1989 Honda CR-X siR, aka "Project Spectrum"

[lightyearman]

This is a project and build thread I've been meaning to put up on here for a very long time but I've never got round to it. Well, here we go.
Apologies in advance, much of the early stuff here I'm going to copy straight from the build thread from the CRXUK forum.

It all starts in 2013 when I bought a very sorry looking CR-X shell to have my dream car built up from.









It might look very miserable there but it had the potential to be just what I wanted because of its original spec - It was a JDM Import EF8 Honda CR-X siR vtec, Glassroof model in factory Flint Black metallic, power steering but non ABS - all the words I wanted to hear. It also had only two previous UK owners, both of which were enthusiasts and had kept its original import paperwork including the auction sheet and transportation documents from the 'Asian Emperor' container ship it arrived to the UK on. Lets be honest, we all love a bit of history here don't we?

It was incomplete - no drivetrain, bonnet, front lights, seats and quite a lot more - and rusty in a big way; but on the flip side it was within budget to get me started and it had never been welded previously. This meant there were no bodges or poor accident damage to uncover and redo, just good honest rust and age.

So an initial assessment of the cutting, welding and fabricating that was going to be needed:






You can see here the outer has been cut away. That's where the previous owner realised it wasn't going to be a weekends work sorting it properly...







All looking a bit crusty in there









I think from these pictures you can see - particularly around the sills - there are quite a few layers of separate skins, making a factory correct repair time consuming and fairly complicated

So first thing was to strip out the interior. Of course that exposed even more crusty bits of floor pan, but it also yielded a few goodies: A few small denomination Japanese coins (worth about 7 pence) and also some rare JDM option only 'Super Sound Bass Tubes' behind the factory speakers. These are basically special shaped cones that give the factory fit rear speakers a bit more bass and clarity. Rare as they were never even listed as an option on UK cars. The other options and trick J bits I noticed were the bronze tinted glass all round and Honda Access factory door wind deflector (notice the lack of plural there as it only had one)





*I'll get more caught up tomorrow *

[demechanik]

Yes! This will be good😎😎

[79cord]

Always special & glad it's previous owners looked after it without botches...until they parted it...
Worth doing properly.
But I'd be biased having 1, though looking forward to trying a std DOHC given how over weight my SiR is by comparison.. B16A, LSD, Roof, ALB & A/C can't help but still part of what makes it special as is.

[Fossilfish]

I can't imagine how this turns out

Great little pocket rocket Sir (See what I did there)

[darrenh]

brake lines and fuel lines through the cabin ?

[lightyearman]

Jan 11, 2018 7:07:34 GMT 79cord said:

Always special & glad it's previous owners looked after it without botches...until they parted it...
Worth doing properly.
But I'd be biased having 1, though looking forward to trying a std DOHC given how over weight my SiR is by comparison.. B16A, LSD, Roof, ALB & A/C can't help but still part of what makes it special as is.

Cheers, I'm glad I managed to save it before it had been fully parted out, although even if it was a bare shell it would have been saveable!

The ALB system definitely adds dead weight as its first generation and more of a hindrance. I got rid of my aircon and regret it slightly (black car, black interior, glassroof on a summers day...) The weight of the B16 vtec lump is about the same as the twin cam D16 the non vtec models came with, and believe it or not the glassroof is lighter than the electric sunroof models which all UK models came as.
Saying all this, my first CRX was a UK spec non vtec i16 model in white and rust and it was my baby. Pure, direct driving experience. I did 55k in two years in that thing

[lightyearman]

Jan 11, 2018 11:50:46 GMT darrenh said:

brake lines and fuel lines through the cabin ?

They are the fuel return lines, the brake pipes run underneath.

[lightyearman]

Jan 11, 2018 8:19:12 GMT Fossilfish said:

I can't imagine how this turns out

Great little pocket rocket Sir (See what I did there)

Hahaha good one Did your lad like the picture of my CR-X?

Hows the Saab treating you? Hope its all going well. That Cherokee was so much fun, I was almost annoyed something else cropped up and I had to sell so quick. That's life eh?

[pegwie]

More!!

[lightyearman]

Right, a little bit more then

So the starting point was decided to be the drivers side sill and floor pan. This had already been cut away in part, revealing the mid sill, strengtheners and different layers of tin. It was also by far the crustiest part of the shell so if this could be repaired correctly, there was going to be no excuses getting the job finished!

The wheelbase on these is really small. The 4th gen Civic they are based on isn't exactly a big car but these have nearly a foot cut out of the floorpan to make a really short car. This means short stubby sills. It doesn't make for short work though... They have factory fitted side skirts / plastic sill covers which hide all manner of horrors and because the MOT man cant remove them to check, by the time they do fail an MOT for rot they are really far gone.





Fortunately the chap I got to do the welding and fabrication work here is a mate and a bit of a expert on these things. He's nuilt half a dozen from the ground up and knows the best tricks for making repair sections. We also had a spare rotten shell to butcher for bits and bobs. Thankfully this was mostly rotten in different areas.







More about that one later...

So the driver side was gradually cut back, spot welds unpicked and each layer of sheet steel revealed until we got back to solid metal. By 'we' I mean I did some cutting and grinding but mainly I made tea and built up brake pipe kits that he sells so as not to feel totally useless

I'm just going to give you a bit of a screen dump here of the pictures I have of work progressing on that sill. They should be in the right order but a bit of imagination may be required.






















You can see about there are up to three skins on this section where the floor pan raises towards the rear seats. The moisture had sat between the skins and rusted it from the inside out. This is common in most things but particularly these Hondas. Sticking a patch over the top never ever works. The way we have done it though, should be good for years.





















So that's many layers of inner and midsill replaced and spliced together with strengtheners added where the factory had placed them. This was all done with 1mm zinc coated sheet, it doesn't look like much but there were around 40 hours of fabrication up to this point. You can see where this is going cant you..?

Anyway, away from crusty steel. You may have noticed from the first pictures that it has no engine. This is where the silver scrap shell comes in.
Through the CRUK forum I'd put a Wanted add out for an engine and running gear. A guy fairly local in Lincolnshire got back to me and gave me a great price on a complete engine, the only catch being it was still in a shell which I had to take. And the shell was in a muddy field and had been for some years. curse word.

Now it might have been easier to just get another engine that was perhaps already on a pallet but we all like a challenge sometimes and this engine was a bit special. Despite its long lay up, it was turning over freely and had a few trick bits in it, for the money I couldn't say no. It had spent its life as a track car in recent years and had in all probability seen some competition because it had tell tale signs like a secondary throttle return spring and a wire locked sump plug. It also had Integra Type R (B18C) cams, valve springs and retainers, a lightweight flywheel, aftermarket clutch and we think a spit and polish of the head when that top end gear was slotted in. Definitely worth dragging it out of a field.



When someone tries to sell an engine as having Gucci parts in its often difficult to tell and a lot has to be taken on trust. Having a look under the cam cover the cams did look lumpy but you cant be sure. Thankfully this was all proven much later when I got it dyno'd. These make 150 brake as standard. Mine (despite what has almost certainly been a hard life) made 186.4. Over 186 brake from a naturally aspirated nearly 30 year old 1.6 4-pot. I bloody love it.

[Woofwoof]

Bookmarked.

[dazcapri]

Me too bookmarked

[Laters]

I have a massive soft spot for these cars. A mate of mine had one a few years back.

Still cant forget the look on his face the first time he proper revved the engine.

Sterling work on the rusty bits as so many people just plate over and cause a nightmare down the line.
I love working on Honda engines. The last I built was a b20a from a JDM accord saloon (transplanted into a 3 door aerodeck).

Keep up the good work.

[lightyearman]

Jan 11, 2018 19:48:36 GMT Laters said:

I have a massive soft spot for these cars. A mate of mine had one a few years back.

Still cant forget the look on his face the first time he proper revved the engine.

Sterling work on the rusty bits as so many people just plate over and cause a nightmare down the line.
I love working on Honda engines. The last I built was a b20a from a JDM accord saloon (transplanted into a 3 door aerodeck).

Keep up the good work.

I'm glad a few of you are enjoying this, I've got loads more to stick up n here I'm just trying to sneak it in on my down time on a late shift

The aim of the game with tis was always that it would be repaired to as good as stock, with a few of the problem areas and water traps re designed slightly so its good for another decade or more.

I love the old Aerodecks, have you got any pictures? You see a few Frankenstein B20 builds using a B16A head to make a big capacity vtec screamer! I love the commonality of engine bits you get with Hondas, makes for some great little parts-bin specials

[Fossilfish]

Jan 11, 2018 18:15:16 GMT lightyearman said:

Jan 11, 2018 8:19:12 GMT Fossilfish said:

I can't imagine how this turns out

Great little pocket rocket Sir (See what I did there)

Hahaha good one Did your lad like the picture of my CR-X?

Hows the Saab treating you? Hope its all going well. That Cherokee was so much fun, I was almost annoyed something else cropped up and I had to sell so quick. That's life eh?

Saabs still going strong, it sips a tad of coolent but hey who hasn't got a drink problem!

That Cherokee was a barrel of laughs even down to the ridiculous fuel consumption...another one with a drink problem.

That Honda is a gem and glad it found you, I'm sure there isn't too many left and those that are around are patched up poorly.

Good welding skills

[joem83]

Nice project, have a look on gumtree sheffield, rolling shell with a B16 in for £500 atm

[pegwie]

Jan 11, 2018 21:30:22 GMT joem83 said:

Nice project, have a look on gumtree sheffield, rolling shell with a B16 in for £500 atm

I was looking at that for my EF. Why are the decently priced things always out of reach 

Shame to see just how far the rust had creeped up on those sills! It's the usual case though isn't it, old cars and sideskirts/trims don't mix.. Do you have much luck sourcing panels for the crx? Is there much interchangeability between these and 4G civics?

[lightyearman]

Fossilfish - Glad the Saab is serving you well, you should get a little project thread up for it. Yeah cheers buddy, the CR-X is more like a pet or a part of the family now. That Cherokee was just awesome. I wish I had the money and space to just keep it! At least I can say I've owned one though and it was just perfect being a real early spec 4 litre. it would just do power slides out of every junction, hooligan machine haha. I took it green laning one afternoon too, considering it was totally standard except them old BFG mud terrains it was unstoppable! ploughed fields, a ford, a drainage ditch...

pegwie - Getting panels for a CR-X is nigh on impossible unfortunately. There are a few bits for the 4th gen civic but the usually need some fettling to fit right. 4th gen rear arch repair panels are available and these are what we tend to use but they have to be modified around the contour between the bumper and rear lights to get the angle right. I think the sill repair section are out of stock now but the had to be modified anyway. A guy on the CRXUK forum was making batches of sill but its a matter of timing getting your hands on them. Everything else has to be fabricated from scratch or cut from damaged donor shells and these are getting few and far between now.
Mechanical stuff is all interchangeable though: engine, drivetrain, suspension is all identical. Interior trim is different in some parts like seats, door cards and heater controls but most other stuff is the same.

[lightyearman]

Last bit for today

Getting towards the end of the drivers side sill and floor repairs, it was at this point I knew the project would be alright in the end. The most intricate and frustrating part had been done and done well - I was amazed how seamless he got the joint on the outer sill and door shut area - so its a case of (much) more of the same















I remember feeling like this a right victory at this point.

That's all for today, in the next instalment I think it will be the welding and fab on the arches, what we found taking the glass out and getting it ready for point.

Stay tuned folks...

[79cord]

Jan 11, 2018 18:11:48 GMT lightyearman said:

The weight of the B16 vtec lump is about the same as the twin cam D16 the non vtec models came with.

I knew that couldn't be right when Honda claimed 890kg kerb weight for the DOHC Si, vs 1025kg for the UK i-Vt & optioned up Si-R, though I seem to remember a note their ALB system was an absurd 55kg(! Honda factbook .jp), & Japanese sites claim 970kg for the base Si-R (even shown with steel wheels).

Finally looked up engine weights in the service manual that state Civic 1.4 98kg. D16 SOHC 107kg. D16 DOHC 113kg.... B16A1 140kg, plus heavier transmission & brakes/knuckles.
USA wrecker estimates suggesting Engine+Transmission weights of
B16a2/B18C 405 lb / 182kg, vs D16 sohc 309 lb / 139kg

Really leaves me tempted to strip the ALB from my car... especially when I suspect it has a failed pressure reservoir, though I think I have a replacement & don't fancy the idea of replacing steel brake lines.

Great to see the dedication to the cause with the work required & done so well.
Massive congratulations upon that power output too. Makes me think I should fit the slightly wilder B16A2 camshafts I have & think about type-R spec, though perhaps for the DC2!
Looking forward to trying a lightweight flywheel as well so hope that was a good idea.