psychoblue23

Soo first off it's nice to be back on the forum. I had a 94 four door LS last year that I was planning on messing around with but I sold it for extra cash for my 510. Heres the link to that thread... I have since sold that car to a buddy and actually repurchased my old 240.

https://www.honda-acura.net/forums/s...d.php?t=228417

My 240 was actually stolen in January so since then I have been without a car until last night. I purchased my very first CRX.

Before I get into all the details I have to warn you guys haha, I know little about the ZC platform. I have owned two 92-95 civic hatch's but one had the CX motor and the 2nd was a LS swapped nightmare.. lol

Ok so back to the CRX..

The car is a 1988 CRX SI the odometer reads 244,326 miles but I do know its on its 2nd motor. I purchased the car from a close friend who just got a Xb so she no longer has use for a 2nd car. I payed $1200 for the car and I have only driven it about 20 miles since I purchased it last ngiht, but I have driven it before and it seems in fairly decent condition.








The issues at hand are: (and theres quite a few haha )

What I do know about the car is that last year the family decided to swap the motor because of the high mileage. Well this year when she went to smog the car the tech (at some random smog place) said something was wrong with the engine and Vins did not match or it was the incorrect engine for the car. Soo she went to Wyotech to get the state ref or whoever to look at it. What he told her was that its a Japanese motor, but he was gonna let it slide because its basically a replacement motor not like a upgrade or swap or whatever. She told me it was a ZC so I was excited thinking I was getting a CRX SI with a 1.6 dohc. To my suprise when I popped the hood I saw the obvious sohc head and was immediately disappointed. I didn't know the ZC also came in sohc form.

Now I have been researching, searching for info and come up with diff numbers and explanations on every site so I have no idea what to believe haha.

1. Is there a jdm version of the sohc ZC?
2. Whats the numbers on it.. i.e. power tq etc
3. Is it really the same as a D16a6?
4. Is it a motor worth putting a bit of money into?
5. How do I know what parts I should use as far as maint. Timing belt plugs..

Also 3rd gear on the tranny is grinding a bit so I have been thinking what are the options... rebuild, since the car is a SI so it should have a SI tranny.. I dont know just yet..

anyways... thats the jist of the situation haha. All in all I am fairly happy so far. But would like to hear the forums opinion as far as the car being worth what I payed...

I know this thread is :ghey: without pics, I am at work as I write this so the pics I took this morning will be uploaded as soon as I am off the clock..
*PICS Added*

Ok well I notice theres not a whole of action in the CRX pre 92 civic section so maybe this will help livin the place up! Pics up SOON!

F22B Prelude

There was a SOHC ZC and DOHC ZC...It's not a definitie "ZC" unless its stamped on the block....It's a generalization for the D16....A bunch of guys on here have turbo D16's, so it is a good motor for a build if you got the money...

sherwood

The D-series is a little less than optimal as far as performane goes... if it's running correctly now i'd hold off on the engine and focus on the rest of the car.

the car is 20 years old, so I wouldnt be suprised if it's in pretty rotten condition....if the motor goes, good riddance, you can pop a b-series in there and get to work. I'm just not a backer of the whole D-series build up thing. Theres always more potential with the b-series design.

psychoblue23

Yea I was talking it over with a friend.. i wont do much to the engine.. just major tune up stuff. I do however want to focus on the suspension. The car, even for a daily is waaay to fucking high haha. Wheels suspension and some paint is prolly all this car will see. Maybe some random exterior parts if I can snag them off my buddies crx's

I did notice today that when cold the car idles at like 1900 rpm.. and when warm around 1200. Im guessing the first thing to search for is a vacuum leak?
Any other suggestions?

rallypoint_1

good deal, but get that rust fixed ASAP or you wont have to worry about a motor swap. good luck

psychoblue23

Yea the rust on the passenger side pillar was a suprise.. Even after having driven in teh car for years I never noticed it... The car has its issues... I will post all the updates in here as I progress. Ill prolly get the oil done tonight or tomorrow... the radiator seemed to have some air in there or soemthing, because when open it up the idle dropped a bit... Its around 1000 rpm now as apposed to the 1200 - 1300 it was before.

theleprechaun

Basically I have a slightly newer version of the same car. I just did the swap from an d16a6 to a d16a because the old engine had 270k on it. I've still got a bunch of little things to look into as I slowly work down my list but all in all you should be fairly happy. I love my car so very much, the tlc will be worth it. However the tranny issue could get bad quick. I know I'm gonna be rebuilding my tranny here in 3 months or less as preventative maintanace since Ive seen a steady degeneration on performance since the new engine.

psychoblue23

Thats cool.. Ya I am enjoying the stock car as well. I will deff lower it tho.. small cars with SUV ride height just annoys me. The mpg is awsome I have drove 60 miles on the car and the needle has barely crept down.. so Im excited about that. If I get bored I was thinking some real cheap smple mods.. I heard putting a ecu from the 88-89 integ will up the power because it helps add more fuel, as well as changing to the y8 IM. Ill keep searchin around but everytime I find a write up on these two subjects the site is always no longer avail. Seems the CRX sohc stage is long past haha.

sherwood

chips won't do anything for you.

theres no electronic gadget thats going to instantly increase HP just by adding more fuel

psychoblue23

Cool, thanks for clearing that up sherwood. I read about it from like 2 diff places so I thought I would bring it up here.. anyways.

I have a few friends who have offered me some deals about making the car faster... althought its very tempting... I think for now I will focus on jsut cleaning her up. Plus, with my new job I may have to start commuting a bit, so the idea of getting 35+ mpg is great. But, I do have a sohc vtec head as well as a almsot complete B16 swap readily availible. A stock B16 would be reall nice in the car... the sohc vtec thing jsut seems like a lot of work for minimal gain. And the B16 would look SO nice.

Regardless... within the next week or so I will be doing maint. stuff on the car as well as wiring a stereo in the thing so I can at least have soem music in the car. Well see how it all goes. My 510 is fully caged and my engine is jsut sitting at home waiting to be built so I think thats here I should be focusing as far as go fast parts lol

Ill keep yall updated