im graduating from highschool in 3 days and im gonna get a fairly good chunk of money. i wanna build a import. nothing fancy. I just want somthing to take to the drags on the weekends. Dosnt have to be hella fast just quick be able to hang with other imports. i was thinking a crx since they can be had for fairly cheap since im a budget but im not really sure what it would take to make one fast or how much money. ant suggestions or advice would be great.

 

Depends on how much money you want to spend, how involved of swap you want, and how fast you want to be.
Maybe Mini-Me, dohc zc, or sohc vtec

 

could i do anything with 3 or 4 grand after i buy the car? im kinda new to this import stuff what would each of those motors do for me. I take it a motor swap is nessecary.

 

If you can find yourself a beater CRX/CIVIC for about say 1500 bucks or less, you should have enough for some performance mods. good luck...

 

you can find a hybrid crx for around 4k so i suggest you just buy that usually with a b16a

 

can u guys give me any other advice when looking to buy a crx stock or already built. which would be better? Theres a good import shop that does motor swaps and stuff so they would give me a good deal but with only 4 or 5 grand i dont know how much i can do.

 

first of all if your on a budget dont take your car to a shop. get a helms manual. i would suggest getting a b16 ($2K) and then you could probably find a JRSC for about another 2 thou. thats just engine stuff but it would get you probably low 14's.

 

whats a jrsc? Low 14s is way fast. I dont think much around here could hang with me. how hard is it to do these motor swaps? And i cant just drop a motor in right what else needs to be done?

 

JRSC is a Jackson Racing Supercharger. Low 14's IS fast, too... oh yeah .

The engine swaps aren't that hard if you have a guide to do, but you can usually buy someone's finished project car for pretty cheap that I've seen... I think that's what the other people were suggesting.

If you want to know more about the B16A engine swap into a CRX, I have a section on my website about it... and I can give you lots more info if you want. HTH, and good luck .

 

another thing is, do you wanna do the work on it yourself or buy a prebuilt one and trust their work? i personally want to do everything mah self, i juss don't trust ppl, mechanically. plus thats all of the fun, customising to your individual likes. and with 3-4 grand after the purchace of a car, this is where you're preferences come in, i personally i would go the zc route, get Intake/Header/Exhaust, and if cash permitted i'd get some decent wheels and tires, or maybe some lowering springs, it's all about what you want though

 

ok so lets say i buy a crx for 1500 how much am i looking at for the motor trans and everything else i need to make it work? how much more would it cost for an install how much horsepower would that put me at without any mods?

 

Get yourself a crx with a deacent body but no engine, you wont need it anyways if your looking for a budget racer. second generation preferably but the 1st generation crx's were lighter, but in my opinion swaps into 2nd generation (88-91) crxs is easier. Once you have the car it all depends on how much you want and how fast you wanna go and how much you want to spend. If i were you id do what these guys are tellin you and just get a hlems manual and do all the work yourself, you will take more pride in your ride and if you run into problems, any of us are more than willing to help you out. The best model to get is the HF since it is the lightest but swaps are a little harder to do in this model, the easiest model and the most preferred is the Si, the 91 si comes with disc brakes in the front and rear. Swaps become al ittle easier with this model but its a little bit heavier. Now as for ways to go fast.
The single easiest way to make a crx go fast is to go hybrid, engine swap. go to the hybrid site for more info. You could also go forced induction on your stock motor, ie nitrous, turbo, or supercharger, but the best bet is to just do an engine swap.
The cheapest swap and easiest to do is the ZC it ranges in price but i would say its about 500 for motor only, it bolts up to your d series trannya nd is dohc, dual over head cam. This swap however gives you the least power of all possible swaps. My suggestion for you is to go b16a, it is the engine the civic and the crx SiR came with in japan 160 hp and you can get these engines for around 1000 for engine and tranny depending on where you get it from, try kwatanabe or nippon motors, kwatanabe quoted me about 700 for a b16a with y1 tranny. this will give you good power nad you can always do bolt ons, go na, or forced induction later. Heres how much it should all run.

Used crx with no engine about 1,500
B16a swap 1,500 complete
3,000 total

3,000 bucks is pretty good for a b16a crx. you could also strip the interior and lighten up the chasis as much as you can, this will give you alittle advantage, it all comes down to how much and how fast you wanna go. hope this helps.

Briefly, to do a b16a swap you need, engine, tranny, SiR ecu preferred (can usually get these three in a package), integra axles, shift linkage and mounts.


[Modified by HondaCRX, 7:04 PM 6/11/2001]

 

89-92 Civic Si/DX/HF hatchback or CRX with a 92-95 B18c or B16a USDM. plus go to eBay for things like I/H/E coilovers lights corner lenses etc. lots f good deals. sometimes on cars and motors too.

 

Here's what I tried to post last night, sorry, it got eaten and I went to bed...

If you can get a CRX for 1500, I personally know of a shop that's selling B16A's up here in Canada complete with engine, ECU, tranny, and a 1-week startup warranty for $1100 or so US. All engines are compression-tested before they're sold, too (always a good thing to check!).

The B16A is rated at 160 hp and 111ft-lbs of torque at 7600 RPM. It redlines at ~8000. Without ANY mods, I'd guess you'd probably have high 120 hp at the wheels, low 130 hp. On my car (it has no mods besides a drop-in K&N air filter) I run 15's on crap-*** tires .

For all the extras... you'd also need a mount kit, which you could probably get for $400 or so. Then you need to buy axles, some wiring, and that's about it... So theoretically you could do an install yourself for about $2000 (on top of the car's cost). It's a very good idea to also do stuff like replace the clutch, timing belt, water pump, spark plugs, distributor cap & rotor, etc... which will be another $5-600 or so (but that stuff you should be doing to a used car when you get it anyway).

There, that should cover it all... again, on my website I've got a listing of the costs I paid for everything as well as everything I bought... HTH!

 

i live in california and i heard i will not be able to get the car to pass smog once i do a swap is this true? also can anyone hook me up with someone with expirience in so cal?

 

another option would be a greddy turbo kit for the 92-95 sohc ex, this will bolt right up to pretty much any d-series sohc. and is only $1500 brand new, no motor swap needed.

 

ok guys i need some more advice. My buddy has a 90 crx dx that he said hell sell to me for 100 bucks, the paint is all messed up but i dont care about that. The tranny is blown but im thinking about doing a swap anyways so it dosnt reall matter besides evem if i did keep the motor thats in it the tranny is an auto so i would swap it anyways? is thos a good deal? what else to i need to look at on it?

 

Hell yeah thats a good deal! What you gotta check for is if the chasis is straight, check the body for any imperfections or prior collisions, look for structural problems, look at the suspension, brakes and electronics. Check everything on the car, if i were you id have a mechanic look at it. If your gonna do a swap then i wouldnt worry at all about the engine or tranny, toss em, you wont need em.

 

whatta u guys think do the swap or the turbo on the stock motor. what will be the diffrence in price?

 

one peice of advice wes, i know that crx DX auto is a good deal for what you're wanting to do. But unless you have a shop do the swap. It's going to be a nightmare to do. Trust me. I did a 91 civic DX auto swap to a b18A. What a PITA. great car when I was done but it was alot of time spent.... Just for your thoughts, visit hybid.honda-perf.org. It'll steer you in a good direction......

`steven

 

yea i was wondering about that. anyways i dont think i would be able to do it myslef anyways. but i called a regular import mechanic that my friends go to and he said he would give me a good deal o the swap if it will drop straight in he said he dosnt like to do this stuff usually but i cant find a good shop in san diego.

 

Wes, What mechanic did you call here in SD? Not too many Custom ride places here atleast from what i've seen. Im trying to find a good mechanic here who can do engine swaps and crap like that.

 

this was a regular repair mechanic. im going to go talk to a guy at mkinney motor sports theya re like 5 min frim my house ill let ya know what he says