Hey guys, I'm just going to copy/paste this from another forum but thought you may be interested. It's no K or J but is still a fun little swap.

I haven't done any aesthetic mods and probably never will (other than the wheels). Only interested in making it fast.

I previously had a 1991 black CRX Si with a Z6 block and Y8 head. I paid $2000 for it, it didn't run that great, I fixed the timing on the chipped P28 so it was correct for the Y8 cam. Planned to do a budget turbo setup on it, however one shitty day coming home from work, a dump truck from a side street decided to merge in front of me. It had only reached 5-15mph while I was going the posted 55-60mph. Did not have enough room to slow down, so tried to go around it, car started sliding towards a cement barrier, I tried to correct and the car began sliding towards the dump truck. Woke up in the hospital hours later getting stitches in my face/head.

Aftermath:





Here you can see how the interior completely warped. Steering wheel was bent, and you can see on the dashboard where the cluster hood is that it's wrinkled from being bent. A lot of the plastic pieces popped out. The seat was even bent severely.


The whole drivetrain was pushed back into the firewall. There were crinkles all over the body like it was an aluminum can

I have to say that I am very satisfied how it all turned out. I just had 34 stitches on my face. Walked with a limp for a month. There was actually a cut on my eyelid, and I'm very fortunate that it wasn't a few millimeters deeper because I am a fan of having vision. I had no seatbelt (stupid) so think I was launched up, across the steering wheel, and into the rear view mirror. I had a cut vertically across my lips, across my left eye, and from my forehead to the top of my head.

Unfortunately, a witness claimed that I was trying to pass the dump truck and lost control, so I was unable to get any compensation. There were no cars behind me for at least an eighth of a mile, so I'm sure it appeared that I was trying to pass to the witness, but in reality I was avoiding hitting the back end of the truck.

After that one, I had to have another one. A good friend purchased one a few weeks earlier for his girlfriend, then after my wreck decided it wasn't quite safe enough for her, so sold it to me. So ended up with a 1990 Y49 CRX Si.

Soon after buying:


It had around 240k miles on it, and burned oil, so I started collecting parts for a B-swap. In March I dropped off the head/block at the machine shop to have it taken care of, and didn't get it back until September... The day I moved to my apartment, the pressure plate decided to die and I didn't have a vehicle. Since I couldn't work on it at the apartment, I towed it to a friend's house half an hour away. Didn't have a vehicle to get there and work on it, and soon after it was Winter and way too cold...so haven't really got to do any work until February/March.

Build:
- K&N filter
- ebay CAI
- bored throttle body
- ported aftermarket intake manifold
- B18C5 head
- GSR cams
- B18B block
- B18C Wiseco forged pistons and rings
- B18C TunerToys forged rods
- B18C crank
- ARP head studs
- ARP rod bolts
- ACL bearings
- B16 hydro transmission
- ZR header
- ebay test pipe
- 2.5" exhaust
- Suja 1 Motoring cable/hydro conversion
- Hasport motor mounts
- CRX SiR B-series shift linkage
- Energy Suspension shifter bushings
- B&M dual-bend short shifter
- Competition Clutch stage 4 6-puck sprung clutch, 400+ tq holding capacity
- B18C flywheel
- bottom end balanced
- ebay vtec conversion sandwich adapter
- chipped P28 with GSR basemap on Crome
- vtec oil pump, water pump, and distributor
- ebay OBD0-OBD1 distributor adapter harness
- ebay OBD0-OBD1 conversion harness
- JK Motorsports traction bar

The B18A1 and B16A head back from the shop:


I went with the Suja 1 Motoring cable/hydro conversion because it COMPLETELY replaces the cable by mounting a master cylinder on the pedal. Your air vents to the driver side won't fit without some rigging, but they never worked well for me anyway so just removed them.

The beginning:


Dash off and conversion installed:






The only modifications you have to do is a getting a washer welded to the "clip" on the clutch pedal. A local shop did that for me for $10. Make sure you use hose made for brake fluid.

A6 removed:






Then I installed the JK Motorsports traction bar that I've had sitting around for years while it was all out.

Here's the stock crossmember:


And here's how much space the JK Motorsports one frees up:


I did run into a couple problems/delays when trying to get the engine in. First of all, I had cable motor mounts. I didn't know there was a difference, but now I do. Also, the transmission bracket from the 90-93 teg had holes that were too small. I've heard this is because it was for a cable transmission.

Fortunately, I had access to a classic piece of made-in-USA machinery to bore out the holes on the bracket:


Engine installed. You can see where the clutch fluid reservoir was mounted by the brake fluid reservoir.




Here's the first startup. It sounds loud because the header didn't reach the exhaust. The video is crappy quality because it was recorded with a cellphone. It is not my first time driving a manual transmission; my seat was not bolted down and the clutch was like a light switch. Every time the clutch grabbed it would knock the seat back and disengage the clutch again

First time down the road. The neighbors loved the loud noise late at night, and friends said they could hear it all the way down the road.

Went back home and parked it for the night, then went with some friends to drink. Came back the next day to change the oil, bolt the hood on, and bolt the seat down. When I got under the car, I noticed oil sprayed all over the back of the engine and firewall. When i drained the oil, only 1qt came out. Refilled it, started the car, and a few seconds later oil started overflowing from the radiator.

Tore the engine down and found this crack in cylinder 3:


Also found out where the head was tapped for vtec there was a small crack. Plugged it up and put it all back together. I was hoping the block would last a little while since the crack was only through the outer sleeve. Started the car and noticed oil coming out of the ebay vtec feed line. Had a new one made, put it on, and started the car again. The leak was fixed but it idled rough and ignition timing could not be set even though mechanical timing was perfect. The plugs kept fouling, and there was oil/coolant/something getting into the combustion chambers, so at this point I just tore it back out.

Decided to start completely fresh, and ordered the B18C5 head and B18B block. Also purchased some new Wiseco rings, some new bearings since the ones I had were scarred by the coolant, a new headgasket, and new intake manifold gasket.

Since that engine failure, have completely cleaned the car. The engine bay is clean, under the hood is clean, door jambs, and around the hatch. Also sealed all the cracks with RTV so it would stop leaking.

Today I finished the battery relocation since the battery was just sitting on the spare tire. I used an Odyssey PC680 which is a sealed dry-cell battery with plenty of CCAs and can handle up to 400 complete discharges. Not only is it cheaper, smaller, and lighter than an Optima battery, but it's made by a company that relies on building a good product to make sales rather than marketing like some others. *cough* Optima *cough*

I bought a distribution block from a car-audio store. It has one "input" and three "outputs." I connected the starter, and the under-hood fusebox to the outputs, and ran some thick speaker wire from the distribution block through the firewall, under the carpet by the passenger seat (there's a bunch of clips that were unused that the cable fit into PERFECTLY), and under the compartments.

I installed it in the rear compartment behind the passenger seat. Almost a perfect fit:


Compartment closed:


I ran the ground cable to the spare tire holding bolt. It's strong and I didn't have to drill additional holes into the chassis or risk puncturing the gas tank. You cannot even tell it's their with the cover on it.


Dropped off the block to have it bored/honed/decked/cleaned, the head to have it resurfaced, and the flywheel to have it resurfaced since I saw a couple nicks in it. Assembled it completely by myself, and it was much easier than I expected.

Future plans include a T3/T04e .60 trim with a stage 5 turbine, which should have positive pressure at around 2500rpm and build up to 475-500hp by redline. Of course, I will need 3" exhaust to allow for it, along with the other usual turbo goodies. Will use a P28 with NepTune and plan to have it tuned by J. Davis.











After a few days of driving it, it stopped going into gear. It would go into gear while the car was off but not while it was on, so I was sure it was the clutch since this is what happened when the pressure plate spit a spring on the D16A6. Had the engine out and transmission off in a couple hours, which was much faster than the first time I pulled the engine... Turned out one of the flywheel bolts backed out. Torqued it all down and put it back together. I wish i used some loctite but by time I thought about it the engine was already installed.

Put 250 miles on it with cheapest oil on the shelf, and now am using Royal Purple 10w30 and Mobil 1 filters.

10-100mph

I know I need to get the suspension taken care of, but I don't care that the car looks like a 4x4 so it's low on my list of priorities. Had to use spacers on the hood just to get it to close, but it still has to be forced shut and takes two people to open it. Hopefully will begin collecting boost parts in the next month or so.

 

in for this one

 

Nice build so far. How does that CC clutch feel with the Suja1 kit? What size braided hose did you use from the clutch master cylinder hose to the slave cylinder?

 

Damn that sucks for the first crx but your 2nd one came out good. Nice build. Was it a pain to switch it to hydro? I want to do that to my ef hatch

 

Is that how loud a B series is inside a CRX?

 

The CC clutch feels nice with the kit. Obviously it's a little stiffer than stock but you get used to it and feels "normal" after a day or two of using it. I'm sure it's a load better than the cable-actuated "conversions." Don't know what size line it is, I just ordered the line from Suja 1 with my bracket.

Depends on your idea of being a pain It's considerably easier if you take the dash out. That was the biggest pain, but you could get it done in a few hours and not have to mess with it again. Just make sure you use brake fluid hose...I bought mine from Pegasus Auto or something. I believe it's the most "proper" way to convert, so it's the route I went.

2.5" exhaust, test pipe, and a cheap Dynomax muffler, as well as CAI and K&N filter. I'm sure that makes it a bit louder than with a stock intake/exhaust. It's a nice sound, though

 

Very nice, sounds good.

 

Yeah it can be loud but cruising it isn't annoying and it doesn't have the raspy/ricey/rattling sound. The only time it's "loud" cruising is when I'm driving ~70-80mph and it's sitting around 4000rpm, but then it's all muffled by the wind anyway.