Hello all, I just bought a 1989 Honda Crx Si with intentions of making her beautiful, the previous owner it looks as if he was setting it up to race. She is a great car, runs good and with a new battery she is doing great. I want to start rebuilding her and thought i would get others opinions on where to start.
This is what i have to work with. 1989 si, 158k it was red but previous owner did a lousy prime job black and some crappy fiberglass job on the rear drivers side quarter panel. AC was removed and so was power steering. All interior except dash and seats have been removed. He even primed the inside real crappy. It has dual Focus? exhaust, a cold air intake. Nothing speical but just want some opinons on where to start. The intake doesn't have the hose from the valve cover connecting to it. Is that bad, it has a breather on it?
I have intentions on putting a wide body kit maybe black widow, any tips on that would be great. Thanks for the read!
Justin

I have pictures but i don't know how to post yet

 

change the drum brakes out for 90-91 crx si disk brakes. much better feeling, i'd rather change disks than drums, and a good idea if you are making your rex any faster.

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1095441

while the interior is out i would say power door lock solenoids, sound deadening material if you doing stereo.

ummm...remote trunk pop solenoid is nice and pretty easy to rig up.

hatch lift supports.

fuel filter.

your filter on the valve cover is fine

*pretty sure us crxs don't have power steering*

 

Hey thanks for the tips, that is just what i was thinking about with the power windows, and locks, where can I get a remote trunk pop soleniod?
Disk brakes, sounds good, thanks for the help!

 

you just need a solenoid small enough to wedge in the area by the trunk latch. you can pull off the plastic shielding pretty easily and see how much clearance you will have to work with.

i used late 80's supra solenoids on my door locks b/c they were free (junkyard) and they were pretty powerful.

it's all up to you where you put them. i've done power locks on 3 crxs so far and unfortunately your first install won't be your best. it's scary just drilling into your door the first time.

power crx windows are on ebay, but they are fairly rare. just like the jdm back seats they are expensive and they go quickly. if you find them they should drop right in (then you need door panels with switches not a crank).

the only other thing i can think of is the windows are slightly different lengths from 88-89 and 90-91 models of the crx b/c the later models had the seatbelt fed through the door.

 

advice: dont get a ricy *** wide body kit. no one on this site will take you seriously and you will get flamed.

 

This one does have the seat belt fed through the doors. And lucky for me there is no paneling in the car except the dash so i don't have to worry about taking any of that out.

 

The only reason I want the wide body is it hides the damage on the rear quater panel. The previous owner did some lousy, I mean real lousy fiberglassing on it. I have buddies that work with fiber glass and if they can't fix it, that was my next option. Just got the car last week so we will see. Thanks for the advice!

 

well just to let u know that crx's in the U S did not have powersteering. only in japan and at that just the Sir had it with powerlocks and window and folding mirrows. and please dont do the wide body kit tahst to ricy. about the rear disc i think thats a great idea. i just picked my fourth crx last sunday and started get her running. good luck on your project and i wish you the best of luck.

 

really if your going to have her forever which all of us think so do it right the first time and fix the rear quarter panels because if you dont in a couple of months the rust will probley come back and just take even more money to fix it all and time also

 

No rust, it apears that the vehicle was in an accident, and he fiberglassed the damaged area and never finished the job.
maybe it will be easier to fix, that is why i am asking for help and ideas, that is a good start.

 

your pics aren't linking correctly...

try photobucket. free and pretty reliable.

http://photobucket.com/

after you upload pictures you just click the "IMG" link for the picture and it auto copies the [img][/img] and the picture to the clipboard for you.

 

Engine

Another Engine shot



Not a good pic, but he fiberglassed it than just painted over it not sure what to do with it or how to fix it

Sunroof seals arent that great but it actually works

Picture inside the hatch, he put a brace on it but used plastic things to hold it up. No interior, straight to the bone

Needs some good love and cleaning. I really want to get the interior in here it is real loud without it

Passenger side doesn't look too bad just lousy prime job the last guy did

There is dual exhaust, FOCUS is what it says on the exhaust, surprisingly it isn't too loud, and there isn't any sputtering cracking or popping.

So what does eveyone think? Any more pointers? I'm new to this gig, and i really want to make her great!

I have an oil and all fluids and filter change, and brake servicing to do on her this weekend, my buddy is going to sell me some nice tires and rims for 300 and I was thinking of suspension while i was at it, Eibach? i think they are the sportline kind.
I want to look into the rear disk conversion as well but don't know where to start, not that easy to find those things here.
Thanks for looking and any tips.
Justin

 

depending on how familiar you are with wiring and installs you can do the power door locks the cheater way:

there are two bars for the door locks within the door (two for the handles as well), one horizontal and one vertical. the horizontal one goes to your interior door lock, the vertical to your key lock. you can drop the key lock bar and just mount the solenoid to that somewhat vertically. in this case your key locks spin so it's only appealing if you have an alarm/keyless entry.

props for the rear strut bar! good luck

 

If your not cheatin your not trying right? Thanks for the tippers!

 

So, the Timing belt went out on the ole rex, on my way home from work. Thats my luck, and now i get to hear from the wife, "I told you so!" So, with doing my research, my engine is what they call a valve bender, or interference engine. Meaning I am going to have to get the valves and pistons redone. Me not knowing how to do it and what to do would be better off setting the car on fire right? Any words of wisdom, advice, or encouragement?

 

You may not have bent the valves if you let out the clutch and shut her down right away. I got away scotch free like that. I'd try turning the crank by hand and seeing if you're hitting any valves.

 

How can you tell if they are hitting the valves? will it sound obvious? I did try to restart it because i had no idea what the deal was. I was just driving down the street and the car shut off.

 

I had the same exhaust set up on my crx It said focus on it too not loud at all unless you really hit it hard