January 10'-11' Build Off '87 CRX HF budget build

[texan_idiot25]

Finally decided to make a build off thread since I will be doing some work to the little car to improve it's looks and handling. There's nothing that can be done to help with power, short of a motor swap, and I quite like getting 41mpg while thrashing around on the little thing so the 60hp HF motor stays.


Read this thread on how I aquired the car for $200, and the initial troubles.

The CRX HF was Honda's super light weight fuel economy master. EPA rated 40 city, 50 freeway it gets Prius equivalent fuel mileage, while being a riot to drive. And, probably the most amazing bit about all this to some, is it does this with a Carburetor!

I bought this initially to save on gas money so that I could spend more on the truck. The car has already paid itself off in fuel savings in about 3 weeks, and the little car uses as much gas in a month as the truck uses in a week! Mind you, I do work at Domino's as a driver, so, many many many many miles each week, easily over $100 a week in gas for the Chevy.




And this is how we currently sit. In a few upcoming weeks I'll repair all the busted plastic body work, and paint it white.. Partially to help keep the little car cool because it has no AC, partially to get rid of this blue paint which is in poor shape (though, I do love the color), and partially to practice painting since I will shoot the paint on the CST10 myself as well. Also, it will up the value of the car a good bit should I sell it in the future.

Total costs involved from purchase to street legal? $370!

[texan_idiot25]

1st upgrade is in the handling department:

Finally got around to hunting down a rear sway bar for the CRX HF, as it leans worse than I do after too many drinks. In order to save weight and achieve it's 1700 lbs curb weight, the CRX goes with out any sort of rear sway bar, so how better to improve on handling?

I was suggested to look for a 93-00 Civic rear sway bar. Funny thing... None of them that I could get under came with them. There were Integras and a few 'ludes, but all had a wildly different rear sway bar than I was expecting, and most were too wide for the CRX. My goal was to mount the bar on the rear axle, and the end links onto the "frame rails" protruding out from the floor pan. I kept running from import to import, finding nothing suitable. Most had some hilariously shaped bar to snake around suspension and exaust, and most just bolted right to the control arms, no end links to really speak of. No good, padre.

Then I ran across a Dodge Caravan, stacked up on top of a Jeep... OH JOY! Chrysler still used a dead-beam rear axle in their vans, just like our cars. I measure up the frame mounts, and they are PERFECT! Exactly 3' 4" end to end apart, just like the Rex's frame rails.


Not all of the vans had them, but the Chrysler version always did and the "sport version" of the Dodge Caravan had them I noticed.


2 bolts in each frame mount, and the two each axle bracket. I think I used a 16mm socket, though it really needed something like a 15mm. But, no bolts even attempted to round. Bring an extension for the passenger side bracket, or use a 14mm socket to unbolt the rear most exhaust hanger and just push it out of the way to swing a ratchet. Keep all of the frame bolts for later.



Your prices will vary, but I've been going to this yard for years and he let me go off with it for $25 bucks! I was expecting 50-75 to be honest.


Dropped by Autozone to grab some 2.5" exhaust clamps, and nuts. Unfortunatly, the nuts I bought didn't fit the bolts despite having the proper thread according to the screw-in chart next to the bolts... Not the 1st time this has happened... Just goto home depot with the bolts, get washers and lock-nuts.



Mock'd in place- holes marked.

Start with a pilot hole, and work your way up drill-bit size. I don't recall what the final size was.



Found it easier to clamp the thing in place with a jack when threading the bolts. The end links are picky about moving around to different angles at 1st, also had to get creative to get around the exhaust



Bolt up, snug in place.



Perfect fit!!

Now, I'm taking suggestions how to thread a nut into the frame rail, but I'm thinking of just drilling some access holes in the floor pan to get a socket on it for easy access. Right now I've just got them threaded in the holes, but I ran out of time on the project for today to go further.

The results? PERFECTION! The car doesn't seem to start rolling until about 40-50 mph, and slaloming it, it's much steadier. Only did a little bit of driving, so I can't say how the car will react to more situations, but it's very stable and roll-free in corners so far.

The sway bar was $25, each exhaust clamp was 3 bucks, and the bolts were about 3-4 bucks. So, for $35 bucks basically, the CRX is a vastly improved little monster. And, by the grace of the Gods of Speed, a perfect fit! I'm still impressed with how awesome it all worked out.

Total costs in the car? $400~

[BulletsRain]

Not a bar car at all for the price. Looking forward to seeing some progress.

[texan_idiot25]

Finally have gotten a good bit of driving in on some nice back roads. The little car is fantastic. It's much sharper, and you can really feel it "rotate" on it's center axis around a corner, instead of feeling it lean. Hell, it could lean enough to start bottoming out the compressed front shock if it hit a good enough bump..

The car has to be pretty poorly driven to get it to push in a corner, and it's stability is absolutly excellent now. Nuetral, not twitchy but not understeering off into a curb. Say you do get into a corner poorly, and over correct, the car smoothly returns back to center. One worry from pulling a bar from a heavier vehicle was that if it was too thick for the CRX, it would "snap" back to center, and be trouble. While thicker than even the Integra bars, the car is smooth to transition, and slaloms smoothly with out drama.

Biggest bang for the buck handling improvement? For $35, the best. And, unlike stiffer (or cut) springs and shocks, the CRX is a completely different machine with out killing any ride comfort.



Junkyard engineering at it's finest. Once I put some new tires on the rear, it'll hit an auto-x session for some fun. Next week, fixing the broken plastic bits, and prep for the "$50 paint job".





I live in the outskirts of houston where there's miles of empty country roads to scoot around on. Thorough jackassery can be done with only my life at risk

[texan_idiot25]

And so this week's budget project begins:






Prep - n - prime should be done by wednesday, as well as the fender repairs. Paint this weekend.

[surgeon]

Looks like you are off to a decent start....Are you not going to take out the lights to paint it?

[texan_idiot25]

Why make it more work? Pay enough attention to taping, and no need to pull the lights out.

I also have to keep driving it all week.

[surgeon]

I figured to do the color swap right you'll need to get in all the little door jams and cracks....you know, so you don't get the maaco effect...

[texan_idiot25]

Nooks and Crannies have been handled, they're painted first before any of the main body panels. Door jams, meh, there's important stickers and **** in there.

[texan_idiot25]

So, yesterday VTEC kicked in, and...

[winner]

ouch, im guessing you hit the curb?

[texan_idiot25]

Nope, VTEC torque bent the trim. Crazy huh?

[surgeon]

50 bucks a pop.... or find some cheap steelies on craigslist. To bad it isn't 5 lug, you could rock the Dodge 20" spares.....

[texan_idiot25]

I spy my little eye, a set of VX 13"s

Guess how much I paid. (Facebook friends need not apply)

[Bananabrain]

Uhm, $30? lol

[supraboi97]

I'm gonna go ahead and guess you got them for free.

[texan_idiot25]

The benifits of trucks, and the kindness of people. One guy at RedPepperRacing needed to have an engine taken from a motor shop to his house, and I needed a set of 13"s. Along with that, he threw in stiffer DX springs and rear speaker mounts (****ty door speakers, no more!).



This morning:


It sees daylight again!


The front bumper is too far gone for my efforts. It's cracked, split, warped and generally thrashed in too many places. I'd need a lot of "bumper" bondo to fix it all. It will be replaced later on, should I get motivated.The unprimed sections are where filler was to be layed, which I've just finished. Sand and final priming tonight, and then ready for saturday!

[KITT222]

Maybe harness some Eco-modding skills and make your own front bumper, but more aero-dynamic for better fuel economy. Plus a chance to make it more 'yours.' So far you're looking pretty good with your budget car. Nice snag on those rims. How many rolls of blue-tape have you used on that thing since you started?

[texan_idiot25]

I'm growing tired of some of their self righteous attitudes. And, budget build doesn't mean go fiberglass a bumper.

[surgeon]

Good werk so far. Kinda dig the primered look. Like a honda two-lane black top...

Going to leave the wheels as is, or paint em black? Steal on the 13s either way.