February 27th, 2008 the Mad Scientist
Don’t let tuning carbs scare you away from the 1st-gen CRX! The Si may be fuel injected, but you probably won’t end up with an Si. Essentially, it breaks down to 3 options:
Tune the stock carb
While this may seem like a no-brainer, many people miss this as an option. Starting with a rebuild and a thorough cleaning, then go a little more hardcore with a devac job.
This may come as a surprise, but car carbs really don’t have much good documentation. While the very popular carbs like Edelbrock or the Holley 4160 seem to have the design behind every bolt documented publically, you won’t have either on your stock CRX. For documentation purposes, DansMC has the basics of carbs covered completely on his site and Anassa was kind enough to post his devac job on RPR. All the same principles apply, no matter which carb you’re using.
Get a better carb
I often research the methods of the old-school tuners (we call them hot rodders now). There was a movement, for a time, when putting dinky little motorcycle carbs on their engines instead of one big carb. There are advantages and disadvantages to this, but essentially you’re treating your engine like a motorcycle engine. You won’t get the scary 1600rpm redline that motorcycles enjoy, but you also don’t have to deal with a wet clutch in a 1-ton vehicle exploding in your lap.
Look into the flow rates on the older (pre-fuel injection) CBR-1000 or GSXR-1100 or even the Hayabusa. If the flow rates match up, and you can figure out how to attach it to your intake manifold (hint: zip ties just won’t cut it here) you’ll have the advantage of easy re-jetting, well-documented tuning, and overall simplicity. The other advantage is that the more carbs you distribute your air through, the more accurately you can tune the fuel flow into that air, and the better your car will run (after you tune and sync, of course).
Inject Fuel
You don’t have to stick with that carb. Replacing your fuel tank, lines, ecu, and intake manifold with an Si model’s will effectively set you up for fuel injection. From there, tuning becomes more ’straightforward’ (actually, carbs are quite a bit easier to work with, but in this society having a computer do the work for you is a bonus) and you can move up to you crazy dreams of a powerful 1st-gen with a stock motor.
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February 26th, 2008 the Mad Scientist
The main advantage the 1st gen crx (84-87) has over the 2nd gen crx (88-91) is its weight. That’s also the most important aspect of the car to improve. Putting your car (and yourself!) on even a 10lb diet improves acceleration, braking, and cornering. That’s essentially everything, and no
other upgrade (even tires, but that’s its own article entirely) single-handedly accomplishes so much. Believe me when I say that dieting is the single most effective and efficient upgrade you can perform.
Because this is an article on the 1st-gen, and the car’s aren’t especially expensive, so we won’t be including expensive parts or materials, such as carbon fiber in this article. Instead, we’ll start with the basics and stop at the point of diminishing returns.
Picture courtesy of Fimb. Read the rest of this entry »
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February 25th, 2008 the Mad Scientist
It’s strange. The first-gen CRX that I avoided so hard is finally coming into its own as a classic car. Here in California, they’re more popular than ever and prices are actually rising on them. While I’m happy to see this happen, it makes me wonder about the future availability of the “Clean $500 shell” that’s so common on craigslist.
I’m starting a one-week special on inexpensive first-gen mods, in hopes that it’ll make you all take your cars a little more seriously and recognize the potential that I used to fight so hard to ignore. To make things a little easier, I’ve added the new category ‘first-gen’ to the pulldown list. Assuming my theme hasn’t changed too vastly, it should be on the right and should reward you with all the first-gen articles to date if selected. Now it’s time for you to sit back and enjoy the steady flow of daily updates (it doesn’t happen often with me).
For a full listing of First-gen articles, click here:
first-gen
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November 23rd, 2007 the Mad Scientist
The first-gen (1984-1987) CRX was a very different beast than the more common 2nd-gen (1988-1991) CRX. There were more engines to choose from, each one less stimulating than the last. With more current generations of Hondas, this isn’t a problem. It simply means that you swap in another motor and create a “hybrid” CRX. As the CRX model was refined, a new generation emerged in 1988 and nearly everything engine/drivetrain-related changed. Anyone behind that missed much of the tuner movement, and information became scarce because the more lucrative second-gen CRX was so easy to attain. There is hope for those who own a first-gen, though! You can update your whole platform to the newer generation, allowing b-series swaps, updated brake systems, and all SORTS of other goodies. Just putting in a d16a6 from a second-gen CRX Si will net you between 25%-50% more power!
You’re probably chomping at the bit to get your hands greasy, but there is quite a lot of work to be done.
Physical Fitment
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