My son was KIA in Iraq on 4 JUL 2007. He was a tuner nerd and was in the process of fixing up a CRX that he had bought. It sat around for years and I finally got it running and now drive it to work a few days a week. His daughter never really knew her dad (she was months old when he died) and I want to give it to her when she is 16 (4 years from now). She cannot drive a standard transmission and does not want to learn. I would like to upgrade the motor / tranny and the suspension but don't know where to start. Any tips would be appreciated.

 

Well First off, Welcome to Honda-tech and my condolences to you and your family for your incredible loss! You've come to the right place as far as getting information for this very thing. There are a few options for converting the car over to automatic trans but would definitely require removing the engine and transmission. Would you be up to doing it and have all tools for it? Cherry picker, engine stand, jack stands, wrench sets ect?

 

If you insist on doing a manual to auto swap I think you would need these parts from an automatic crx/civic:

-Pedal assembly and cable for the auto transmissions
-Mounts. One for the transmission, and maybe another for the bracket that goes on the rear crossmember
-Shifter assembly with all the sensors and cables to the transmission.
-If you want it to look clean you'll need the cluster and figure out the wiring for the gear indicators
-An automatic ecu

It might be better to stay manual, and rebuild the motor, trans and suspension to stock condition.

 

Are you in a state that requires it to pass emissions? If so I would leave the original motor in it.
If not, I would swap in a dohc zc. It will be the easiest swap in, and can mantain oe engine mounts. Which I think for a 16 year old girl will be prefferred. Other swaps would need aftermarket motor mounts, which transfer quite a bit of vibration.
The dohc zc can keep the oem transmission. And is quite a capable engine.

But there's still many questions.

Is your crx a dx/hf/si Model, and what year is it?
These things will change what is involved in swapping in an engine.


Also, sorry for your loss.