12 replies to this topic

[lance1gen]

I have always really wanted a CRX and now I have a couple of questions about them.  First is that i want to get a 1st gen but I still want to know what the pro's/con's of each gen is.(I personally like how they look.)  I can pretty much obtain a CRX for free but its an 85 carbed one and I heard it alot of work to convert to fuel injection and i cant stand carbs since my last project car(73 240z with dual carbs....pain in the ass to keep adjusted and running)  I was looking at the 86-87 Si's and I was wondering if you could make that stock motor run in the high 14's semi-easily, if not then goes in a B16.  Anyways thats all i need to know right now to get the car.  Thanks
Lance

[rpr]

Carb to fuel injection is not too bad, provided you have a donor car, or a good junkyard close by. Getting a stock SI into the 14's? Not sure what they do stock, but you would probably have to do a fair bit of work to get there. A B16 would definitely get you sub 14s times, but the cost is much higher, I would think.

It all depends what you want the car for, how much work you are willing to put into it, and how much money you have available to the project.

[xxpaulcpxx]

Instead of putting in the heavier motor, you may want to think turbo instead.  A great setup would be the same price as a B16, but you'ld have a ton more power.  The D15a3 is a much stronger motor than most other honda's from the get-go.

[lance1gen]

Well i do have a junkyard in my town and I work on cars all the time, usually when i get off work until bed, so about 6 hrs a day.  I actually dont really know what I would need to do the swap, I heard that you need to swap the fuel tank or fuel pump.  And about the D series turbo...sounds good but i've never heard of a D16a3 but I do know what D16a6's are and those are dime a dozen since there in a number of honda's.  I would like to know the cheapest route to go pretty much to be in the high-mid 14's AND have fuel injection.
Thanks for the input!!!
Lance

[rpr]

To convert a carb DX to fuel injection you will need at the very least the following parts:

-in-tank fuel pickup assembly from an SI
-inline fuel pump, SI or teg and brackets
-fuel hose from hard line to pump, and from pump to tank
-SI main fuel line
-fuel filter, SI or teg
-fuel hose from filter to fuel rail
-wiring harness from an SI or teg, depending on the engine
-ECU, SI, teg, depending on engine
-appropriate mounts for the engine

Optionally you can use the SI tank. It is about a gallon larger, and obviously has the in-tank pickup already.

What you need to do is remove the DX fuel return line, use the old DX main line as the return, and the new SI main line as the main line (of course!) Install the in-tank assembly, the fuel pump and brackets, filter, etc. All of this work will involve completely stripping the car. Completely. There will be nothing left of the interior. Trust me on this. Everything comes out. Dash. Steering column. Pedal assembly. Carpet. Seats. Everything. Remove the DX harness, and install the SI harness in it's place. Install the engine. Plug everything in. Try and start it. Then start troubleshooting.

There's more to it than that, but those are the basic steps. Depending on the engine, you will need axles, hubs, intake, exhaust, shift linkage, etc.

Still with me? Good. Also make sure you have spare cash, and lots of tools. If you don't have lots of tools, you will by the time you are done. Sounds like you are set there though.

That should give you a rough idea of what's involved.

[Bullet]

ummmm....wow Tom sounds like too much work to me, someone has to havew a lot of paitence for that, i would go crazy.  Now I know what stevie is saying about not wanting to attempt it!

[rpr]

That's not even half of it. That's just the fuel system. My first swap took me about six months, although there was a 3 month period in the middle where I was too frustrated to even look at the damn thing.

[xxpaulcpxx]

That's D15a3, not D16a3.  The D15a3 was also called the EW3,4 and 5.  The 86-89 Integra engine was called the D16a1.

[Davidov]

The stock carbs on the 1st gens weren't really that bad actually on the maintenance side.
Lots of guys on here have a twin carb setup on their little CRXs and seem to have plenty of power.

But if your set on FI then go for it, but the conversion seems to be more than you bargain for. (rather than buying a stock FI engine)

That's cool though that you had a carbed 240Z, my friend had a 76 280Z with tri-weber carbs going!  :0  he just rolled it last year....it was a sweet car.

[1GCRXDX]

To convert a carb DX to fuel injection you will need at the very least the following parts:

Heh I've seen that list quite a few times....seems to turn people away if you ask me. But it's true you do need all that stuff!  Just to get an Si would be so much easier and probebly cheaper too!

[frank5079]

If I had it all to do again, I probably would, just because I like the 1st gens, especially the '84 and '85 models. Unlike Tom, I had all day to finish my swap and working about 6 to 8 hours a day on it the whole project took about 6 weeks to finish(2 weeks was down time due to weather).

If I could find a rust-free '85 Straman convertible, for the right price, I'd do the teg swap on it as well as upgrading the front and rear bumpers, side rockers, and interior with the '86 or '87 Si pieces.

Frank

[rpr]

This swap, I don't have time. The first swap I took 6 months. Second was about 3 weeks. I think I'm going to take a weeks vacation and bang it off then, so my wife can't complain about me being in the garage all night/weekend.

[1GCRXDX]

Heh...my swap was a nightmare lots of fun though but dropping in that motor in about -5 degree weather at 11PM with lots of wind, no light, the temerature lowering by the minute, nothing going right, can't feel any parts of your body do to Cold. But hey! If your cold it means your not working hard enough right WES?