140 replies to this topic

[pmmacy]

Getting into the restoration fairly well now. Inspected the main support bars underneath and noticed some floorboard rust so I took out the carpet and WOAH!...rust everywere along the outer edges of the floorboards and the front of the floor pan along the firewall. Also up the firewall in the outside corners. I have decided that Straman did not put much effort into metal preservation after they cut and welded on these cars. What a mess. Also rust under the rear cross piece that forms the trunk and also throughtout the channel that forms the trunk drain channel and the mount for the trunk lid seal. I see how they mounted a large plate in the front of the car on each side to weld to the main supports underneath. As long as this is structurally intact, I can sandblast out all of the rust and repair the floorboards with fiberglass. The welding is crappy for the most part and will require some touching up to ensure that no further moisture gets in. What a pain. If this were not such a unique car I would take it to the scrap yard.

[WOLFCRX]

They left lots of pockets for moisture to hide and create problems in these cars, after they did there welding they did nothing to replace the paint that burned off the metal so the inside floor pans usually have a fair amount of rust on them. I've found this is mostly surface rust and comes off fairly easily, the rust that comes from the under side of the pans are what eats through and creates the problems. My 84 lived it's life here in Bakersfield so the so the body of the car is in great shape but the metal bracing looks to be thinner and the rust has destroyed it so I have to replace it all, my 87 the bracing was in great shape but the car had more rust being from a more humid climent (Long Beach).

Here are my rebuild posts of my Stramans with pictures, they might help in your rebuild.

My 87 http://www.redpepper...showtopic=35931

My 84 http://www.redpepper...showtopic=44827

Doug

[94accordsedan]

#1061 as it sits right now



Still completely unrestored. 71,900 miles on the odometer.

[slimwhitman]

For anyone that wants to see a mid-80s article on Straman that was sent to me, please see it here:

 

http://www.facebook....ps/56345869254/

 

It features the CRX

[ArnyBoy]

Picked up ST#1108  86 Si white from a guy here on RPR and now am just starting the deconstruction fase on her, starting to round up the parts and going to have to start on the rust removal soon, its a little icky by the mudflaps but overall satisfied with the purchase.

I need some ideas on rims.... size,offset,widths etc...

[slimwhitman]

Picked up ST#1108  86 Si white from a guy here on RPR and now am just starting the deconstruction fase on her...

 

Welcome to the club.  My brother just bought one as well.  Good to see these getting fixed up rather than scrapped.  Hopefully that is the trend of the future.

[goelette]

[quote name='WOLFCRX' post='512174' date='Jan 30 2011, 02:08 AM']Found these pictures of a Straman in Texas taken May 5 2009, I got Texas off the license plate.




Doug[/quote
I recently purchased the Straman civic in the picture out of Dallas Texas It is number ST 1081 in fair condition has one fender badge on it and the plate in the door. It is pretty much all original with 89,000 miles showing on the odometer. I have 1400.00 dollars in it and it runs drives and is inspected. Cosmetically it is in pretty rough shape. I am wondering where replacement moldings and convertible roof could be had? It has original paint and runs amazingly well, although it idles very fast when cold. If anyone has parts like moldings and such give me a shout.

Thanks

 I just bought this car!

As the owner in Virginia told me, he bought it in Texas. Now, it's going to Europe, The Netherlands.

Everything still looks the same, exept for the interiour which is black now and the CRX decal in the back is now Civic. The broken mouldings are still broken in the same place. It still idles fast when cold. But now it has 102,000 miles.

I'll let you know if it gets here (it will take approx 2 months to ship) and post current pictures.

 

Is there anyone who has more info on this car? please share!

 

grtz Tom

[WOLFCRX]

 

Straman ID# ST1108
Year: 1986
Model: Si
Mileage: 160,000
Transmission: Manual
Color: White
Interior color: Off Black
Top color: Black
A/C: Yes
Honda Build date: 10/1985
Conversion date: April 1987
Tag in door jamb:Yes
Straman Badge:
Owners RPR ID: Arnyboy
Location: SLC, UT.
How many owners:
Last purchase date:

Modifications:

Comments:

Links to this cars web pages:
Photos

Last update:
8/11/13

[WOLFCRX]

 

Straman ID# ST1081
Year: 1986
Model:
Mileage:102,000
Transmission: Manual
Color: White/grey
Interior color: Off Black
Top color: Black
A/C:
Honda Build date:
Conversion date:1986
Tag in door jamb:Yes
Straman Badge:Yes
Owners RPR ID:goelette

Location: Netherlands.
How many owners:
Last purchase date:

Modifications:

Comments:

Owner Posted Comment

 

 You are looking at a 1986 Honda CRX Straman convertible.  This is #81 of 310 Straman conversions between 1984 and 1987.  For those unaware that these exist, Richard Straman (known for making convertibles for Ferarri, Nissan, etc) of Costa Mesa, CA took 310 CRX hatchbacks while new and transformed them into convertibles to be sold by Honda at the dealership.  This particular car is an HF model with its original engine and 5-speed transmission.  I bought the car last November to be my fun little project, and I have enjoyed it immensely in the short time I've owned it.  Once I got the car home, I put a new timing belt, water pump, thermostat, struts, spark plugs and wires, distributor and rotor caps, valve cover gasket, etc on it.  I also purchased a parts car and put nicer interior in it, but it's black so it doesn't all match.  Refer to the pictures.  I also put the black dashboard and console in the car, but I used the car's original instrument cluster since an HF has a unique cluster.

This CRX runs great and is extremely reliable, but it does idle high at start-up...nearly 4k RPM's.  Once it warms up, however, it comes down to idle perfectly around 800 or so.  I have been getting 38 MPG with it whether driving around town or on the interstate.  This is good fuel mileage, but these HF's are known to get nearly 50 MPG, so I'm not sure why it's in the 30's.  It could be burning it up at fast idle during a cold start-up.  When purchased, I drove the car from western Arkansas to eastern Virginia with no problems whatsoever.  It has proven to continue to be a reliable driver.  Cosmetically, the car needs some work to be perfect, but fortunately, it's a perfect driver right now.  The side skirts on the door are cracked and have missing pieces; the ones on the fenders and quarters are adequate.  There are a few small dings here and there but nothing severe.  The front plastic fenders, like so many CRX's, have cracks in them.   With some time and Marine Tex, someone with some body work knowledge could probably fix these fenders pretty easily.  The front plastic header panel is a replacement and has no cracks. The convertible top is in good condition, and the manual top goes up and down well.  The undercarriage is in good condition; however, there are a couple pinholes in the passenger front floorpan.  Currently, I have new carpet for the car, but I have no carpet in the vehicle because I want it to resist moisture as much as possible.  

This car is an absolute blast to drive, and it's amazing how many people notice 'something different' about this CRX.  So few of these verts are out there, and so few people know that they were even made!  Buyer to pay all shipping costs.  Thanks for looking at the ad.

Links to this cars web pages:

Photos

Related Link

 

Last update:
8/11/13

[goelette]

Straman ID# STH8505
Year: 1985
Model: 1.6i
Mileage:
Transmission:
Color: Red
Interior color: Black
Top color: Black
A/C:
Honda Build date:
Conversion date:
Tag in door jamb:
Straman Badge:
Owners RPR ID:
Location: Europe
How many owners:
Last purchase date:

Modifications:

Comments:
I know very little about this car, this was one of the first pictures I saw of a convertible crx. Foud it on the net 6 or 7 years ago if I recall correctly.

Links to this cars web pages:
Photos

Last update:
8/30/2009

 I'm currently trying to find out what car this is exactly. As far as I know now, this is NOT a Straman, but something produced by the German company Eller. Supposedly 3 have been built. By the looks, it seems they have used a Straman kit, but I'm not sure about that yet.

[WOLFCRX]

You are correct, after zooming in on the picture I see the top is squared off on the trailing edge where it meets the trunk lid and the Straman is rounded. Thanks for questioning it, I would probible never had zoomed in that close to confirm it.

 

Here are the non Straman converibles I have in my records so far.

   

 

This crx looks to have a back seat and no working rag top that I can see, maybe it's covered.  The shape looks like a Straman but the picture is of such low quality I can't make out the lines of the trunk lid to be sure.

[goelette]

Nope, the bottom one (black) is definately an Eller cabrio, just like probably the red one.

As I have heard, they were allowed to build three in Germany, so far I've discovered these two (red AS and black AF)

[slimwhitman]

Nope, the bottom one (black) is definately an Eller cabrio, just like probably the red one.

As I have heard, they were allowed to build three in Germany, so far I've discovered these two (red AS and black AF)

 

Why am I just learning about an Eller Cabrio?  You must post all you know about these!!  Any rear shots?  Only 3 made?  Did Eller build other cabrios of other cars?  Where these converted for owners?...or for a Honda dealer?...or for Honda execs in a certain country?

[WOLFCRX]

BUILDING A STRAMAN SOFT TOP

 

As an upholster standard practice is to reverse engenier what ever it is we are upolstering, this is how I came to have the Straman crx top pattern. My Straman had the original top in good condition so I was able to deconstruct the top taking notes and pictures and make a hard copy. These tops are an exact copy of the original from the material, sunguard thread to the last stitch. As I build this top I will post pictures of the process.

 

First off patterns

Top left is the rear window, bottom is the rear panel, on right is the left and right panel and top is half of the top panel.  the reason for only half of the top panel and only one pattern for both the left and right side is the top needs to be identical on both sides and this is the way to achieve that.

There will also be 6 other strips of material that needs to be cut, they are all rectangular so there is no need for a pattern, the measurements are written down on the pattern blanks to be cut later.

There is also a reinforcement strip that will be sewn on the side panels over the area where the door windows will be, it is 1.5 inch in width and the shape of the panel. It will be sewn to the inside of the top.

 

Rear window sheet, I am using a charcoal rear window in this top.

 

Pattern cut

 

Window sewn into the rear panel, the window is mated with the panel with 3 seams all the way around the window for a water tight fit.

 

Here is the back side of the side panel with the reinforcement strip sewn in place.

Close up veiw

 

In this picture of the patterns you can see little black marks that line up on the two pieces, these need to be marked on the fabric and matched up when sewing the top together.

 

These are the three stretcher strips that will be sewn to the underside of the top panel to be attached to the bars of the frame. I have them laying on the rear window pattern to show that you can source them from the piece of fabric removed for the rear window.

 

These are the strips that will finish the edge of the top around the door area.

[goelette]

 

Why am I just learning about an Eller Cabrio?  You must post all you know about these!!  Any rear shots?  Only 3 made?  Did Eller build other cabrios of other cars?  Where these converted for owners?...or for a Honda dealer?...or for Honda execs in a certain country?

haha, if only two or three are built in europe, it's not strange that you haven't heard of it

I know nothing about these, so far, apart what's in the article. I don't know what Eller did....

In the article it states that Eller had big plans with this, but they would need the help of Honda to make them. Honda didn't like the idea so far (when article was written) and aparently never did....

I contacted a guy that almost got all documentation of this car (or I suppose this car), but because it were 14 big dossiers he could not copy it. So he got nothing. I am now trying to get a name of someone who was said to have owned one. Perhaps then I will be able to get more information