 Defying the Curse Detroit. The home town of good old American iron. Antique domestic muscle is still the choice of the local car guys, and ollie was no different. After a few “typical” old Ford power houses (among them a 460 big block powered Mach 1, you know, “typical”) he found himself craving something new and different. In 1991 ollie was back home after serving in Desert Storm, and back on the hunt for something different, and he found something that was every bit as slow as his Fords had been fast… a 1987 CRX HF, complete with the OEM weight reduction package setting in on the thin Japanese metal. He was lucky enough that the dealership he worked for at the time let him use the shop to do work on his car. They probably saw no threat from the little carb’d grocery getter. Of course, when you are working on cars all day, and you’ve tasted power and performance, you just can’t leave your car stock. Back then, with a first gen, there just wasn’t enough aftermarket to make ollie happy, he needed to have more power, more handling, better looks… he was addicted. Around this time he discovered the CRX Resource, and began researching and planning his next car. He sold the little HF in 1997 and got more serious about his search for the perfect second gen. He looked beyond the rusty hell of Michigan, to CRX havens like California and Florida. He was ready to jump on a plane to bring back the perfect car, but he just couldn’t find the one he wanted. It was if he had a special sickness… One night in 2000, while driving home from work, ollie spotted a pristine 1990 Si. He should have kept on driving and ignored it, but no. He ignored the blackening skies, the screams of children, and all the other cars around the Y-49 Si that seemed to have spontaneously broken… he was drawn in by a power so evil it must have come from Suzuka, Japan. With the curse taking over his brain, ollie walked into the school, curious to see if the owner would be willing to sell. It turned out that the 60-year-old janitor owned the car, and since the yellow demon had selected its new owner already, he told ollie “everything has its price.” He had been drawn in by the 55,000 mile odometer and the already-installed turbo kit, ollie left with a new car. The RHB5 turbo and water-to-air intercooling setup just wasn’t enough for this little devil. He got rid of those, restoring the car to natural aspiration, and dumped some of the other tasteless (read: chrome) mods. As every Si owner knows, there comes a point when the D16A6 doesn’t cut it any more. Ollie was no different, and he soon put his research to good use and did a mini-me head swap. With the new motor, the car was ready to infect other CRXs, so together they went to Niagara for the N9 meet, they haven’t missed one since. In 2004, ollie lucked out and found another CRX, this time a 1991 Si, in the best colour produced by Honda: Flint Black. Unfortunately for him, he wouldn’t keep the car, but would do some maintenance on it and quickly resell it. Fortunately for the black Si, it didn’t spend too enough time near the Y49 to become infected, and may still be on the road today. The profit from this car allowed ollie to put together a nice little turbo kit. This is where his research and skills paid off, ollie pieced together a simple but effective kit consisting of a TDO5H, HF manifold, some custom parts and other OEM pieces. He was boosted, the little Y49 was ready to spank some Ford muscle in the heart of the American auto market. Since then, little things have been added, OBD1 conversion, some audio and video equipment, HID headlights and other small mods. Four years of searching and doing small upgrades later ollie found the one thing his car was craving the most: a real Mugen spoiler. Ollie has come to accept and embrace the curse, he is one of the few Y49 owners who hasn’t been attacked by a garbage barrel or spontaneously combusted. He has been able to master it to the point where he can continue to modify his car (but plays it safe and doesn’t drive it too much). He plans to add an EF8 front end, all the EDM power accessories, install his DART motor, and of course tuck all the wires and get new paint (Y-49 to keep the curse at bay). 411 (1990 CRX SI):
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