Arlo's CRX-E Its almost a shifter kart

[Arlo1]

So my gf and I went 1/2ers for a total of $450 (225 ea) on this sweet CRX 1988 si with a bit of a leaky but strong running 1.6litre motor and it just needs some cleaning and a little love and an alternator and starter rebuild! I have been looking for a CRX for 2 years for good fuel economy and then to electrify one day with 4 motors one at each corner driving a CV shaft to the wheel! So in sort not going to happen till a lot of other shit gets done but for now I'm going to get an alternator and rebuild the starter and give it a bit of love to let the Chantal save money on fuel in the rainy season! Then hopefully in the spring I will start the conversion with the rear wheels first to make it a plug in hybrid then the front down the road this will keep cost down and help buy time as battery tech can get better and cheaper!

[liveforphysics]

Crx is one of the best chassis every made.

[Arlo1]

Crx is one of the best chassis every made.

Yup i drove it last night so fun!

[neptronix]

Jealous!

Tell me oh Honda fans... a lot of the 90's Hondas i've owned were very creaky and rattly.. had a '94 Del Sol, '95 Integra, and '99 Civic EX.. all rattle boxes..

Test drove a Del Sol recently and remembered why i got rid of it.. creaks and rattles everywhere.

Does the CRX have the same issues?

[Arlo1]

Jealous!

Tell me oh Honda fans... a lot of the 90's Hondas i've owned were very creaky and rattly.. had a '94 Del Sol, '95 Integra, and '99 Civic EX.. all rattle boxes..

Test drove a Del Sol recently and remembered why i got rid of it.. creaks and rattles everywhere.

Does the CRX have the same issues?

Nope its quiet and smooth i got a real good listen because it has no stereo!

[Arlo1]

So I pulled the starter apart and cleaned the armature up scraped the mica and put it together and it kicked the bendix out but would not spin so I figured out it was the contacts in the solenoid and this is the mitsuba version with the non replaceable non service-able solenoid so I got a ford type external solenoid to send the power to the armature for 19 bux and it now starts lol. I JB welded the rad and have a free alternator coming. The a guy give me an extra set of fenders yesterday for 40 bux with another starter lol.
And last night I called a dude from used nanaimo who had extra civic parts and CRX parts and he said "come get it all and its free im moving" lol so now I have a glass piece for the sun roof and all spare Civic glass and 3 extra headlights and 2 extra tail lights and a short shifter and a bunch of other little bits and pieces. And we snagged a stereo from him for 5 bux lol. Should have it ripping as soon as my buddy gets me the alternator! I got to do a drivers front wheel bearing but that's no big deal. Oh and one of the oil leaks that was the worst was the o-ring on the distributor lol so simple just swapped it in about 10 minutes! I pulled the plugs and man they had about 150 000 km on them or more they had ~ .150 inches gap and It ran awesome so I guess the ignition is strong lol. Got some new plugs and oil and its good till she gets yanked for a set of electric motors under the hood!

[Arlo1]

IM ready to start studing what I want to learn about what motors I might want to use for this. I want light and small and powerfull and one for each wheel!
Im open to sugestions!

[oatnet]

I've owned several CRX si , and was a founding member of the CRX owner's group, so I've long thought of converting one. I look forward to seeing your progress!

-JD

[The Mighty Volt]

Just my $0.02, Honda put the money and effort into their engines and transmissions, which are excellent. The 1.6/SiR engine is bullet-proof. As for the cars themselves, they are built from tin-foil. Thinnest metal ever.

[Arlo1]

Just my $0.02, Honda put the money and effort into their engines and transmissions, which are excellent. The 1.6/SiR engine is bullet-proof. As for the cars themselves, they are built from tin-foil. Thinnest metal ever.

Yup thats what I want. Small light and fast. No point in hauling some steal down the road that just slows you down!

[Rassy]

That should be a great conversion. Put about 150,000 miles on an '88 CRX HF, the high fuel mileage version that got about 55 MPG.

The car was solid and didn't rattle, but without much between the interior and the rear tires there was a lot of road noise.

It was one of my favorite cars out of dozens over the years.

[Gordo]

So my gf and I went 1/2ers for a total of $450 (225 ea) on this sweet CRX 1988 si

If that is a megaphone sticking out the rear, I will be by with my 8lb hammer to give it a tune-up.

[Arlo1]

So my gf and I went 1/2ers for a total of $450 (225 ea) on this sweet CRX 1988 si

If that is a megaphone sticking out the rear, I will be by with my 8lb hammer to give it a tune-up.

BAHAHAHA Actualy gordo it sounds ok. It has a soup can but still has a cat and a muffler and a 4-2-1 header. Dont mess up the ICE because it will come out before to long so we can make it 4wd electric!

[Gordo]

Nice buy. Maybe I can use the ICE in my lawnmower? Mooohahaha! 4 x 10KW hubmotors would do, but I betting you are thinking Collosus on planetary gears.

Or, http://www.canev.com/KitsComp/Component ... erpage.htm

[Arlo1]

Nice buy. Maybe I can use the ICE in my lawnmower? Mooohahaha! 4 x 10KW hubmotors would do, but I betting you are thinking Collosus on planetary gears.

Or, http://www.canev.com/KitsComp/Component ... erpage.htm

Uhm faster gord as fast as my wallet can afford!

[Arlo1]

Made a little progress

[neptronix]

Is this what you're going for?

[Arlo1]

Is this what you're going for?

LOL close but a little bit faster.

[AussieJester]

:wink: Made a little progress

Oh for the love of god Arl01 WTF dude ...i know your into
frocks and such but jeez Other drivers will at least see you coming
thats for sure hahaha...

KiM

[Arlo1]

:wink: Made a little progress

Oh for the love of god Arl01 WTF dude ...i know your into
frocks and such but jeez Other drivers will at least see you coming
thats for sure hahaha...

KiM

LOL yup my gf is going to drive it for now. BUT as I get the shit together what a better way to get attention for the sponcers then with a car that stands out a touch more then normal

[fizzit]

That's gonna be amazing! I thought I wasn't gonna buy a car, but after reading this, and seeing on craigslist how cheap these CRX's go for, I'm interested...
What do you think you're gonna do for batteries?

[AussieJester]

cheap cars are cheap for a good reason
They usually require alot of work and money
To make them safe and reliable, ok if your a qualified
Mechanic like Arl01 you can do the work yourself
If you can't your often buying someone elses
Problems they didn't have the $$$ to get repaired.


Smart thinking on the colour from the sponsor
Stand point Arl01

KiM

[dnmun]

the older honda civics with the EW1 engine regularly blow the head gasket. so look for the older models too. i have an '84 CRX hf, serial #721, it weighs less than 1700 lbs. the later models, from '88 on are heavier.

[etard]

4wd sounds like a HUGE undertaking, especially a motor for each wheel. Why not start out simple rear wheel drive and if you find it overpowering the tires add bigger ones, then if you find the tires wont be enough, then start thinking 4wd. Or how about a hybrid with front ICE and rear electric? That sounds much more realistic to me.

Besides, don't you have some chargers to be poking about on?

And don't pay any attention to AJ, pink is the new black. However, your girl may be catching much attention from the opposite sex in such a flashy ride ( and so will you ).

[Arlo1]

The plan will be to do this in steps. Step one get it on the road and save money to buy/build all the stuff for the rear wheels to be converted then convert the rear wheels and make them work with a small amount of batteries making it a hybrid at first then as the price comes down the engine will be about done and pull it to convert the front wheels to electric and this way I can learn what works with the rear wheels and aply it to the front. I live in canada and LOVE to race/play on frozen ground/lakes and its just plain handy during the freek snow storms to have AWD. As well with electric motors I think its going to be easier to build and control 4 rather then build and controler one 4 times as powerfull. Remeber I dont want your day/day conversion I want something stupid fast!

Another thing I look at is how much easier it is to run small brushless motors then big brushless motors. If I can get 4 motors running though 1 stage reduction each to a cv shaft each then to each wheel on thier own I think it will be the ultimate.