CRXFi Build Thread (Geo Metro XFi drivetrain in Honda CRX)

[RobertSmalls]

$250? Nice find, and I would like to see the pictures.

What was the previous owner doing? Did he get halfway in to swapping in an Insight powertrain when he gave up and sold the shell?

Any idea how much it weighs in its current form?

[Christ]

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

$250? Nice find, and I would like to see the pictures.

What was the previous owner doing? Did he get halfway in to swapping in an Insight powertrain when he gave up and sold the shell?

Any idea how much it weighs in its current form?

1,300# - 1,400# less engine/trans and interior for the '88 HF, IIRC.

Great find, Will. If you want to get a windshield from the junkyard, lemme know, and I'll try to make time to go up and help you pull it if you need assistance.

If you need anything, I already told you to question me for it, I might have some bitties layin' around for you, like calipers to rebuild (maybe) and such.

Will, in case you don't know, you're starting off w/ the lightest 2nd gen chassis out there for the CRX models. There is still more weight to be lost, if you're interested, but it involves a drill and holesaw, and piddling with bits here and there. With enough time/patience, you can get that car down to a safe 1,100#-ish before engine/trans/interior.

[Wonderboy]

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

What was the previous owner doing?

He had used it for racing (what type I don't know), but now that I've had a better chance to look it over, apparently it had been involved in a minor collision near the passenger side of the radiator, from about 1 o'clock (If we're looking at a birdseye view of the car, with the front pointing up). In addition to the damage to the left side of the radiator bracket, the slight dents to the rear driver side of the engine bay near the strut tower gave me the idea from what direction the collision occurred. I think the extent of this damage is negligible given the additional support from the front crossmember, but my dad reminded me that a picky inspector or an insurance company wouldn't agree with me, so I've got to do something about it, but Christ may already have something in the works for me. BTW I feel so lucky to live near him of all people here. What a resource . Here's the pics.









Fun fact 1: The VIN indicates that this car was actually made in Japan instead of Canada like most 4th gen Civic/ 2nd gen CRX found in the US.

Fun fact 2: The previous owner had some honda DOHC swap that required cutting out some of the supports under the hood surface. A little bonus weight reduction!

Fun fact 3: Aside from the typical "honda rust" on the aft side of the rear wheel wells, the shell is very clean and rust free.

[Christ]

#1 - The core support needs to be replaced. You'll spend a day and a half getting all the pieces that are supposed to be there, and you'll still only have a welded core support when you're done.

#2 - The scarring on the driver's side strut tower is from what's called a "quick swap". We don't care if the engine hits or not pulling it out, and big motors are tight fits in this chassis. Often, the accessories and the crank pulley will strike/drag that area as they're being taken out/put in. Slap some plastic filler over that area if you're really worried about it, and paint over it. It won't hurt anything. My Civic was worse, because I used to install/remove the engine on my own with a chain around my neck/shoulders. Hard to keep it from hitting stuff like that.

#3 - The DOHC motor he had was most likely either a B-series or H-series. Very unlikely that it was a K-series. Best bet is probably a B18 or B20 (1.8 or 2.0L). Either one explains all the under-hood cut up and damage that can be seen.

#4 - I'll get you those pics tomorrow via txt. I've got to be right next to it to help a guy get parts from an F150 anyway, and I've got to setup my buddy to work on my TwinStar while I'm moving the Katana up to my truck, as well as getting ready to bring a T-bird SC home next week. (Add that to my list ).

#6 - I missed #5. There was no #5 anyway, but I still missed it, so I added #6 to tell you that.

#7 - You're more than welcome to check around my place if you come get that core support from me, in case there's anything else you might be interested in, or other parts you might need. There's all kinds of crap around here, and I'm always looking to make deals, as you know.

[Wonderboy]

As I'm impatiently waiting for a replacement windshield and core support to be put in properly (I decided to outsource these activities)... It's time to start thinking about the swap. I lazily haven't done much but look at how and where I'm going to fuse the g10's exhaust with the CRX's exhaust/muffler. It doesn't look like it will be too difficult. I expect the metro axles to fit into the crx hubs without a fight - as I mentioned before in this thread, the outer splines of the metro axles fit perfectly into the crx hubs, and the CRX and metros have track widths with negligible difference where axles are concerned (I think the crx is 2mm wider If I remember correctly). The only concern here is getting the motor mounted at the proper elevation and center to properly accommodate the axles, exhaust, and shift linkage... Any pointers on how to achieve this? Any insight on which gauge cluster to use (will more of the CRX components like windshield wipers, lights, fuel gauge, speedo, tach work properly when hooked up to the geo cluster, or vice versa?) I can't wait to find out for myself, but any guidance is appreciated while I twiddle my thumbs waiting.

[Christ]

The cluster has nothing to do with things like the wipers, turn signals (besides the indicators, which you'll just wire in from the CRX's cluster harness) etc.

The CRX's speedo is cable driven, and I suspect the G10 trans also has a cable drive... you might need to source someone to make a cable with the CRX's head end and the G10's driven end, or see if you can make the Metro's speedo cable fit on the CRXs' head.

Chances are, it's going to be easier to just leave the CRX gauge cluster in there - except - making the tach work will require a "healer" of some sort, because the tach is meant for a 4 cylinder, not a 3. It gets it's signal from the igniter in the dizzy - I believe the green wire - so you might have to figure out about using a resistor or something to keep it accurate, but I'm not sure about that. It might "just work".

[Christ]

I'll check and see, I might have an extra CRX dash harness laying that you can have. You'll have to meet me at Pick-A-Part sometime, though.

[Wonderboy]

A 4th gen civic dash harness would work for this too though, right? At least there are a few of those left at Gary's. The 2 CRXs right next to each other I told you about were FRICKIN' GONE when I went looking for that core support, but more importantly a windshield. A note to readers of the future: A 4th Gen Civic (88-91) windshield is different from a 2nd Gen CRX (88-91). Not swappable. This means I have to find CRX parts somewhere else <grumble> and learn my lesson: Cars only last ~4-6 weeks at Gary's U-Pullit. A P.I.T.A. policy if you ask me. Gotta love a place where you can get fenders for like 12 bucks, but you gotta hate it when you see something you want, plan on coming back with the tools to get it, eventually come back, and the damn car is gone already.

[Christ]

I believe I had some minor troubles when I swapped the Si harness into my Sedan, so I'm not 100% on them being swappable.

Also, something about the HF harness is slightly different than any other harness, IIRC. The HF has a speedo-mounted VSS that controls the shift indicator light's programming in the ECU, as well as extra wiring for the light itself, if you needed it. You won't be running the ECM from the CRX, though, so it's not likely that you'll need it. (Unless you chip it or run a DPFI ECM on a TBI G10, which might work, but will require some creative fuel management techniques.)

Regardless, the quickest way to check is just to pull your dash harness (takes like 30 mins if you've pulled the dash before) and take it with you, then just make sure it has all the same wires (clips don't really matter, wires and colors do) in it.

I can tell you that 88/89 and 90/91 have many differences in the chassis, so the wiring is probably slightly different, but you can directly plug one cluster into the opposite car without changing the wiring at all. You would need the cluster hood from the car that the cluster comes from, though.

If you need help pulling the dash, lemme know, I can make a list of all the bolt locations for you. Also, if you can get in touch with Ben, he's pretty familiar with dash wiring at this point, I'd think.

In any event, that harness is here if you need it.

[MetroMPG]

This is too cool! You'll have it ready for GGP, right?

Originally Posted by Christ

making the tach work will require a "healer" of some sort, because the tach is meant for a 4 cylinder, not a 3. It gets it's signal from the igniter in the dizzy - I believe the green wire - so you might have to figure out about using a resistor or something to keep it accurate, but I'm not sure about that. It might "just work".

I'm pretty sure I've seen a thread at teamswift about how to mod a tach from a 4-cyl suzukiclone to make it work with the 3-cyl.