Daeron Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 I'm kinda stoked! The automatic tranny in my POS subaru GL-10 crapped out on me about two months ago and I was without a car for a few weeks, and then threw a headgasket onto my brother's CRX. His car is an 88 HF that has had a japanese 16 valve VTEC engine, intake and computer swapped in, along with an SI transmission. The interior fell apart, so he ripped it all out, and when he got his mustang that he drives now, the car became a second driver/autocrosser. He pulled EVERYTHING out except a racing seat and harness, the dashboard itself, the steering wheel/pedals, and the gauge pod, and put in a roll bar. No driver, half a tank, the car weighs 1830 pounds, and probly has about 110-120 horsepower. Suspension work, intelligent stuff but nothing major, and the car is FUN to drive. So I've been looking for a car to buy for next to nothing (I seem to be perpetually broke) and not having much luck, but I've had a couple cars that just didn't seem worth it come by. Obviously I am looking for something that needs some work but is drivable. Saturday my dad woke me up telling me about this Honda with a five speed posted for 500 bucks 20 minutes ago, and I wanted to throw a shoe at him (short night's sleep.) The car was a 91 CRX HF that needed a hood, radiator, hatch glass, windshield, and a headlight. We saw a couple of the goodies Saturday when we looked at the car, but this evening when we got it back to the shop the list of crap was inbelievable!! Suspension: Koni four way adjustable shocks all around, ~400 bucks H&R Springs all around, ~200 bucks SPC front and rear camber adjustment kit, ~400 bucks Engine: Non stock Japanese engine (per my brothers comment) its some D15, i wanna say D15B? The block is definitely not the stock block, and the valve cover says 16 valve on it, when the engine in this car is supposed to be an 8 valve motor. Maybe just a valve cover, maybe more.. will pop the cover off tomorrow and see. Interior: SI seats in acceptable shape Black all around Unused stereo adapter plug already plugged in! NICE heavy chromed spoon 5-spd shifter knob found in smugglers bin in the back complete interior! if you've seen the inside of a CRX you know its lots of pieces, and they are ALL there! Visual: Paint looks great Passenger's side mirror, not stock on HFs The vehicle has 390K on it!!! but the kid we bought it from said the previous owner had put a japanese crate engine that had abour 70K on it as of now. He has swapped in an SI interior, which is all in nice shape.. the paint is in fair to good condition, a recent but likely cheapo paintjob. Little little bits of rust here and there but nothing serious!!! This car was a STEAL and I am kinda thrilled about it. Obligatory crappy cell phone pics: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veritech-z Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 The HF had some novelty D15 8-valve motor with roller-rockers in it. It was a 2-valve motor, but unlike the DX model with the TBI system, it had sequential EFI. This makes it a prime candidate for the Vtec swaps since there's minimal wiring harness work that needs to be done. I always wanted to get one with a 4 valve D15 block and a worked over SI non-Vtec head, and put the 8 valve valve cover back on it. I bet that would be a pretty fun sleeper, though it wouldn't be massively fast so far as hondas go these days. sounds like a nice find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veritech-z Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 Have you got a better picture of the engine? The valve cover in the picture you took doesn't look rounded enough for a typical Honda single cam, looks more flat like the twin cam cars. I wonder if it's not a ZC engine...they used to be a pretty common swap, since they'd supposedly bolt right to your old tranny and were twin cam. It was essentially the same engine the 1st gen integra had, but with mounts for the civic/crx instead of the integra chassis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daeron Posted December 23, 2008 Author Share Posted December 23, 2008 Those are all the pictures I have tonight, and now that you mention it it *did* seem like it might be a little flatter than the typical 16 valve sohc valve cover. the HF im driving now has a 16 valve sohc vtec motor with mpfi, but its like, decent sized, not this puny HF intake.. It started out as a stocker though, and then got swapped to TBI DX-ness, before it became what it is now. I should compare the two.. but tomorrow I will be pulling the valve cover just to find out. what engine code should I be checking for on the block? I cant recall it now but I had my eyes on it earlier tonight, I wanna say d15B.. but my brother said it was basically the engine that was found in a VX civic? god, i dont wanna join a honda forum..... the more hybridZ people I get in on this the better heh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCchris Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 god, i dont wanna join a honda forum..... the more hybridZ people I get in on this the better heh Well, I guess I'll come out of the closet.......I just sold my 90 CRX HF! Yes, they are a blast to drive, mine had similar suspension mods with a 2 litre "B" swap, header, cold air, and Greddy exhaust. My dd is a 94 Integra GSR which is kind of a larger version of the CRX. When I bought my Z32, something had to go. Good luck with your new car/toy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra_Tim Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 Lower end on the motor is a D15b which came in the civic VTi's in Japan... but was identical the the Civic VX lower end here in the states (VTi had a vtec head where the VX had a 16 valve non-vtec head) To me it looks as if someone had this D15b shortblock and just slapped on the 8v HF head, although it COULD be an Si/DX head (wont know till we pull the valve cover.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daeron Posted December 24, 2008 Author Share Posted December 24, 2008 someone forgot his telephone today when he went to work, and didn't get the text message.. The car has a sixteen valve head, I pulled the cover around noon and learned that much. I was there to sell my soobie, though, not work on the honda, so I didn't inspect much more than that. Now I know where to look for for the head casting. More in a few days, got some stuff coming up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megatherion Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 nice!!! I've had 2 CRX Si, I sold the second one to buy my 280z, but I expect to buy another one in the future, here's some info from wikipedia, I hope it will help you. D15B VTEC Found in: 1991-1999 Honda Civic VTi EG4 (Japanese Market) 1992-1998 Honda CRX VXi EG1 (Japanese Market) Displacement : 1,493 cc (91.1 cu in) Bore and Stroke : 75 mm × 84.5 mm (3.0 in × 3.3 in) Rod Length : 137 mm Compression : 9.6:1 Power : 128.22 hp (130 ps) @ 6800 rpm & 101.9 ft·lbs (14.1kg/m) @ 5200 rpm Redline : 7200 rpm Fuel Cut : 7411 rpm Valvetrain : SOHC VTEC Head Code : P08 Fuel Control : OBD-1 MPFI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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