Back from the Dead ('84 Honda CRX rescued from wrecking yard)

[C-REX]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Looks good! What PSI are you running?

What's next on the list?

44psi, that is the max pressure of these tires, Kumho Solus KR21, 155/80-13

[C-REX]

Originally Posted by Neen

That exact year CRX is my fav...the bucket-headlight 1st gen. Great find and try not to butcher that amazing sheetmetal.
BTW, what was wrong with it?

Well there is a laundry list, carb needs rebuilt, shocks and struts need replaced, brakes need done all the way around (right rear is grinding). then there is the check list that I do to every used car I get, Oil change,(done) Trans fluid change, coolant flush, (done) plugs, cap and rotor, Wires. and just recently I came acrossed a couple oil leeks that need addressed as well. Front main seal, valve cover, and oil pan. And there is still the exhaust leak (Cylinder 1 off the manifold). I am sure there is something I am forgetting but that is all I can think of for now. that is just the mechanical side of it all not one piece of plastic sits right on the car, both front fenders and the plastic in front of the hood are cracked both bumpers are floppy little rust around the rear panels and front pillers. *sigh* it is going to take a wile to address every issue
I am going to try to make every mod reversible just so that I don't destroy yet another crx, high school kids do enough of that for everyone.

[jrnsr]

Beautiful! We've owned 8 CRXs (including a convertible) and have an '84 just like yours.

If you want to bump mileage, I wouldn't spend a lot of effort on aero stuff, but try to recreate an HF. Our '87 HF was rated at 57mpg. I stuck Honda motorcycle carbs on a replacement SI engine (peppy as all getout) and still got 45mpg, and sometimes over 50. Our other SIs get 45-50mpg, so 60mpg is achievable with no radical changes. There is a guy over by me that does nothing but restore CRX HFs and resells them for big money. To maximize mileage, you should find the HF trans as it was geared really high. They also had very light aluminum wheels- I could kick myself for letting mine go. The rear brake drums were very light aluminum but are very hard to find. A set of headers would be desirable, but they're very rare, too. You will always have issues with that little 3 barrel and the CVCC head. I'm a Welding Engineer (I see you're into welding & fab) & mechanic and wasted many, many hours on our '84s original carb. I got a freshly rebuilt carb and it didn't idle any better than the one removed. I swapped a Weber carb like so many others and it helped but it still doesn't idle perfect. Now if you're really after high mileage, fuel injection would be the way to go.

[Arky_VX]

I love threads like these and I love that '86 CRX. When I was in high school, I had a Blue 1985 CRX HF model just like this with louvers on order and my payments were set at $100 a month LOL.

My stupid older brother talked me out of it and I got a Corvette, which I later regretted. That was pretty much the last time I ever took his advice.

Anyway, I love these cars. Can't wait to see what you do with this one. Make her shine!

[C-REX]

Originally Posted by jrnsr

Beautiful! We've owned 8 CRXs (including a convertible) and have an '84 just like yours.

If you want to bump mileage, I wouldn't spend a lot of effort on aero stuff, but try to recreate an HF. Our '87 HF was rated at 57mpg. I stuck Honda motorcycle carbs on a replacement SI engine (peppy as all getout) and still got 45mpg, and sometimes over 50. Our other SIs get 45-50mpg, so 60mpg is achievable with no radical changes. There is a guy over by me that does nothing but restore CRX HFs and resells them for big money. To maximize mileage, you should find the HF trans as it was geared really high. They also had very light aluminum wheels- I could kick myself for letting mine go. The rear brake drums were very light aluminum but are very hard to find. A set of headers would be desirable, but they're very rare, too. You will always have issues with that little 3 barrel and the CVCC head. I'm a Welding Engineer (I see you're into welding & fab) & mechanic and wasted many, many hours on our '84s original carb. I got a freshly rebuilt carb and it didn't idle any better than the one removed. I swapped a Weber carb like so many others and it helped but it still doesn't idle perfect. Now if you're really after high mileage, fuel injection would be the way to go.

seems you and I have a lot in common this is now my 3rd crx. I would like to get this one running to the best of its ability before going after any real mods. this weekend I am doing a tune up (cap, rotor, plugs, wires, air filter and both fuel filters and fix the exhaust leak in hopes that I can get the power back. it is running REALLY week at the moment at 55 mph in 5th It will start decreasing speed. I am pretty sure that isn't right. compression test showed all cylinders at or around 155psi. so its good. I plan to put my timing gun to it just to make sure it is good and I will be checking the vacuum advance tomorrow as well.

After this one is reliable I will probably hand it off to my better half and build an hf for me. for her a car has to be cute, for me a car has to be reliable and peppy is not a bad thing either. if you know of a good place to source parts for an hf that would help tremendously there isn't much in the local scrap yard and craigs list isn't much help either.

[muleboy]

Rockauto is the best resource I've found for mechanical parts (dirt cheap) for the majority of the wear items -plugs, wires, filters, gaskets, clutches, brakes, rotors, bearings, suspension parts.
Redpepperracing.com has a pretty active trade/swap/buy/sell board for 1st generation CRX's and 3rd generation Civic hatchbacks. And lots of good advice on diagnosis and repairs. Lots of nice people there (and not everybody there is into racing and horsepower--there are quite a few fuel-efficiency modders there too).

[xxPaulCPxx]

Two sites for CRX specific information:
CRX Community Forum • Index page for all CRX info... you can look up some rebuilding articles I posted awhile back.
Portal - Red Pepper Racing has 1st Gen (84-87) specific information.

I've rebuilt a couple CRX, and cut a couple down for parts: The main thing you need to look out for first is RUST in two main areas:
1 - Front Jack points. On the 1st gens, most of the water that got into the frame drained through a hole right in the front jack point (behind the front wheels). Unfortunately, this area is both a drain AND structural center point... and it gets eaten out by rust. It's not uncommon to not have front jack points, as they have so deteriorated that the jack has gone through them at some point. To this day, the first thing I look at on a 1st gen is the jack points!

2 - Seat Belt mounts. While scrapping a non-working car that had sat in a driveway for a year, I made an unpleasant discovery. While maneuvering around the inside of the car, I grabbed the drivers seat belt to pull myself up... and it came out of the floor. The belt was still firmly anchored in the threads in the floor mount, but the mount had rusted out of the floor!

[deejaaa]

that is my fave body style. can i ask what the cost of the car was? is there any rust issues? it looks like a time capsule.
were there any hidden treasures inside? i found a lot of ink pens and sales receipts on mine when i cleaned it out from 2 owners before.
what was rhe $12 dollar part?

[C-REX]

Originally Posted by deejaaa

that is my fave body style. can i ask what the cost of the car was? is there any rust issues? it looks like a time capsule.
were there any hidden treasures inside? i found a lot of ink pens and sales receipts on mine when i cleaned it out from 2 owners before.
what was rhe $12 dollar part?

$500, right rear wheel well has rusted threw and the left one is bubbling paint. under the carpet looks good has surface rust but still solid. front jack points are good. I have recently found a leak into the cab. it soaked my crx car bible (Chilton's). I looked for it but had no luck it seemed to just come up threw the floor no trails leading to the puddle, and yes it was a puddle you could see the water not just the wet spot. wet dry vac took care of that but still no luck on finding it. so when it gets warmer I will be ripping out the carpet and attacking it with a hose and see what I can find.as for the treasures well I found half a box of .22 rounds not a bad find lol. a thermostat was the part.

[user removed]

I bought an 84 in Houston Texas. It was a 1.5, serial number was 1018 (last 4 digits). Made 7-83, probably first couple of weeks production. Paid $7k brand new. Drove it two years and 50k miles, averaged 44 mpg, sold it for $5k.

regards
mech