63 replies to this topic

[P-Tail]

Hi there,

This is not a super ambitious, or very ambitious, or even slightly ambitious project. The point however is for me to document my progress and get input/motivation from the wealth of experience and knowledge on this forum.

My goals for this car are to take car of it! I expect to keep it for as long as I can, and since Im not into racing (yet) and Im a pretty safe driver I think Im on the right track. I want to restore the car and modify it tastefully. Also, although I am on the standard college student budget, I would like to someday do an engine swap. Nothing huge, just maybe a browntop or something, but that is very much a dream right now. Also switch to manual trans. However, priorities now are on bringing this machine up to par (or possibly to birdie).

I picked up my first honda a few weeks ago, a 1986 CRX dx automatic 4 speed. For starters, I live in Michigan, near Detroit. Not exactly the best place to find imports. Anyways, after extensive searching and all that, I found my crx outside of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. At $850, it seemed like a good deal. 100,000 miles, some rust, clean interior, some driver seat rips. Original owner had it for a few years, garaged it for about 11, gave it to her nephew in high school. He did some distasteful mods, and then sold it to another guy. This guy took very good care of it. Chopped the poopcan, redid exhaust from the header back, fixed up all the mundane things such as timing belt, things like that.

Anyways, he puts it up on craigslist, and I pounce on it. This was a few weeks before the end of my semester (just finished up sophmore year of college, jewelery design, but more on that later ) and so we had to work out a few timing issues. Long story short, I take a greyhound down there for 45 bucks, then drive it 300 miles back for 30 bucks. Not bad I thought.







So that was the beginning of May.

Since then I have done some work. The first thing I did was add a poop can . Well, its a thermal r&d, and it doesnt sound outrageous. Although its huge, it has definitely given me a bit of power. Before the new muffin, I was getting 35-37 mpg highway, and now I get 40-41 mpg highway. Nice! Nt sure how many horses were added, but for an EW1, it was probably a nice gain percentage wise.

There is one odd thing though...with a manual it wouldnt make a difference, since its an automatic, this change in power has somehow disrupted the way in which the trans shifts. Pre muffin I would hardly go above 4k rpms, but now I go to 5.5k, and it seems to be shifting inefficiently. I guess thats to be expected? Yes no?

I'll get some pictures of it tomorrow and you can tell me how bad it looks.

Next on the list of things to do is rust control and paint restoration. I gave it a good rubdown the other day and WOW, several shades whiter! The pinstripes were in ok shape, so I removed them. I will sand the rust, do a tiny bit of bondo work, repaint, and then polish. Pics to come


Things in the near future that may actually be worth reading this thread for: Custom badging.
As I mentioned earlier I am studying jewelry design. Now you may not know but the jewelry industry is rapidly becoming a CAD industry. Anyways, I go to Kendall College f Art and Design in Grand Rapids, MI, and we have all kinds of toys, rapid prototyping, cnc, full casting and fab setup....anyways, most traditional jewelry stuff doesnt apply, but I will definitely be writing some files to have CNC milled and finished OEM style. On the back hatch, I am thinking I will replace the "civic" badge with "crxxx" or possibly something stupid like"ptail style" or "edition or whatever. I do plan to make an array of custom OEM style stuff throughout, and once that side of things gets going, I definitely could hook up members with custom badging

Anyways, thanks for reading and get ready for a slow transformation!

Edited by P-Tail, 22 May 2008 - 01:34 AM.

[CarNutCertifies]

Hey looks like you got yourself a great project, So how does it look underneath? I see you have rust under the tail lights and in the common spot above the rear fender wells. Have you checked under the floorboards? and some of the other rust prone spots?

[mn85crx]

Looks like you have a decent project car, what would a project CRX be without a little rust.

I have a couple questions for you. First of all, I love Thermal R&D exhaust, to me it has the sweetest sound of all the Honda aftermarket exhausts. I was wondering what system did you use for the first gen CRX and where did you get it from, I want to put it on my CRX? Also, if you do go with custom badging and take off you oem badging I would take them off of your hands for you.

Good luck with the car and have fun with it.

Scott

[P-Tail]

Hey thanks fr the replies. The rust.....well, I know for sure there is at least one hole in the floor, I think someone may have tried to jack it up on some rusting part there. Its not horrible underneath, its definitely not good though. Right now I am aiming for rust control rather than elimination. I dont really have the facilities to do much fab work, so I will try to sand and seal what I can to slow it down.

The thermal exhaust I have is off a later civic. The previous owner redid from the header back, but didnt really reroute anything(I think). So I chopped off the muffler he had and had a hell of a time getting the civic one to fit. Its only an axelback, and since the crx's back is so short compared to the civic, theres some less than professional modifications to the piping before the muffler. Right now, the muffler will tap the axle if I smoke any large bumps, but for the most part it clears fine. Ill get some pictures of the clearance as soon as my battery charges...

The reason I went with that muffin is because I got it for $80. Im not sure if that is the best way to go about it, but for what it is I think it was a reasonable deal.

Ill have pics tonight.

[CarNutCertifies]

Well one thing my dad used to do with floorboards...I may need to mention his name is Jerry......He would cut the rusted floor board out with a grinder with a cutoff wheel then he would paint the edges with primer and paint it, He would then come back with a chicken wire mesh and lay it over the floor board, then he would use fiberglass on both sides. this is a temp fix. this way no holes in the floor and it stops the elements from getting in until you can get the panels fixed.

[P-Tail]

Well one thing my dad used to do with floorboards...I may need to mention his name is Jerry......He would cut the rusted floor board out with a grinder with a cutoff wheel then he would paint the edges with primer and paint it, He would then come back with a chicken wire mesh and lay it over the floor board, then he would use fiberglass on both sides. this is a temp fix. this way no holes in the floor and it stops the elements from getting in until you can get the panels fixed.

Thats a good idea, I may have to add that to the list of things to do. Thanks!


So, I removed the pinstripe because it wasnt in great condition, and it makes it look a bit cleaner/less busy. Just need to scrub off the 22 year old adhesive .





Heres the clearance of the thermal r&d. Its not great...but it rarely taps the axle.





I started on rust control: the driver side rear quarter was cake, just sanding and repaint. The driver side required a little bondo, which I have never used before, so half of it looks good, half needs to be sanded/finished some more. Still working on the back strip panel. In the future I will take off the plastic panels (these are called ground effects?) and try to tame what nasties dwell under there.


was rust here


probably still rust under here, but Im going to redo the ride side of this one.


was rust here


soon to be white


Im about to start on removing the antenna now that I've tasted (well not tasted) bondo.



Also, a previous owner put led wiper squirters on, and they are silly. I will keep them, but they are very white, so I'll get some 7000 temperature hi lows so my headlights will match them. They are very subtle, which is what Im going for.


Ill get some night shots too.

[P-Tail]

I have been looking for rims for a while, and havent really seen any I like. I want them to be stock looking, not stupid looking.



I found these for $125. Thing is they are 4x112 or something. Im trying to get a price for machining them to 4x100, so Im not sure if they are worth it. I would love some insight as to how much that machining costs or should cost, and whether the whole operation is worth it. I love the rims though, they are 15" x i think 5.5"

What do you think?

[cburnscrx]

If you're looking for cheap you could always get the Geo Storm GSi wheels. They are the right bolt pattern but the center hub is a little small. Almost any maching shop can bore them out a bit. They generally look better on the Si, but they are really really cheap. There's something to be said for cheap.

As for what they look like, think the 2nd gen CRX Sawblades, only 15's.

[P-Tail]

So things are coming along. I am starting to get busy with work, so things aren't very fast, but Im getting the cashflow.
Heres a small update:

I doubt that I will buy rims anytime soon, so I decided to spruce up my...wheel covers in the meantime.




Im pretty pleased with the results. They are kindof silly, but considering they are only a few hours in work and few bucks in paint, I think they are worth it.

Also, they antennae shave is going alright. I need to sand and paint some more, hopefully I'll get some pics soon.

I put in some higher temperature headlights, and they are great. For $15 shipped from ebay they make the car look a lot less like an old beater and more like a modern car.

Tonight I will have a new set of tokico blues that I got for $150. I plan to have the backs in by next week, and the struts in a bit later.

[CarNutCertifies]

Hey that dont look all that bad. I admire the bugetness of it. Keep it up. I love it when someone builds a nice looking car on a budget and it doesnt look like its been built on a budget.

[P-Tail]

Ok, so I have the shocks, and I am trying to do the rears.


Theres a problem...

I cant get this bolt off:

The nut for it is welded on, Im not sure if this is normal or not. Anyways, its out of the nut, but its stuck in the shock piece? Is it threaded through the shock?




Any help would be awesome! Thanks!

Edited by P-Tail, 15 June 2008 - 03:27 PM.

[Ghost-One]

cut the bolt with a grind der and back the re rmainng part out
or try to prey the shock from the bolt by means cro bar

but i would get a grinder out

[P-Tail]

cut the bolt with a grind der and back the re rmainng part out
or try to prey the shock from the bolt by means cro bar

but i would get a grinder out

Well, all I've got is a hacksaw I'll get to work

[klyph]

I'd first try to use a punch to knock it out, looks like you've got it past the threads.

[P-Tail]

I've tried heat and knocking it and cutting the bolt. I got the shock off, but part of the bolt is still on. The spacer is stuck on that part, so that whole thing is stuck on there still. Tomorrow, I'll get a sawzall, and chop that mother off