caster troy si

Well, this information will be better if its gathered in one place.

I first bought a 2nd gen CRX 7 years ago. Its been my chariot ever since. I'm really tall so its funny how the car is small, but its ergonomically correct. Besides, its relatively small. There is enough room.

I love the design and the driving experience. Even more as the condition and performance improve by the tweak of my own hands.

Too bad if you missed the stories of the other cars. They were epic tales of acquisition, transformation, and kickin up dust. Here is a glimpse:

bam

Josh West Photog! RIP my friend.


207wheel@9200 on a dynojet


Drew!


Droo!





















I can't even find the final photo of the trophies, but there were more than this:


WOOHOO! If you get the chance, do that with your CRX.

I've been traveling for a couple of years and am now settled enough to afford working with a car. The idea is to not have to spend a lot of money to obtain a really nice reliable, custom car, tailored to your every desire. It just takes time and elbow grease. I found this:











and promptly obtained it.

Here we go.

caster troy si

Those were pictures the previous owner snapped.

Changes will be documented so that they can be understood. And reversed if my future self desires.

Lets have a look around the cockpit:















Nice! Not a perfect interior, but its perfect to me! I agree it needs some cleaning.

Sorry, I snuck in the shift **** install without you. The stock CRX shift **** is boring and I will not have boredom in my domain.

The tint has got to go!

Also, gotta get that steering wheel closer to my chest for control and comfort, and clear the space where my knees stick up for the same. Keep ergonomics important in-order to have a good body to metal relationship with the machine. The designers cut out a nice big space around the wheel for you to get at the controls. Move the controls/seat around accordingly if the factory arrangement doesn't fit your driving style or bone length.

caster troy si

The car has dents and dings all over. Even some rust in the rear fenders. I don't know how to repair the rust, yet, but have tools within reach. I'd rather not do spot fixes with the dents and dings, so I will just leave them be until it gets paint.

On with that wheel/control/comfort thing:



The adapter for the aftermarket steering wheel is too thick to install along with this thing:





So, I took it off. It is the cam that turns off your signal after completing a turn. So, now to disable my turn signal, I must commit the reverse action of enabling it. Yeah, pretty sure the HF model didn't even come with this "feature." Get at me if you would like to add this feature to your EF.



Much better.

But, did you notice the gauge cluster change on the mid-generation face-lift starting in 90? It was the evolution of bezels from the original 1st gen CRX's sharp trapezoid versions to the modern designs. I love the newer version and have one sitting around...

caster troy si

Current look:





Benefits to the post-face-lift version:
Feels nicer. Looks better from the driver seat and from outside of the car.

Real differences:
The height, the tach face design for letters/colors, the lighting and needle color are more amber and have a warmer feel, 9k mi., curve at the top, high beam indicator location, size shape, and placement of buttons for rear defrost, hazards, and panel dimmer, and my favorite: different wiring order(find the diagrams), same plugs.

Also, whatever you notice from the comparison pictures that I left out:











Really, you only need to get it to this point:



so that you can get at those plugs from behind the cluster and rewire them. Its how I first did this swap. Which I still have the wiring from. Which requires removing the dash to replace. So, in-order to preserve the original wiring, I will use my modified dash harness.



to preserve this harness:


this modified harness will work with the new cluster and still plug into the fuse box


Oh, and it had this thing with the angle of the screw holes for the cluster(refer to comparison pics) and I only had one proper replacement with me.



I did have a spare 88-89 version bracket, though. So, I re-angled it.



I opted out of rewiring the panel dimmer switch and just hid away the old switch.

caster troy si

Reassemble and work out the kinks. Oh yeah, I cleaned the tint except on the hatch and replaced the rusty headlight, the wipers, and slapped some LS mesh on the feet. Still waiting on the title in the mail to re-customize the plates to my preference.

Chef Andre

iTrader: (1)

Nice little project so far.

caster troy si

I used a sponge with green scrubby side, a microfiber cloth, and Forever Black dye and cleaner. I finished with the microfiber to spread the dye after starting with the included applicator that was built-in to the bottle. I applied the dye twice.

So, I cleaned it real good and taped it before these shots:




Ran out of tape at the very end. Worst nightmare!

Reminds me of a race that my car stopped moving just a couple of feet from the finish line. Luckily, I didn't even have to go out to buy more. My past self already bought me another roll of tape.



Yeah, the lighting sucks. At least the before and after shots are in the same light...




Bam!

JDM-EK-B18C5

Very nice CRX bro time to lower that ****.

caster troy si

That wouldn't be wise of me seeing how its November and I live in the Rocky Mountains.

About the dye job, it was half-***. To do it right I would have taken off the mud flaps and front lip. That's ok, though, the Forever Black came with plenty of supplies if I need to touch it up or even do it again a couple times.

blackmugensivic

Nice

caster troy si

Anyone willing to trade 90-91 tail light set that is comparable for these?

I want to fix the rust, but don't know how to replace the metal once the rusty parts are cut out.

I hope to install the alarm, some suspension goodies, and fix the tint on the hatch this week.

caster troy si

a hatch door that was not equipped with a wiper:




first coat


If you haven't driven around like this, give'r a go. Hell, take off all the doors and bonnets. Get Nakie!


Would you really miss the wiper on the hatch of your CRX? I prefer buying and applying rain-x over buying wipers and looking at the eye sore back there. Plus, one less thing to manage from the cockpit.

StreetLethaleg6

soooo clean. in for this.

caster troy si

caster troy si

spoon.ef9

i want ur 'L' brackets..is there a place I can get these?

caster troy si

ST sent me those when they sent the sway bar kit...

Genuine Rolla

talk about a long *** first page! Great progress!

Sparkles

That's a pretty dang minty Si right there. Great job so far!

caster troy si

I still love my CRX. Driving conditions are harsh this season:



Gotta chain up.




She didn't make it through the winter like I wanted her to.


I'll know soon what broke. Anyone have an LS longblock nearby?

caster troy si

Looks like the water pump seized and the t-belt snapped.

caster troy si

I found an LS longblock! I need to gather some photos for you guys.

caster troy si

What would be good to document before I rip out the factory hardware? I want to compare from factory to the way it will be.
How do I accurately measure my MPG?
How do I find an accurate scale? It would be nice to be able to do a before-after weight for each project, or weight parts.
Anyone want to donate an OBD-1 single cam nonvtec distributor for the cause? I'll even return it. I just want to run eCtune on the engine to take some logs. But the LS is sitting in my garage and I'm sending out my Hasport mounts to see the docs in Phoenix. When they come back... there's no telling what I will do if I'm sitting on the parts, tools, and time to complete the project.
Also, looking for rear disk e-brake cables for crx si 90-91! I can't put the suspension on until I get this part.

maxwellmercer

Progress was good, bummer what happened! Same thing happened to my last rex. Good luck with her!

Hasport

very clean crx and nice pick up

ill take good care of your mounts