Advanced course in the 1st Gen CR-V

Mission and scope:

I just bought a decent 1st gen CRV and have found few comprehensive collections of information online. 'This is not a build thread', it just happens to detail my first hand knowledge and progress as I bui... err.. maintain and update this great little honda suv. The 1st gen is uniquely customizable with parts from both earlier 88-00 civic, 90-01 integra, and later 96-11 crv, element, cars. It is also the last year of sla/multilink suspension before the great strutpocolypse of '01. But many of these interchanges, upgrades, and swaps are poorly and sparsely documented online. Basic updates for maint, usability, and performance will all be addressed. This will not be an offroading build, or another slammed honda, but a light restomod focused on daily beater use. This thread will mostly be me keeping rambling records and plans for the car, but hopefully benefiting anyone wanting to go a similar route. All comments positive, critical, mocking and funny are welcome if generally on-topic.

Let me start with our goals for the car;

1. Reliable winter weather transport in the mountains of Colorado. 

2. Enjoyable on a half-hour to hour long commute. Both in comfort, and driving pleasure. Very few straight roads, but plenty of high speeds. Must be confident in corners at highway speeds. 

3. Must negotiate muddy, snowy, and deeply rutted dirt and gravel roads just about daily, not the occasional brodozer use. My road is not paved, nor are many of my friends out here. Snow, hail, and ice are frequent. No rock crawling, just really bad roads.

4. Bring it into the 21st century. The design is from the mid 90s with no updates save a bit of compression. Update the outdated items where ever practical, both mechanically and electronically. 

... next post details the car in its current state

The Car:

2001 Honda CRV LX 5-speed 4wd

(More Pics soon)

Bought the car with 170k, from 'original owner' in denver who had just 'replaced the headgasket'. The body was straight, the motor sounded and felt good, no grinds in all 5 speeds, awd engaged, and interior was pristine. I felt all he expensive and hard to replace bits were in good order (trans and diff), paid cash and drove home. 

After some wallowy handling up the mountain, and some more clunks after a 2nd drive, I dove in and figured out what I had gotten myself into. Being a honda guy, I knew to suspect all the bushings, which last 10-15years. And with the multilink, there are plenty to check. Only one had failed (rear diff mount) and a few looked rotten, but still mostly intact. Engine mounts are hard, but look ok. And then... aha, the front swaybar link failed.

Also found a broken rear differential 'counterweight' that may be the most useless wear item ever. It is an iron bar, captive in a bracket, isolated by thin rubber. Predictably, the rubber is gone and each bump renders a pause-giving clank from the rearend. I plan to delete this unless someone can convince me the 35 bucks is worth adding a 3lb weight to my diff is critical to longevity. I will replace the assembly with... a nut. 

Rear diff mount 'pucks' look gone too. I was not able to locate this part, but found a urethane mount for another application that looks very close. 

A trip under the hood showed everything where it should be, with no aftermarket hacking, or wire splicing. No vacuum leaks, but all the rubber looks og. Cap and wires look original. Hoses are old, but not cracked or swolen. Belts are new. PO stated he did water pump and timing belt at time of headgasket. Looks like he did. Brake and Clutch fluid are green and full of black particulate. Coolant, oil are new. 

Threw some seafoam in the 1/3rd full tank and went to dealership for 3qts Honda MTF, and 2qts of Honda Dual Pump Fluid. Priced tune up kit at nearly 300 bucks and passed.

Changed both, but fluids already looked new coming out. Oof. Guess I got a flush. 

Ordered a ton of stuff for tuneup. Diff mount, Front sway links, YEC cap and rotor, fuel filter, NGK plugs and wires, axle nuts, DOT 5.1 brake fluid.

Bled brakes and clutch. Twice. Fluid still looks a bit weird, but gonna let it ride and re-bleed in a few months. Luckily no ABS module to worry about. Got a spare MC from the integra, but it seems ok so far. Brakes feel much firmer. Just realized these had rear drums. I know drums are fine, but I hate them with the white hot fury of one thousand suns. Will figure out a swap, should be doable with oem parts, as many later hondas share the 5x4.5 / 5x114.3 bolt pattern and also hub bore. More on this in the future, as I have brake upgrade plans in the front too. 

Next I do the ignition system and time it, links and diff mount, then drive the seafoam out and replace the fuel filter.

Throttle response sucked on the drive home, and my scanner showed a whopping 76% throttle opening. I found the throttle cable quite loose and tightened it up for an instant increase in power and response. I and still only getting 90% but it is way better. Will have to adjust or replace the TPS.

Car passed emissions with flying colors., but smells like a failing cat. I will have to check fueling and 02. It stinks almost as much as my catless civic did before I tuned it. 

Cool! will be following along, I always like these CR-V's

Basically you can do a LS/VTEC build for some HP. That's one of the best options if you were going to do anything. That engine is the base for so many of them. 

Otherwise, it's not the best AWD system out there. Make sure it is actually working. They built it pretty weak overall and many tests in the 2014-2015 timeframe showed it didn't work at all. 

Other than that, It's a pretty simple car. B20 up front is very similar to the B18A1. 

Enjoy

There's a slightly lifted one with all terrains near my house.  I like the beefy look on them.  My sister in law has one and it is remarkably similar in feel to my 98 Civic. 

In reply to bmw88rider :

I have been doing the swapped honda thing a while. Currently have a bonkers crx running an 'upgraded' short ratio b16 setup. 

The vtec head really needs pistons on a b20v, and if I gotta do a full rebuild I might just look at a more modern engine. So I am pondering an H2B when it comes to that. But I do have a b16a head around somewhere if I come across a cheap block. I am just not sure making a b-series more rev happy will help as much in the 3500lb crv vs the 1800lb crx. 

The rear diff works fine, but will fail a zero-friction roller test. The diff houses a pump that spins when the front and rear are spinning at different rates, that pump actuates a diaphram to engage some motorcycle style clutch plates that then transfers power to the open diff. I plan on going into it more in a few weeks, but the 07-11 awd units are slightly upgraded, and I plan on swapping over. There are also cheap modifications to quicken and strenghten drive engagement inside the unit. I can attest it works quite well in snow. The honda system changed in '12, I am not familiar with the newer electronic system, although it may have its own benefits. Again, copius detail in coming weeks and months as I locate parts, accumulate knowledge, and work out small stuff. 

The "diff counterweight" you mention is probably a mass damper. Likely placed there by Ferdinand Honda to reduce driveline NVH. I don't think it would hurt durability at all to remove it, you may just notice more noise coming through the rear of the cabin.

Updates:

Did the rear diff mount and diff counterweight delete. 

Rear diff bushing held to frame by 3 14mm, and to diff mount by a single long 17mm. The 17mm had rusted inside the bushing, requiring me to remove the diff bracket as well. I replaced the weight thingy with a nylock nut of the correct thread and called it a win. 

Next up was the tuneup.

First, ignition. New japan-made (yec or tec) cap and rotors always seem to work the best on these cars. Resist the temptation to run the Accel or MSD external coil kits. If you need upgraded ignition, look to a COP setup from a sportbike. The stock system works great up to around 500+hp, so I see no reason to change. NGK plugs seem to work uniquely well in the honda b-series, and I perfer the cheaper V-Power style. NGK is also the best plug wire mfg, look for the blue wires, helpfully labeled by cyl. 

Process is straightforward, 3 screws on cap, one on rear of rotor. You may have to turn the engine over a few times until the screw lines up with the window. Use a JIS screwdriver, or risk stripping the rotor screw! The cap screws can use a 10mm. Make sure to blow any dust out of distributor. Now is a good time to replace your ICM or Coil if needed, mine were fine. Also check for distributor shaft play. Installation reverse of removal. 

In my case, my plugs were newish looking bosch platinums, threads wet with coolant, antisieze and oil, dispite a recent HG. Worrying, but 200mi of driving has used no coolant or oil so I am hoping its just an oversight. I poured in some MMO to soak as I worked on the rest of the car. Turning the car over w/o plugs in to blast out extra to prevent hydrolock before installing new plugs. 

Finally, to address my handling issue, a failed OEM front swaybar mount to replace. Of course the allen keyway was corroded beyonde use, so vigorous application of vice-grips and liberal amounts pb blaster was the belabored cure. New ones were SKP brand, and seemed well made, but needed a bit more grease. (Protip, add grease to all balljoints without zerk fittings before installing. Most are woefully undergreased)

The result is a car that idles a bit smoother, and does not lean like a codeine fiend when cornering. I still feel the 13mm rear bar is a bit small, but upgrade plans are already in the works. 

Gotta run, more updates soon. 

Update time, no pictures, all drama edition. 

Spent the last 2 weeks figuring out the suspension rebuild, cross-refrenicing and ordering parts from all corners of the internet. Turns out nobody offers a turn-key kit for the cr-v, despite a few claiming to. Also, even the simple ball joint selection can be difficult. What follows is some overly detailed info for anyone who dares tread my path. 

Part 1, The Polymer Menace:

For those in the know, a Urethane 'upgrade' on a sla honda requires the strategic omission of the rear trailing arm bushing, for an oem part unless going balls-out... err... I mean caged balls... err... sphericals. But as this is just a mountain touge grocery getter, so high maint items like that are out. 

 I decided on urethane after having about 5 other hondas with the swap and enjoying the tighter handling. Hopefully the extra weight of the crv will make the lessened compliance  and NVH induced by the higher durometer even more smooth. My crx got a bit more twitchy, while integras seemed smoother, so perhaps this theory will hold. With this in mind I first looked up 'crv' on energy's site. Turns out, prothane, energy, and whiteline are all the same mfg now. (Correct me if i am wrong) with energy being phased out, and whiteline for different markets, with helpful interchanges hotlinked on some kits. Woot! a CRV kit exists! But... the 'complete kit' is missing over half the bushings. Looking up the individual parts to fill in the gaps more than doubled the price. And some only came in 'ricer red', no bueno.

A great sadness stretched over me... time stood still. I skimmed my options for stock type replacements, 16 different ones, scores of unknown brands, and refined unobtanium OEM parts. The project was suddenly daunting in cost and complexity. My mind spun as the cliff edges nearby beckoned me with the gentle caress of rocks below. 

But lo! A vision telepathically intercepted by a mis-dialed wavelength scan brought me the trippy reality-bending psychedelic vision of... a spreadsheet. My mind recoiled, aghast. But there was only one way to be sure...

I spent 'time' with a whiteboard, and wrote out each kit, and sub-kit contents for every 88-01 honda civic, crv, crx, a few preludes, and acura integras from 90+ and discovered that 2 civic kits combined to make an actually complete crv kit. Why prothane could not do this on their own is odd, considering i did this with their own damn data, but whatever, i digress. 

Turns out, the 8.2017 99-00 Si kit, plus the 8.2015 96-00 civic ex kit, makes the whole shebang, while the 8.2021 crv kit has no uca, toe arm, etc. The 8.2016 is just the 8.2015 missing a few important things, but with sway bushes. What a mess, but I had my formula. 8.2017+8.2015=CRV FULL KIT. 

So I shopped around and found each for about $150. One amazon closeout, and one cheap ebay buy now. Sadly, both were the last in stock for the deal, but shopping around should yield decent, if not similar results. 

Part II, the non-consentual boogaloo

With tracking numbers safely nestled in my inbox, I drifted off to sleep. My dreams were filled with dancing cars, doing the salsa with their shaky shuddering wavy steering, and angry drunken spindles. I awoke with a start and began looking up ball joints and tie rods with my phone, eyes squinting from the harsh backlight. 3 cups of caffiene laden liquid later, I had a clear fork in what I had assumed a clear and narrow path. Most upper ball joints were sold as part of a whole upper control arm, with bushings pre-pressed. Those who make quality balljoints ( proforged, moog, honda oem) all seemed to only sell the whole assembly at ~100/ea. And with a part shared with the 1800lb crx, I wanted quality... But the stampings are often inferior even on better brands, and I didnt need any more spare bushings. 

I settled on some Centric Premiums (not ctek) for the uppers, but pickins were slim. I got Proforged for the Lowers. Ended up with Delphi inner and Proforged outer tie rods for a good price shipped. Prices were good, but shipping times are all over the place. Proforged seems the best non-oem option currently in production to my eye, but thats not my good eye. 

Part 3. The Bump n Grind.

I took her out for a drive to finalize all the part buys and make sure my santa'esque list of naughty things that need attention (besides the girlfriend) was complete to a fault. The wheels howled like chubby instagram models on a sandpaper treadmill. The shocks felt... fine. Maybe a bit loose (shut your mouth, shes a good girl), but still pumping the fluids. Like a good man I googled a few younger models anyway. 

Rear bearings are those bolt-in style, renown for their ease of replacement, and larger pricetag. Helpfully, left and right are unique due to this arrangement. I can't seem to source any japanese replacements, so I will have to pay more and trust timken, once again, to source my 30 dollar asian bearings for 70 bucks.

Poised to hurl the contents of my wallet (and anyone elses within reach!) At this aging suspension, I priced shocks. And some good options still exist. Ignore the temptation to buy 600 dollar godspeed coilovers and 20 dollar quickstruts, to check out the yellow Bilstiens and KYB's red AGX adjustable (if you can find em, may be discont) first. But the budget faltered, buckled at the knees and whispered in a parched and weathered voice from betwixt sun chapped lips "I can go no further" and collapsed into the arid desert earth. The dry sand stretched out as far as the eye could see. The border between land and sky was indeterminate, shimmering and liquid. I tried to remember which way we came from, but could not. And just then, the UPS guy arrived. 

To Be Continued...

Nice ride! That thing is basically 1 step below a 4runner as far as beaters go here in CO. 

Pro tip on the bearings: no matter what brand aftermarket you buy, you should definitely pull the seals and repack with a quality grease before install.  Even the "Made in USA" Timkens come with the worst bearing grease I've ever experienced, and ended up having to replace bearings again after 10k miles.

Poetic words need pictures. 

Looking forward to you getting this all together. 

sobe_death said:

Nice ride! That thing is basically 1 step below a 4runner as far as beaters go here in CO. 

Pro tip on the bearings: no matter what brand aftermarket you buy, you should definitely pull the seals and repack with a quality grease before install.  Even the "Made in USA" Timkens come with the worst bearing grease I've ever experienced, and ended up having to replace bearings again after 10k miles.

Plus 2 on this. With a high load unit on a sports racer I went from new bearings every race to over 10 races with no problem with Mobil1 wheel bearing grease.

I always thought those long rear control arms could make a good amount of travel. Kinda reminds me of the front of a SxS or something. 

Pics soon as I get working, just pulled the driveshaft to replace the center support bearing. Seperating the inner cv is fun. Will be sure to pack it full of my finest grease, I already do that on my ball joints, idk why i never thought to on bearings, i remember buying them dry for my vw.  Spent last day or so spraying down inner driveshaft boot with 303 silicone to soften it up. 

Just found out bjs are backordered, even if I buy a few drinks, so might do a few other bits in the meantime. Current prospective crv projects are 1. Shift cable bushings (will em1 fit?) 2. Auto-dimming mirror retrofit (gf request), plan is to use mid 00's subaru retrofit. 3. Updated wheels 4. Heated seats (using junkyard parts), heated mirrors (oem replacement parts). 

For the reading impaired. Nevermind the pole. 

Part #s 

Seem to match with website. 

If you have a 88-00 civic/crx, 97-01 crv, or 90-01 integra, and want some NIB prothane and/or energy suspension bushings below cost, please contact me thru my email, or this thread. I may make an ad in the parts section later if I have time.

Recent events and backordered parts are slowing progress. I have started figuring out the upcoming brake service, and in true can't leave s*** the f*** alone fashion I have devised a plan for brake upgrades, front and rear. I will address both by themselves, as they are each involved. Corrections and suggestions are welcome. 

Basics:

All 90s hondas were incestious little beasts and can share nearly any brake setup with the correct brackets.

I want cheap and easy street and performance pad selection, oem parts, and oem reliability.  Freddie sings *I want it all*...

Drums suck (take that hiphop!) I want to convert to disc in rear. I know there may not be any considerable benefit, but it makes me happy. Again, must use oem honda parts. 

Acura is honda. So acura parts work too. 

Whats the best 90s acura?

Nugi said:

For the reading impaired. Nevermind the pole. 

That’s what she said...

84FSP said:

Nugi said:

For the reading impaired. Nevermind the pole. 

That’s what she said...

I was waiting on that comment...

Here is a pic spread out around the pole for you sir. ;)

Edit: I accidentally refreshed and erased my entire brake swap post. Will get to it in the next few days. Took way to long to type on phone as it was. Hit me for details if I go MIA for a few. 

Integra GSR/Type R would probably be your easiest and cheapest rear brake upgrade path. We did it to my ex's '91 wagovan, and it ended up using CRV bearings when we were all finished.

In reply to sobe_death :

Good info. The rears afaict will just need a bracket for ITR type rear brakes. They used to sell the bracket as a civic upgrade part, but has been discontinued a while as oem swap options got popular. Might make my own if NLA. I already plan on itr rotors all around if possible.

Nugi said:

The wheels howled like chubby instagram models on a sandpaper treadmill.

"Moaned worse than the zombies in World War Z" was originally my go-to prase to describe such a sound, but I think I'll use what you wrote instead.

Thanks!

In reply to Nugi :

I can't remember off the top of my head, but I think the only ITR rear part you would need is the rotor, due to the 5-bolt wheel pattern on the CR-V hub. You may not even need that now with all the Honda/Acura 5-bolt vehicles out there, but I remember spending a large amount of time browsing brake rotor diagrams on Rock Auto to get the right dimensions.

In reply to sobe_death :

True that the rotor should be correct with itr parts. The fronts are part-compatible with ITR calipers, brackets, pads, and rotors. Itr/crv Hubs/spindles have different wheel bearing OD, but caliper spacing is maintained. The rear issue is caliper mounting thanks to 4wd there is no oem option for a caliper attachment. I think a spindle swap would work easily on a 2wd. The rest should be rather bolt-on. A mount that bolts to the drum brake backing mount and provides caliper location *should* be the only non oem part needed. The wagovan parts mentioned earlier have different axles iirc and Id rather not deal with even harder to source parts, even if a convoluted oem solution is technically possible that way. 

Project is on hold a few days as parts arrive and I finish up and sell my Scion XD.

Nugi said:

Part #s 

Seem to match with website. 

If you have a 88-00 civic/crx, 97-01 crv, or 90-01 integra, and want some NIB prothane and/or energy suspension bushings below cost, please contact me thru my email, or this thread. I may make an ad in the parts section later if I have time.

    New member local or at least close by interested in the leftovers so drop me a note as I apparently need to wait for approval to send you a PM.

Rualert