mogley123

So im getting a 84 crx sometime in jan im debating if i should keep the stock engine or if i should opt for a swap

mogley123

the car looks pretty good stock i just want a little more HP
so any ideas?

E-AT_me

nice little 1500. if it were me, i would either drop an Si or d16a1 from an integra in there. your biggest hurdle would be if you wanted to convert from carb'ed to fuel injection. sidedrafts on a teg motor would be nice. you'd be better off steering clear of a b swap as the cost is a LOT and the teg swap would net a little better handling results and about 112hp.

78CITYTURBO

Clean car.

cbstd

Sadly, that is not an option on a car that will be registered in California.

Check the local laws regarding swaps, it is possible to do it legally but there are some hurdles to pass, i.e. getting BAR approval.

Scott

funkmaster

I second the vote for a d16a1 swap, but id do the FI conversion.
Buy a whole integra and swap over all the parts you can. Lower the CRX, get some nice wheels and youre all set.

mogley123

if i do opt for the b-swap how much $$$ am i looking at?

funkmaster

Depends on what engine you go with.
Id guesstimate youre looking at:

vtec (b16, b18c1, b18c5)- $2500-$6000
Non-vtec (b18b) $1500-$2500

mogley123

i got a budget of 4500 so i think im ok going with a b16 2nd gen specially if i do the work myself

hopefully i get the car as soon as i get my license

sickmojave

Nice car!
Keep it stock and just enjoy the little car.

jhammond_82

iTrader: (1)

anyone who pays that much for a b16 swap is not looking very hard. you can find complete swaps for less than 1200 if you look hard enough. and, even then their pretty easy to find. converting from carb to fi would be the hardest part, but nothing that can't be done with a little wiring know how.

dee jsaan

I had a neighbor who bought an 84 that was supposed to be getting 60+ mpg.
I think it was a 1300 with 4 spd. It inspired me to get the 87 HF I have now.

What engine set up does this have ?

I'd mention that as the economy recovers the fuel prices will raise with it. I don't know if we'll see $4 dollar a gallon any time again soon but.....I'm restoring this HF of mine to have ready if it does. It's sticker new showed 52/57

mogley123

well from what i was told it is a 1.3 Liter and she told me it gets around 45 to the gallon its her daily driver and it drives from arcadia to los angeles everyday

funkmaster

I wasnt including the cost of just the dropout.
He will need a lot of other things such as: Mounts, axles, linkage, radiator, hoses, custom wiring, parts to refresh the engine (plugs/wires, timing belt, water pump, clutch, etc).

By the time he buys a nice full swap for $1200-$1500 he will have at least another $1000 in the remaning parts he needs. And if he plans on doing it himself he will need an engine hoist and a nice torque wrench. All these things add up quickly.

funkmaster

OP, if you have $4500 to spend, I would recommend trying your best to find a good price on a JDM B18c1. Dont forget youll need a cable transmission, unless you want to try using one of those hydro/cable adapters. By all accounts ive seen those things suck.

dee jsaan

As I look at that 84 it looks like it has a passengers side mirror. Those high fuel mileage CRX's (the HF's) didn't come with that mirror. On the lower right rear below the tail light there was usually an HF emblem.

Honda soon re configured the 1300 into a 1500 block and by 86 87 they had it on the road advertising 52 city and 57 highway. These came with 5 spd tranny's where 4th and 5th gears were actually over drive ratios.

My neighbor's 1300 came in red that year he said and those up to 87 were built in Japan. After that it was Marysville, Ohio. He liked his but told me he was always having to shift gears unless he was on the interstate. Around town and on the local by passes with traffic he was constantly shifting up and down. The winter time driving didn't get the same milage the summer driving did either. My neighbor passed away several years ago now but he gave me his opinion of the 84 as he related some of the thing HONDA's engineers had tried to do with the 1300 model he had. He sold the 84 and
got an 86 which he was much happier with and he sold me the 1500/5 spd
models.

Biggest problem with them back then was a 2 1/2 mph bumper where the Govt wanted a 5 or 7 mph bumper. So today the cars have to be built heaver and there is no way they can build anything similar to the early models
and get the gas mileage today. At least that's what I hear.

mogley123

alright here is the other question what would i need to buy in order to switch it to fuel injection

JDMCIVICMAN1992

This is a very interesting thread and you are fortunate to have some knowledgable responders assisting you from what I can see. I can't opine as to issues relating to CARB but for general fuel delivery to convert carb to FI it seems like gathering parts from one of the Si versions would be the easiest route to take. I'd assume that you would need the tank, fuel pump with bracket, fuel filter with bracket and fuel return line. I believe you would need the EVAP cannister as well but I'm ignorant to your local laws. If you have the ability to fabricate, I'm sure you can get parts from other cars to fit as well.

If you have time and the skills to fabricate and do the wiring I'd agree that a B series swap is within your budget constraints. However this is no plug and play by any means and there doesn't to be a widespread market for ready made parts for this conversion for those like me who possess lesser skills. As others have stated, axles, mounts, conversion harnesses, shift linkage kits are available at a $$$. It is those parts that bring up the cost of this swap far beyond what I experienced dropping in a B series into a EG.

GL with your project, it appears that you found a nice specimen to work with.

Sikocivic

If this was my car I would get a set of OEM Honda HF wheels for it and leave the car alone. There are fewer and fewer CRXs of any year still left stock. The price of this car will go up over time if it is left stock. Modded or swapped cars lose value.

mogley123

i guess i chose something a little too ambitious for my first project

Joseph Davis

It's trivial to convert the car to a pure hydro clutch. Cable clutches suck compared to hydro, it's one of the things I would budget for, even if I didn't have a lot of $ to toss around.

southerncross

i've just completed the research, and i'm telling you, you are going to spend a lot more on the conversion parts than you think. $1000 will buy you mounts and axles, maybe a tranny linkage if you can find one. you're still gonna have to have everything on earth to make that engine function in that car. you'd be better off doing the d16a1 swap after buying a 86-89 integra and pulling everything off that car. the B series swap is gonna cost you A LOT if you do it right, and theres not going to be that much more power unless you go with a b18c5. you could spend the extra thousands and just turbo the d16a1 if you want a HP monster or PnP the head, get cams, bolt ons, and probably make more than a stock tired b16 will, plus you wont have to buy mounts/axles/linkage, etc. much easier, much better hp/$$$ ratio.