Vehicle: 1988 Honda Civic Sedan DX 5 Speed
Curb Weight: 2039lbs
Goal: build a car that can be ran at an autocross, drag strip, and time trials for under $5k.
Budget: $4000

Yep, instead of the CRX, I opted for the more interesting Sedan. I've yet to name her, but I've only had it for 24hrs as of this point.
I bought it for $400 and it didn't run. Add a $80 battery from autozone, cranked it for ten minutes... then it sputtered to life.
The car is virtually bone stock, except for some sleeved coilovers for the front shocks.
It has some minor front end damage, but I'm doing zero... and I mean, ZERO body modifications. No taillamp mods, no headlamps mods, no stupid body kits, no hoods, no paint... nothing. It'll look EXACTLY the way it does now, as when I go race it.
The cluster is from some other car... I can't figure out which, but it bolts into the dash, but doesn't fit in the dash. Also, the aircon controls are broken... I'll hit up a junkyard for that. The stereo was also nicked, along with all speakers. I plan on using whatever leftover parts I have to build this car... so, I have a few decks for the stereo I will likely install, along with the single speaker I have left

Future plans:
Engine: B16A. Turboed with a cheap turbo kit just to get close to 250hp or so.

Suspension: Koni SPSS, GC sleeves, ST rear bar, ES bushings, Prothane RTA, etc. This is where the money will most likely be invested. However, I will NOT be lowering this car. It will sit at stock ride height, with some 14" steelies.

Brakes: the 10.3" brake mod that has been the rave lately. Will see what that will do for a sedan on a track. Rears still have the drums. I'm not sure if I'll replace them with discs, since the car only weighs 2039lbs stock, which is very similar to what my CRX weighed.

Interior: unsure yet. Depends on what I can find floating around in the marketplace. I'll obviously have a rollbar installed for track days.

Security: I won't have what happened to my CRX happen to this car. I am looking at GPS tracking systems with self-contained power, along with several redundant systems. Remote video systems, as well as two-way GPS alarms. The car will have better security than a casino. I'm gonna be able to park this in the middle of a bunch of thieves and they are going to have a helluva time getting far with the car. I've gotten a $1000 put aside for the security system alone.


That's about it. I'll update this as I do things, as well as include what I've spent:
9/28/09 - $400 - Car purchased
9/29/09 - $80 - Battery from autozone
10/1/09 - $1600 - B16A powered CRX
10/2/09 - $126 - UCA, ball joints, and tie rods
10/4/09 - $2 - Heater hose
10/5/09 - $115 - Stainless steel brake lines
10/5/09 - $100 - ST rear bar
10/5/09 - $60 - Integra parking brake cable
10/5/09 - $60 - passenger side driveaxle
10/18/09 - $35 - Water pump
10/18/09 - $35 - Timing belt
10/18/09 - $10 - Thermostat
10/22/09 - -$750 - sold the crx
10/22/09 - -$100 - traded the rotas off the crx for another gearbox plus $100.
10/22/09 - $15 - eBay chip so I can smog the car
10/25/09 - $180 - Carbotech XP10 front brake pads
10/25/09 - $145 - CSF Radiator from AbsoluteRadiator.com (Dual row, full width)
--------------------------------------
Current Total: $2098


Progress Log:
9/29/09
- Removed rear seats and cleaned them
- Removed front sway bar, will be replacing with CRX HF bar
- Removed aftermarket cruise control
- Removed intake resonator behind front bumper
- Removed aftermarket speaker wiring for rear speakers
- Replaced dead battery with new battery, started the car up!

 

OOOOOOHhhhhhh SNAP! Congrats and subscribed!

 

In for a build that won't suck!

Driven

Can't wait to see how this one comes out sir!

 

THIS

"Security: I won't have what happened to my CRX happen to this car. I am looking at GPS tracking systems with self-contained power, along with several redundant systems. Remote video systems, as well as two-way GPS alarms. The car will have better security than a casino. I'm gonna be able to park this in the middle of a bunch of thieves and they are going to have a helluva time getting far with the car. I've gotten a $1000 put aside for the security system alone.

Is the best thing about the car.

lookin forward to updates man!

just curious, what happened to your crx?

 

subscribed

 

Stolen


And, the build will be pretty basic. the car won't look like anything special... except when it's on a track. There's an autocross on 10/18 that I'm gonna try to get this car at so I can get some suspension tuning done.

so far, the car needs:
- front shocks (blown)
- dash vents (missing)
- AirCon controls (broken)
- RTA bushings (cracked)
- brake job (maintenance)
- cluster surround (missing)
- alignment (maintenance)
- steering wheel (pretty ef'd up)
- rear 89-91 control arms (88 control arms...boo)
- front seats (pretty ef'd up)
- rad. overflow bottle (broken)
- AC compressor (frozen)
- rear window cranks (missing)
- shifter boot (missing)


I'm still not sure if I wanna do a wire tuck or not. I like how clean the engine bay is when it's done, but makes for diagnosis a pain in the ***.

 

sounds(or looks from reading) like you basically bought a piece of **** car that you over payed for. but oh well, like it matters how the car looks in the long run. ill be keeping my eye open for this thread to check the progress, good luck

 

this sounds great cant wait to see the end result.if you need a steering wheel,i got my stock steering wheel i took off my crx.free if you pick it up lol

 

You may be the dumbest poster on this forum.
1st, it's "paid"
2nd, you've routinely managed to show how much of a complete retard you are on many many many threads...
3rd, yes... it's a car that needs work... like pretty much any +21 year old behicle.

Anywho...

9/30/09:
- Removed air conditioning elements (condensor, compressor, etc). I originally wanted to keep it intact, but, one of the pipes on the firewall would not budge and I ended up breaking it off... oh well. I guess my S2000 will be the summer vehicle.
- Relocated the battery to the trunk. I had just enough wire from my CRX to do this. I'm using the stock battery tray in the trunk. I'll worry about a box later.
- Removed/disconnected pretty much everything on the engine/transmission to be pulled. Only thing left is the drive axles, shift linkage, and mounts.
- Sifted thru more of my left over parts and found some RC injectors, intake tube, fuel rail, resistor box for the injectors, and extended top hats. All of these will come in handy this weekend when I start the swap.

I also looked thru the Racing/Competition forum and noticed only one guy who has ever raced his ED2 (or got pictures of him racing it). It seems like I am going to have to do a lot of suspension tuning since no one has any experience with suspension setup on a sedan. I'm gonna start with what worked with my CRX and adjust from there. What I have available for suspension now will have the front of the car relatively soft, while the rear will be on koni yellows and 500lb springs. It might plow thru a corner than pitch wildly, ha!

Oh well... I'll take donations of an aftermarket BOV that recirculates to the intake otherwise I'm going the Saab route.

 

It's awesome to see the project progressing so quickly.
What spring rate will you be using for the front? I think I copied your old spring rate set-up a couple of years ago and never looked back. Car feels great and I really don't see myself changing it out until I get more seat time. Hoping to hit at least a few events before this year is over but money is an issue at the moment.

 

the fronts will be whatever I have on hand at the moment... right now, I think all I have are the stock GC spring rates... which is either 180 or 240lbs?

I'm guessing due to the heavier car, I'll need to run at least 500F 600R... but until I get some driving done with it... It's gonna be hard to tell.

I need to get the car on some scales

 

I wonder how *** happy it'll be with those rates. How high can you go with the spss konis?

I'll stay tuned in to see what you name it as well. Oh and ignore that other guy, too many clowns floating around

 

pictures!

 

Subscribed! Definitely following this build.

I like your plans for a track-ready sleeper! Keep it stock-appearing and spend your funds on make track days more rewarding...

 

10/1/09 Update:
- Bought a '91 CRX Si with a B16A3 in it. that cost me $1600. This will be the new powerplant in the sedan. I'll strip the CRX of things that I'll need and sell the CRX with the D15B to recoup some of the money invested. The CRX has ES bushings all around, as well as the RTA bushings.
- Removed the RTAs so I can swap the CRX's rear discs.
- Swapped the rear lower control arms, this allows me to use my ol' koni yellow shocks and GC coilovers. The CRX now has the ITR/88 LCAs.
- Swapped the steering wheels between the CRX and civic. The civic's two spoke wheel was pretty messed up, while the CRX had a nice three spoke wheel, with a NRG removable hub.
- Tried to install the CRX si's rear bar, but the Civic has the holes for the mounts, but no threads... to the ST bar I go.
- the battery tray is now bolted into the trunk, so the battery is relatively safely relocated
- Tried to swap the seats in the CRX to the Civic, except the mounts are different and I'm too lazy to make them work right now.

Next steps:
- swapping the GSR brakes from the CRX to the Civic, including knuckles and front LCAs
- swap the RTAs between the cars
- swapping the steering racks... but, before I do this, I need to calculate the exact steering ratio difference lock-to-lock
- swap the wiring (chassis and engine)...

I'd take pictures, but... since it's pretty standard affair, I figured there are plenty of pictures out there of what I'm doing. Plus, I don't have a second pair of hands to run camera.

 

Wow a functional car build on H-T? What has this site come too...

Loved your crx and I'll be watching this one.

 

Are you swaping the chassis harnesses between CRX and sedan? If so I think you'll find that they are different beasts and will be a lot of work. Not impossible but a crazy amount of tedious work. I might be wrong though, I've only had experience with a 91 ex harness so the 88 might be closer to what the CRX has.

 

unknown... depends on how cutup the CRX harness is. If the CRX harness is pretty ef'ed up, then I'll just rewire the Civic's.

Then again, the Civic's wiring is untouched. I just don't want to spend the hours of rewiring the Civic from dual point to multi point... then wire it up for the B-series. I'm lazy.


After working on the cars for three days now, I realized how much I hate working on cars. my hands are all cut-up, dirty, and my back is sore. yep, I'm old. But, I got two weeks to get this car SM-prepped...

 

It's usually worth it though. Seems like your car is going to be fun stuff!
Seems like a mild build though... but with you behind the project I know it's ALL function and is going to kick butt!

 

...A very practical build.

Question, why building a 250HP race car with all the race parts and not allow it to fully stretching it's legs? See quote below:

"I will NOT be lowering this car. It will sit at stock ride height"

 

a few reasons:
1. I want to show up to the track and have people look at it and think "what a hunk of crap, it's not even lowered!"... then when they get passed, then go "that hunk of crap just passed me!"

2. I hate having to creep over speed bumps.

3. the more stock or beat to crap it looks, the less likely it'll be a target for thieves.

4. I think the car can perform nearly as well as it could 1.5" higher. Yes, I'm going to lose a little in transitions and some straightaway speeds, but I am going into this project compensating by using a sedan as my platform...

 

10/2/09:
- Completely removed the front suspension components. I'm going to replace the UCAs with new ones, the tie rods will be replaced, as well as the ball joints. The wheel bearings feel pretty fresh in the CRX so I'm holding off on that for now.


- The rear suspension... I am in serious need of a sway bar set... hopefully a HT member will sell me one


- All of the front and rear suspension waiting to go into the CRX. the shocks are blown and the unknown brand sleeved coilovers are pathetic. Most of the bushings are worn. All of which will be fully disclosed when I sell the CRX.



- The interior...Nothing special. missing vents, stereo, dash surround, etc. I am going to the junk yard tomorrow to find an automatic selector and surround to lay over the shifter... this will hopefully deter thieves as well (who steals an automatic?). The only hint of anything will be the steering wheel, which will have an awesome steering wheel cover.

my future steering wheel cover:


- a local autocrosser dropped off some 14 steelies for me. This is needed so I can get the wheels around the GSR brakes. only problem is, they were spray painted black. That'd too "racy" for me, so I need to paint them silver and weather them... so they look beat.

 

EDIT: Do NOT intentionally circumvent the language filter. -NA

Stop causing trouble, too.

 

Sh1ft you are barking up a tree loaded with bees and sharks, god I don't feel bad for you.

Driven keep up the good work :thumbsup:

I'm really happy to see one of the few people here who keep these cars out on the track and alive doing so again.

You are going to make me pick my hatch up .. jerk

 

Hey Driven, I have an ST rear sway bar I have no need for. It won't clear my RS*R exhaust and I have no use for it. PM me if you'd like to purchase it. I could ship it out on monday.

The build is going great!