Hi all. Just thought I'd take the time to introduce myself. My name is progress and have been lurking on this site for the better part of 2 weeks. I have 2 posts to my name (excluding this one) and will mostly be posting more in the months to come. I recently acquired a pretty much stock everything 1990 CRX, white in colour, manual in transmission. The previous owner thought it would be nice to paint the interior trim black from the original blue. Would be nice if he actually did a decent job but he didn't, leaving me with his problem. I guess he was cheap as well because rather than buy a short shifter, he decided to cut the OEM shifter with a hacksaw. Couldn't even make the damn cut straight! The shifter **** always pops of when I shift to 4th and sometimes 5th gear!


Next cheap *** mod he did? Rather than buying a nice aftermarket performance exhaust, he did this...


Ya, that'll pass inspection! There are like 15-20 holes in the muffler! I'm hoping that's all he punched holes in!

I'm in no way an expert on modifying my cars, so I will hopefully be relying on you knowledgeable CRX owners... a lot! I know there are a lot of mods I can do to this car to make it perform great. I also know these mods cost money... of which I have very little! What are some mods I can do in the meantime? My dad and I are gonna tune up the engine but other than that I'm looking for suggestions.

1. Exhaust. Obviously, I'm in need of a new muffler! Gotta get one so I can hopefully pass inspection. What's a good muffler to start out with that will fit on the stock exhaust? Are the ones from Autozone, Strauss, etc any good or will I just be wasting my money?

2. Cold Air Intake. I've heard that installing an aftermarket CAI to a stock engine on my CRX is a waste of money. I've seen these on ebay for cheap so I was wondering if I shoudl get one. I also an wondering if I should just replace the stock air filter with a nice K&N filter.

3. Suspension. I know I'll want to lower the car after I get some nice rims and rubber. What are some good springs/struts/coilovers to get? What's the difference? Performance? Looks? I live in Northeastern PA, so snow and salt will be a factor.

4. Rims/rubber. I'm currently running on stock steel rims but would eventually like to get some nicer rims for the none winter months. Gonna check this "junkyard" near home to see what they have in terms of alloy rims and rubber and what they have, if anything, in regards to CRXs and Civics. I'd be even happy with Honda alloys.

It has been suggested on these forums and from a cousin that I should make sure the engine is good to go first before I modify anything else. After that I should look at exhaust, suspension and then rims/rubber. All body kits etc, will come later. Am I missing anything else?

 

1.Unless you have an SI its a waste to get an aftermarket exhaust..You'll waste money and have a loud annoying car..OE is good enough..

2.You might as wll buy the intake since they're only $15 off ebay and if you ever swap ypu can still use it..

3.Depends on your budget,how low you want to go,you want a comfortable ride,decent ride or stiff ride??

4.Yeah if you want some oem honda alloys then you can get some 88-91 crxsi wheels ,gsr wheels,99-00 si wheels,ls integra wheels,se integra wheels,etc..

Your cousin is right..
Engine first
then Suspension
then interior
then exterior
That my opinion though..

Oh yeah where can I get that muffler on your car..?? Looks great

 

Progress let me know i'm just west of philly pa and have a full stock crx exhaust...as well as an axelback dynamax supwerturbo.

Vince

 

well it looks like the previous owner had a field day with your CRX. sorry to see that. I'm glad to hear you want to make it right.... and as you know you've come to the right place LOL.

anyways.......

1. exhaust aftermarket exhausts do help with making power....even if its only a few its still better than when you didn't have it... I personally love my Thermal Exhaust which isn't extremely loud. they installed the Stealth Conversion inside the canister to quite the exhaust by 5db+ and in my area that's good. at WOT its still ***** loud, but under normal driving conditions its a great improvement. alot of CRX owners use Thermal and i highly recommend them.

2. Ebay intakes are ok. they are not HUGE improvements and intakes do in fact make power.... look in the archive under my user name you'll find dyno test of intakes we tried on a few cars... Honda Sport made the most power, but good luck finding one.

If i was in your shoes i would just put in a K&N drop in and remove the the air chamber in the bumper. it sounds great and does improve the performance of the car...best thing it is stock and you only have to buy a filter. used this in my GSR i loved the sound and feel of it. try that first.

3. Look into Ground Control Coil overs. very easy to install and adjust. if you get into Auto-X or drag racing you can have them ship you out new springs with higher spring rates for a fraction of the original cost of the whole kit. great deal... many people swear by Ground Control.

Shocks are another deal. i use KYB AGX they are adjustable and when used with the manufactures suggested ride height they perform well. KYBs are not very expensive and many people will tell you not to get them... most of those have also misused the shock and wonder why it was blown in 8 months... you have to follow the manufactures suggestions... if you want to slam the car look into Koni and be prepared to spend some coin.

4. Rims....Rota... 15" looks the best IMO. They are inexpensive look great and are lightweight. Tires... Falken Azenis... they are cheap and will last you about 4-6 months or just the summer. i buy a new set every summer. i usually race on them at least 3 times for the summer as well. cost is usually under $210 for the set of 4. they will not last long though.... and they are usually sold out quickly so get a set soon.

 

well im a bit different than the boy racers we have on this site, and this is what i would do first.

Maintance - includes: tune-up(cap, rotor, plugs, wires, pcv, air filter, oil change); timing belt/waterpump/coolant flush(if not already done within 50k miles)...you need a healthy motor before you can do anything as far as modifications...also check over all your lights, headlights, brake, turn signals, make sure they are all good so you dont have to worry about getting pulled over.

then i would check over all your tie rods, balljoints and bushings to make sure there is no play, if there is, replace them...check your brakes as well, do they need new rotors, pads, leaking? etc...

then its time for the modifications.

first - suspension...do you plan on being big into the auto-x/racing scene? do you just want to daily drive this? how much money do you have? all these will determine what will be good for you.

after all these are done, then i would go for the power mods, like MPFI conversion and i/h/e or whatever you want depending on your cash and what you want from the car...

so from all this i would say, make sure everything is running right first, get a new shifter, im sure you can get one for 25 bucks on h-t, get a new exhaust system, looks like there is one close to you from the other post...

also...have fun with her...

 

Hey there AgentJam, I see you're selling the catback exhaust for $50. Depending on how my inspection goes this week, I may take you up on that.

James

 

Ahahaha nice short shifter. The first ever 4th gen civic I drove had that, and I was going from 1st to 2nd and the shifter popped off. Scared the complete **** outta me. Drop another shifter into that thing, they're not that hard to replace. Shifters can be had for cheap too.

I wouldn't do cold air, because maybe I'm just paranoid of hydrolock. I live in ID, and it doesn't rain often, but when it rains it pours. True also with the snow. They get much dirtier alot quicker than short rams also. Get a drop in or go short ram IMO.

I haven't heard anything bad about the checker's mufflers. At least they won't sound horiffic like having 20 holes in a muffler. That is the first thing I would do.

Otherwise check spark plug caps, wires, and all that good stuff and you're good to go.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by progress &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hey there AgentJam, I see you're selling the catback exhaust for $50. Depending on how my inspection goes this week, I may take you up on that.

James</TD></TR></TABLE>

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1028886

No prob let me know!

Vince

 

hey man i'm in PA Mid-East under you. I have stock 90-91 CRX Si rims(no curbage) with new 195/60/14 yokohama tires. hit me up if your interested.

 

Hey there PAImportTuner, what are you asking for for those rims? Do you have any pics? Email me or post here. I may be interested should the price be right!Thanks!

 

If your looking for some cheap but yet cool wheels, well I have a set of OLD SCHOOL Enkei five stars. they are 14 by 6 and I just repainted the gun metal. I will post some pics if you want.

 

I wouldn't mind seeing some pics. What are you asking for them? Email me the details so we don't clutter up the board.

 

hey, I will sind some pics very soon. only one is painted so far, if want any other color I will paint them that color before I ship them out. thanks

 

First get the car fixed up to pass inspection. after this then do mods me personally start from the ground up tires/rims suspension koni sports and ground control. Rims oe gsr blades not bad rota slip streams 15 by 7 with azenis sports should run around 800. once you have this stuff done look at the engine you have me i got crappy 1.5 d motor not gonna fly with mods so swap in mind but thats a year away if you got the si go to town and upgrade that.

 

Your cousin is right..
Engine first
then Suspension
then interior
then exterior
That my opinion though..