Hello everyone, my name is Steven, I’m 25 years old and I live in Manitoba Canada. Here’s my build thread of my CR-X up to date, most of it is copied over from another from when I got it back in 2018 onwards.
For some back story I originally bought this CR-X SiR in the summer of 2013 right before I graduated high school and owned it for about twoish years before I crashed it in summer 2015. Sold it off to a friend of mine and recently bought it back in fall of 2018 and that’s where the build starts off.
Here’s a couple of pics of when I had it from 2013 - 2015
After that I parted the car out and sold the car to my buddy where it sat outside at my other friend’s body shop for awhile untouched.
About a year or so later I ended up buying a JZX100 Chaser
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Then about a year after owning that car I sold it for a Midori EK20 hatch
I owned that for about a year as well before getting T boned in it last summer at like 5km/h, took the insurance money and got the car back from them and parted it out.
At that time I didn’t really know what i wanted to get next to mess around with but I’ve always wanted to get my old crx back, so I decided to hit up my buddy who I sold it to and asked him if he wanted to sell it. At this point the car just got the front end fixed maybe a few months before, I always kept up with my buddy to see what kind of progress he did to it and always hounded him to sell it back to me. Luckily for me, he agreed!
This is the first time I saw the car again in person in about 3ish years since I sold it
Before I even got the car back to my house I began buying parts for the car. I got another chassis harness off yahoo auction because I thought a part of the headlight harness got melted from the crash. Turns out the melted part of the harness was on the ac harness, so I just unplugged it and removed it from the vehicle. Luckily it wasn’t the chassis harness because the one I got was cut in a few spots and I think had an alarm or something attached to it at one point. I also started to stock pile whatever bnib moldings and misc items I could find and also managed to find some repro door seals as well.
Around September last year was when I got the car back to my house and started to dig into it since I knew that the car needed a refresh, even when I had it the first time around I knew it needed some maintenance but didn’t really do anything about it. This time around I wanted to do it all and do it right.
When I was going thru the car I noticed a crack along the passenger side door and decided to investigate, what I found wasn’t to good… I guess back in Japan the car had been hit along the side and instead of properly fixing it they just slapped on a bunch of bondo and painted over it, which is pretty common from imported cars from what I heard over the years. So be aware folks if you’re looking into a jdm vehicle.
At this point I started stripping the car down to the shell so I could freshen up the bushings and paint the interior and what not
Towards the end of the year I ended up living by myself at one of our house’s that we were trying to sell at the time so that meant a full garage all to myself
A few weeks later I prepped my engine bay for paint, I decided to do primer with clear over top or
“battleship grey” as some people call it, mostly due to the fact that cans of primer are cheap and I got 2k clear in a can at cost from work. I kinda jumped the gun on this one since I didn’t realize that my trans mount was bent and the bolt wouldn’t thread in properly and I missed a few spots so you could still see the black. I ended up sanding it back down and will respray it after mock up is all done.
When I got the car back the SiR front wasn’t in the best shape as you could tell by the photos, the front hood came from another car that flew up on the highway, the headlights were another pair I had on hand when I sold the car since the tabs were destroyed when I crashed on the good set I was running at the time. Same thing with the bumper lights, lenses were in good shape but the tabs were busted off and the bumper was hacked up by the fog light area.
I was looking on ebay when I first got the car back and saw that they started to reproduce the edm single bulb headlights for non face lift vehicles so I decided that I was going to run 88-89 front end since I always liked it.
I ended up trading the cut up sir bumper that was on my car and the hood to someone else I knew who had an 88-89 setup minus the lights so I did a trade with him, strange I know. I ended up getting the repro headlights off ebay and they fit OK but had some gaps that I wasn’t to happy with so I decided to go back to the face lift front.
Up until maybe early 2019 I was planning on doing a B20v into the crx, I took the head off the B16 that was originally with the car and sold the short block and trans for dirt cheap since no one really wants that stuff around here. I picked up a big spline YS1 cable trans because I was planning on putting a 96’ itr gear set in it and had a 3 puck clutch that was practically brand new, all I needed was a lsd and the trans was pretty taken care of. The B20 block I had was a very low km motor which had about 30-40k on it only, I had a block guard, YCP pistons, aebs intake manifold and a few other things for the motor but had to part out that setup when I thought I had to get rid of the car. Long story short I didn’t have to sell the car but I sold a lot of my B series stuff in the process, so I said screw it and decided to go K series again.
I acquired a K20 long block that was disassembled from my friend and traded him the B20 block plus cash for it and started to collect parts over the next few months. I ended up getting a trans, mount kit, traction bar and shifter setup before summer and finally started working on the car again after a few months of not touching it.
While I was waiting for parts/saving up I painted the interior the same grey primer with clear over top and I thought it turned out pretty decent.
After that I started tossing the chassis harness back in and began to route the headlight harness for a tuck
Also bought an AEM fuel pump to replace the original one that was in the car, I was pretty worried that the inside of the tank would be all rusty but it was spotless inside!
I was originally planning to fix the damage on the passenger side door but I decided to just swap out another door since it was easier and the power window regulator was dead on that side. To replace that regulator was gonna be over $200 shipped for a used one… Instead me and my buddy went halfers on a parts car so I just replaced the door and left the manual window setup in it, the drivers side will be converted to manual windows as well.
Quickly tossed in the carpet, dash and centre console in, just to look at for a bit
Bought a uncut rbc intake manifold from another one of my buddy’s but ended up traded it for a cut one for my k20a2 head from a buddy who needed an uncut one. As you can tell a lot of my parts came from my friends lol
My rear calipers were all rusty and gross so I took a wire wheel and drill to them then hit them with some high temp paint. I got some CRV/ITR/CTR calipers from my buddy and did the same to those as well. Those will need new seals and pistons before they go on the car.
I ended up getting a shifter box and oem cables off my buddy who also supplied a lot of the parts for my K swap and quickly cut my centre console to fit the shifter. Im using a “ktuned” base plate that I bought for $20 from China. I plan on using the stock box with hybrid racing bushings in each end of the shifter cables and some upgraded shifter springs from mtec. I had those springs in my ek20 hatch and it was a night and day difference with them in. No need for fancy shiny shifter box here.
So between me getting the K20 long block I also picked up a K24 block which I was gonna use to run K24/20 on, so this first mock up is with the K24 block and K20 head but I just recently decided to run the K20 long block instead since It was more complete. First mock up went well, had to trim a little bit of the subframe for trans clearance but it was pretty good. Its a tight fit in there but it fits. I’ll make another post about doing a K swap in factory B series EF’s since there’s a little bit more work involved with it.
Since I was planning on running K24/20 at the time of mock up I had to trim a little bit of the skeleton of my Js hood that I kept from the crash. It’s going to get fixed and painted so no need to get another one, plus they don’t even make them anymore so I have to fix it at this point.
I did another mock up a few weeks later after I got my rear mount tack welded on the subframe since I can’t just bolt it up to the subframe (different on SiR). I also tossed quickly tossed on my Innovative traction bar, the SiR chassis uses the DA integra front cross member. When the car got put on the frame machine and fixed they didn’t have a cross member on hand so my holes were slightly off by .5" or so, so I reamed them out a little bit and it fits fine. I originally had an issue with one of the front forks hitting against the radius rod but that was due to a sagged bushing. The front control arm bushings ended up getting replaced with Hard Race hardened rubber ones. Most of the bushings on this car will be from them.
A buddy of mine who is also an ef guru painted my fuel pump cover, filler neck cover and a plug that popped out of my floor at work. I was just gonna spray them primer with clear but he insisted to paint them so I gave them to him and got them painted black
Since I was going K series that meant that I had to either convert to hydro or run the hasport cable to hydro adapter and that was something I didn’t want to do. For LHD cars this is easy since you would just get the Hush Performance kit and convert it but with RHD it was a bit harder. Up until a few years ago no one made a kit for RHD cars so you had to make your own. When I got the car back I did some researching and found a company called EFED Conversions out of New Zealand who makes a very trick conversion kit. Check out his page on facebook or Instagram under the same name, if you have a RHD car this is the kit to use hands down. He has a detailed thread on OZHonda about the R&D on this kit he makes.
Just last weekend I crossed the border into the States for about 30 mins and picked up my Js bumper that I order during the summer to replace the one that I blew up when I crashed. Pretty damn expensive but worth every penny imo, there isn’t any other bumper that I would run on the crx, for me it has to be the Js one. I also grabbed a VW Scirocco radiator that I ordered off ebay that will be used as my budget tucked radiator. After watching the Vtec Academy budget K24 CRX series using his radiator I decided it was the one to go with, I ended up getting the smaller version which is 100mm shorter but leaves me room for oil cooler hoses if I decide to run one.
Earlier this week I received some parts from Rob over at TracTuff, ended up getting a swirl pot, rear coolant outlet pipe with -10 fitting and this fitting that going into the thermostat housing that has a -10 end on it.
Originally there would be a metal hard pipe attached to the plastic thermostat housing and will route around the side of the cylinder head and end at the back of it where a heater hose would attach to. Since I wasn’t planning on running a heater I didn’t get one with my plastic housing and was going to be capped. This fitting allows you to run a -10 for your heater, there’s also a -6 version as well. I also wasn’t sure if the metal pipe would even fit with the swirl pot in the way so I decided to get this and run braided hose for my heater lines.The two fittings will have -8 reducers and the hoses will run to an aftermarket heater in the car.
This swirl pot was a piece that I always wanted to get since I had my EK20 hatch but never had the money for it, luckily for me he was running an offer on his parts that I couldn’t ignore and I scooped one up. I ended up getting the options for the 5/8 barbed fitting for the recirculation line and for a coolant temp sensor up top on the neck. I also got it to use domestic style radiator caps since I can get Stant ones locally for very cheap.
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Just another quick update, I bought some universal Js Racing flares on black friday and they showed up earlier this week. Apparently these were the last set that Js Racing had in stock and have been discontinued.
I quickly put the drivers side lights on and toss the hood on so I could take a few pictures. Don’t mind the gaps, nothing is bolted on except for the fenders and the bumper is just on the 2 plastic guides on the fender.
Earlier today my buddy lent me 3 15x8 Work CR01 wheels with offsets ranging from +22 to +48 so I could see how much room I have under these flares. Pictured is 15x8 +35 with a 225/50 A048 tire and a 15x8 +22 with no tire. There’s about 15mm to the inner lip of the flare and roughly 20mm to the outer edge of the flare with the +35 wheel and tire. Couldn’t really gauge the +22 that well but I think with the same tire on it would be almost flush with the flare.
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Hey folks long time no see, been busy in the last few months so I haven’t really gotten anything done plus it’s been cold in the garage so I have no motivation to do anything whatsoever. But as usual in those few months I’ve been acquiring some parts whenever I see some deals.
Picked up some Spoon rep mirrors for about $20CAD from the local speed shop that did a huge garage sale of a bunch stuff they had laying around. I’m curious to see what the view is going to be like but I do know someone who makes rhd lenses so may have to get those if needed.
One day at work one of my co workers was talking to me and mentioned swapped his motor out of his Element for a lower km one and asked me if I wanted it for $250. So as usual I impulse bought it and now was planning on doing a K24/20 again.
Now that I had acquired that motor I wouldn’t need to get new bolts and sensors for my swap since I was trying to keep it pretty budget still. The K24 block and K20 block I had were disassembled and were missing almost all the bolts and sensors so this would cut down the cost quite a bit. I started to look for a set of used tsx piston and rod combo for the K24 block to replace the Element ones and so began my nightmare for the next month or two.
The first set I bought I got off the k20a Facebook page I bought towards mid Jan were supposed to be shipped within a few days but didn’t get a tracking number after a week. Messaged the seller and said he had some personal things come up which is fine, things happen so I kept on waiting. Another week went by and still nothing, so I messaged him again and he said he got into an accident with his truck and it’s in the tow yard and the receipt with the tracking number is inside. He was supposed to send it after he went to the yard to grab it and yet again no tracking number. So at this point its been around 3 weeks at this point and I knew that I wasn’t going to be getting this parts so I filed a claim and ended up getting my money back. The was the first time in all my years of buying stuff off the internet where someone tried to scam me.
The second set of pistons and rods I got was from the same Facebook page but different member, great to deal with, sent me photos and videos of the pistons and rods and told me he would get them out same day. Sent the money and got a tracking number next day as promised. About 2 weeks go by before they show up and once I opened the package all hell broke loose. The guy took all the end caps off the rods and just tossed them in the box along with the bolts and put the pistons and rods in with no padding or anything. So the whole time the bolts and caps were flying around damaging the pistons and caps during shipment. Not to mention the caps were all mixed up now and can’t correctly match up which cap is for which rod :yell: :yell: :yell:
So now at this time I was just fed up with everything and decided to just scrap the idea of going K24/20. Now I was planning on using the K20 block since It had pistons and rods already in it and just needed an oil pump and pan then the bottom end would be complete.
During the whole piston and rod ordeal I did find a good deal on an K20 aluminum pan and Type S oil pump kit from another member on the k20a fb page. I know using an used oil pump isn’t the greatest idea but the listed said the pump was brand new when put on the engine and only had a few thousand miles on it before he parted out his car. It also was a complete Type S kit so it had the chain tensioner, guide, chain, windage tray and bolts for everything plus it was already notched for a K24 block. I stuck up a deal with him since he also had the aluminium pan for sale. I was worried that the pan and pump kit would show up damaged like the the pistons but to my relieve they came in fine. I brought the pump and chain to work to clean them in the parts cleaner before they were to get installed
Yet again one day while I was scrolling on the k20a fb page I noticed someone selling a TracTuff billet thermostat cover which was something I was looking to get down the line. But yet again the price was too good to resist and impulse bought it.
Around this time it was starting to warm up so I took the time one day to clean up my side of the garage which was a complete mess. Didn’t take a before photo but I cleaned it up a lot and organized a few things to free up a lot of space.
After that I had some motivation so I pulled the motor out yet again and took the subframe off so I could get the rear mount welded up. I only got it tacked on last time to confirm placement so I took it back to my buddy where he adjusted the mount and welded it in place.
Since now the plan is to use the K20 again I went to look for a cylinder gasket kit for it since it had every gasket I need for the head and came with a head gasket. I was going to order the oem Honda one thru work but one day I found one from a Canadian parts retailer that had one for half the cost as oem and even listed the oem part number. I was curious to see if it actually was an oem gasket kit or not so I bought it along with a Hondata intake manifold gasket and Hybrid Racing RBC to PRB throttle body adapter.
When the packaged showed up I quickly opened to see if that gasket kit was in fact the oem Honda one but it turned out to be an aftermarket one. I wasn’t disappointed or anything I kinda figured it would be for that price but I had to take a chance. I did some Googling and from what I gathered the company who makes my gasket kit is called Ishino in Japan and sell parts under Stone. If what I read is correct Ishino is the manufacturer for a lot of Honda’s gaskets so the quality of them is very good if not the same as oem.
At this point it’s almost mid March then the whole covid-19 thing ramps up and things are changing fast. I just finished my aerospace course and had an interview with a company a week before which I had high hopes for, things were looking great and the motor didn’t need a lot of work so I was on track to getting the car running by the time I wanted it to but things started to fall apart, fast. Hours got cut at my part time job at first then ended up getting laid off all together, the company I interviewed for put the hiring process on hold and the Canadian dollar is dropping fast. This threw a wrench in my plans very quickly and now I’ve pretty much put the car on hold until next year. I was really pushing to get it out this year but with how things are looking it’s just not a smart choice and track dates are up in the air currently and may not run this year at all.
For about a week I was pretty bummed out and lost all motivation to do anything again but decided to get up off my ass and put some work into the crx since I had the time to do so. I put the subframe back on and dropped the motor back in for like the 5th or 6th time along with the rbc manifold and swirl pot. I didn’t put the throttle body adapter on yet but that would cause some new issues to be find only a few days later.
A few days later I tossed the front and rear suspension on minus the struts, borrowed a pair of 15x8 Work CR01 w/ 225/50/15 tires off my buddy and dropped the car on the ground. I wanted to gauge what the car would look like with that setup since I was planning on running that tire and wheel size anyways. Once I stood back after lowering the car on the ground I just looked and admired. The front height was near perfect of what I wanted it to be maybe slightly higher or lower but the back needed up come up a little bit to match but looked sick the way it was. I quickly put the headlights, corner lights, bumper and hood on and just admired it for awhile. Seeing it like this really motivated me to keep on going after seeing it on jack stands for so many months. (Sorry for the quality of photos at this point, my iPhone 6s isn’t holding up as well as it used to)
