake

Awesome, glad you like the MPGuino.

jlk16188

Stripped, painted, polished and waxed my original VX wheels this weekend. Having new tires mounted tomorrow. Hankook Optimo 724

slogfilet

iTrader: (1)

Awesome! I love seeing a VX restored to its original (though a bit niche) glory.

I installed an mpguino in mine yesterday, and want to see if I can squeeze out a bit more mileage. I've been right at 50 for most of the summer.

Are the Optimo 724s a lrr tire? I put a set of Kumho ecoSolus on mine last year.