The 1986 CRX "I didn't want to do this" resto thread

As mentioned in another subforum, I recently bought an '86 CRX Si in what appears to be pretty good shape, with the intention to use it as a part-time DD. My commute is about 60 miles round trip and the BMWs fuel consumption was eating a little deeper into my toy budget than I liked.

So, when I first got it it looked rather good:

Even has the original dealer's sticker still on the back:

A couple of days commuting in it resulted in a couple of not-so-nice discoveries, though. The shocks were on the rather worn side, second gear was crunchier than corn flakes when the gearbox had warmed up and the front was listing to the driver's side. Plus, when driving it seemed that the hood was flapping or pushed up. Odd, that.

Well, the hood seemed to have been pushed up by the driver's side shock absorber that had about 1/4" play in the top mount so I ordered new shocks and mounts - got the last set of KYB GR-2s Tire Rack had in stock after the guys over at Red Pepper Racing suggested that these work well on a DD and parked the car until yesterday.

Time to get at the rear upper shock mounts, which look almost as clean as the day they left the factory:

I'm still paranoid about rust on this car but so far I've only found some rust in the lower corners of the windshield that needs addressing. So, I pulled out the upper spring mount and had a peek inside:

Nothing. Pretty much all the underside of the car that is visible looks as clean as above and this photo of the wheelarch:

Anyway, rear shocks pulled out, they seem to have been most of the new "damper oil applied outside the shock" variety:

The rear springs are in such a shaped that I could still see the original paint marks from the factory once I wiped down the dust:

The driver's side shock basically had all its oil stuck to the outside:

By the time I was done with the job and had cleaned up two hours later, only one of the four shocks that came off the car had extended itself in any meaningful fashion. The other ones were as compressed as they had been when I took them off. I guess they were a little overdue for replacement.

While I had the car up on axle stands, I drained the gearbox oil as I had suspected that someone stuck the wrong oil in - these take engine oil in the gearbox, not gearbox oil. The oil that came out had a faint whiff of gearbox oil and it also wasn't quite enough oil in there so I stuck some of Napa's finest liquified dino 10W40 in there. The shifter certainly felt better when I backed it out of the garage last night but I'll only find out this morning if it really makes a difference when the engine is hot.

Unfortunately I also noticed that the waterpump is leaking, plus the PO couldn't get the fuel filter off so I have to try and get my favourite mechanics up here to address those issues. As my wife already pointed out, I have two months and a ton of work remaining on the Miata so I really should spend more time on that car.

If I may make a recommendation, change your gearbox oil again. Gear lube and dino engine oil don't like playing with each other all that much. Changing again should drain out the last vestiges of gear lube.

I'm probably going to run it like this for a few hundred miles and the change the gearbox oil again. The feel of the gearbox has improved already once the fresh oil has had a chance to splash around the gearbox, so it seems to wash the remains of the wrong oil out nicely.

I've never seen a more rust-free 1st Gen crx

great starting point for a dd/toy. good score!

dankspeed wrote: I've never seen a more rust-free 1st Gen crx

Come to SoCal. You'll see 'em all over the place.

Theres a rather worn looking 1st gen near me...missing passenger corner light, cracked fenders...but only a $500 sticker on the window.

The siren song of japanese steel from my youth is calling me down a dark and mysterious road. I try to fight, but am powerless against the faded plastic and bubbly paint allure...

Just picked it up from the mechanics this morning, now with new fuel filter, water pump, tie rod ends and fresh alignment (place I go to is the local SCCA member's go-to shop so they do alignments right).

With the new shocks and properly aligned, the thing is brilliant to drive. And I say this as someone who doesn't much care for FWD. So obviously I had to take the route to work that allows me to exploit the handling at legal speeds (Google for "Mount Rose Highway").

I'm still doing my best Cheshire Cat impression.

I'm jealous. I've always had a soft spot for these, even though I've never driven one.

dankspeed wrote: I've never seen a more rust-free 1st Gen crx

You weren't alive in the mid 80's? That seems unbelievable, while totally believable, to an old fart like me.

Keith Tanner wrote: I'm jealous. I've always had a soft spot for these, even though I've never driven one.

They are great right out of the box, especially when compared to its contemporaries. There's something to be said for light weight and low polar moment. Even the HF version with the greasy little tires had a lot of handling virtue. If only someone would make a car like this today with a bit more horsepower. There are cars that surpass it on the skidpad all day, but you can feel the mass much more acutely. The term "tossable" was invented to describe this car.

A few years ago, I had a CRX motor sitting in my garage looking for a clean car with a damaged engine. I found one (red with grey cladding) with a damaged head and camshaft but punted on it because it had an automatic. Boy, did I kick myself for not picking it up, especially since I had a manual tranny and could sell the auto to pay for the other parts needed for the swap! I would still be driving it today.

I gotta say--it's a bit of a bummer to me to see such a pristine example potentially get raped by winter commutes after surviving this long.

1) They don't throw salt on the roads here

2) I don't use it when there is snow on the road, only on nice dry days where there might be a little water on the road

3) You're welcome to make me an offer in excess of what I paid for it

In reply to BoxheadTim:

what have you got in it so far?

Drain the transmission and refill it with Honda MTF. Modern oil does not have the necessary composition for use in a Honda transmission. This is why they have MTF.

AngryCorvair wrote: In reply to BoxheadTim: what have you got in it so far?

With the last repair that I farmed out (which also included a new timing belt), a little over $4k. That's not counting a set of decent condition sun visors and a set of uncut good condition door cards (the ones on the car have speaker holes in them) that are slowly making their way across the country on a Greyhound bus or five.

burdickjp wrote: Drain the transmission and refill it with Honda MTF. Modern oil does not have the necessary composition for use in a Honda transmission. This is why they have MTF.

Probably worth it after flushing the trans again with regular oil. That said, the folks on Red Pepper Racing (who know a thing or three about 1st CRXs) suggested dino juice for the trans ...

Probably worth it after flushing the trans again with regular oil. That said, the folks on Red Pepper Racing (who know a thing or three about 1st CRXs) suggested dino juice for the trans ...

I would put money on them not using off-the-shelf road-use engine oil. I bet they're using offroad-use only oil. It's a similar predicament to domestic V8s with flat-tappet camshafts. This is normally associated with a reduction in oil additives such as ZDDP in road-going engine oils. If you are going to use engine oil, at least use racing oil, or additives for flat-tappet camshafts. If you feel maybe someone else knows more about it than Honda, or if you think maybe Honda's MTF won't hold up to your requirements there are other companies who make MTF for Hondas, such as Redline MTL. I have nearly no experience with those. I've just used regular Honda MTF.

The steering wheel had a bit of a sad that I needed to fix before I could drive the car, so it's been sitting for a couple of weeks:

Took me a little time to figure out what the problem was. It looks like someone tried to get at the nut that holds the steering wheel by pulling off the horn pad instead of simply popping out the Honda emblem. The horn pad is supposed to be mounted to the metal plate that is visible in the center of the steering wheel, but it's held on to the metal plate with a couple of plastic washers, so pulling off the horn pad like that firmly detaches the horn pad for good.

Fortunately I managed to find all three springs for the horn pad in the car (they're NLA) and the plastic washers that hold the horn pad to the metal backing are still available. You can see the remnants of the original washers in this picture if you look closely:

This is what the plate is supposed to look like, with the new washers in place:

Steering wheel mounted back on the car, I even sprung for a new lock nut - heck, it's less than half the price of a single plastic washer, so why not?

I also swapped out the home-grown passenger side mirror for one with good glass. For some reason, I don't have an after picture:

Roughly at that point I received an email that a box of CRX goodies (uncut door cards and sun visors in better shape) was ready for pickup at the local Greyhound depot. The box looks like it's been through three tours in Iraq but fortunately its contents appears to have made it across the country in the same number of pieces it was in when it left the seller.

What a little time capsule this is. It's great to see that you're restoring this little go-kart!

I've used Pennzoil synchromesh fluid in a later mid 90s Honda with great success. Great as in a few ounces of tar drained out and it worked fine after.