Project IRX: CRX-Insight Renaissance Experiment

[SVOboy]

Yeah, I like taking stuff off. Part of the reason is it keeps me from messing stuff up. Except this time I dropped a fender and my hood, but I didn't scratch the hood, just the fender that hit my in the head first. But probably better than average for me

I've actually got some body work to do, I'm quite scared.

[Christ]

Body work where? 1/4 panels? Redo them with FG, not metal. If you do them with metal, and you don't get it perfect, the weld seams will rust even faster.

It's faster, easier, and more reliable to just cut out the sections that are rusty, and just do a wet layup of FG right there on the body, like you're fixing a boat. Do them inside and out, to make sure it's not susceptible to rusting again.

As long as you maintain the chassis properly, and keep an eye underneath, you shouldn't have any real issues with corrosion.

[SVOboy]

There's just a spot or two of surface rust, one on the bottom of the rear quarter and one on the driver's door. No biggy. I'm just scared. I suppose I'll sand and bondo.

[Christ]

Make sure you go about 4" around those areas, because it doesn't always show up immediately, but can be forming under the OEM primer.

As long as it's not rusted through, bond-o is a great tool. I just hate it when people start making pieces of body panels out of bondo... like when there's a dollar bill sized rust hole, and instead of fixing it correctly, they just slap on some mud, paint over it, and call it "body work".

[SVOboy]

I'm just scared about it not being smooth and how to match up the paint colours, etc

Fear controls me!

[Christ]

"Smooth" body work is a function of how long you want to spend sanding and shaping.

Paint matching is more of an issue... you can't really just add touch-up to an area anything larger than a quarter... you'll have to go get either a pint or a quart of some OEM honda paint in the code that's on your driver's B-Pillar in the door jamb, and follow their thinning procedure (ask the body shop tech, he can tell you how to thin it out from the paint code). Follow the paint guidelines in the back of a hayne's manual, they're pretty OK for getting decent results.

[SVOboy]

I wonder if I should move this post to the hybrid forum...

Today's update:

I spent a while running up to Rahway to pick up that FEH pattery pack, so I lost a lot of time on my swap. After that I ended up falling asleep and not getting anything done, but I felt bad about that so I went out before all the light was gone and pulled the dash out, which wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

Anyway, didn't do much other than that besides order my cable to hydro clutch adapter, which is a neat little gadget that'll save me some hassle.

Tomorrow I hope to put in a solid day dropping out the engine, pulling out the wiring, and messing around getting the new engine in position.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

I wonder if I should move this post to the hybrid forum...

Today's update:

I spent a while running up to Rahway to pick up that FEH pattery pack, so I lost a lot of time on my swap. After that I ended up falling asleep and not getting anything done, but I felt bad about that so I went out before all the light was gone and pulled the dash out, which wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

Anyway, didn't do much other than that besides order my cable to hydro clutch adapter, which is a neat little gadget that'll save me some hassle.

Tomorrow I hope to put in a solid day dropping out the engine, pulling out the wiring, and messing around getting the new engine in position.

Careful with that adapter, some of them really suck, and it seems that the more adjustment points it has, the more likely it is to feel muted and fail eventually.

It's almost easier to just swap to a hydraulic clutch, honestly. It just requires a bit more fabricating.

[SVOboy]

Well, I somewhat have faith in hasport since everyone seems to love them. To switch totally to hydraulics wouldn't I need do drill up my firewall to mount the pedal and clutch slave cylinder? I don't really think there's room for it, but I'll cross that bridge if I'm unsatisfied with the adapter.

[Christ]

Oh, there's room for a race pedal, but you'd have to get an auto pedal assembly and then drill the firewall for the mount plate for the race pedal.

If you wanted, you could also hack up the pedal assembly from a Hydro car and mount it up that way. You'd still have to drill a hole or 8 to mount the master cylinder, though.

I've got a spare pedal assembly from my '89 Civic, and there's still a set in the CRX, if you need one to play with when/if you come to get that axle, you can have a set.

EDIT: Larry's Take on the HaSport cable/hydro conversion kit It's about 2/3 of the way down the page, you'll see the image after the dyno sheets and such.