Let me say, I haven't been here in ages. I almost forgot this site was around hah. I thought I would share some photos of my 90 CRX DX, and then the complete overhaul/build. On with the pics!!!

Enjoy...

 

 

Picked up this 90 CRX a few months ago and on my one day off (Sunday), I did some work. It took nearly 4 months to complete but remember, this was about 3 weeks total worth of work due to my busy schedule and family time. It started out as a shell, no engine, trans, gas tank exhaust etc. The car used to be an electric veh way back in the day some 10+ years ago. Most of the interior was there so the plan was to gut it and start fresh. I went over literally every nut, bolt and screw on this thing bringing it back to near showroom shape.

The plan is a daily drivin gas saver with a/c and weekend auto-x with the occasional drag race and SPL comps. Quite the goals I had in mind for this little car. I did a full engine bay wire tuck, OBD0 to OBD1 conversion without a jumper harness as all the wiring and fuel lines in this car were cut as well as an auto to manual conversion and rear disc brakes. On to some pics!!


Part I
The day I brought it home. This car was was sitting in a field for almost 5 years.


auto trans and a messy bay


inside was decent but that blue had to go!




No gas tank? reserve battery bank for the forklift motor it had. Yep, fixing that too!

 

Part II: the tear down

First up was gutting! In order to make my custom one-off body harness I had to strip it. This included all the HVAC as those too were getting cleaned and all new seals.




On to some wiring!! The stock fuse-box was reloacted behind the interior center console and the engine side harness was routed through the firewall, sealed and up under the intake manifold. All connections were soldered and shrink wrapped.


My little helper


The OBDI conversion nearly complete


Harness test fit and ECU


Approval! Time to wrap it up and get er done.


Firewall to engine bay harness location

 

relocated fuse box and engine harness wiring




Part III: Interior color change

Time to change that blue to black mmmhhhmmm. Dash carrier scrubbed primed and ready.






Center console was pretty banged up. After some sanding scuffing and a heat gun, its like new again.

 

Was rinse repeat for the rest of the interior pieces. Most scratches that could be repaired were.


The carpet was in real nice shape just a little stained and BLUE!! After 6 boxes of RIT dye and a huge tub of hot water, it finally took.


Moving along to the doors they were getting stripped down and recovered in vinyl. Speaker covers got redone with black grill cloth. (not pictured yet)






Next up was the cargo cover. As most Honda guys know its nearly impossible to find an unbroken cargo cover. Nothing I can't take care of. A week under a decka and a little high heat gets the warpage out lol.




All fixed up

 

In the back of the CRX is a storage bin. Everybody tosses their crap on these and they get very warped and sag. I reinforced it with a double layer of hardboard to help prevent this in the future.


Rear interior mocked up in the shop.




Part IV: the hole...

Before instaling the interior I had to repair that giant hole in the floor where the gas tank used to be. I found a donor thanks to Team DECENT and chopped out a template. Without the use of a welder I had to come up with a solution. Screwes, rivets and undercoating got the job done.

 

Part V: the install

Time to re-install everything! I replaced all the A/C ducting foam with new seals and gaskets. I hate when you turn the air on in a 20yr old car and get a face-full of rotten foam dust.





Before the doors went on a minor mod to the seatbelt was made for safety reasons! The factory door mounts are not "short guy" friendly. They come right across my neck and very uncomfortable. With the Team DECENT donor car I swapped the shoulder belt mounts. This lowered the top bolt nearly 3 inches. Perfect so if I do happen to hit something, or some idiot at a show who won't move out of the lanes after 15 minutes, I think my head may stay attached now.

Stock belt


Hatch belt with the downward angle mount.

 

The seats as usual were ripped torn and rotted. Instead of buying some aftermarket seats with inferior parts and weak recliners that break, I stuck with the factory DX seats. Foam cannot be bought anymore so I did what I could to repair them and recover with new material.





Strips of foam were cut, shaped and layered to bring back the support. I also added in a tad extra padding to the drivers seat for more side lumbar cushion.










I'm no upholstery guy but they came out pretty good.

 

Part VI: power-plant and suspension

With plans to go turbo down the road I put together a temp "mini-mi" as its called in the Honda world. A 1.5l block with a 1.6l VTEC head. This bumps up compression a little and let me tell you, for what it is its a pretty peppy little car. Handles like a dream too around corners.

Lowering springs, camber kit and rear discs installed.


Yes, all work was done buy myself including the engine work. I am an ex GM technician with a love for car audio and Honda's. Go figure... The head had a few bent valves so I lapped the snot out of them keeping this on a very low DIY budget.






It's so cute!






Transmission also got a complete tear-down and inspection. Needed an input shaft bearing a few seals.


fleabay exhaust ftmfw!

 

Custom fan shrouds lol. Chopped up two factory condensor fans and did a sort of retro-fit to this monster of a radiator. It fits!






Part VII: more wiring!

Before putting the engine in there was more wiring yet...sigh. finishing off the conversion was a full bay wire tuck. This included headlight wiring and all sensors etc for another one-off harness. YAY!!

mmm spaghetti anyone?




I call it...Medusa hah.




And its in there!! Yes it runs too

 

Part VIII: completion...or is it?

There she is, on the ground and running. Finally off jack stands some 3.5 months later but something is missing. Ahh yes...tint!



5% all around


Calling it done for now.

 

sexy thang!!!!

 

wow thats clean. I got my own crx project in the works too. I might just have to steal a couple ideas on the interior resto.

 

Quick question, What did you use/ where did you buy the carpet to recover your rear divider pieces and speaker grills and what kind of paint did you use for your dash and console pieces? Im doing almost the identical rebuild, except slight suspension differences and im running a sohc zc. I really like your approach though, great job keep up the clean work. Im glad to see there are others out there tastefully modding and restoring crx's rather than the usual 16 year old kid honda molestation (which I at one point was guilty of)

 

Wow, the black interior really made a big difference. It's so clean. I love how the car looks on the outside, plain and simple but clean!

 

awesome.