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greetings from Lithuania, Europe and here is my 1990 CRX mix. Originally it was a ED9 D16Z5 face lift model with cat converter. Bought it myself from Germany 11 years ago in 100% stock condition with stock alloys, interior and color. No accidents or rust. And year by year it was like that except from coilovers and wheels. Last year I decided that its time to make it the way I always wanted my CRX to be.
In autumn 2016 bought B16 engine and transmission, ECU, hubs and drive shafts. Started taking apart my car and preparing it for conversion. As we do not have any Integras and similar models which can be used as donors for hubs, shifters and etc, I realized I will need a whole car to make a complete and tidy swap. 2 weeks later I bought a stock RHD EE8 CRX with 105k miles from United Kingdom and finally had all the pieces to my puzzle. After looking to those both dirty engines I decided to go for a full restoration with only genuine NOS parts. After some research found a way to acquire lots of genuine parts straight from Japan warehouses. Gathered a huge list of parts for the engine, engine bay, transmission and even outside trim. 3 months later parts were at home and work had begun. Also spent some time and found a mint set of leather seats, LHD leather door cards, mint leather steering wheel, new ****, LHD VTEC cluster, lots of small NOS bits, mint cargo cover, new mats, tool set and etc. Also another step in my plan was a full VTEC front end conversion, which wasnt too hard as I had a donor car. Took a mint bonnet, front bumper and painted them to match the rest of the cars Milano Red paint. Indicators were a bit of a problem as both had cracks, so after buying 4 sets I finally got both sides crack free. After a year or so I managed to get both new LHD VTEC motorized glass headlights (I believe they might be the last ones on planet earth, as I have only seen RHD sets for sale). Don't ask me how much did I spend on NOS parts overall After few weeks I found a full glass roof conversion, which was imported to Russia from Japan, but the guy who bought it crashed his CRX and never came round fitting it. Contacted the guy same day and made a deal, transferred money and with a help of few friends in Russia and Belarus the roof was finally home after 7000 miles journey and A LOT of sleepless nights (will it come in one piece lol). So with zero help from outside I did everything alone which wasnt easy. Time flies and I realize that all of the useful info on the internet is disappearing. Most of the topics on the forums are no longer active and can not be accessed. This made me realize that these are really old cars and the hype for them has been long long ago. Same situation was with B16 swap info, wiring and all those little things you need to know for things to work - almost every topic was dead. Especially owning a Euro model is tricky. On one hand the same, but on the other - a totally different car.
So all the problems aside, 9 months of hard work in my garage, at least 6 days a week and 5-6 hours a day after a full working day my project X saw the light. In the end of month 9 I was feeling like I am starting to hate this car and will never ever do anything to it. BUT, I managed to hold myself from setting it on fire lol
p.s. I am on a hunt for Mugen MR5 or CF rims so these wont be on the car for long.
Resprayed to R81 Milano Red
Full EE8 front end conversion with 1.5X t-bar
EE8 spoiler
New Stanley EE8 LHD headlights
New Stanley EE8 corner lights
New windscreen with new genuine seal
New genuine rear quarter window seals
Polished rear lights and front indicators
Glass roof conversion
JDM power folding mirrors
New genuine roof side channel seals
New genuine bonnet and t-bar locks, cable, all clips and bolts
New genuine bonnet hinges, new genuine door hinges
Engine, transmission, suspension
Restored B16A1 engine with only genuine parts, bolts and even genuine sealant
Rebuilt Y2 transmission with genuine parts, new clutch bearing and so on, genuine oil
New genuine radiator and cap
Reconditioned drive shafts
New genuine exhaust
All calipers reconditioneds with genuine seals, new genuine rotor covers, bearings and joints
Innovative billet conversion mounts
B16 shifter linkages with energy bushings
PW0 ecu with second O2 delete
Hel brake hoses
H&R coilovers
TE37 replica wheels (temporary)
Energy bushings front and rear
262 VTEC brakes
Interior
LHD EE8 leather seats
LHD EE8 leather door cards with black power window switches
Mint rear bench seat, cargo cover
Map lights, black mirror-less sun visors, full glass roof trim.
Leather VTEC steering wheel with bronze badge
LHD EE8 KM/H cluster
Genuine CRX radio
New genuine shift ****, new genuine pedal covers
New mats
Genuine black arm rest
Mint heater controls
All scratched or damaged parts changed to as nice as possible
New genuine Gathers speakers
So here are some pictures of the process and final product. This is not a perfect car and will never be, its my first car from my first salary 11 years ago, my way of relaxing and it will be in my garage forever no matter what. Enjoy and let me know what you think.
Before
And the story begins
Donor car
And how it looks now
Last edited by Taiperas; Aug 10, 2017 at 01:30 AM.
Been looking for years, managed to buy one from US (no idea how and why it was sent there as US market never had VTEC front end), another from UK (it was returned to the dealership as they ordered LHD by mistake many many years ago, they drive on the left side and need RHD headlights). I believe its beyond impossible to source another set in LHD type. Seen one RHD set in glass version for sale a year ago and thats it.
Somehow I managed to dublicate threads so will update this one as its more up-to-date.
Bought a set of new MeisteR coilovers and pending a set of new wheels as these are for sale now.
aaand finally sourced my old dream (bought it from Japan)
Installed coilovers, massive improvement in ride quality compared to previous track only setup, now its closer to a normal car rather than a go kart
Has anyone ever installed JDM stereo? The original plug is totally different in shape, my OEM audio connector is flat and much wider than the one on Gathers, which is shorter and higher
Bought Mugen M2 15" set, split/forged, have Final Edition bolts, but not sure of it, will check after they come to me, from what I've seen they are nearly mint and never repaired from new.
EE8/ED9 Milano Red CRX story
After few weeks I found a full glass roof conversion, which was imported to Russia from Japan, but the guy who bought it crashed his CRX and never came round fitting it. Contacted the guy same day and made a deal, transferred money and with a help of few friends in Russia and Belarus the roof was finally home after 7000 miles journey and A LOT of sleepless nights (will it come in one piece lol). So with zero help from outside I did everything alone which wasnt easy. Time flies and I realize that all of the useful info on the internet is disappearing. Most of the topics on the forums are no longer active and can not be accessed. This made me realize that these are really old cars and the hype for them has been long long ago. Same situation was with B16 swap info, wiring and all those little things you need to know for things to work - almost every topic was dead. Especially owning a Euro model is tricky. On one hand the same, but on the other - a totally different car.
its about assembly system, so same on all wheels.
