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

[C-REX]

ok new fuel filters(primary and secondary), plugs and wires( old plugs where way out of gap .030 Vs .045) New cap and rotor (ugly points) and redid the timing, the distributer was turned about 5-7 Degrees. and adjusted the carb, (not sure if I did that one right, I have never adjusted a carb before but we will see.
She seems to have way more pull threw the higher rpms but seems to still be lacking power. I was only able to run about 3500 rpm before, now I am able to get close to 5000. she will now idle ( most of the time) motor seems to be running a lot smoother to. I am going to get in contact with an old family friend to have him help me rebuild and dile in the carb. but for now this will have to do.

[C-REX]

Originally Posted by 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!

seat belt mounts!? could that be where my puddle materialized from? is there any sorta drainage running threw that region of the car? I wouldn't think so but I am unsure.

[xxPaulCPxx]

Water intrusion likely comes from the rear hatch. Check to make sure the seals are good, and that the drain holes are not plugged.

OK, quick Honda History lesson:

the 1st Gen CRX came our during the transition between carburetors and Fuel injection... so they have a little of each. the CVCC engine was another in between step to help with fuel economy. In the 2nd gen CRX, the HF and DX (or STD) models had a fuel injection system that looked suspiciously like a carburetor!

You can't easily switch from a carbed engine to a FI engine... there is ALOT of new wireing involved. You have carbed, stick with that.

Here is the good news... Honda is an engine manufacturer. They also happen to make fantastic cars to go around them. There was so much engineering that went into every component in that engine, and the whole vehicle, that if you never held every part in your own hand you'll never see. But you will feel it. Very few cars feel as good to drive as a 1st gen CRX. There is a reason people still drive around these 30yo grocery getters!

It's easy to get lost in everything that you COULD do with the car... start with getting the engine back to where it should be first (this isn't American disposable crap, Yoshiro had a hand in this car). Then get your driving technique down. Then get the Aero Mods.