I thought I was done with Hondas and cars in general but you know how that goes. So I've been looking for a rust free crx for awhile and being from the northeast it seemed like a waste of time. I decided on finding the cleanest one I could find and one that was 100% stock as a platform to build. For the amount of work that is going to be done a little rust isn't going to hurt.

I found this 88 Si on craigslist and after talking to the seller I found out he was the original owner. The car has 204,XXX miles but more importantly it was 100% stock. He assured me it had 0 rust but I wasn't holding my breath. Anyway I ended up buying it.

Here it is the day I got it home.








I had to wait a few weeks for my friend to drop off my toolbox and when he did I got right to work.







There was no rust showing on the quarters and a little showing on the rockers. Having owned numerous crxs I knew there was going to be a lot more underneath.









Sorry the rust pics are kind of crappy. It was hard to take a good pic in the garage as it's not that big. Also I suck at taking pics.
The majority of the rust is on both rockers with the worst being the driver's side. The quarters have some too but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.

I'm dropping it off on Friday to have the car media blasted. Then off to get the rust cut out and painted. Then the reassembling can begin.

In the meantime I've been picking up parts here and there. I picked up a JDM front end of a member here.



I just fitted it on to get an idea of what it would look like. There is only like 2 bolts holding the front end on in that pic.

I also picked up 90-91 side mouldings along with a metric ton of clips, and random parts from the dealer. The sunroof panel needed to be replaced as it was more rust then metal. So I happened to find a rust free one in the Honda Parts Dept. I also found another sunroof assembly because the cables were rotting away and everything else that could possibly rust was rusty.









I found it funny you can still buy rear mud flaps new but not fronts. Still looking for those.


This is the first car I've done a build thread for. Feel free to comment, criticize, hate, whatever you want.

 

Coming from a guy who started with the same canvas, I feel its in good hands

GREAT start man, cant wait to see it come together.

 

always glad to see a fellow crx owner doin a build thread. looks like we both started about the same time too

 

This build is definitely heading in the right direction.

I'll be following this thread for sure.

 

Thanks. Trust me I can't wait either.

 

in for more

 

Not much more done yet. I did manage to get the car to the blasters last weekend. I spaced out and forgot my camera. I wanted to get some pics of the car before it got back in the garage.





Should be dropping it off sometime this week for the bodywork and paint.

 

funny how one of the sexiest hondas ever produced also almost always ends up being the rustiest. damned crx rockers and dog legs. hope to see more of this resto. kudos

 

very nice start for a proper rebuild

 

I managed to get the car over to get the bodywork started. In the meantime I have been collecting parts. Nothing exciting, mostly stock pieces.

Ground control and konis



New muds



Motor came in too






I was suprised it looked really clean under the valve cover. After some further inspecting the entire motor has been apart before. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.
Started stripping it down to send to the machine shop. Just getting everything checked out. New valve seals, rings, bearings etc.

It's all torn down. Sorry for lack of pics of the teardown. When I got earbuds in I just zone out and get to work.



These are nice to have. Not neccessary but makes pulling heads especially ones in the car a lot easier.



Looks like someone got some use out of this clutch





If you don't have one of these you should get one. Life is so much better with one.



Ordered all the gaskets and seals for the engine. As soon as they come in I'll be taking the block and head to the machine shop. In the meantime I've just been cleaning the interior pieces and odds and ends getting everything ready for reassembly when the car gets done in paint. I also picked out a color as I am not repainting it black.

 

Nice job man good luck, im in for more

 

Been awhile. Still collecting parts and such. Should have a big update next week sometime.

Here's a horrible teaser pic.

 

Good luck with the money pit... lol

 

Can't wait to see more...

 

Thanks? Not everyone can find low mile clean crxs. Some people have to "build" their own.

 

Should have a bunch of pics and big update next week sometime. I've been super busy.

 

lol.. me included.

 

damn....about time there are some updates

 

I managed to get my car home late last week. I snapped some pics fresh from paint before he buffed/polished it.







Back in the garage



I did get some stuff done this weekend. All of the brake/fuel hardlines are back in the car. Very easy to do with no windshield in the car. Ran 90-91 ebrake cables for the rear disc swap first before installing the gas tank.



I ended up sanding down the tank and put a fresh coat of POR15 on. I also replaced the pump and pump housing with fresh OEM goodness. Topped it off with some new tank straps and shiny OEM hardware.







I don't know if the dealership gave me a pump for a 90-91 but my new pump had a 4pin connector vs 3 pin with an external ground. I ended up depinning and switching connectors and running the ground to where it was in the first place.

Put the hatch and gas door release cables in along with the rear plastics. Got the harness in the car along with the sunroof drain tubes and had a blast running the 3rd brake light harness up the body next to the one drain tube. Taillights and new triangles on.





I had to run to dealership today to pick up some parts. Grabbed these while I was there.



Old ones were all pitted and scratched up.

This is what I am working on now.



I never did a wire tuck before but seems simple enough. I'm just waiting on some loom in the mail so I can finish.

I love this pic because of the reflection in the paint. I know everyone says it but pics don't do the paint justice. Also my camera sucks and I am not anywhere near a professional level photographer.



OLD



NEW




Also got all the suspension ripped off. Just need to break some of it down(remove ball joints, wheel bearings, bushings etc) and it will be ready for powdercoat. Hopefully the wire tuck will be done by this weekend and I can get the rest of the interior in. I should have some more updates in a week or so.

 

nice

 

Haven't updated this in pretty much forever. The car is almost all back together. She's running. Had a few issues starting it up but I worked them out. Going to do an alignment tomorrow and charge the a/c and figure out what's going on with my tach.

The car has been moved to another more spacious garage that belongs to a friend of mine.

I just need to button up the exterior a bit, need to attach some trim pieces. Then I'm going to work on the interior over the winter. I have a few new interior pieces that I've been waiting to install. I'll just let the pics do the rest of the talking as I hate typing.

 

AMAZING!!!! just need some wheels.

 

It has wheels.

 

holy crap! you dont mess around! love the quality of this and the engine choice is very proper as well.

 

WOW, what an amazing OEM build. This car looks fantastic. If you don't mind me asking how much did you pay for it? People seem to want a crazy price for these cars.