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Hello all. Just introducing my build and myself. I personally was in the honda game from 1995 to about 2003 and then got sidetracked by life and such. I am back now with a vengeance.
My build is a d16z6 swapped 91 CRX HF .
I got this car from a customer of mine for free. He had bought it for his daughter who hated the car. He ran into some issues and parked it for about a year in a storage facility. He brought it into my shop whe he first got it and I was showing him all the stuff the previous owner had done like the coilovers, rear control arms, front trac bar, etc. Fast forward to last November he comes in asking if I was still interested in the crx (I had told him to let me know if he wanted to get rid of it). I told him I was. He handed me a signed title and I started to envision the build.
I bought a d16z6 and tore it down completely. Swapped in some 75mm vitaras and speedfactory rods. Comp 53900 cam and bc springs in the head. ARP head studs of course as well.
After the motor was built i swapped it in for break in. Went about 200 miles on the N/A motor before going turbo.
Started the turbo install. Relocated battery, new half size radiator, etc.
Since the install I have run into many roadblocks. I am trying to get the car running correctly before going to the dyno. Since the install I have had issues with the skunk2 pro intake pushing out the coolant pipe. I had to have the car towed and fix the faulty water pipe issue.
After the coolant pipe issue I started hearing my transmission making noise. Ended up being my input shaft bearing so I got that replaced as well.
Literally minutes after getting my transmission reinstalled I went out to test everything and my car died in the middle of the road. Towed back to the shop to find my ecu is not getting any power. No light on my hondata chip. Steady check engine light.
I checked and re soldered my main relay. Replaced all the capacitors in my ecu and checked all soldering. Checked thermostat and transmission grounds. Checked and replaced all fuses in engine bay and inside the car. Even if something didnt look bad it got replaced.
I am still trying to fix this issue but found if I pull the c connector from my ECU it powers up and I can hear my fuel pump kick on. Now I need to check all the wiring going to that c connector and find the short or faulty part.
It's been a wild ride and so far i have felt some good pulls. Had 24.9 psi at 59% injector duty cycle and spinning 1st through 3rd in the pulls before the water connector failed on the intake manifold. That STI didnt know what happened when he tried to get the jump on me lol.
I am also battling some good amount of smoke out the tailpipe. Its oil so I know my rings are probably bad already. That's what happens when you try to run a car on 10.5 to 11.5 AFR (since I havent gotten tuned yet) and try to turn up the boost before the car is ready. I will be replacing my rings and going to a JE headgasket since I am pulling the head again, just to be safe. Hoping to get dyno done on June 1st at PFI. Also hoping to see between 450 and 550 hp. This is going to be a drag/street car.
Looking forward to the rest of the journey and learning what else is prone to breaking at this power level. Haha next purchases will be a twin disc, axles, and wheel/tires for drag days. Thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!
Brace yourself for having to replace that manifold soon. That style is notorious for cracking. Same for the EMUSA wastegates - they usually don't hold up for too long.
Your fix on the IM looks good - NPT fitting is the way to go there.
Your starting problem sounds notoriously like the ECU capacitor issue. Were there any signs of leaking capacitors when you replaced them? Also, one of your pictures shows a label on the ECU cover saying the ECU case was damaged - maybe this compromised the board? I'd find another ECU to try your S300 in to verify.
Are you 100% sure it's oil smoke you're seeing? Blowing the coolant fitting off the IM makes me think you may have lifted the head. How much timing are you running? Doing 25 psi pulls before dyno tuning can be risky unless you back the timing down.
New old guy here. - CRX build
