So here's a rough update. And when I say rough, I mean the car is running the best it's ever run. Meaning, I could actually drive it up the street. BTW, the Hf trans is definitely for the salt flats. You literally could do a 5 - 2 downshift at 55 mph. Feels like a double overdrive, mainly because it is. Now that rant is over, I'll continue on with the escapades of the past few days.
So I got 2 new exhaust valves, head gasket etc., lapped in the valves, cleaned it all up and put back together. Fire it up. high idle at 2k rpms (cackle in exhaust is gone). Then I got into diagnosing why it burnt a valve. I had assumed it was because of the PM8 Hf ECU that was in there looking for Hf injectors and that tiny intake, or the fact that it had OBD1 injectors in it with the resistor box still hooked up, or that someone had twisted the injector wires together and just electrical taped them. (Apparently this was whoever's idea of "good wiring", more to come on that). So I replace the injectors with a known good stock set I had in the box, runs a little better throttling it, but still high idle. I stick my finger in the throttle body and idle comes down when I cover the upper hole indicating that I have an IACV problem. I pull it, clean it, high idle. Set FITV and clean it. High idle. Remove IACV a second time, notice that it looks like a Philips screwdriver has been jammed in it at some point, decide to replace it even though it moves/clicks. Wondered if shaft might be bent inside. So I score a throttle body and IACV from a b7 out of a Del Sol at the local salvage yard. Clean them up, install them, and notice something as I'm replacing the IACV. The hose that is supposed to go to it from the back side of the water pump is actually going to the nipple in the same water pipe right behind the thermostat. So hose goes from right behind water pump to right behind T-stat. Creating a coolant loop. I had been wondering why the fans wouldn't kick on, yet it was heating a bit. Thermostat couldn't come open because of the coolant loop. Went to the manual, found the proper routing, rerouted coolant lines, replaced IACV and throttle body with the del sol parts, and after much bleeding of air, idle finally came down. Yay! Fans came on. Yay! Thermostat opened. Yay! Go to drive car, it jerks/surges. Go through my list of things. Scratch head, think, perhaps a new set of plugs will help things. New NGK wires went on, and a spare distributor went on that was from an Si. Still jerked. So I walk through the diagnostic tree. Not very helpful at this point because I'm pretty close to the end of it lol. So I pull plugs and notice that number one is much whiter than the others. Pull vacuum line to Fuel Pressure Regulator. Only catch a slight whiff of fuel, decide that improper fuel pressure will definitely cause the jerking/surging feeling I'm getting, pull off the return line, no fuel. Think ok. Pull regulator hot, boiling/bubbling fuel inside. Put on spare regulator from a ZC, and boom. NO jerking/surging.
Moved on to getting my tail lights working. Checked all the bulbs, they were good, then started back probing and found that I had continuity to ground on several of my power feed wires. So I pull all the rear plastics and start pulling loom off of wire. Trace from tail lights all the way to fuse box. Nothing skinned, crimped, smashed, or otherwise looking janky. Scratch head. Put a 20 amp circuit breaker in the fuse box. Turn lights on, and dash starts smoking, a lot! Turn off lights, yank fuse, disconnect battery tear into dash. The instrument cluster, and rear running lights are on the same circuit. Smoke came from temp control area. I pull the center dash and find that some jack ass had left the dimmer wire for the radio just sitting there all willy nilly style and it was grounding on the radio cage. So literally that wire only gets voltage when you turn on the headlights and the light comes on for the instrument cluster. I snip it, tape it, move on. Fuse now works, I have working tail lights. Had to reloom everything and the put interior back in. I was so deep at this point I decided to check something else.
Fuel gauge was a solid inop the entire time I've had the car. Since I had rear interior out I pulled up the sending unit to test to see if I could make the gauge work. Had this happen on a wagon I bought one time. Guy thought he blew the engine. Gauge said it had a 1/4 tank of fuel, but the sender was stuck. It was out of gas. I bought it cheap, after diagnosing it, poured in some fuel, had it running great in no time. ANYWAY, so I pull up the sender, move the arm, nothing. Pull out the multimeter again and check for voltage at the sender. Nothing. Backprobe the next connector and I have voltage. Trace the foot or so of wire between the two, pull loom, and guess what I find? Another lump of electrical tape, and wires that had been twisted together and taped. Pulled them apart, no connection on positive side whatsoever, strip them, butt connect because I was tired and the soldering iron would've pissed me off in the car, taped up my butt connector to seal out moisture, hook it up, and Yay! Fuel gauge works.
So I took it on its maiden voyage this morning in stages. First stage was to the gas station. Gave it some love with 93 non ethanol fuel, then drove to grab some breakfast, then decided to drive it out to my parents farm, all in all about 40 miles of driving. Temp gauge moved a few times, not ever passed a half, but it did move. Specifically when I was cruising at 55 in 5th gear at 1800 rpms. I know, Hf trans weirdness. Temp gauge would move a bit, and then if I'd down shift, it would be fine. So weird, but I think it was air bubbles because the more I drove it, the better it got. Checked coolant afterwards and hadn't really taken much. Just a bit from the reservoir.
All that to say this. The average CRX is not worth the $4-5k that they are bringing right now. Too many jackasses have owned them and done janky stuff like has been to this one. Which still doesn't have a name yet. It's getting closer to being name worthy. I'll like it better once I finish out the suspension/steering stuff and then put a ZC down in it so it has some power.
These cars just aren't worth what people are getting for them. If I was paying a shop to fix all of the things that I have fixed on this car, I'd be deep in debt at this point. I've heard of several stories of people buying CRX's lately, trying to drive them home and blowing them up on the way because the car was an absolute turd and they got caught like a deer in the bright lights of "its so pretty" and "I've always wanted one, take my money". All well and good, but you just don't know what you're getting into until you do.