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| VITAL STATS
1985 US-spec DX
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| Audio: | Alpine 7368 cassette Sony MZ-E40 MiniDisc Alpine 3548 60W x 2 amp Alpine 3541 40W x 2 (100 x 1) amp Alpine 3658 2-way active crossover Boston Acoustics Pro 5.2 speakers SAS Bazooka T-82 8" subwoofer | ||
I bought my CRX new in September 1985 for US$7500. Since then I've driven the
hell out of her, racking up over ten years and 180,000 miles,
including participating in several SCCA autocross events. She continues to run
flawlessly, looks immaculate, and is still incredible fun to drive.
Viva CRX!
My CRX is a US-spec, 1.5 liter "DX" model, with the 76 hp 12-valve carbureted four. She's totally stock, except for her wheels, which are 14" OEM Honda steel wheels (from an '88 Accord Coupe) with covers from a '90 Civic EX sedan (aren't they pretty? They look like alloys at a glance :-), and a drop-in K&N Filtercharger which produces a cute growl. Now that she's beginning her second decade, I would like to begin mods on the exhaust, intake and suspension. From my research, first-gen aftermarket support is pretty scarce. Eibach springs, Bilstein or Koni adjustable shocks, and Walker Dynomax muffler are the recommended brands for this year and model. Don't know yet about a header.
1 June 97: After much researching, I've decided the more cost-effective way of improving performance is to go with a hybrid engine-tranny swap. If you don't have an Si (mine's a carbureted DX), you have a less-than-optimum foundation for building up performance. Plus, since first-gen aftermarket support is so scarce, dropping in a 16-valve Integra first-gen or 2nd-gen Si engine gives you more opportunities for support.
I've also thought of putting in a Japanese ZC engine (provided by outfits in California who import these engines from Japan, usually with less than 30,000 miles on them!). Hmmmm ...
5 July 97: I've decided to go with a Japanese ZC -- I figure if you're going to gut out your engine and drop in a new one, you should go for the BEST. :) This will be a 2nd-gen DOHC 16v 1.6, found in the Japanese 2nd-gen Si. Produces 135 hp -- a 78% increase over my 1.5 12v. I estimate 0-60 in the low 7's -- this based on Euro-spec 135hp 1st-gen Si's doing 7.5 sec and the fact that my DX is 165 lb lighter than an Si.
What else persuaded me to go with the ZC?
- getting a 30K-mile-old engine vs. an Integra engine with 100K+ miles
- although not a straight drop-in, engine has been known to fit in 1st-gen CRX before
- can use US-spec Integra or Civic parts; not limited to finding "Japan-spec" only
This will be a major project, mostly because of converting a carbureted system to fuel injection -- new wiring, ECU, fuel lines, pump, etc. Luckily my CRX will be in the best hands: Richard, local friend and hardcore Honda grease monkey who is doing the work (as well as offering expert advice throughout this whole escapade) . Engine, tranny, ECU & mounts are being provided by The Place Racing in Covina CA.
5 August 97: Some delays from The Place, but at long last everything is a go -- the crate was shipped from Covina today! The contents:
- Japanese ZC DOHC 1.6 16v engine
- SiR tranny
- ECU (chipped out to 8000 rpm)
- pre-fashioned custom mounts
- Si fuel pump
- supplemental wiring harness
Plus, some extra goodies from The Place which I figured I should invest in now instead of later:
- Clutchmasters racing clutch
- lightened flywheel
- DC Sports custom header (Integra upper half, Civic lower half)
The car goes down as soon as it all arrives. I plan to document the project with pictures, so stay tuned.
11 August 97: Well, obviously I didn't keep my promise above -- pictures are being taken, but nothing developed for inclusion on this page. Apologies to everyone holding their breath. :) Once the project is done, I will definitely add pictures.
The crate from California was shipped missing a wiring harness, one mount, and the DC Sports custom header. Waiting on those, especially the harness, but moving ahead with the engine. Removed the tranny and inspected. Found lots of build-up inside the tranny housing that should've been cleaned prior to shipping. No big deal for us to clean it out ourselves. Richard says that the Clutchmasters clutch looks primo. Good work done on the flywheel.
The CRX began prep for surgery with all front-end components being removed: hood, bumper, radiator, tires, brake system, axels, battery, etc.
18 August 97: The old 12-valve was disconnected, engine and tranny drained, and lifted out of the engine bay. Said goodbye to a bulletproof little powerplant that was retired with almost exactly 190,000 miles on it.
With everything gone leaving just a frame (well, we kept the headlight assemblies in place since there's no reason to remove those), the car is now a unibody-frame-skeleton forward of the windshield. Very scary. Ever see FACE/OFF? :)
Interior of the car was stripped down as well, in order to evaluate running a new return fuel line to accomodate the throughput of the ZC. (The DX's fuel line is too narrow for our increased performance needs, Richard says.)
3 September 97: Still waiting on the harness and header from California (details too frustrating to mention here). Richard lowered the ZC into the engine bay, put it up on blocks and positioned it exactly in place, and the good news is it fits! :) Clearances are all within tolerances.
Mount points are completely incompatible -- turns out The Place's solution for "custom mounts" was to cut into the body to place mounts that line up with the engine mount-points. However Richard would like to keep the body as stock as possible, so he is exploring fabricating mounts that connect stock-body-mount-point to stock-engine-mount-point.
17 September 97: Discovered '87 Integra axels/hubs bolt right in to tranny, saving us from a major headache fashioning custom axels. Nabbed a primo set at a local junkyard, along with Integra front brakes, for a steal of a price. Everything looks good, including our new beefier front disc brakes! The car is becoming less CRX-ish all the time. :)
Richard, in researching mounts, mount points, and their relation to various engine blocks and platforms, has determined that other setups are possible for future project cars: ZC mated to 88-91 Civic sedan, SiR VTEC in a first-gen Si, perhaps an Integra 170-hp GSR VTEC in a first-gen! But we're getting ahead of ourselves. :)
27 September 97: Richard has fashioned prototype mounts and mounted up the ZC with them. Richard is da man. His engineering wizardry makes these works of art -- they are rock-solid and very impressive. Probably sturdier than OEM mounts!
5 October 97: The long-missing wiring harness and DC Sports header were finally -- FINALLY -- shipped this past week. As of last Friday it's waiting at the hub here in Albuquerque, the UPS website says. Will be delivered tomorrow.
Oilpan was removed on the ZC to inspect the cylinders. It looks cherry inside -- no scoring, no burns. Richard said it was in much better condition than he was expecting. A big relief and a nice plus. I plan to baby this engine even better than I did with my original 12-valve. Is an accusump overkill? :)
We've decided to go with a custom exhaust instead of buying an aftermarket package -- this will give us more freedom to tune it the way we want. The complete setup will be: DC Sports header, Random Technologies high-flow cat, custom pipes, no muffler, resonated tip. Shopping now for a tip that looks mack. I refuse to get one of those big-ass Brospeed 5" jobs, though, those look ridiculous.
Basically now that we will have everything from The Place, we can resume actual work on the car. These delays have really hurt us, though.
25 October 97: Well, time is big factor -- the finish line is in sight, but things will have to progress slow due to both Richard and I having little time. Richard is rebuilding the distributor -- it was sent to us in pretty bad shape. Some tamper-proof screws on this Japan-spec distributor which makes things slow, but doable. Richard has also decided to reverse-engineer the wiring harness -- he found some errors which made him nervous. The custom exhaust also needs to be built, as well as either a custom intake or an AEM or Iceman that will fit. We're also exploring some custom ideas for security and anti-theft, which of course I can't talk about here. :)
1 November 97: We put in the engine with the new motor mounts, bolted up the clutch and tranny, and added the custom DC Sports headers. It looks beautiful. Richard wants to redo the rear mount and make it beefier, even though it's perfectly sound structurally as is. Better safe than sorry, definitely!
We're starting to fantasize about what a beast this will be -- with the header and exhaust Richard thinks we'll see closer to 140-145 hp. I hope to break the 7-second 0-60 barrier. Richard sez no problem. :) We're looking forward to eating Mustangs and Camaros for breakfast.
5 January 98: Fuel pump provided by The Place is totally incompatbile with a first-gen CRX DX, and cannot be modified to work. Wondering what they were smoking.
29 January 98: The holidays are over, and work resumes. Wiring harness is the big tackle -- errors and discrepancies found in the wiring harness sent by The Place forced Richard to double-check all wires from the ECU to the respective components and sensors. What we found were some alarming errors: wires C1 and C2, which are supposed to go to the CYL sensor, instead went to TDC (Top Dead Center). Wires B10 and B12 intended for the Crank Angle Sensor are non-existent in this harness. Found about a dozen other wires that are also totally non-existent. It appears as though the harness was really wired for an 88-91 Civic DX rather than an Si or a ZC motor -- yet it still has the Si injector setup for the ZC.
Additionally, the shields for the sensitive sensors are not grounded anywhere, or even tied together. The wiring harness as provided to us by The Place is completely non-functional, and we have to pick up the pieces and tackle some major re-wiring. Richard will have to break down the entire harness and rebuild it correctly.
More updates as they happen. Thanks for your emails and your support -- be patient with us, we will definitely post updates here as more news happens.
8 March 98: No new progress, please be patient (i.e. emailing us and asking "what's the latest" will not conjure up any new info) ... when new news appears it will appear here, on the web page. So chill already. :)
1 September 98: Greetings from the void! Even though I'm in California and Richard & the CRX are in New Mexico, we're still going to make this work ... Richard gets tons of credit for continuing to plug away at this project single-handedly.
Richard writes me with an update:
"I have borrowed an 87 Integra transmission -- it does bolt up to the ZC engine. The starter won't bolt right in, but I can make it work. The intermediate shaft lines up okay, but I will have to modify the mount slightly. The rear bolt hole will need to be moved, not that big of a deal. The crx stock mounts have different patterns on the trans mount and the rear is too short. I'm going to get the Integra mounts for a fitting ... they should mount perfect though. I'll let you know.I have located a 88-91 alternator, very cheap -- it will need to be checked though. And I have an ELD from an Accord, this should satisfy the ECU (Pins B19 and B5).
BTW I have hoarded a ton of harnesses ... I should be able to re-work [The Place Racing]'s Harness ..."
More as it happens ... this ain't over yet ...
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