My Project

[BlazinAzian]

Well, I was saving my money for months now to either get k-pro or rims for my civic si. I made the mistake of browsing the Atlanta craigslist just to see what was out there. I came across a guy trying to get rid of a 1989 Honda CRX si, for a great price. So on a spur of the moment I emailed him and went to Newnan to check the car out. Needless to say its a 20 year old car and needs some serious TLC. I bought it and it's currently sitting outside my apartment.

The Good: It runs, no dents in the main body, no rust, and it was cheap.

The BAD: It leaks antifreeze a little, I think its the water pump, It smokes when you rev it, has a bent quarter panel and hood, the guy who primered it was drunk at the time and it shows, Interior needs work, no power steering, radio, A/C, or heat, window likes to come out o its slot when you try to roll it up, other minor things.

Pics will be up tomorrow.

[98dsm]

Kool i knew i seen an extra import at the apartment complex. What are your plans for it?

[BlazinAzian]

Well, after I get the body straight I want to do an engine swap. Looking at either a b18c or a k20a2. Don't have any Money right now so I just want to get the stock engine running better. Also need to either reprimer it or get it painted.

[BlazinAzian]

Here's some pictures....

http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv265/Amundsonj/CRX/DSC09148.jpg

http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv265/Amundsonj/CRX/DSC09149.jpg

http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv265/Amundsonj/CRX/DSC09151.jpg

http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv265/Amundsonj/CRX/DSC09152.jpg

http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv265/Amundsonj/CRX/DSC09154.jpg

http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv265/Amundsonj/CRX/DSC09155.jpg

http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv265/Amundsonj/CRX/DSC09157.jpg

[98dsm]

Yea i seen it the other day. I stay in the same apartment complex

[SteamHammer]

red window crank FTW! put a fender on it, replace missing trim and lenses, and throw a $200 Maaco paint job on it for now. what all is wrong with the engine? great project pick-up! good job for not picking up a dime-a-dozen EG. i've always like the CRX's.

[Discontained]

Nice.. at first I thought you was talking about your civic haha.

Cool project. I used to have a crx hF that i worked on and built. let me know if you need any help or insight.

For the smoking when revs, check the timing on it. It might just need a new head gasket. You could also put a water pump, timing belt, and replace all the gaskets to help it out. Which you could then sell the complete engine for a little bit and get money back. Also make sure the valves aren't damaged and that all the hoses are clamped on and not have any visual abrasions.

[The Legend]

Amen to the dime-a-dozen EG's.

[Filthy Dub]

Cool, I wish I could get an old project car

[BlazinAzian]

Thanks, guys. I thought it would be a good buy. Really any running Honda for under a grand is a good buy. I will need some help tho. This is the first car tah I dont use as a daily. I'm gonna try to do most of the work myself. As for the engine its 20 yrs old and i don't know when the last maintance was done. I don't know much about d-series. I just want to get the motor to where I feel its reliable and ALL help is welcome. As for the outside Steamhammer's post is right on, and is probably right about the engine too. First, i need to get liability on it and a tag, which should happen tuesday.

[The Legend]

You know I'll help you. Just let me know when. We'll get the motor runnin like a champ

[BlazinAzian]

Thanks Brooks, I'll call you

[The Legend]

I know my list of stuff I do every time I buy a car goes as follows:

1. Change oil and filter
2. Change plugs and wires
3. Check cap and rotor button.
4. Check air filter.
5. Change trans fluid.

[theboostedsnail]

number 3 can cause problems lol, like you car suddenly backfiring and dying all because a little piece broke...but thats a good list to start with...and i vote k20a2

[BlazinAzian]

I was gonna ask about opinions on an engine swap, but I should probably wait until I get the car's body straight and save up money.But I did some forum searching to see what the best swap would be. I've narrowed it down to b18c (integra type r or maybe a gsr) or k20a2, k20z1. I spent about an hour reading the pros and cons and differences about the two k-series. k20z1 outta of a new RSX type S has about 10 more ponies and can rev a little higher. The k20a2 has a little more torque. Not looking to build a frank engine. The upside to the a2 is that it is compatable with k-pro while the z1 uses flash pro. I'm leaning toward the a2, but if anyone has input, i would love to hear.

[SteamHammer]

not really up to par on all the different variables of Honda engines. i know if i spent about an hour or so on Google, i could make my vote, but i don't really feel like it lol. i will just say k20a2 because i know of that one :D. of course i know the B series....but if were in your shoes, i'd definitely go K unless i got a killer deal on B. just my opinion. i know i spent months on top of months, crossing all different manufactures from Nissan, Toyota, Chevy and BMW ( i even saw an Aston Martin swap i considered...would've been gansta ) before coming to a final decision on what i was putting in the E30 that met my budget and power needs. so, good luck with your decision, it may take a while :D.

[The Legend]

I would say K but after you buy the swap for say around 1000(which is cheap) you're still lookin at mounts(~700), k-pro(1000), shifter box, wiring harness, axles, swap header, radiator, hood clearance issues and some other stuff I probably forgot.

You can use k-pro for any k swap in an older car. You won't be able to use flash pro because you won't have the obd-2 hookup.

[SecondLetter]

i saw it the other day jim, good pick up.
my friend Ray is buying my car, so you'll probably see my new project soon

[Discontained]

i said it sat.... ill say it again... LS7!

[BlazinAzian]

I would say K but after you buy the swap for say around 1000(which is cheap) you're still lookin at mounts(~700), k-pro(1000), shifter box, wiring harness, axles, swap header, radiator, hood clearance issues and some other stuff I probably forgot.

You can use k-pro for any k swap in an older car. You won't be able to use flash pro because you won't have the obd-2 hookup.

Yeah, I didn't forget about that stuff, well maybe some of it. i was looking online at places like hasport that have done an k swap into a crx. They have the mounts and some other stuff. Needless to say, i just want to fix the engine that I currently have first.


i saw it the other day jim, good pick up.
my friend Ray is buying my car, so you'll probably see my new project soon

I can't wait. :wof:


i said it sat.... ill say it again... LS7!

I can't afford it. :Cry:

[BlazinAzian]

I went to the tag office today to get the tag finally for the CRX. I had with me the proof of insurance, bill of sale, and the title that came with the car. First, I got there right before 10 am and apparently they close at 10 am today, so as I was talking to the tag guy they turned the lights off on me. I was like really?

I gave him the title and there were two things wrong with it. First there is white out on the title because the original owner was selling it to his brother that decided to write his name on the title and not pay. Second, the guy I bought it from signed it over to me on the dealership part of the title. Turns out this is a big no-no. The guy was getting on to me for writing in this area, and I was like hey calm down don't get mad at me, I can't do anything about it.

I have to get in touch with the original owner of the car of whom I don't know. I guess he lives in Newnan (at least that is what is on the title) and get him to apply for a new title and sign it directly over to me before I can get a tag.

The icing on the cake was, because there hasn't been a tag on the car for the past couple of years, I get to pay for the back taxes and penalties on the car. Granted it's $100 (48 in fees) thank God it ain't more. It's the principle of it. Gay. I'm slightly frustrated.

[carguy07]

Jim I love you man (no homo), but you should've known not to buy a car that had whiteout on the title. That just sounds sketchy. If you have a Bill of Sale you can try to get a bonded title (The multicolored 240 has a bonded title since the guy we bought it from never received the title). All they do is check that there are no liens on the car and then reissue the title to you. Granted that would be another $100 or so.

Good luck man. I'll see you this weekend probably and we can talk more about it.

[BlazinAzian]

Hopefully, it won't have to come to that. I talked to the guy that I bought it fromand the original owner is a friend of his. He said he will get in touch with the guy for me. I want to try to get this done before classes start back up. Thanks for that tho, I might just give up and do that.

[Discontained]

I was in the same boat as you when I bought my crx back in the day. The guy crossed out his name and respelled it because he made a mistake. I took that title not thinking it would be a problem and turned out to be a big problem. He had a bunch of back taxes, fines, and all sorts of crap on the car. I had the bill of sale and filed for a bonded title.

here is what you need:
a lease agreement, house title, or several recent utility bill to prove your a GA resident
any proof of your ownership of the vehicle (i.e. Bill of sale, and the improperly signed title)

Here is some more stuff you would need.. Saves time to have all this stuff in hand.
http://motor.etax.dor.ga.gov/motor/titles/titlebond.asp

hope that helps you out Jim

[Kevo]

Damn, sorry to hear about all the troubles. Hopefully you will get it straightened out soon, I know you probably got some CRX parts on your Christmas list.

[BlazinAzian]

Well, i'm giving the guy to this weekend to get in touch with the original owner before I try to get the bonded title. He said that he know the guy and they are friends.

As for the CRX parts...I am bidding on them currently. I'm kinda hesitant to buy too much until the car is 100% mine and I can drive it around.

[BlazinAzian]

Still waiting on my title, the guy called and said that he was going tomorrow to apply. then I got to wait till they mail it to him and he mails it to me. sounds like another couple weeks. sad day.

On the other hand, got a few parts for it and I got Brooks and Will to come look and test drive it. Once I get the title and a tag on it I will start repairs and modding.

[The Legend]

That sucks about all that dude. Like I said a running car for less than 1k is a good deal to me. Hope we can get to workin on it once you get the title thing worked out.

[carguy07]

On the other hand, got a few parts for it and I got Brooks and Will to come look and test drive it. Once I get the title and a tag on it I will start repairs and modding.

I still don't know why you wanted my opinion on fixing a car. I am probably the biggest idiot on the forums. :wacko:

[Discontained]

I still don't know why you wanted my opinion on fixing a car. I am probably the biggest idiot on the forums. :wacko:


lolololol

[The Legend]

Lol Will.

[BlazinAzian]

That sucks about all that dude. Like I said a running car for less than 1k is a good deal to me. Hope we can get to workin on it once you get the title thing worked out.

And it gets WARMER!!!!! :smow:


I still don't know why you wanted my opinion on fixing a car. I am probably the biggest idiot on the forums. :wacko:

I wanted to make you feel good. Plus Mike said that it was "Be nice to the an Admin Day." So I deciede to make you think your opinions mattered for once. :playball:

[carguy07]

Every day is be nice to an Admin day.

[BlazinAzian]

That's right Will, and dont let anyone tell you different.

[drewyoutoo]

what's goin on with the Rex??? you get the title situation straightened out?
i miss my 90 hf.

:(

[BlazinAzian]

Nothing major... but after 6 months i finally got a clean title and a tag for the Rex. This may not seem like a big accomplishment but it is for me. Also bought a new starter which has yet to go in. The car won't start on its own right now and last time it ran it smoked like a chimney but i'm able to take it out on the road NOW!!!! Riding dirty baby.

[BlazinAzian]

Thank you Brooks for the blood and sweat and coming over and showing/installing my starter. Now the CRX starts runs and has a tag. Next on my list to do before i trust it, fix the speedometer, see why it throws a CEL, change the oil, and see if I can get its smoking problem to stop.

[The Legend]

No prob dude. So I guess pushing the cable back in didn't work? lol

[BlazinAzian]

Nope, the needle doesn't move and neither does the odometer.

[The Legend]

Probably gonna need a cluster there sir.

CEL is probably because of the vss not working. I think I looked at the ecu last time to check the code but can't remeber.

Look at it and let me know what the code is. There's a red light in the ecu itself.

Long blink = 10
Short blink = 1

[drewyoutoo]

Still got it? Just wondering what was going on with it. What did the smoke look like (i.e. white, grey, black) and does it smoke the entire time it's being driven? Hope you've still got it and that you've been able to work towards getting it straight. Always love to see a rex runnin around. :)

[carguy07]

For some reason Jim discovered Fishville over on Facebook and is now to cool to post here. I bug him from time to time, hopefully at some point he will get back to posting here.

[BlazinAzian]

First of all, I dont like you making fun of me on my own thread Will. Second, I will post when i want to or need some help on something...like now. I still have the Rex and little progress has been made. I have money but no experience or much time. I don't want to sell it but i am tired of looking at it sit there. Problems- Smokes when you start it up and when you get on the gas. I believe it is white but its hard to tell when driving. The car throws CEL's but i haven't looked at the pattern...shame on me. I can drive it around the neighborhood and it acts alright but when I take it out on the open road above say 50 mph the temp gauge sky rockets. I limp home and let it idle, goes back to normal. Only the tach works, the speedo, odom, and gas gauge do not. Sucks not being able to know how fast you're going. Saddest thing is i cant find anyone to help me. I don't want to pay out the tail for labor but I'm willing to feed and pay a little. Have money for parts. Please help me. Sorry for not catching up lately guys.

[The Legend]

Hahahaah at Fishville. I played it for a while.

Jim that was a sad sad little post.

[theboostedsnail]

First of all, I dont like you making fun of me on my own thread Will. Second, I will post when i want to or need some help on something...like now. I still have the Rex and little progress has been made. I have money but no experience or much time. I don't want to sell it but i am tired of looking at it sit there. Problems- Smokes when you start it up and when you get on the gas. I believe it is white but its hard to tell when driving. The car throws CEL's but i haven't looked at the pattern...shame on me. I can drive it around the neighborhood and it acts alright but when I take it out on the open road above say 50 mph the temp gauge sky rockets. I limp home and let it idle, goes back to normal. Only the tach works, the speedo, odom, and gas gauge do not. Sucks not being able to know how fast you're going. Saddest thing is i cant find anyone to help me. I don't want to pay out the tail for labor but I'm willing to feed and pay a little. Have money for parts. Please help me. Sorry for not catching up lately guys.

well jim the oil on first start up, if it is white, sounds like for some reason you are getting oil blow by in the cylinders, this could be caused by the piston rings not seating correctly or possibly not sure how but oil is making it into the intake thusly burning in the exhaust...but swing by my parents shop sometime they are in phenix city where elite used to be, my dad will have alot better ideas on it than me

[BlazinAzian]

Will try, but like I said. If I get it out on the streets it overheats QUICK. I think the waterpump or thermostat is bad. or both. need to address that issue before i can make longer trips. Wouldn't mind getting the whole engine looked over but i don't really want to pour too much in an engine that I will eventually swap. Thinking $500 max. i don't know at this point.

[drewyoutoo]

I'm assuming you still have the original D16A6 in the car now. You may not want to hear this but I think your best option is going to be to go ahead and replace the engine. The reason I say this is that I know from personal experience that trying to patch up an old D16A6 is going to wind up costing you WAY more than just replacing it. You can find a ZC for around $500 in good condition and with the symptoms you describe it sounds like at the very least you've got some ring and valve problems in your current engine. Also, you can likely find a ZC w/ tranny and possibly even all accessories included and the price is going to be far less than getting the current engine right (unless you own your own shop, lift, tools, and machining equipment). The swap is pretty straight forward going from what you've got to a ZC plus you pick up a few hp and better performance above 4000 RPM. Now it's not going to make it a monster like dropping a b16, b18, h22, or k20 in it would, but it's not going to cost you a fortune in time or resources like the other swaps will either. The ZC is a strong little motor and with some fairly minor mods it's pretty respectable performance wise too. And did I mention it's reliable? I would LOVE to help you any way I can (and get fed, food is good) but I'm having to stay between several different places right now and my neck and left shoulder are still pretty screwed from the accident. I can't lift more than about 10-15 lbs with my left arm without some serious pain but my right arm is still solid. Sorry for the novel, just trying to be as helpful as I can. :) Glad to see you've kept it, DON'T GET RID OF IT CAUSE I PROMISE YOU'LL REGRET IT.

[drewyoutoo]

Couple of links for you if you're interested.

http://www.hmotorsonline.com/shop/sc2000search.cgi?what=page&item=30020

http://www.hmotorsonline.com/shop/sc2000search.cgi?what=page&item=30022

http://www.thezcr.com

[98dsm]

I would do a compression test first to check the condition of you motor. No use in fixing overheating problem if motor has poor compression and you dont want to dump alot of money in it. That would be your cheapest test to perform to know where to go after you get your results. If bad compression scrap motor and replace it. Always start simple and test to prove what you think is problem, dont just assume because some times it may not be as bad as it seems.

[drewyoutoo]

Just checkin on ya man

[drewyoutoo]

You know I'm gonna keep harassing you :p

Looks like this would make a damn good purchase for you:
Can you say parts car? I knew you could :D (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Honda-CRX-Honda-Crx-1990-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem35ada17067QQitemZ23054 6305127QQptZUSQ5fCarsQ5fTrucks#ht_648wt_1165)

[BlazinAzian]

Yeah I found one sitting in back of a doublewide in south Columbus the other day. It's blue and has grass growing around it thats pretty tall and looks like it hasnt moved recently. Body from what i can tell looks good. Trying to find out more info on it.

[drewyoutoo]

^ good luck on the parts car, post up what you find out :)

[BlazinAzian]

Must get Rex to Brook's garage soon. I hate that i'm so freakin busy.