v8guy

Hi,

I don't know anything about Hondas but gas has been getting expensive. I spotted a white '91 CRX Si for sale for $300 the other day and got it for $260. It runs well but the clutch is a little henky and it needs CV axles. Also the muffler and midpipe evidently fell off a few months ago so I need a catback. Sunroof works perfectly and it has a decent CD player so that was a bonus. I'm going to do a clutch and CV axles next week or so but I need general advice on what these little cars like performance wise. As far as an exhaust, my friend can get me bosal? OEM replacement exhaust for gas station wholesale cost but I was wondering if a performance exhaust would really gain me any power. Also I want the car to be quiet. Are there any quiet alternatives or should I just get the OEM replacement parts? Any other advice would be really appreciated. I'm a V8 guy and know next to nothing about Hondas. I don't even know what JDM means. Maybe somebody could tell me that too. :-)

ullerw

Performance wise these are quick little cars. I have an 89 CRX SI. I get about 130 hp out of my car with what ive done to it, may not seem like much to a V8 guy, but in a car that weights only a ton, its a lot. Id go aftermarket exhaust, GReddy is my fav, however, not quite. Also, JDM is Japanese Domestic Market

ullerw

BTW if you do want quite I would go OEM

A_PHOBIA

i have a greddy and its no excessively loud only a wide open throttle.

ullerw

No its not excessively loud, never said it was, but if he wants quiet thats not waht the GReddy is about.

Calilude

First of all what do you want to do to your crx si performance wise? Good find by the way, I just found my 89 Crx Si for 300 bucks. You can turn around and sell them for a lot more then 300 bucks that's for sure. They go for about an easy 2gs. My clutch is going as well and I'm going to get an oem clutch for mine. I'm basically going to keep everything stock right now.

First things what I would do if you just got yours, do the fallowing:
Check engine oil
Always check that first.

Now as for the tune up, I'm going to get new spark plugs, possibly a new timing belt, I'm going to need a new clutch soon to because my clutch is slipping, so that will be replaced in a couple of weeks. My sunroof works perfectly as well, which is always hard to find on Crx's because they commonly break.
Definetly get an oil change and change the oil every 3k miles. These cars will run forever if you take care of them properly. Unfortunately I need new shocks because mine are jacked to hell.

In my area 88-91 Crx Si's go for at least 3k. But they're awesome cars in traffic and on gas. You should get 30-35 mpg easy on one. Performance wise, there are so many options available even just for the stock motor.
Intake
Headers
Exhaust
Turbos
Super charges
There's body kits, great suspension upgrades, wheels and whatever you can think of. It really depends on what you want to do with the car. If you want to do engine swaps your best bet is to go with b series motors they're better then anything else. Maybe except the h22a unless you know what you're doing that's a really difficult swap. D series motors are good though you can do plenty of bolt ons and still really do good. We're here to help ya sorry for the rambling. Hope at least something helped.

01ITR640

If I was you and i was used to driving a v8 around is not to waste my time puting money into a CRX, unless you want to do and engine swap and turbos, but then you lose your original idea for getting the car gas mileage. so get an oem like muffler go to midas or something, i opted for the DC sports cat back exhaust and its quite but it kinda has a ricer tone to it if you know what i mean. so just keep it simple and quite and it will be a simple quite car for you good luck, welcome to the honda passion
by the way my crx is my second car too and it is a wonderful second car i love it, just keep it simple and remember its your second car.

v8guy

Thanks for all the help. Actually, before I was into V8s I was into air-cooled VWs so I know that you don't need major HP numbers to make a flyweight car move. As mentioned, I got the car to use for thrifty transportation, but being used to V8 power I had to have something with a little scoot. I haven't done anything to the CRX so far except change the oil and filter and fill it with gas. 108hp isn't all that much, but the fact that it comes from a 97 CID engine is impressive. After all, a '91 5.0 mustang only made 225hp with 302 cubes.

I guess I'll probably go with a stock replacement exhaust. I just didn't want to waste money on it only to find out that it is really restrictive and that an aftermarket exhaust would pick up and easy 10hp. I wouldn't mind squeezing a little more power out of the little D16 but I really don't want to compromise reliability or sound like a ricer. Maybe later on if it becomes a toy I'd think about an engine swap or a turbo. (and a louder exhaust)

Ullerw, what mods got you 130hp? I was kind of wondering what I could do to jack up the power to like 125hp or so. Thanks for clearing up the JDM thing too. I was wondering about that.

As it sits now I'm probably going to do a timing belt & water pump just for cheap insurance. I don't want to spend all this time and money installing a new clutch and axles only to have the timing belt let go a few weeks later. Car has 157K miles and I don't know if it has ever been changed.

I had no idea how good of a deal I got until after I talked to a few friends. All I really knew about Hondas at that time was that they basically run forever and are really good on gas. I also knew that the Si was the desireable model with the most power for those years. My car is white and has a few dents but nothing major except for where it got clipped right about where the rear bumper cover meets the body behind the rear wheel. I think I can fix it without too much trouble. That taillight is also cracked and missing a piece of the lens. My cargo cover is also missing and my glovebox hinges are broken. The driver's seat is showing some wear but the passenger's seat is pretty nice. Nothing a set of seat covers won't fix. Some friends told me I could easlily turn around and get a grand for the car just the way it sits, which sure makes it easy to justify dumping $500 worth of new parts into it.

LSVTECKING

I have a DC exhaust and its sorta quiet but not as loud as most.

ullerw

Well to start off my exhaust raised HP a little, its 2.5 inches think the whole way. I added other bolt ons like AEM Air Intake, that added about 5 to my whp. Lemme see, I added a Skunk2 camshaft, that helped quite a bit. I had the head ported and polished. Thats all I can think of right now, but my friend owns a garage and basically does mostly Hondas. He helped me with it and also has a full car dyno that he let me use.