Chubbykai/TheNextEpisode : 1989 Honda CRX HF

[TheNextEpisode]

I didn't read the whole thing...just looked at the pictures. but why are you lowering the engine into the bay rather than slide the engine under the car and lift it up? that is the way I've been doing it with my 93 civic, it takes 30min to put the motor in the car that way(h22 or f22)... lowering it into the tiny engine bay is much harder, i think it should be the same with a CRX but i could be wrong .

I guess the big reason we're not going that route is that we don't really have access to an easy way to lift/control the chassis. I guess we could use hydraulic jacks on wood blocks, but that seems a little iffy.

Also, since I've lowered engines into Honda chassis 10-15 times, I feel fairly confident about that process. Once we got the hang of things, we could lower the engine into the bay for the test fits in the neighborhood of 15-20 minutes. The final drop took closer to 15 minutes.

BUT, I'd love to try dropping a chassis over an engine sometime. SCC recommends it as the best way of handling an H22 and an EF chassis, so I'm sure there's a lot of merit to what you're suggesting.

When you lower your chassis on to your engine, what all do you have disconnected from the chassis? I'm assuming you have at least the rear crossmember and engine mount attached to the engine. If I recall correctly, the lower A-arm pivot points are also on the rear crossmember. How do you deal with those?

thats gonna be unstopable!

with good brakes it wont

hahah I haven't even finished posting the brake updates yet.

I love this build!!!! H22 on a chassis weighing less than 2000lbs...Keep up the good work man!! It's going to be a beast when it's done

Ronald

Thanks man, I'm looking forward to weighing our car in the end and figuring out what the power/weight ratio is.

great read guys , any updates ?

x2

this car is gonna hot as shnit man. keep it up

Writing an update now, will be up shortly.
Thanks for the interest!

[Shadow1]

Writing an update now, will be up shortly.
Thanks for the interest!

ill be waiting for it. i like this man. your making a post for every step. its cool. once my g/f gets her truck back, ima sit my car down for a while to get the stuff wrong with it fixed. but 1st i have to get her o2 sensor fixed. then ill be taking apart the engine bay for a wire tuck. haha.

[TheNextEpisode]

With the engine in, we started figuring out what we had to do to get it running


We basically copped out when it came to the wiring harness. We called Rywire, mailed them our H22a and D15b6 harnesses, and paypal’d them 350 (IIRC) bones. We also called Raxles and sent them 390 bucks to form up some custom axles. They had to be the length of the CRX unit and each have an H22/F22 end and a Civic EX hub end. As I look back on those purchases though, I think they were probably wastes of money. Homebrewed axles would’ve been more interesting to figure out and making our own wiring harness would’ve been hell, but would’ve also been far more educational. In the end, the point of this project car is to learn (albeit through mistakes); this exercise of wallet strength really didn’t give us any knowledge.

That aside, the axles and wiring harness were very well constructed. The only problems on the harness, as I remember, were that we had to extend the thermostat wire and the fan wire. Obviously, neither hitch was worth a second thought.

I can’t find a darn picture of either the axles or wiring harness at the moment, so we’ll move on.



The next issue was that the header was now so close to the radiator that our stock fan/fan shroud wouldn’t fit. We [again probably unnecessarily] bought an 11” Spal slim fan from a local store. Fortunately, the unit only ran about 60 bucks. The fan doesn’t have a shroud right now, so it’s probably not working at full potential. I used short pieces of aluminum blank and a drill press to make the brackets.



I tried to place it as close to the radiator as possible for now, until we can see about making a fan shroud. While on that topic, we were able to squeeze the D15b6 upper radiator hose onto the H22. As for the lower radiator hose, we used about ¾ of the H22 hose and ¼ of the D15 piece. We band clamped them together, near the radiator hose, with a piece of solid pipe on the inside of the hose. So far, the unit hasn’t leaked.

(I just realized that that picture miraculously shows 2 of the 4 brackets as well as both the upper and lower radiator hose. Coincidence ftw.)



Next was dealing with the throttle cable. ESP didn’t explicitly say what we should do with it, so we again just used a short piece of aluminum, the drill press, and a jig saw.



All this stuff was pretty basic.


There was not enough clearance between the driver's side apron and the engine block for the standard two row crankshaft pulley. We chucked the crankshaft pulley onto the drill press and used an angle grinder rotating in the opposite direction to the drill press to grind the power steering row off. This route was a good amount cheaper ($0) than the single row Underdrive pulley ($150-$180) or the very rare Honda single row pulley ($70-$100)that my teammate was trying to convince me to buy.

We got a custom length belt at Napa to fit our H22 pulley and the D15 alternator. The ESP kit came with an alternator mount to position the smaller and lighter D15 alternator on the H22.


No need for a heater, so we used bullet plugs and band clamps to take care of the antifreeze ports on the block and head.





The DC SRI from my Accord also went to the CRX. Fortunately, it fit in the CRX engine bay, but the battery had to be moved.





It’ll sit there at least until we have a legal battery box to mount it in. The battery is currently bolted to the floor, so it isn’t going anywhere.



We then ran the shifter cables through a hole in the firewall that we sawzall’d. Jon made a bracket for the shifter plate that would bolt to the center channel in the passenger compartment. The shifter and plate were found in the j-yard and painted, the shift knob was from eBay, and the bracket was again just more spare aluminum. All the hardware used on the shifter bracket were spare Honda bolts and nuts that we picked up at the yard.



(at that time, I had only found three of the four bushings)







Distance reference, not my hand.
Jon tried positioning the shifter up for ease of use. Operation feels about as normal. The positioning does feel a lot different, and will probably take some getting used to. That being said, I think it’s in a good spot, and the shifter bracket feels very sturdy. The height on the bracket pretty much rules out using the stock plastic shifter surround anymore.



The D15 VSS needed to be retrofitted on to the H22 transmission. Again using a poorly modified piece of aluminum, we were able to hold the D15 VSS in place. The VSS was needed to tell the ECU that we were actually driving around, and not just revving the engine at idle. VTEC would not have engaged without it. The piece I made was fairly similar to the stock bracket.



We also got the exhaust welded up. We're running a Borla xr-1 glasspack, a vibrant resonator, and a car sound catalytic converter. All components and piping are 3" in diameter. For a stock h22, 3" piping is overkill. But we're hoping on doing some future modifications to the h22, so buying a full new exhaust down the road would be wasteful.

Sound-wise, it’s very deep and quite loud. Fortunately, if you're gentle on the throttle, the exhaust sound is inaudible from just a couple lengths away. However if you're heavy on the throttle, the car is audible from several blocks.

AND, thankfully, there's zero rasp. We also had the exhaust routed out in front of the passenger side rear tire.



Not a great picture, but that’s the idea.


All that DIY stuff to get the engine to work in this engine bay is fun, but a little nerve-wracking. Although each problem that comes up serves as a only small speed bump for the project, when you're just starting on the problems, the speed bumps seem monumental. Just when you think you've got a problem squared away, it seems like there are 10 new problems that will certainly prevent you from completing the project. If you can keep a positive attitude, though, and just keep working through it, things will eventually start falling into place. This part of the swap was the fairly uncharted territory, so it did take a while. But, as such, it was probably the most educational part of the swap. The process of approaching a problem without a definite solution in sight, working through a couple bad solutions, and eventually figuring out the best/simplest solution was a lot different than just repairing what Honda had already figured out correctly. Fun stuff.






Alright, I think that’ll do for now. Up next will be fender flaring and further brake upgrades.
I will leave you with this appropriate sound track.

[khal.lawson]

one of THE best documented builds i've read thus far . good goin guys !
i don't know enough technical biz to ask any questions ,
but i'm sure someone who does can co sign when i say ;

" you're doing it the right way "

[TheNextEpisode]

one of THE best documented builds i've read thus far . good goin guys !
i don't know enough technical biz to ask any questions ,
but i'm sure someone who does can co sign when i say ;

" you're doing it the right way "

High praise, I'm flattered.
Thanks dude.

[bmxicansd]

Sad to see the h come out of the accord but cant complain about it being the crx's new heart..

awesome build thread, keep up the good work

[chubbykai]

lol i would post an update... but seems like my 'parrdner' nextepisode got it covered

[d112crzy]

Best fucking build and car on this forum. Period.

[khal.lawson]

i'm sure someone who does can co sign when i say ;
" you're doing it the right way "

Best fucking build and car on this forum. Period.

see , i told ya . lol .

[TheNextEpisode]

Sad to see the h come out of the accord but cant complain about it being the crx's new heart..

awesome build thread, keep up the good work

Best fucking build and car on this forum. Period.

Jeeez, super honored now.

[chubbykai]

Jeeez, super honored now.

what he said lol. thanks guys!

[TheNextEpisode]

With the 205mm RT615s on 38et wheels, the stance looked pretty darn good. We were about to wreck that.

In an attempt to clear the fender out of the way, Jon found a dude on Honda-Tech in Irvine that would charge to lend his fender roller for a period of time. I THINK we paid about 50 bucks for the weekend, although Jon can probably correct me if I’m wrong.

As simple as the fender roller is, it manages to do quite a lot. You can easily flare the fenders to hold a rim with an offset much lower than our +38 mm. It's also very easy to put an unwanted crease in the fender, so make sure that you watch what you're doing. When you begin to flare the fenders, keep the rolling surface pretty much perpendicular to the ground. Then, as you proceed to flare out the fender, flatten out the rolling surface as you go (make it closer to being parallel to the ground). If you don't do this, the upper corner of the rolling surface will eventually hit the fender and put a large crease in it.

As our CRX isn’t meant to be a garage/show queen, we didn’t really mind when we managed to put creases in both fenders. We both were being pretty careful, but apparently not careful enough. Its worthwhile to take a step back every couple of passes and make sure everything’s goes smoothly when rolling fenders.

I’m sure we would’ve been cursing endlessly had we put creases in our respective DDs.



Even though we didn't flare the rears as much as the fronts, the difference is still obvious:


Before:



After:




We lost our low offset image, but it’s worth it for the wheel clearance we've gained.



We then set out to the junkyard in search of a DA Integra with ABS. That vehicle is equipped with the 4040 proportioning valve AND the Holy Grail of MCs, which boasted a 1” piston diameter. We found the vehicle we wanted and snatched the parts. I believe we paid about 40 bucks for the master cylinder, brake booster, and prop valve.

After inspection and thorough cleaning, we snapped some pictures of the new pieces.



Compared to stock











Flare wrenches are great to have around when working on hydraulic lines. As, Jon’s toolboxes were appropriately stocked, the prop valve went on with no hitches. We weren’t really that excited with this progress though, because we knew the next step could be difficult.

Continued shortly...

[TheNextEpisode]

When we removed the stock brake booster for the purposes of pictures, we realized that the larger H22a head made removal of the puny stock unit quite difficult. We were anticipating all kinds of troubles with the new and much larger DA piece.





No matter how we wrestled with it, we never even came close to getting it in. Annoyed, we began removing the plenum from the intake manifold.



Failing, we gave up on wrestling and decided to just remove the remainder of the intake manifold.
Further failure ensued. If you look at the above picture, you’ll notice the tiny amount of space between the runners and the firewall, even when the runners were bolted to the head. After we removed the 10 nuts from the intake manifold studs, we realized that the studs were too long to allow us to simply slide the intake manifold off.

Grab the ball peen hammer.





With the firewall dented, the runners slid off, accompanied with a moment of glory.




And success, at long last. This was sort of a scary moment as well, since if the booster didn’t seat correctly, the plunger that attaches the booster and brake pedal would miss it’s hook up point on the pedal and the booster would be useless. Fortunately, the booster seated itself properly, the firewall/booster bolt pattern lined up, and all was well.

Maybe you astute readers have noticed that we installed the MC and the plus-sized booster, when all we really wanted was the MC. Reasoning is this: the DA 1” master cylinder bolt pattern doesn’t match up with the CRX booster. The DA booster bolt pattern DOES match the CRX firewall, and it obviously matches the DA MC, so we had to work the whole unit in.


Continued shortly...

[TheNextEpisode]

Overflowing with pride and confidence, we slid the runners back onto the head. But something was wrong. The bottom part of the intake manifold flange wasn’t sitting correctly. A quick look revealed that the IAT bung on the 1st cylinder runner was crashing into the brake booster. Out came the hacksaw and RTV.


We first took off the majority of the bung with a hacksaw.




We then stuck a Honda 10mm interior trim bolt that we cut. We piled RTV everywhere to attempt to make an air tight seal.




We cut the bolt so that it wouldn't interfere with the airflow in the runner.




Spacing worked out pretty darn well.




We already had the IAT relocated to the intake tract, just before the throttle body.


With that problem overcome, we were ready to bolt the rest of the intake manifold back together. While we were there, we figured we might as well:









Overflowing with even more pride and confidence, we dove in to the final issue with the MC. The rear brake line gladly screwed into the new MC. The front brake line, however, was the wrong size and thread.



The smaller stock piece is on the left, while the larger Integra piece is on the right.


In order to swap the two, we needed to cut the flare off the brake line, slide the old fitting off, and slide the new Integra piece on. Once the proper fitting was on, we then needed to reflare the brake line.





The tools and 10 dollar pipe flarer.




I made a couple practice runs before…



attempting it on the brake line in the car.

I cracked a few during the practice process. The key was to not flare too much. As the tip of the pipe gets more and more flared, the metal gets thinner and became a lot more prone to cracking.


We were pretty worried about how the half-assed flare would seat and seal. We tested the brakes gingerly, before progressing to more aggressive braking runs. After 50+ miles of driving, including many hard stops, there aren't any signs of leakage.

WOOT!


I don't want to sound like I'm ranting about the MC, the Legend brake swap, the prop valve, or any of the related work. I hate it just as much as the next guy when a ricer brags endlessly about work that he's done on his car.

But you're gonna have to forgive me this one time.


THE BRAKES FEEL DAMN GOOD.
Seriously, with just a touch of the brake pedal, the car slows down in a controllable and fairly linear manner. (There is practically no weight on the rear tires, so not a big gripe there.)
The brake pedal effort required to stop the Accord, compared to the rex, makes me feel like I'm trying to stop the CB by dragging my heels on the asphalt.
I'm very very happy with the way the brakes turned out.

/rant.


Thanks for reading!

[Blk EX Coupe]

Nice updates. It reminded me that I need to order a bender and pipe flaring tool.