Well, its time for me to start my project with a small explanation of my intent and direction.

I own a 1990 CRX VT 1.6L DOHC (EE8). As some of you may know, this car is not legal in the USA for reasons that I honestly think just come down to bueracratic bullshit, but thats my opinion on the matter. Ive been struggling trying to get this car into the states for almost a year and a half now, with no headway whatsoever.


My only other options were to do an illegal VIN swap, or find a US Spec Crx and swap the car...

Well, welcome to my donor car :







Its a 1991 Crx Si USDM Spec. I purchased it off of a German fellow who bought it from a military guy a few years back. I ran a carfax and the VIN's are legit and was originally registered in Texas. Woot. My goal is to completely swap everything from the EE8 onto the USDM chassis so I can bring the "essence" of the EDM VT back to the states.

My car is mint, the donor car on the other hand..well...

Now, down to the good stuff.

I started at the front of the vehicle, wanting to get a feel for the condition of the car and how well it was maintained, etc..

My first "O" wtf face started with this neat little bag of dog hair that was tied to the wiring harness:


Full shot of engine bay before tear down:


Passenger Interior door shot:


Driver side:


Just poked around the rear and looks as if they removed the stock USDM interior and tried to put a backseat in, with homemade brackets





More to follow, ive got some more progress pics from last night, good stuff to follow


Modified by Keebler at 11:44 AM 10/22/2005


Modified by Keebler at 11:18 PM 11/3/2005

 

the vin on the chassis is going to be a bitch cuz its imprinted on there, i've thought about doing a vin swap before

othar than that, good luck

 

Ummm.........Off the top of my head. I'm thinking.......ummmmmmm.....NO.


If you are coming to the states, why not just sell your car in Belgium and buy one already here????? Less hassle and you won't have to pay for shipping. Why would you ruin a perfectly good EE8??? There are registered EF8's in the US and I'm sure you could do the same with an EE8. You have to call up a DMV over here, or call up an importer familiar with the process and have them walk you through it.

I vote that you put this insane project on hold. Not worth it. Do you even have the mounts for the B16 into the ED chassis? You need to change some things and buy new parts, its not just a simple straight swap.


P.S. Hahah.....funny.....just re-read the part about the "essence" of the VT. I prefer the "essence" of a hype R.........but only faster.....booyaa!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 88HaveFun &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the vin on the chassis is going to be a bitch cuz its imprinted on there, i've thought about doing a vin swap before

othar than that, good luck </TD></TR></TABLE>

Im not doing a VIN swap, im taking everything from the EE8 and putting it on the USDM chassis.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 88 rex &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ummm.........Off the top of my head. I'm thinking.......ummmmmmm.....NO.


If you are coming to the states, why not just sell your car in Belgium and buy one already here????? Less hassle and you won't have to pay for shipping. Why would you ruin a perfectly good EE8??? There are registered EF8's in the US and I'm sure you could do the same with an EE8. You have to call up a DMV over here, or call up an importer familiar with the process and have them walk you through it.

I vote that you put this insane project on hold. Not worth it. Do you even have the mounts for the B16 into the ED chassis? You need to change some things and buy new parts, its not just a simple straight swap.


P.S. Hahah.....funny.....just re-read the part about the "essence" of the VT. I prefer the "essence" of a hype R.........but only faster.....booyaa! </TD></TR></TABLE>

Do you have any clue what im trying to do, or just being an ***? Ive done my research, and I know what I need for the swap to the ED chassis. Parts are being accumulated, this is not an overnight thing.

Seriously, have you seen what most of the Europeans do to their cars? Its like 2f2f on crack. My EE8 will be much better off in the states. The ONLY thing that wont be coming is the frame, everything else is going onto the donor car.

As for registering it, ive contacted multiple RI's in the states, and have been quoted upwards of 10k for a conversion to "US Spec" status.

Being that im in the military, and I already own the EE8, this is the only legit way to do it, besides paying a RI to convert one for me.

Im setting a time frame for this at about 2 years to complete. Im taking everything down to the frame, as you will see in some upcoming pictures.

Honestly, if you dont have anything polite to contribute, take your **** to another thread.

 

I don't see how I was an *** at all. You posted your silly little "tech-less" thread about your little project and all I did was supply some input as to why I think you need to re-think this. But hey, it's your $$$.

How much does it cost to ship a car anyway?


BTW, hope that voodoo bag of dog hair isn't a sign of things to come with your project

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 88 rex &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I don't see how I was an *** at all. You posted your silly little "tech-less" thread about your little project and all I did was supply some input as to why I think you need to re-think this. But hey, it's your $$$.

How much does it cost to ship a car anyway?


BTW, hope that voodoo bag of dog hair isn't a sign of things to come with your project </TD></TR></TABLE>
Oh yes, how "silly" of me to have a "little" project posted in the EF forums for others to view and hopefully learn from my mistakes and documentation.

As far as I know, no one has tried to bring back a complete EE8 on a USDM chassis, and im trying to document the entire process down to all the issues and problems im going to run into.

Its funny you try to be snide by calling it a "little" "silly" project, yet in an earlier post you said <TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 88 Rex &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I vote that you put this insane project</TD></TR></TABLE>Quit trying to be rude. If you have something constructive or polite to provide, by all means do so.

Its really not all that hard, just time consuming and tedious. As with most things, anything worth doing at all is going to be a serious task and undertaking, and documenting this swap is well worth it to others who might like it to see the differences.

Later on, when I start the parts transfer from the EE8, you will see more of the interesting details. Right now, its just a boring layout for what is to come.

As for the dog hair, its hanging in my garage right now, providing inspiration and a reminder of what once was.


P.s. It costs about 1k to ship a car from Belgium to the US.

 

There is this guy in my town with a ef8 registered, he did a vin swap, used bondo to erase the original vin in firewall and things like that. Sounds easier than doing the swap and it looks real legit.

 

Keebler...I think you are on the right track. There are a lot of morons on here that think importing a euro spec or jdm CRX is "easy". As you know by now, it is not easy...or cheap for that matter.

Upon importation, you'll probably get some scrutiny for the fact it has a usdm VIN. They'll probably be suspicious that you did the aforementioned VIN swap, so make sure you're 100% legit.

Personally, I would have disassembled and boxed up everything on the euro spec I wanted swapped over and let movers ship it back to the US. I'd dump all my furniture to make sure I met the military moving weight limititations.
Once you're back, buy a usdm CRX/Civic and do the swap in the U.S. to avoid any kind importing/registering.

 

I was actually contemplating that, but ive got another 4 years over here and figured I have time.

The car will still be legit and US Spec, just with EE8 "mods" so to speak. As for scrutiny at the docks, im hoping being in the military will help bypass some of that. But like i said, im not altering VIN's so it really shouldnt be a problem. For all intents and purposes, it will be a US Spec crx with a b16 swap.

I got a good deal on the US Spec crx, so money wasnt really a problem. Should make it all back with just selling all the usable parts off of it. (BTW, if anyone wants '91 US Spec parts, im parting the whole thing). My large obsticle at the moment is the title. The German fellow who owned it lost the US title, and all I have is the German title, so I need to file for a new one.

Ok, here are some updates from last nights endeavor. Its not pretty...

After taking the front end apart and pulling the fenders, I noticed the car had been wrecked. It looks as if they rewelded the passenger side structure to the frame.

The welds look shitty and they didnt coat them after doing it, so you will see some progress pics of what I have done.

Here is the front clip stripped of the body panels:


Horrid welds and rust:







Now, since the previous junkyard wars rejects welded the front frame assembly to the structure, it had to be removed due to the rust. I tore it all down and stripped the frame down to the bare metal with some Naval Jelly and a wire wheel.

Then repainted with some gray primer to seal it until I get ready to really do the body work. Im trying to protect as I go Really starting to feel attached to this wreck






Here im eventually going to re-sheetmetal the damaged areas and reseal the structure from future rust and corrosion. This is my first time doing it, so should be fun As you can see, some of the thinner metal was really damaged by the welding, and needs to be replaced.




Here is my buddy helping me with the wiring harness and assorted what nots.


Me grinding more rusted bolts that have seized in the exhaust manifold.


Now, this is really where we called it a night since we got wtfpwned :


As you can see the rust has completely seized the nut to the axle. We broke my S-K breaker bar:


Then we broke his:


Then we called it a night:


Im thinking about just grinding the axle nut off, or cutting the axle from underneath the car in order to get the trans out. Any ideas on that one?

Thanks for looking





Modified by Keebler at 11:19 PM 11/3/2005

 

I'd do the illegal vin swap. Less work, less $, less headache. Not to mention the odds are pretty slim of getting caught.

Either way. good luck


Also, I'm pretty sure the ee8 frame and the US crx si frames are not the same. the ee8 is physically stronger/stiffer. reinforced frame to handle all that extra power.

 

I havent stripped the ee8 frame yet, but so far that I can tell the only difference is the engine mount locations. Obviously I wont know more until I start moving parts over.

With all the people swapping b16, k20, h22 in the states, looks as if the usdm chassis is fairly stout so im not worried about that aspect.

I thought long and hard about doing an illegal vin swap, which I could have easily done on this... But wheres the challenge? You learn so much more by doing things yourself and the hard way, i just figure id rather do it legit. Plus im an honest guy and even though I dont agree with a LOT of laws, I try my best to abide by them.

 

just wondring why don't you just wait befor you are getting ready to come back and cut the front clip of your vt and strip the rest and rebuild it on a usdm body when you come back to the states any good body shop should be able to do it

 

why wait four years? he can do it now, have fun, and learn a ton....and if he wants to do it again he can just bring stuff over when he leaves

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by theemaddhatterr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">just wondring why don't you just wait befor you are getting ready to come back and cut the front clip of your vt and strip the rest and rebuild it on a usdm body when you come back to the states any good body shop should be able to do it </TD></TR></TABLE>

I cant ship the front clip in my household goods and as donuttes said, Id like to do it now.. Ive got 4 years, why not learn a bit.


This is completely an education in patience, determination and for me its something I want to do. I like a challenge, and this should be both fun and challenging. I plan on bringing more VT EE8 parts with me when I pcs back to the states, I just dont want to get caught with any surprises or something I cant fix in time before I leave.

 

Good luck man!! Cant wait to see more, love the pix!
Ryan

 

Keep us updated man, looks like fun

 

keep us updated on this project, im really liking it, and i think you will learn a whole lot from it, theres nothing wrong with wanting to do it the hard way

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Keebler &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Then we called it a night:

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

so thats what a alcohol motor looks like

nice job so far. i wish i had your ambision

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Keebler &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Oh yes, how "silly" of me to have a "little" project posted in the EF forums for others to view and hopefully learn from my mistakes and documentation.

As far as I know, no one has tried to bring back a complete EE8 on a USDM chassis, and im trying to document the entire process down to all the issues and problems im going to run into.

Its funny you try to be snide by calling it a "little" "silly" project, yet in an earlier post you said Quit trying to be rude. If you have something constructive or polite to provide, by all means do so.

Its really not all that hard, just time consuming and tedious. As with most things, anything worth doing at all is going to be a serious task and undertaking, and documenting this swap is well worth it to others who might like it to see the differences.

Later on, when I start the parts transfer from the EE8, you will see more of the interesting details. Right now, its just a boring layout for what is to come.

As for the dog hair, its hanging in my garage right now, providing inspiration and a reminder of what once was.


P.s. It costs about 1k to ship a car from Belgium to the US. </TD></TR></TABLE>




What are you talking about??????

I said your "silly" thread........meaning this thread is silly....not your project.

And yes, the project is insane. Simple as that. I'm not against it, its just insane. My project was insane when i did mine in my wifes eyes so saying its insane isn't a bad thing. I'm just saying that it makes little sense, but that doesn't matter now since you've started the tear down of the USDM chassis which looks horrible (even you said so). SO, again, like just about everyone else has said......Why not strip it down and ship it in pieces? You are sending a USDM car BACK to the states. There are PLENTY of USDM CRX's here in the US that you can throw all that stuff on and cheaper too.

NOW, if you were to just ship the whole EE8 over and go through the hastle of getting it registered (which i believe you can do with some legwork and probably some time for less 10k) then that would be a project. You would have a legit EE8 registered CRX instead of a swapped ED9 with an EDM conversion.

What "interesting" details are you talking about and documenting what? If you were documenting how to bring a EDM spec crx to the US then that would be interesting.

This is H-T, so lets break this down to its core. You are building a USDM CRX with a EDM conversion.......that's what this is, AND then shipping it back to a land that is full of USDM CRX's with all kinds of conversions. In the process, however, you're completely stripping a mint EE8.

What state do you live in anyway?

My first post is basically saying........"maybe you should rethink this." You got all bent b/c of a little constructive criticism and now its getting me a little annoyed.


Good luck regardless.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by droppedcrxsi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Good luck man!! Cant wait to see more, love the pix!
Ryan</TD></TR></TABLE>

Probably going to be contacting you for an obd1 conversion harness and such real soon

 

I know it seems odd to want to bring back a US Spec car with EDM conversion mods, but look at it from my point of view. Ive been here for 2 years, owned the EE8 for a year and a half. I cant mod it (dont want to spend money on something I cant bring back to the USA), I cant paint it etc... I dont want to hack a mint EE8, but my options are limited. You say with a little legwork I can get it back... Well please tell me what more I need to do. Ive made posts on H-T, ive contacted RI in the USA, and im getting no where. My car is not on the DOT or importers list as an optional conversion car that is fine to bring back, so thats why the quotes are so high.

Ive seriously tried and tried to bring this car back as a whole. Ive pm'd members who have registered SiR's and they dont give me any details to how they did it. I must not be apart of the secret network or something.

So, my only other option is to either do an illegal VIN swap, or transfer all the parts to a USDM chassis.

Honestly, if you, or anyone watching this thread can give me a solid lead that is cheaper than what im doing, ill follow it. Ive exhausted all my possibilities and ideas.

Im originally from SoCal, but right now im obviously in Belgium Dont get annoyed and bent, its not your money or time being spent and wasted, just mine. Sit back, relax and watch me either conquer this endeavor, or fail miserably

Thank you everyone for the encouragement and what not. This is a long project, and Ill be asking for advice and parts throughout the build. (Speaking of which, anyone have some hasport b16 cable mounts they dont need anymore? )

 

To be honest. The illegal VIN swap is not a horrible idea, but it has to be FLAWLESS. Otherwise you WILL lose your car......even though I'm not sure what kind of loopholes the armed forces has.

IF you were to do an illegal VIN swap...........This is exactly what I'd do. Break down the VT into piecs and ship it over as parts, even the chasis. Then perform the VIN swap once you are in the states. Logically, it seems easy. Once its registered you are good to go. You could even re-import your si so that it appears as if you just re-entered the si into the states. Then once her back in the states. Swap all the vin's (cut and weld), EXACTLY, and show up to the DMV with a "Black CRX Si" with a swap. Register it, ref it, and then I guess you are good to go.

Sounds good. Don't know how that Cali system works.

OR........simply remove all the cool EDM stuff you want and find a shell when you get back (probably the easiest and cheapest)


http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import/


You could always import it as a "race" car, to be used as such. And then take whatever steps you need once its stateside.

Getting it pass customs is the hard part. Once you have it home in your garage you are golden.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Keebler &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Probably going to be contacting you for an obd1 conversion harness and such real soon </TD></TR></TABLE>

Cool, mention who you are when you contact us, we'll help ya out.

 

i wish i was in ur place right now, it must be educating and fun doin that ****!! i will be watching this thread