Just opened the March issue and Tim's editorial hit me right where I stand. My son and I have an 86 CRX Si that has been with us for 20 years. The car is built for the track. We had many great times over, in and under the car, not to mention at the autoX and track. But time passed and the car sat. After selling my last project car, I decided to try to bring the CRX back to life.
Unfortunately, the tank had rusted through and water had gotten in. It seems sand and wasp nests had accumulated atop the tank accelerating the rust. Apparently why the car stopped running and was parked. I flushed the lines and replaced components and got the car started. The engine needs to be rebuilt, along with most everything else.
But, I can't find a tank. I am hesitant to get a tank from the Northern climes as I expect those tanks to have a similar problem. This car lived it's life in the southeast and had rusted issues. I tried calling a few yards nearby, but the cars they had listed were long gone.
No one sells a new tank for the cars and a fuel cell wouldn't work under the hatch for several reasons, safety and fitment among them. I tried the CRX forums with no luck.
I want to put whatever tank I get in the original position and connect to the original fill. I'll consider having a tank made, but who does that type of thing and what are the costs?
If anyone here has any suggestions I'd like to hear them.
Thanks,
Dan
Your post made me curious, as I thought I might keep an eye out for an older CRX myself.
I see that some places list the gas tank as discontinued, but other places list it as available. Do they all back out if you try to order? I was googling part number 17500-SB2-684
Rather than having a whole tank made, can you have a repair patch made for yours for just the top? I remember that, way back, my dad had a plastic "sock" coating put in his MG TD tank. I have seen a similar product for motorcycle gas tank restoration when there is too much rust to ever not leak. You may be able to get some good advice from a restoration shop that deals in anything too old to be able to buy.
POR-15 U.S. Standard Fuel Tank Sealer 49204
How similar is the CRX floor pan to the regular Civic SI? Can you graft in a junkyard chunck of floor pan to get the clearance to use a more readily available tank?
I hope you keep us posted with whatever solution you find.
Matthew
I have a fabricator that I use for my race car stuff and he could either patch the old one or make up a new one. If you have a fabricator from your race days they should be able to fix it.
Definitly keep us updated on your progress.
Thanks for you replies and suggestions. Some updates.
All offers of new tanks for that model year are dead ends. The closest stock tank I could find is the Civic hatchback. That tank is 4" longer and just won't fit. A major constraint in fitting a stock tank is location of fill tube which, on the hatchbacks, is on the forward end of the tank. All others are to the rear. There's really no room to route a fill tube.
Reworking the old tank might be possible, but, not only are the holes for fitment of pickup and level sensor rust damaged, but the pickup and level sensor are NLA. We'd have to retrofit aftermaket units.
As this CRX well always be a track car, we decided to fit a custom tank. After extensive measurements of the tank and available space under car, we've determined a rectangular tank could be fit that would hold 8 gallons. Enough for most track outings. This also allows us to design baffles into tank to counter car's fuel starvation tendencies. (Maybe I should move this thread over to GRM)
A major design hurdle is figuring how to hang tank. If we use straps, the front and rear edges the strap contacts will have to be rolled to release stress. Plus indentations for straps should be made to assure tank doesn't move side to side. Alternatively, we could bolt tank to floor using some kind of bracketry. The problem here is not knowing what's important for safety. There's decades of experience in tank design that we don't have and this is serious business. For example, from my measurements it became obvious that the tank is designed to be a minimum distance away from structure that might collapse into it. What else is important?
Asking a custom tank shop to fabricate a tank raises these liability issues. Some shops won't touch it. So we'll come up with a design, then I'll shop around to see if anyone offers some practical experience and see where that leads us.
I'll keep you posted.
PS. I couldn't find an option for subscribing to a thread. Am I missing something?
Dan
Hmmm. Let me check with a friend who's into those cars.
And I struck out. Sorry about that.
In reply to dlpalumbo :
I was at the local pick-a-part and saw a clean 87 with an automatic. It looks to be the same part number. There does not appear to be rust, but they punch a hole to drain the tank. I have some pictures, but not of the top (I was not able to remove the plastic access in the time I had). Is that of interest?
Matthew
