CRX Track build, with a few questions

[marx_int]

Well my impulse buying got the better of me so bought a project car, 88 CRX Si fully Riced with custom paint bodykit and tri spokes! And the best part is the bonnet scoop that goes no where. Also has extractors, CAI, crazy as rear muffler, cams and link ECU tuned with 98kw ATW. so for $1400 I think its a good starting point for a track car. Next up im going to get a cage put in it which shouldn’t be too difficult as I have a very nice engineering friend, hardest part is finding the spec’s needed from the MSNZ website. Will also be looking at dropping a b16a when I blow up the ZC so hopefully the link will be able to run a b16a (have to get it retuned of course).






A few questions though:
-Im in the process of striping the interior, what has to be left in to get a WOF, heater etc?
-If I can get hold of some SiR b16a engine mounts will these bolt directly into the Si chasie when I get around to putting the b16a in? Or is the hasport/self fabrication the only option when it comes to engine mounts?
-Anything I need to look out for when taking the power steering out? As I have never done this before. And is it at all possible to use the power steering cooling lines that come in front of the radiator as makeshift oil cooler?
- Worth replacing the glass roof for weight reduction? If so what with?
- Anything else I should be looking at doing?

Cheers Team!

[Logger]

Motosoc track hack huh?

You gonna be at the dyno day on Sunday?

Oh and have a squizz at this: http://nzhondas.com/phpBB2/b16a-into-ef3-vtu70701.html
Should answer a few of your questions as the EF7 is basically the EF3's brother.

[marx_int]

I would bring both the prelude and the CRX down if I wasnt working sucks when you orangise something and you cant even go to it!

[Logger]

Originally Posted by marx_int

I would bring both the prelude and the CRX down if I wasnt working sucks when you orangise something and you cant even go to it!

Man that sucks, I'll have to represent the Hondas then :wink:

[chuckles2]

make a steel roof! weld it in and make it look factory and no probs wot so eva!

[timmiblc]

That wing's awesome.

[marx_int]

Originally Posted by timmiblc

That wing's awesome.

Ricetastic!

[timmiblc]

If you've ever seen my CTR you'll know I wasn't kidding - I love it!

[NAspirated]

Originally Posted by chuckles2

make a steel roof! weld it in and make it look factory and no probs wot so eva!

have you done it? i have, biggest fuckin pain in the ass.

remember with the Rex's, glass roof and steel roof have different rear hatch's.

[doo0T!doo0T!]

94wkw is pretty respectable for a ZC thats 130hp, they're only supposed to be that at the flywheel. You must have a good healthy one, either that or it's had some internal work, thats more than you'd get from an IHE anyway.

If I were you (and I sense your not to too concerned about it's wellbeing ) I'd just get ruthless and strip it as far as you can safely go.
Get a tin roof off someone like john (addicted2hondas) and ditch the glass, it'll end up cracking if you race the car without a cage as they flex quite a lot.
Also try pm'ing shiftyjonno, he and his brother have made a mold for vacuum forming clear acrylic to replace the glass, (easier than welding iin a metal roof).
If you painted the acrylic and put a non-sunroof roof liner in you'll get a warrant easy as. (they are not going to go knocking on your roof to see what it's made of)

Get an SiR crx rear sway bar, dont go too stiff though or it'll oversteer on you and thats scary in a shortarse crx.

Put your money into brakes and suspension and seriously you'll be surprised how fast you can go with a ZC, put an NZ new gti/lxi final drive in it (4.25:1) and it makes a big difference to it's ability to accellerate out of corners, the Si has a 3.8:1 from factory and it's a bit tall.

As far as loosing weight goes, chuck out all the aircon (take the dash out to remove all the shit behind it then put the dash back in) take out the condensor, the heater, the lead lined sound proof padding, everything.
The only thing I would recommend leaving in is the blower motor and put a bit of flexible ducting up to your demister (you dont want a foggy wind shield on the track)

Take your door liners off and cut out the whole metal door inner panel, cut out the side intrusion beams and then put the plastic door inner back on (it's light as anyway and they'll want to see it for a wof)

The rear hatch is really heavy so if you are going to cage the car you might as well lexan the windows from the B pillars back.

Last of all you gotta keep that awsome spoiler. It's a track car not a looker.

[chuckles2]

wot size are those tri-spokes? probably good for track racing if 15inch

[Frost]

Originally Posted by NAspirated

have you done it? i have, biggest fuckin pain in the ass.

remember with the Rex's, glass roof and steel roof have different rear hatch's.

Agreed - It's do-able, but it's a pain in the ass.





And 6,000 tacks later it's done :wink:

[chuckles2]

Originally Posted by NAspirated

have you done it? i have, biggest fuckin pain in the ass.

remember with the Rex's, glass roof and steel roof have different rear hatch's.

ive welded roofs in that ive made, but not to replace glass ones, cant imagine it be harder, but yea your right, its a cunt!

[doo0T!doo0T!]

Oh and ditch your power sttering and get a manual rack out of an EF1, i got mine from pick a part for $60, you just have to double up on the mounting bushes to get the manual rack into the PS subframe 8)

Frost, thats a sunroof replacement, his is a full glass roof, which is a bit trickier, everything between the water channels is glass.

I know what you're saying though I did exactly what you did with my sunroof in the crx, I used the wrong gauge steel though and it expands in the sun at a differnet rate and keeps cracking the bog+paint over the welds on top.
I'm going to get around it with a nice skin of ricey carbon twill.

[marx_int]

Originally Posted by doo0T!doo0T!

Oh and ditch your power sttering and get a manual rack out of an EF1, i got mine from pick a part for $60, you just have to double up on the mounting bushes to get the manual rack into the PS subframe 8)

Frost, thats a sunroof replacement, his is a full glass roof, which is a bit trickier, everything between the water channels is glass.

I know what you're saying though I did exactly what you did with my sunroof in the crx, I used the wrong gauge steel though and it expands in the sun at a differnet rate and keeps cracking the bog+paint over the welds on top.
I'm going to get around it with a nice skin of ricey carbon twill.

Hey bro thanks for the write up it’s a hugh help, I can see your quite passionate about CRX's. Your right about the motor not really too concerned what happens to it, the guy who I bought it off had some head work done to it new, valves etc also had on the work slip that the loosened the big end bearing which im guessing means its on the way out being the car has done 200+km, but you never know its been an ex show car so someone along the way might of over hauled the engine. Going back to the power steering, am I not able to just take the power steer components off the car and leave the steering rack in?
And with the striping to just wanting to know peoples experiences on what needs to be left in to get a WOF, if it was just for the track I would happily rip everything out!

[marx_int]

Originally Posted by chuckles2

wot size are those tri-spokes? probably good for track racing if 15inch

Yeah 15" racinghart alright tires abit weathered tho

As for the tin roof Ill learn from frosts hard work and try to source some perspec's or something plastic or fiberglassie for the roof.

[VTAKYO]

If you cage it you should be ok with perspex or fibreglass then... won't shatter like glass might if the roof flexes a little. If you aren't caging for a while then I would look at a steel roof with some extra support bracing then.

[SiLent]

Good to see another zc build up! You got a good base to start with there mate

[Frost]

Originally Posted by doo0T!doo0T!

Frost, thats a sunroof replacement, his is a full glass roof, which is a bit trickier, everything between the water channels is glass.

I know what you're saying though I did exactly what you did with my sunroof in the crx, I used the wrong gauge steel though and it expands in the sun at a differnet rate and keeps cracking the bog+paint over the welds on top.
I'm going to get around it with a nice skin of ricey carbon twill.

OH 8O Can't help you then sorry ops:
What we did with the roof was cut it out of a bonnet (from another vehicle). That way it has a slight curvature to it, and it more than likely will be the same thickness steel as the rest of the roof :wink:

[NAspirated]

changing the glass roof isnt THAT much of a pain in the ass, depending which way you want to do it and in what condition you have the steel roof in.

my steel roof was cut out by a blind man, so made it that much harder trying to find the perfect line after cutting the glass roof out.

if you get a steel roof that has the water channels/door frames in it, its a shit load easier. if you dont, its much more difficult.


you can remove all the power bits for the steering and just leave the rack, but your not going to get all the benefits. power racks are a lot heavier than manual racks (about 4kg when i weighed mine). The lines and the container weigh nothing, its all in the pump and the rack.

The only thing I would recommend leaving in is the blower motor and put a bit of flexible ducting up to your demister (you dont want a foggy wind shield on the track)

bah, remove it all and run some ducting from a hole in the firewall up to the windsheild. much better. 8)


i wouldnt bother with the rear sway bar upgrade, keep the standard one and use your shocks and springs to make adjustments, thats what they are there for. if youre tracking it you want a harder spring anyway, which negates the swaybar upgrade. The Rex's perform well with very hard springs :wink:


pretty sure you need a roof lining for a Wof as well.


As for your cage, Steel and Tube supply Rollcage Spec Mild Steel, you dont need specs, just ask for Rollcage Steel. they sell it in 6m lengths, when i did mine i used 5 lengths and had a meter left over to do my front crossmember. Bout $70 a length.
Steel and Tube no longer do Chromoly as theres no profit margin on it, so your choices are AFWE out by the Airport, or Cardwells in Albany if you want to go that way (be prepared to spend a lot more).

the B16a mounts will work, but you need to cut off the Gearbox side mount bracket and reweld it. Some people have mentioned problems with the Cambelt side bracket being a bit off, but ive never seen it.

[marx_int]

Cool will have to find a ef3 then to get the rack, It has new shocks with king springs in it at the moment, so pretty firm but will try and get some cheap coil-covers there were some nice apexi ones on trademe but the guy apparently died! which was a bit of a downer

[mykar]

Originally Posted by marx_int

And with the striping to just wanting to know peoples experiences on what needs to be left in to get a WOF, if it was just for the track I would happily rip everything out!

You should be fine stripping out everything, but you might have to find the right place to do your WOF. I stripped out my old Starlet, and a couple of places were pedantic and wouldn't even start the WOF checks, like they were scared I was going to put the rear seats back in when I got home. Other places didn't have a problem with it.

Just make sure that you remove all the brackets and bolts that mount the seats and belts in the rear. You'd be ok removing the headlining, but you have to have some lining on the doors - either refit the originals or replace with sheet metal, tough plastic (the linings in my CRX were made from old real estate 'For Sale' signs. )

Originally Posted by marx_int

am I not able to just take the power steer components off the car and leave the steering rack in?

Have you ever tried steering a Power Steering equipped car with the engine switched off!? Bad idea! If you want to remove P/S, then swapping in a manual rack is really your only option.

Originally Posted by doo0T!doo0T!

dont go too stiff though or it'll oversteer on you and thats scary in a shortarse crx.

Yeah, I can vouch for that. And when it happens turning into Ford Mountain at Pukekohe, it's bloody scary! 8O
Brake upgrade would be a good idea. I think the brakes on mine are just standard calipers off a DA1 Integra. I've got slotted rotors with Mintex race pads on the front, and standard rotors with Pagid pads on the rear, with high temp DOT4 Brake Fluid. Not cheap, but they work from cold and take a lot of flogging before there's any hint of fading. I'm consistently braking at 80m from the hairpin at Puke, from 180km/h. 8)
Just got to make sure all braking is done when traveling in a straight line, otherwise the rear wants to overtake the front.

[marx_int]

Originally Posted by mykar

(the linings in my CRX were made from old real estate 'For Sale' signs. ).

Great minds must think a like, already source some just have to work out how im going to rig the hand hole to shut the door.

Originally Posted by mykar

Have you ever tried steering a Power Steering equipped car with the engine switched off!? Bad idea! If you want to remove P/S, then swapping in a manual rack is really your only option.

Yeah though better of it, going to source a ef3 unit or just leave it as is.

[marx_int]

Just a small update, Have given the car a full service only thing let to do is bleed the brakes. Striped out all the aircon, and put the front and rear bars back on. Car is smoking abit, not sure if its water or petrol? The car smells like its running rich, but had some bubbles in the radiator so it could be the head gasket, but have bled the radiator since and the bubbles have gone. Going in for a WOF on Monday to see what needs to be done to get it on the road again so will get a compression test done then to see if the head gasket is ok.

Ps. anyone know what compression the ZC should be at?


Photobucket really needs to have smellavision

Some more pic's

[SK1TZ- EF]

OMFG!! You have an EX Hot4s cover car there!!!

well, maybe.....

I miss my ZC... at least it went ops: