I figured i'd write this up just to show that you get what you pay for when it comes to cars. I bought my 91 HF from a kid that basically should have his hands smashed with a hammer. Everything he did to the car wasn't done right. The worst part is he bought it off another kid who was a honda mechanic and couldn't fix it haha.

So far my $200 CRX HF (with a free parts car) has needed the following things:
-passanger side window regulator/track
-stereo/antenna
-cv joint
-head job with new head gasket and t-belt
-injector
-4 new tires
-change the ignition cylinder back
-driver's seat
-numerous wiring headaches (radiator fan wired to a switch, radio power supply missing, etc.)

So now, as it sits i have a 91 CRX HF that gets 33mpg (probably should go up because it had a bad injector) and burns about 1/2 a quart of oil per tank. And it still has a broken windshield, 88/89 corners with 90/91 headlights, a black bumper and purple hood on a white car, and is in general ugly.

I think the best part was when i got it it wouldn't run worth a crap and i couldn't figured it out. Looked at the vacuum diagram on my Si and realized the HF was way off and re routed it. Fired it up and it was idling at 3k. Readjusted the cable and it idled smooth as butter. The kid i bought it from had no idea what was wrong with it.

Feel free to share your own stories about 'cheap' cars. Just figured i'd show what happens when you buy a cheap car and this is far from a horror story because i can probably still turn a profit on this car (having a parts car is nice).

 

You got a car for 200 bucks. Any way u look at it, as long as its not gonna fall apart with rust, u got a good deal. You can always swap or rebuild these motors with not too much trouble. Good luck with bring that byitch back to life.

 

what year is it?

i'll buy the front swaybar to help you recoup some money if you want to get rid of it.

 

u cant expect a 10 year old car to be running like new, mileage gets to all.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mykal &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I bought a 90 Crx SI from a friend. It needs alot more work then I knew. I knew the cosmetics were pretty bad but mechanically I was told it was fine. Its not...
its prolly gonna sit here and rot with the new zc swap in it.</TD></TR></TABLE>
a FRIEND would tell you if they knew something was wrong with it

 

have same problem,

bought a 91 si for 1000$ with eibach springs, and koni blues, with greddy mx exhaust. But the down side is that the motor bogs after going above 3k, the tranny whines really bad, and has bad dents and scrapes on it. but other than that hopefully ill get it running by the beginning of summer.

 

i'm in no way complaining. The only reason i have the dedication to keep this car on the road is i'd hate to see another one go to the junkyard for no reason. I'm just showing that those people bragging about getting these cars for cheap almost never are getting that great of a deal.

 

I picked my 89 crx dx up for $400 in the middle of pa. I had to have it towed back because it needed a new tranny
- 4 new tires
- alt. was dead
- the rust under the panel on the lower drivers side and passenger side was horrific.

- The people that did my body work on the car said that the holes were patched (if you wanna call it that) with cardboard and bondo over top of that. It wouldn't be as bad if I didn't buy the car from a guy that works at a body shop.

- It smelled like something that I couldn't quite place my finger on, being honest that **** stank like a $2 hooker.

- Of course the driver's seat had a hole in the same place every stock ef seat has it.

- Needed a new exhaust system.

- The list goes on, but now I'm happy because I won a contest and they put $7,500 into it. It's not clean, or on the jdm bandwagon, but it's my car and IT WAS FREE

 

I purchased a 91-DX Hatch from a lady who did not want to commit to the repairs it needed.

It needed an Idler pulley, Water pump, with timing belt and drive belts, and a cam seal. The A/C is ice cold and the body is very clean. She was just like a Hippie of sorst so the carpet never got vacuumed. We tried to discount the repairs to help her but she would not fix the car so I made her an offer and got it for 400.00 My best deal in a while.

I spent a weekend removing the back seat and taking the carpet out. Changed out the cluster with a 91-SI, and other small stuff. I love this little car. My old hatch when I had my RSX-S was a 94-CX, It was also Teal Green.

Sometimes you can get a deal, especially if you can do the work yourself, it will save hundreds in labor.

But I have had clients come in and say they such a great deal on a used car and then we find it needs like a rear main seal and the water pump is leaking, that adds up pretty fast @1,000.00 for both on an Accord.

Anyway, I am glad you figured out the ignition problems

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SloA$$ DA &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">tranny whines really bad,</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thats actually not that bad. If you take the trany apart and replace the 5 bearings in there and replace the main shaft seal. It will be quiet as new and shift so smooth. as long as it doesn't grind right now. As the bearings wear and get sort of loose they really diminish the shift quality. I did this in my old 94-CX but It had a 95-EX coupe tranny in it with 195,000 miles on it. Afterwards it was like a new transmission.

 

u get what u pay for

 

I purchased a 88 honda civic dx hatch off carsoup.com. he wanted $600, I gave him $300.
Things wrong:

-Trans was blown
-cooling fans didn't come on
-no coolant
-no torque

Things that went right:

-removed DX drivetrain and brakes
-installed brake and engine from 90 integra
-painted car (left rear quarter.)
-has power and torque now

Some pics:

 

I'm buying a similar Civic Hatch off of my dad for 500 next week, a 90 DX Auto looksjust like that. I know the tranny's going and it needs a new axle so I'm thinking of pulling the DOHC ZC out my ReX and dropping it in the Civic and then putting a fresh B16 in the CRX maybe an SiR2.

 

Cheap cars are best bought in pairs.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mntuner2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I purchased a 88 honda civic dx hatch off carsoup.com. he wanted $600, I gave him $300.
Things wrong:

-Trans was blown
-cooling fans didn't come on
-no coolant
-no torque

Things that went right:

-removed DX drivetrain and brakes
-installed brake and engine from 90 integra
-painted car (left rear quarter.)
-has power and torque now</TD></TR></TABLE>

I hope you added coolant too, else you're gonna have really bad problems pretty soon

 

yea i bought a 90 crx Si and it came with a 1.5L motor. i got it off ebay and still havent gotten the title transfer. its been like 3 wks. now. the whole thing needs to be replaced. the body is shitty, the motor that was in it was leaking. one of the tires was flat. NO A/C. i bought it for 1,375 which was a rip off but i knew that already back then. all i bought it for was the body which is pretty high since then i did this to it:

JDM B16A
11.5 JE pistons
Eagle H-beam rods w/ARP bolts
Skunk2 Stage 2 Cams with racing retainers and valve springs
Ferrea valves
AEM tru-time cam gears
Stage 1 port and polished Head
Integra Type-R intake Manifold
Edelbrock JG 65mm throttle body
RC 310cc injectors
Walbro 255lph fuel pump
Crane cams 11mm Firewire spark plug wire set
MSD SCI-L ignition control
Exedy Stage 1 Racing clutch
11lb chromoly flywheel
Weapon-R Dragon intake w/Ram air kit
2.5" 4-1 headers
2.5" Catco Cat Converter
2.5" Catback system w/N1 muffler 4"tip
Hondata s200
Koyo High FLow radiator
Tokico HP shocks
Bomz racing coil overs
Stock CRX Si 14" rims w/Yokohoma ES100 tires
racing seats
F1 fenders
bought the whole A/C and heater system from a junkyard
bought all the light bulbs totalling $100
Panasonic 9700 cd player

now all i need to do is put it all together... i havent done **** yet. i got all the parts though. and it still needs a paint job. its only got primer. all-together i spent like 13grand which is almost TEN TIMES what i paid for it. if you can get one for 8 grand already customized with everything, then u got a good deal. but as for me, i got it how i wanted it and customized it how i wanted it. it cost more, but i'll appreciate it more. its all personal preference

 

Of course man. I have been to two autocrosses with it. Have smoked mustangs, audis, camaros, corvettes. Good times. I actually did fairly well for my first autocross. Didn't come in last!

Next one is on the 22nd. Now I will have tokico struts and progress springs instead of 17 year old dx hatch springs.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fireant &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Cheap cars are best bought in pairs. </TD></TR></TABLE>

i agree

 

I'm happy with my cheap car. $900 with a smokey engine. The going rate round here is around 2300.

I swapped in a sohc zc non'tec, new axels, SI tranny, clutch, new igniter coil, new battery.

Later this summer: brakes w rear disk conversion, and steel linesl; new fuel pump; alternator; windshield; mpfi conversion.

This fall: seats, carpet, stereo system, roll cage (welded), harness, steering wheel, interior comsmetic thingys..

Birthday: suspension--- coilovers, sways, t-bars, new bushings.

Christmas: rims & tires

Februrary 10, 2006: $4000 I- bond matures--- Paint/ tint

That summer-- go fast mods-- forced induction and supporting mods

I should invest the money that Im puttting into the car, but this car gives me so much joy. I love jumping in it and heading to the back hilly roads and carving up corners. Cheap cars are wonderful, the allow ppl with small bank accounts to participate in this hobby without a huge up front investment. 2 months a go I had the choice of replacing the tranny in my butt ugly sentra or buying a new car. There's something wonderful about finally getting a car you've always wanted.