Unmolested 1986 honda CRX
 

I'm gonna go look at this tomorrow if the guy still has it, is this worth what he is asking...?
P.S I'm going to walk up with 1,500 cash and see if he will take it, worth even at 1500?

1986 HONDA CIVIC/CRX HF 5 SPEED VERY NICE STOCK CONDITION

Not if I get there first! Nice find. It may be. Out in Cali rust is less of a issue than here, but if I saw a clean crx around here I'd be all about it. Drive it before you think money and realize most guys can be reasoned with one price

Wow,what a time capsule!

Freaking awesome little car,I love the 1G CRX's..
That'd be worth every penny of $1850,and he's including all those OEM parts to boot..

Just make sure the engine runs great as I don't know how parts availability is for those motors anymore.


I'm jelly.

What exactly made an "HF" different from the other trims in its generation? Manifold? How would he identify that the important parts are still on the car?

Dash and plastics look sunburned. But it is really nice. With all that work on the timing and transmission, And the somewhat faded condition, I wonder what it has been doing with such low miles after 28 years. I wonder about suspension parts, hoses and stuff that might dry out in a desert setting.

Go have a look. If it drives well it's a steal.

This gen1 CRX is the car that put the Civic high on the list of cars I wanted. I was not old enough to drive, and I already monitored hih fuel economy cars.

Well I called him and he said it runs great, but the bearing or something is making a weird noise when it's in gear, he said when you push the clutch, it goes away. If he wasn't so damn far away, I would go look at it today, but it's a 40 mile each way round trip, and I don't even have the money with my anyway, it's at home. If anyone else lives around and wants to go grab it, please do. I would hate to see some hot rod kid pick this up and ricer it out.

IIRC, that's an indicator of a problem with the input shaft bearing or the throwout bearing. The latter is easier to remedy than the former. Both require removing the transmission. The part itself is only like $100 but the labor is much costlier (unless you invest your own time, then you get slave wages).

How much do you think labor is going to cost?

[Edit]: The main reason I wanna get this car is, it already gets 60mpg freeway, and I'm going to kammback, grill block, and underbelly pan it, I'm betting I would get at least 70 with that...

that can is in nice condition.
I think it's worth it.

I drove one of those brand new.....awesome power to weight ratio!!!!!

Depends on who you hire, I suppose. Got a friend willing to help out for the priceof dinner and some beer? If it's a shop I would think removing the transmission to replace some bearings and do the clutch and such (since you'll have the parts on hand and they're going in anyway) would be several hundred mijimum to a couple thousand likely.

Yea... We will see, I'll go look at it Tuesday maybe and see what happens.

Well I went to look at it, and it's a good little car, it runs extremely good except it won't idle when it's cold, you have to wait for the needle to rise just a tiny, tiny bit before it will idle properly, then it idles normally at around 750rpm. It shifts extremely well, doesn't pop out of gear or anything. My parents won't give me the 500 I need to get it so, I can't get it. Oh well.

Was it a carburetor or fuel injection in those days? If carb, I suppose it had a choke that would even out the idle until warm enough to idle normally.

It's a carb. And it idles fine when it's warm, but from a cold dead start you gotta stay on the throttle or it will die every now and then. It might be a float issue. I'm not 100% sure.

Oh also, for those who were asking, the HF stands for "High fuel economy". Normal CRX is rated for 33 and the HF is rated for 51.

My mom is going to help me with the money so, looks like I will get it supplied my dad goes ok's it. He is gonna test drive it himself on Thursday.

The carburetor and vacuum system on those can really be a nightmare to fix when things go wrong and with the issues members here are having finding with cracked exhaust manifolds on later models, where there are NO replacement parts available makes any repair attempt practically impossible.

The driveability problems you're describing are most likely related to vacuum carb issues.

regards
Mech

I'm betting it was not an HF. The HF has like 62 or 68 horsepower and tall gears in its own trans. Very low powered (even to weight ratio) car. Probably the least peppy car I ever drove but I loved mine anyway.

That is a mighty cool lil crx. Nice to see in that condition.

Would you recommend me not getting it then? I mean it drives fine warm, and im not gonna pay more then 1500 for it so, yea...

Compared to your problems fixing your present car, it's going to take a real pro to fix that fuel system, if it gives you any problem. I personally would not give MYSELF a high percentage of chance to make it run right and if I ran into an unobtanium part then it might never get fixed and thats with 30 years experience.

regards
Mech

I'm on the other side of the fence.
Old school mechanic work is easier. Things you can diagnose with your eyes and ears. Todays cars require computers to diagnose.
Nothing tough about a bunch of vacuum hoses. Replace them all (for $10) if you suspect any vacuum leaks. Do one at a time so everything goes where it belongs. If there is still a vacuum leak check for things like intake gasket leaks. You can check with it running and carb spray or starting fluid or such.

I looked through the fuel logs and there is only one similar Honda, an 83 Civic 1500S hatchback (mid 30s MPG). I bought an 84 CRX 1.5 CVCC in 1983, the serial number was 1018, it was made in July 1983 and cost me $7k with no AC or radio. I drove it 50k miles and averaged 44 MPG.

You don't even want to think of a carbed CVCC Civic at 30 years age, unless you are a retired master Honda tech from that era.. If they were still that great there would be some in the garage on this site. In their time they were the champs, one car mag drove an 84 1.3 at 55 MPH and got 73 MPG.

With todays ethanol fuel, it might be hard to get one to run right on E10 if it (the car) was brand new, much less at 28 years age and closing in on 200k miles.

regards
Mech

Oh I never really considered the fact it will never run right on E10, and then I thought for a minute, well more like 3 hours as I was at work when I read your message... My little brothers Carb'd 1988 Dodge Dakota doesn't quite idle right cold either... It never has since he bought it, and he does get really crappy mpg to, the best he can get driving 45mph on the freeway hypermiling like no other, is 14, yet his truck is rated for 17. That's gotta tell you something. He has had it tuned up, all O2 sensors replaced, everything.

I put manual chokes on carby stuff- they work EVERY TIME.

Plus I don't care if there's a hesitation or anything at cold idle... because I DON'T COLD IDLE. I start it and go. If it means feathering the throttle a bit for the first 30 seconds, so be it. I will survive. And I have.

The '59 doesn't even have any choke on it; I disabled the auto choke and meant to put a manual in but I've found that a couple of pumps of the gas pedal will get her started, then a little of the aforementioned feathering, and we're off in style! Of course I don't use it in the winter, though.

Re: cracked manifolds: If I couldn't find one, perhaps it could be successfully welded? If not, couldn't a header be fitted?

How do you put a manual choke on an electronic choke vehicle? Wouldn't that mess with stuff?

Never done it but I'd pull the wire off and tape it.

From the description the current owner gave you it would be the input shaft bearing (ISB). It's not a cheap fix if you don't know how to rebuild transmissions.





ZO.