gah, my heart sank when I saw your hatch was stolen; but now i'm ok i've had my 98 sedan for... well 15 years and i would faint if it went missing.

1. really nice work on very nice cars
2. your wife must be an awesome lady
3. you have a wide variety of skills that is impressive.

...lastly, your touchup stuff turned out awesome!

 

oh yeah... the old wheels are awesome and i would rock them hard. don't go out of your way to buy new ones unless you stumble upon a wicked good deal.

 

I know it's been said before but this thread is a major inspiration, haha. Beautiful cars mate.

 

Just got a new horse for the stable.

 

lol you're worse than me. congrats on the new... horse (?)

 

Sick cars!

 

I do not mean to pry, but is that snow still on the ground? hehe It's mid-90s down here...

Time to update the thread title... My Hatch and CRXs! hehe

 

i love the fact that you kept them original. im a hatch lover myself.

 

Yes it's snow, and we're supposed to get more on Monday.

 

Oh no... that does not sound pleasant.

 

Nice Rexs!

 

Took the 85 out for a spin yesterday. It was also a bit of a shakedown to make a punch list on the problems I need to address. The PO said that it needs a head gasket and it would get hot, which is why she decided to sell the car. I drove ~40mi but the temp didn't get past halfway.

-Sunroof opens, but doesn't close. I think it's an electrical problem rather than mechanical because the motor doesn't try to turn.

-Have to clean the Fast Idle Valve and reconnect, PO had it disconnected because they couldn't find a replacement.

-Got a CEL, ECU says it' the O2 sensor.

-Engine leaking, lots of accumulation on the block and trans.

-Needs new hatch struts

-Needs new headlights

-Needs replacement carpet, carpet is worn thru to the padding

-Need to reconnect the windshield washers and check the pump.

-Needs a bath inside and out!

Other than that, it drive and handles very well. I'm quite happy with the car. It was a concern buying it sight unseen.

It doesn't really fit in this forum, but I'll just keep progress in this thread instead of starting another. That way I'll have everything in one place. If it grows, maybe I'll split the thread later on.

Couple more pics:

 

Went to the carwash and cleaned the engine bay. Used the extra powerful engine cleaner. It said to let it work for 10-15min, but I felt funny milling around the bay doing nothing so I started to wash it before it got to 10min. Looks like it is going to need another go. Even though there is a vast improvement, there is still a lot caked up on the block and trans. Took off a lot of the crinkle paint. I'll really go at it next time since I plan on re-doing it. The more I can get off with the pressure washer, the less I'll have to soda blast off when I get around to doing it.

 

Reversing the years of garbage can be fun! If you do not mind ripping off the crinkle finish, run to AutoZone and get their engine degreaser. Buy two cans at $3-4/can. Spray the hood and the engine bay, wait a few minutes and then spray it off. It smells bad but works with great efficiency. Dont forget the toothbrush for those hard to reach or stubborn spots.

Once clean, ever consider armoring the engine and bay?

 

Got a few simple things done today, or so I thought was simple.

I replaced the headlight, the PO said that it needed to be changed but the screws were rusted so her "guy" wasn't able to do it. Holy crap they were stuck! I sprayed PB Blaster on it last night and again this morning before I started. It did no good. I couldn't get a good bite on the screws with the vice grips so I resorted to grabbing the threaded side.I thought it was going to really mess them up, but afterwards I saw that they were tapered self-tapping screws so it wasn't a big deal. It still didn't work, then I ended up taking my largest soldering iron and putting some heat to them while using the vise -grips on the back side to break them loose. Finally worked and the screws were OK to reuse.


I still need to replace the springs since the original one was no longer springy. Went to Napa, they had springs but they needed to order them. We checked the book and they were all the same which was too big. I gave up and went to Honda which was across the street. Those springs were $6 ea! I was going to get new screws while I was there, but they were $3 each.


Then I tackled the fast idle valve. The PO said it was disconnected, but I couldn't see where lines were missing. I finally popped the top off and found this.


Cleaned it up and it seems to work. Cold start was fine, there was just one short time when the idle was hunting. It only did it for a few seconds. Warm idle was OK, but a bit high. Adjusted the air bleed screw and it idles like a champ. Was kinda a PITA due it the placement, but not too bad. I'll check it again tonight when it is cooler. I hope this takes care of the idle problem.


The PO also told me that only one washer squirter works. The hose to the second squirter hd cracked and fallen off the barb. Got a new piece of vinyl tubing at Lowes and it's good to go 14cents/ft, can't beat that.


I think I may have identified the cooling problem that the PO warned me about. I noticed a lot of build up on the transmission. After I cleaned it I could see what was happening. The flange for the radiator cap was cracked and didn't look like it was sealing. When the system would pressurize, it would spew out the top which would fall down and the fan blew it onto the trans. Upon further inspection the car is in desperate need of a new radiator. In some parts, the fins would flake off when you touched them leaving just the tube. I think I'll chase the radiator problem before I go as far as installing a head gasket. I should do a leak-down test to verify.

Oh and one thing that I was reminded of, Anti-seize is your best friend.

 

OH wow, that is awesome! You made some decent headway into your new car! Those headlights were always interesting... You got creative and glad to see it worked out!

Here is hoping it is the radiator instead of the HG. That would be a big win for you.

 

they look good

 

Worked on the headlights again. The springs I ordered came in, but I didn't install them. This is what the old ones looked like compared to the new one. Old ones were all stretched out, and barely held the headlight in the bucket.


Removed the headlight buckets and hit them with the soda blaster. Wasn't really concerned with the finish, I want to protect them with a coat of paint. I wanted to remove the scale and rough them up for painting so I wasn't too **** about the blasting them either. Hit them with self etching primer, then a couple coats of Rust-o-leum satin black. I'll install them tomorrow when the paint has dried.






On my initial shake down, I noticed that the sunroof wasn't closing. It would open, but the motor didn't even try to close it. Found some info about the sunroof switch that fixed the problem. It was on a 2nd gen site but I figured it would work for this car too. First remove the switch, it pushes from the back towards the front. Then I took it apart:


Used some crocus cloth to clean the contacts points. I suppose a points file would work, but who has one of those? I wonder how many HT'ers know what that is. Anyway, in this pic, I cleaned the ones on the Left, the ones on the Right are how they came out of the car.


Do the same thing to the other contacts.


The sunroof opens and kinda closes now. It will close with a little bit of help. I need to clean all the old grease out and relube the whole thing.

 

Brilliant!! I found that to be a great way to revive old switches. then I just give the springs a little stretch and voila - good as new!

 

good work! love love love EF's

shoutout to late snow in denver

 

I also went to the car wash and cleaned the engine bay with Gunk.
[/QUOTE]

Your CRX was okay after using a pressure washer thru the engine bay. You weren't worried about getting water in the electronics? I've only used a rag and sprayed simple green on it to clean out the bay, but if I can do that without harming any of the electronics then I'll do the same. Your engine bay is CLEAN!

 

Nope, I've done it many times, it gets wet when driving in rain anyway. The only thing is, I don't spray the distributor directly with the high pressure. In the case of my 85, I wrapped it with saran wrap.

 

dang man both those crx's look dang good might have to hit you up as soon as i get the funds for my restore for some pointers and good sites for parts.

 

Awesome build thread! Keep up the good work, glad to see some more guys keeping these things more original.

 

Just got some rear speaker pods in the mail, got them from a RPR member. Test fitted them to check out how the metal parts mounted. Taking a step back, the color is so different from the rest of my panels that I feel a lot better about how well SEM's stock color matches the original.