howdy folks
just getting back into the car scene after taking a decade off to race motorcycles. this time around i have to get my kicks at closed course events rather than the streets after dark. i know... adulthood is a bitch.
after researching all the disciplines and seeing whats affordable and close to me ive landed on autocross. i am located in the hudson valley area of NY state and being that winter is just about to kick off it gives me some time to research, hoard parts/spares, and fix up the car. has 185k miles and mostly original, 33 year old suspension parts.
as far the car... its a 1990 honda civic STD hatchback. completely stock chassis wise but has a slightly newer, slightly more powerful engine swapped in (d16z6.) sadly from what i gather this swap bumps me out of the "street" class and into the smf class... is that correct? anyway... really curious to see how much fun i can have with this thing.
open to all criticisms, feedback, direction, and general misinformation if you must. 
1990 Civic EF? For the love of your wallet don't Google Kanjo racer 
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Sorry, got nothing on the autocross questions but those are seriously cool cars and there aren't that many around anymore.
Sounds like a fun car. I've had EF Civics, and I had an EG-chassis Civic Si–so you kinda have those two cars married together. (Find some info on those cars in the Project Car section of this site, and note that you'll have to check out the past projects to see them.)
As far as classing, just go and have fun. You can run in Xtreme Street, too.
For basic setup, think good shocks/springs, some rear bar, and 200tw tires on 15-inch wheels. To keep the rear anti-roll bar from tearing the mounts, look for a bar that uses a subframe brace.
Then have fun.
You can have a ton of fun with an EF civic =)
Need to tune your OBD0 ECU? Try BRE: http://benogle.com/projects/bre.html
Would you like to upgrade to an OBD1 ECU? No worries, buy a cheap obd0>obd1 jumper set from amazon and try: https://hondatuningsuite.com
Want to turn it into a challenge car? Try here: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/2000-challenge/2018-challenge-build-1991-honda-crx/142407/page1/
Want to see how wild you can get? Try here: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/meet-car-started-gridlife/
If you've been gone for a decade one big change is how cheap tunable ECUs and Chinese turbos have gotten. It's a pretty great combination. Good luck and welcome!
Duke
MegaDork
11/28/22 9:10 a.m.
We have a regular forum member named Nick Dixon who autocrosses in that area. Hopefully he'll chime in when he sees this.
I'm glad to see you moving it off of the streets. Welcome aboard!
Welcome to the forum! I don't have any additional advice on car setup, but I can strongly recommend an autocross Podcast based in upstate New York. I've really enjoyed it.
Click on the red lettering to open links.
thank yall for the warm welcome dudes. greatly appreciate the info left here as well.
was happy to see that link from crustyredxpress with the red gridlife ef. i followed that cars build thread religously on honda-tech back in the early 2000s as well as their GRM challenge car "gutty." i still have that copy of GRM magazine floating around my mancave.
also very cool to see crusty the red crx with vitara build.
david wallens i am writing down your mod suggestions on my long list of to-dos.
and floating doc... that podcast you shared.... i will be absorbing every dang episode of that on my daily commute. thank you for the link. im already 2 episodes in.
In reply to ajxr :
Happy to help, and those are terrific cars.
If you have more questions, ask away. This group can help.
very few people know the EF hatch STD. basically it the HF version that was in the crx
I had one, black bumpers, 67hp, 4 forward gears, no tach, no ac, no right side mirror, vinyl seats, no centrr console
spent a ton of money painting bumpers and doing mods making it a Si.
Then went and bought a 91 si.
Great cars. Welcome
Keep an eye on this CRX build thread, too. It's following a CRX that was nationally competitive.
You could run Xtreme Street too.
Ajxr, click around here a bit. They hold a few events in Kingston, not far from you.
