My lil' 91' Rex...opinions welcome...

[Mrock]

Hey everyone. I've had my rex about a month now, and got a new job also about a month ago. I've been paying some debts back, and am slowly but surely, beginning to have more money to put towards my car, instead of paying off my debts!!!

Exterior is fully stock, except for the lil' windshield decal (represents my car club. It's not a banner. A little 4" (or so) logo...

I'm going to be racing possibly every other weekend, or so (At least once a month). I do not want to throw 17" rims on it, and whatnot, due to weight. I'm planning on getting some Integra GSR Fat fives (94-95) to put on there, or some other semi-stock looking clean wheels. I had considered a wing before, but I am going to pass that up, I think. The CRX looks good enough in my opinion to warrant the need for a wing..even though some CRX's pull it off nicely.

I would consider a body kit, possibly Mugen or Wings west, but nothing besides those two. The reason is, those two look fairly OEM, and I want to keep this ride clean. My plans are to keep it the same color (I like it, plus, it'll save some cash to put into the engine, instead of a $2k paintjob..). Anyways, here are a couple of pics. Can anyone suggest anything?

Next on the list is those GSR's, lowering springs/coilovers/new shocks/struts, and possibly a carbon fiber hood. Oh, and YES the stock exhaust will go sooner or later. Thanks..

(Isn't it funny how my brother's hatch seems to find it's way into my pics? Oh well...)

[Kwicko]

Mmmmmm, Celestial Blue Pearl. One of my favorite CRX colors. Nice-looking DX there.

You can pull some decent power out of it while still keeping it a D-series, too. I just popped a D16A6 into my Torino Red '91 DX, and it's made a world of difference in the performance. I mated it to a custom-built hybrid transmission that a couple friends and I put together, and G-teched it at 7.64 seconds for 0-60mph, and 16.1 in the quarter. Mind you, that was babying the clutch because it was new and not bedded in yet, and that was with a bone-stock '89 Si motor with 180k on it. ALL the gains were in the transmission, in other words.

How's the paint on the car? It looks pretty damn clean in the pics. Nice car - keep it looking nice and clean. '94-'95 GS-R rims look great. I'm running '97 GS-R rims on mine (see "Hi! My name is Ruby" post for pics).

Other than the MPFI swap and possibly an Si cam (you'll need an adjustable cam gear, as the cams are indexed differently), I'd say put an Si rear swaybar and lower control arms on it, then start playing with what you want to get more power out of it.

Or just sell it to me. :) My wife wants an Si - or WANTED one, until she drove my swapped DX. Now she'd be way happy with a Celestial Blue DX, as long as I can drop the same engine/tranny combo in it. An easy weekend's work, I say...

Mike

[Mrock]

Paint is absolutely wonderful..except for some light fading on the roof, and a few small spots which I sanded, primered, and repainted. When I got the car, there was NO rust that I saw. After closer inspection, I found a tiny bubbled spot (developing rust under it). I sanded it down, and primered it. Since the primer was not a self-sealing primer, I had to repaint it with a color close to it. It's noticeable if you look very close, but it's not bad. I am going to have the car repainted the same color, when I am ready..I love the color!!

For what it's worth, every two weekends (almost religiously), I spend a good hour or more vacumming the interior down, then wiping all vinyl/plastic surfaces I can find with Simple Green cleaner...to get the interior nice, and free of dirty vinyl. Even under the seats, there is hardly any dirt. After two weeks of driving, you can imagine I have a little bit of dirt on the drivers side..but besides that, nothing. I do not let myself eat in the car..nor does anyone smoke in my car. I dropped a french fry in my car once, and almost flipped out. Gotta keep it clean..

What gears did you mix and match for that hybrid tranny? That's not bad AT ALL!! I was leaning towards the d16a6/y8/z6 swap. The d15b2 is nice, but I just need a bit more.

BTW- What's the deal with Effin Motorworks? Do you have any affiliation with them? Saw the www link from your profile.

Edit: Did some research after posting :) . Read about the hybrid tranny, and effin motorworks. I also checked out your CRX..VERY nice. That's true style. Subtle, but it still looks like something that's just waiting to unleash it's fury!!!!

We'll see where my engine plans go. For a while, I want to take care of my interior work (I am an interior customization freak, what can I say?), and exterior work (lighter hood, replace driver side fender (has a little dent..Pain in the azz to pop out), the new wheels, and some clear bumper lenses. I'm OK with the corners on the CRX, just not those bumper lenses. Stock taillights will remain :)

[Kwicko]

Thanks for checking out Effin - it's a little side business that a couple Honda buddies and I set up. One of them is a certified Honda tech who works at a local dealership, and the other two (Davens and I) are just CRX nuts. Well, Honda nuts in general. :)

The transmission I'm running is using ZC 1st through 4th, HF 5th, and Si final and differential. It's a bit of a one-off - we build and sell the hybrid transmissions, but we typically use the Si 5th so there's not as much of a drop in revs on the 4-5 upshift. I wanted to try the HF 5th to keep the revs LOW on the highway, and it's working wonderfully. There IS a drop-off on the 4-5, but it's not too bad. I typically use 1-4 for acceleration anyway, and only use 5th for cruising, so it works great for me.

When we build the transmission, we do a complete rebuild on it - all new synchros, seals, and bearings - and we build it into an Si case. It gives better acceleration than either an Si or ZC transmission, yet still uses easy-to-find stock Si axles instead of the ZC's intermediate shaft. In effect, what you end up with is a brand new, custom-geared close-ratio transmission for $650. Not too shabby, especially when your local tranny shop quotes $1100 or so for a simple rebuild! :)

I hear ya on the car cleaning, too; I usually hand-wash mine every week, wax her every couple weeks, vacuum the interior every couple weeks, and hit her with Vinylex pretty regularly. It's great to have a 13-year-old car that still looks like it just rolled off the showroom floor.

I'm currently looking into a few ideas for the engine. I'm running an '89 Si engine (D16A6) right now, with a 13 lb flywheel and 2.5" axle-back exhaust. I thought I'd done cat-back on it, but that was my Civic... Stupid me. Other than that and a K&N flat-panel OEM replacement air filter, the engine is bone stock. I put most of my efforts into the transmission, at least for now. Next up, I'll start trying to pull more power out of a stock-looking Si motor. I'm not aiming at 400hp or anything - I try to have realistic expectations of what to expect for my money. I'd be happy with 140hp or so. :) We'll see how close I can get.

Keep that beautiful blue 'Rex looking good!

Mike

[Mrock]

$650 for that setup? Maybe we can possibly do business in a little while!!! I am organizing a track night in March (late march) with some other fairly stock vehicles..just for fun. I'd like to do at least slightly better than a stock CRX. A guy I know has an a6 for sale for $100..$50 shipping. It needs one new rod, honing, and the crank needs resurfaced. I figure I am going to replace the rods anyways, and the crank would probably be knife edged + polished...so what's the big deal in resurfacing? I will probably jump on this deal.

After that, need a good tranny...