Hi, I have run out of places to look for my future CRX. I have looked at all the places I can find here where I live, eBay, and Auto Trader (both online and the local mag.), where do you find such great deals!?

I drove one today for the first time and I liked it alot (not as much fun as the 68' Mini Cooper I drove last week ), the size, body style and gas mileage are awesome! Now for the question's...

I was wondering where you guys look for good deals, all I can seem to find are CRX's for $3-4k, I want a stock, lower mileage (under 110k) CRX in good condition so I can commute to work (80+ miles a day). Not sure if I want the SI or the HF or whatever models there are out there, I am leaning towards the SI...

I see that it is popular to do engine swaps, I have no clue of what engines there are and all that good stuff. I would love to do an engine swap in the near future, what do they run ($$) and what are my options? Links to sites with the info would probably be best. What would I expect to get on gas mileage and performance over the stock SI model. Basically looking for 30+ mpg, speed , and reliability (I dont mind having a custom engine built).

I am completely new to Honda's and have searched for most of the questions I am asking in this post (with no luck), so dont get mad if what I ask has been covered a thousand times

Thanks Much for any and all help!

-Joe

 

hi noob, man you don't know what a very large question you just asked, ya see the thing about honda is it has about fifty thousand diferent 4 cylinder engines and all of them can fit into a crx. it sounds like your budget is low if you don't want to buy a 3 thousand doller car, the cheapest deals are one crx shells, you know cars w/ no engines the best power for your money is a 92-95 sohc vtec moter called a d16z6, the 16 means 1.6 liters by the way, and use a 88-91 civic or crx transmission, newer civic tranys won't work easily couse how the clutch is activated is diferent, with a d16z6 u will have to switch from a wiring system set up for obd0 to obd1 and change the computer called a ecu to a p28 type ecu. you can do that type of swap for 500 - 1000 dollers. and you'll get 35+ mpg be very reliable, and run around 15's in the quater mile. also with any engine you will want to get after market performance intake,header, and cat back exhaust, hope that helps

 

lol, Thank you much. I do have about $7k to play with

I feel retarded asking questions about this stuff because I know soo much more about AirCooled VW's (what I currently drive) but this is a new playing field for me, all I know is old cars... Out with the old and in with the new I LOVE VW's and I would like to have a honda also (I see no reason to choose one or the other...), I plan to restore the dub then move onto the honda so I do have some time to figure stuff out...

About the $500-1000, was that doing it myself or having a shop do it? Im kind of scared of doing that stuff myself because of all those wires and crap. Are all the parts available either over the counter or off the net? and maybe some sites that cover this kind of swap? I have all the tools and most of the know how to do the engine swap, but how long does it take? Sorry for the bad questions but im a noob

I would love to get a crx for $4-5k in real good condition, I need the stock engine to last for at least a year. I found an 87' CRX SI with 27,000 original miles!!! it was in mint condition but it sold before I could check it out!!!! Ill keep you updated on what I end up getting.

Thanks MUCH!

-Joe

 

here is a good swap guide http://www.ef-honda.com/main/v...9a0cd

87 crx's are ok but they look gay, and have way less after market
88-91 crx's look sweet, and you'll have way more options

btw i have an 89 hf w/ d16z6 headers, intake, exhaust, lowered it's primer grey, its from texas and has no rust, but its in chicago now 1500$, 2000$ shipped to cali, you could take that extra 3 g's and make it super nice, and it very reliable

but trust me there are alot of crx's in cali already. i wish i lived in cali and had 5k to spend on a crx
but if you need help finding a good already swapped crx i could probably help you find one if you wanted.

500 diy, 1000-1500 at a shop, swapping honda moters with in the same engine family like the one i described is easy, it would take 5 hours to 3 days depending on your skills, tools, ect. if you had all the stuff you need like obd0 to obd1 wireing harness conversion kit. people who have very little mechanical knowledge can swap a honda engine w/ some instructions

 

I find the better deals are in your local town, neighborhood or county paper. The smaller the circulation the better. ( And if you see a model you like driving on the street always look closley for a "for sale" sign.)
You don't get the quantity of ads that Autotrader or big city papers get, but the car is closer to you and usually less money is wanted. It just takes longer to find the right car is all.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 4crx4me &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I find the better deals are in your local town, neighborhood or county paper. The smaller the circulation the better. ( And if you see a model you like driving on the street always look closley for a "for sale" sign.)
You don't get the quantity of ads that Autotrader or big city papers get, but the car is closer to you and usually less money is wanted. It just takes longer to find the right car is all.</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

meanwhile, to learn all you can, surf honda-tech. i cant even drive yet and ive completed a b16 swap alone in my garage - all thanks to honda-tech. Man i love this site!!!!!!!

 

Hey man, with 7k you can do wonders to a crx, I know exactly where ur comming from. about 2 years ago i bought my 89 crx si for 3k. It was in sweet condition, just painted, power coated underbody, lowered, intake, and exhaust. it had 130k miles on it. bought it in Cleveland Ohio, (I knew absolutly nothing about hondas) After the past 2 years i bought a zc motor (jdm crx motor 130hp dohc) it was $500 and i paid a shop $500 to help me put it in. With other misc. parts i bought (clutch,new exhaust, starter, alternator, radiator and damn near everything in the engine bay i have spent a total of around 5k including the price of the car. So if you have 7k to spend u can buy a real clean low mileage crx do a motor swap and end up with a sweet car. As far as motors go there are a ton of different ways you can go, For mild power increase i would go with a sohc motor (d16a6, d16y8) or the motor i have dohc zc. those 3 motors run about $500 and all have around 135hp. and are pertty easy to swap in (zc is the easiest) and if u wanted a big power jump go with a b series motor (b16a, b18a, b18c, h23, or h23.) those motors are all dohc and range in hp from 145-180 and are a little harder to do. Do some searching on the different motors (im sure there are web sites on all of em) and then u can deside on what u want to do
good luck and use honda-tech a lot, its where i learned everything i know

 

http://www.cars.com

 

I dont have A/C in my car now and I would love to have it in my CRX, with an engine swap can I run an A/C with little or no mods? Ill probably buy a CRX with stock A/C is that helps? Also for a swap where would I find the engine, I havent looked yet but I thought you might know of some good places I can check out, Thanks Much!

-Joe

 

dude, i used to live in the bay area in santa rosa...i see you're from petaluma...cool.

anyways, there are a ton of affordable options with 7k to play with. my advice is start simple and take your time. of course, it helps to surf this site whenever you have free time. also, for swap questions try using the search feature at the site...that'll help a lot too.

-cody