Trying to keep a Log for a car that i purchased.

Story is that I purchased the car back in December of 12'.
I was in LA county at the time when the deal came up back at home (norcal)
I got on it, emailed the seller and he contacted me first. We talked back and fourth for an hour or so. Heres what the previous owner sent me.



Busted windshield


it had a momo wheel, not too bad of a choice. Ill be switching it out for oem later.





He had the car since he was in high school. Not sure if he was the second owner or what but the car sure had its fair share of abuse during its 288k miles

The following days later, I had my brothers check it out and they said it was cool. It seemed like it was a deal considering it was running and complete. For the price, i couldn't complain, til later.

As soon as they brought the car home they sent me some poorly skilled pictures lol.
Heres what they sent me while i was in SoCal for the time being.

Some 1/4 panel damage....=(




minor dents


cutout for foglights...ill fix this.


Frame looks straight.




Some weird rust spots? dont know how this happened....




and the only best picture i got from my brothers.


Following week, i finally arrive home. I couldnt wait to see what was actually up with the car but as i know it, Airline lost my luggage. lol. Woohoo!

I still went home and cleaned up the car for a few hours.

Got rid of that intake...Somewhat cleaned it. I already purchased a MAJOR tune up parts from Hondapartsunlimited.








Some Dynamat was installed during its life...


Trying to fix the climate control...lol i couldnt go on and finish it. just looked awful.






Also found out that the driver side quarter panel has been worked on =(




Some fender damage as well....



I dont know why but i didnt take any pics of the passenger side quarter panel before. It didnt seem that bad but it was pretty bad. things didnt lined up nor was the skin of the panel even attached to the body anymore. So me and my very good friend tony got to work. Mostly he did it lol.









Test fitting the lights to see how they fit.


The day was almost ending and i had gotten some tires so i had to get the wheels off.
started goofing around to make the day feel better lol.





While this was being done, my brother came to help too. He installed the waterpump/ belt and tensioner. Cleaned up the timing covers and reinstalled.



The next day we got back on it. With no time wasting, we already applied and sanded the body filler.












I welded up the seams to the rear panels, and used window weld to seal it.
Wish i got before pics.







I fixed the rust from the A pillar. rust was pretty deep but i got it to work out.


While cleaning up, i found this. haha I guess the previous owner high school days were fun.


We got bored and wanted to start something different. The quarter panel was such a pain in the butt to line up.
I told my friend Tony that i wanted to install some OEM foglights. Of course i didnt wanna dish out 300 for a pair of fogs that i will likely seem them crack.
Heres the work being started on it.






nerve racking when u cut your only bumper lol. We applied filler onto the bumper as well since the bumper is fairly easy to paint, we said why not.


Alright, it was fun playing with the bumper but its time to get back to business.
Was trying to capture the line correctly.






Here it is all primer-ed up and possibly ready for paint.






As that was drying, we started working on the roof and the hood. My god was that a mess.....sigh.




With the bumper on for giggles.


Started to felt that i neglected my first crx.


couple weeks later, we wanted to paint this sucker to get our motivation back.








Of course you didnt expect a actual spray gun now....I am trying to fit this into my budget.







We got the usual massive orange peel from it not being in a booth and not with a real paint gun. we sanded it down and got to buffing it.












Not too shabby if i might say.


Ill post more pics later.

 

For a driveway bondo-only repair... I think it turned out rather well.

 

what kinda of paint is that? coming along nicely bro keep it up.

 

Nice!! Looks good. Stacking on crxs! I love it

 

Thanks
Thanks, Its Omni Brand that from PPG. Custom paint mix, my brother bought a whole gallon for my moms car that happen to be the same color code as both my crx. lol
lol thanks.

 

Painted the Hood + bumper. While i was at it, i might as well paint the ef8 hood for the other crx.
Tony helped me paint these at his place, Thanks !




Out in the sun to get it baking.




Back on the car to just see how they match/look. I havent seen this hood painted for 5years lol.


Although i havent painted the moldings yet, heres the look I am going towards for.

 

Great job.... looks great...

 

Awesome job on the paint!

 

^ agreed

 

Thanks guys.

Today we tore the roof apart. Removed all the bolts and screws to remove the sunroof panel to do some work to it.






All primed up. read for a wet sand


We didnt get any during pictures of the painting because we had our monster enegy drinks and tried to tidy up the pieces of parts we have to make it into a whole car again.



We also primered the trunk + paint


While that was drying, we sought out to finish the front bumper. We needed to painted the trim because i didnt want to mask up the moldings before the initial paint.


After about 3 coats of black trim paint, heres what we got.


Heres the paint after everything settled down and semi-dried. Dont worry, we plan to have it wet sand and buffed out to get that bling everyone wants.




Pretty much the end of the days work.
We started cleaning the area to organize our tools and what not and found our selves mocking up the front end lol





I also forgot that Tony helped me wet sand the passenger side of the car and buffed out any blemishes on the old paint to somewhat match the new 1/4 paint.


Will resume again tomorrow. Ill be tidying up the engine bay. cleaning, more tune up parts for that pretty gas mileage i hope to get once its done.

 

I cam in here expecting a Honda to be replacing a V8 gas guzzler and it is a stock pile of CRX's. I want one!!! Nice to see it a fresh start. Threads like this reminds me I need to get started on my body work

 

Man that turned out awesome! Good job!

 

This is probably going to be my LAST crx and maybe Honda that i will purchase.
Body work is a fun+tiring experience. Unless you're doing the work all by yourself then get a nice loud radio because it is **** boring.

 

Didnt get much done today . Finished with all the engine stuff. I tried to replace everything that would help with mileage and performance. I tried to clean the bay but i can only do so much.



Heres the passenger side. Buffed out and waxed.


Driver side is on its way.


I still have a few more things to replace.
-windshield + moldings
-rear brakes
-driver side fender + paint
-air filter
-engine oil + transmission oil

 

great work, especially when you're doing it all in the driveway!

 

Thanks guys.
put it some more work into the crx before the rain.

Heres the Driver side after some polish work done to it.



Buffed out the roof as well.


Fixed the leaking rear wheel cylinders as well. (dont know where the actual picture went lol)
I replaced the brake shoes, wheel cylinder and the brake drum itself.


Heres the roof itself. Trying to prep it so we could have it painted but the spray gun got clogged and ruined the paint. so it looks like we're gonna have to fix it again.


Andddddd the roof covered up for rain. I didnt finish it like that, i added strips of tape it help keep the plastic bag from bowing and added a carboard underneath the plastic for structural strength.

 

Damn. Looks pretty good!!

 

Small update. Havent really touched the car...
I fixed the radio harness. fairly easy fix..


shrinked it down and done.


I also got a plate "fix" idea from another member on another forum.
He took the face plate from a 88-91 civic climate control, cut it/ trim it to fit and glued it on.
Before:

During:

After:


definitely a heep lot better than its original form.
But once i tried to put the climate control back in the dash, it fell apart. Other parts of the plastic were so brittle and fragile that it just simple time to trash it.

I bought this at the local junkyard for 25 something dollars.

I've already made a pulg and play harness so that i wont hack up the original harness incase i find another oem climate control.

Thats all for now.
i fixed a fading headlight.
Wetsanded the headlights using 1000, 1500, 2000 grit and then used a polishing compound with a drill to get the maximum shine out of it.

AFTER

 

Sweet budget build! I'd kinda like to preserve a CRX like that one day

 

I'm blown away with how good the paint turned out for being a drive way job without the use of a gun

 

Both Crxs lookin good!!! Great job

 

I'm glad I came into this forum today, you did a good job. I miss the old days when I could just go out and put in work like you did here.

 

Thanks guy. Appreciate it. This is probably going to be a stock rebuild-ish. although i cant fork up the money for new oem parts, ill try my best to refinish the stuff i have.

finally got the roof in and installed.

 

I must ask, what paint is that? & where could I get it? lol

 

The paint is from my local Paint Shop in Oakland,CA. They are called peninsula Color Service. The brand of the paint is Omni. One of their cheaper/thinner paint.

Finally got to wiring up the foglights. Was waiting for a good switch to operate them.

Came from a 89 civic DX. for some reason this defroster switch is not a momentary switch like the crx. These stay in the "ON" position until you press them again.

Used allDATA for the wiring diagram and made this.


Only needed to run about 3 wires in the car, two hot wires and one ground,
tested the switch and the indicator light works! SCORE!


Here is the outcome of the fogs when turned on.

not bad. Still need to aim them to the correct spot.