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91 Si build thread

14K views 59 replies 16 participants last post by  NYVTEC89 
#1 ·
Welp, I wasn't initially going to start this thread this early into my build. I'll give a little background, then we can start with the pictures and stuff I've done thus far.

I bought this 1991 crx si in March of this year, for the hopes of just slapping on a turbo, getting a lip kit, and running some pretty decent times/win a few shows for cleanliness of my car. I first checked it out the first week of March, right after selling my 92 Integra GS. The car was really clean and had some nice parts in it. I came back the following week, purchased the car, brought it home and found out how wrong I was.

Got the car on the lift to find out that the struts were blown, the ecu was changed along with the dizzy, the radiator support was bent and all messed up, the front axles were about 300 miles from breaking completely, and a whole bunch of other stuff.

Well this is within the first week of bringing her home.

Yikes, that thing is a mess!

First day I cleaned her and waxed, too!


I found someone local on another forum selling this, so I picked it up on the cheap






Picked this up because the Spoon power mirrors are really small and leave me blind on the sides!

Installed!


The seatbelt never retracted and I thought it felt funny, so I decided to take the door panels off and figure out why. To my horror I found the seat belt had been cut and tied in a knot! Thank goodness I didn't get into an accident because that ****ty knot would have not held up against my 130lbs of fury! -___-



After changing the axles, I felt a weird feeling when releasing the clutch on the passenger's side. I got new mounts, replaced the driver's side because it was right there and easy. When I went to replace the mount right in front of the passenger strut tower, I pulled the tranny mounting bracket out and this is what I found..

Still really dirty.

Found this on the cheapy-cheap at a local junk yard. Mine was split right down the middle.

Changing the axles. Idk why this is before the motor mount picture.

This was clearance with jacks holding the engine up while changing the mounts.

Nice and clean interior. :)

I took this picture to send to the parts guy at a Honda OEM dealership in Ohio.

All types of messed up wires to my vtaakk solenoid.


This is not the proper way to run an obd-0 dizzy on an OBD-1 block. Should have just got the correct dizzy IMO. -__-

I was getting a short from my radio harness so I pulled it to rewire it up nice and cleanly!

Mmmmm! That's much better! :)

Clean and lookin' pretty!


The tires on my rear rims were a little bit dirty so I got steelies temporarily and polished these badboys off!



New tires getting mounted!

She looks pretty again! Now with good rubbers!


Old.. too loud for upstate New York, although I liked it's sound. I can post a video of this if anyone would like.


That's right after the install. Since then I've adjusted the height of it!


Got my amber clock from freebay on the cheap! Matches my gauges and gives me that nice different look!



She's just chillin here.

This is me standing next to her. This picture made me realize how small my car actually is! -___-

Here's another random in the sticks where I live.
 
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#33 ·
Thank you Nick!

Lets see, for updates.. I just started a job last week in an STS tire, which basically is a tire change/quick lube place but we do other things as well. In working there, I have the wonderful opportunity to use my work bay's lift at my leisure, so long as there aren't customers waiting. Welp, I got my car on the lift and did an overall safety/maintenance inspection. I realized that the reason my ride has been so bumpy is because all 4 of my Tokico Blues are blown. It looks like the clown that owned my rex previously intentionally ground down the shock pistons with vice grips. I've got a set of brand new KYB GR-2's in my mom's shed that have never been installed, but I was told that those are OEM replacements, and I'll end up hitting the piston to the top of the shock tower on those with my coil overs. I wish I had the extra $1300 for a set of Tein coil overs, but unfortunately, I do not. :-( To top that off, my driver's side front wheel bearing is shot. It doesn't make a sound, but there's a lot of up and down play, and I inspected my ball joints, but they had no play. Its a pretty easy fix, and my price for that bearing is like $27, where as the retail for it is somewhere around $60. That works for me, but my shop doesn't have a press.

I was working at a different shop in the franchise, about 40 miles away, and they have a press and told me I was more then welcome to use it whenever I liked, but I'm trying to weigh out the cost of gas and the 50 minutes to an hour and fifteen (depending on traffic) for a bearing to be pressed out, and another one pressed in. I'll change the passenger's side when I do change the driver's side just because.

I worked a few hours of overtime, and hopefully I can get a few hours this coming week. I've got this goal to have the rex winterized and off the road by October 31st, and I'm pretty damned determined to meet that goal. I don't know what my winter beater will be, but hopefully I find either a pretty decent pickup or a subaru or something. We'll see next week, though. :)b

I've also been contemplating using my z6 block as opposed to the d15b7 that I've got in my girlfriend's garage. Granted, that block is already honed and has a block guard, with this one I don't need to search around so hard for a jam d15b vtec crank to fit my rods. I'll pull the head one the car is off the road and get a better look at it and decide from there. I will of course post pictures when I do that, but this update has none, because all I've done is work.
 
#34 ·
Sweet ride bro.
Came a long great.
Once I get my eyebrow on the windshield, I'm probably gonna get one of those mirrors and eradicates blindspots. We shall see.
Looks awesome though.
Love the wheels and the empty engine bay.
Got my battery relocation kit as well.
Once I get my fogs, I'm gonna take out the A/C again, do the fogs, and relocate the battery in one shot. Unfortunately, I do not believe I have enough room in the hatch lol... What with the subs and the bottle hahaha

=p

Subbed :)b
 
#36 ·
Welp today my starter went. I got to work fine, no issues, but it was acting up last night after I left work and went to the store for body wash. I figured I would clean the positive terminal with battery corrosion cleaner that I have at my job. Afterwords, I cleaned and checked the wires to see how fucked up the battery relocation was done. Son of a bitch! Every time I fix something on this God damned car, something else breaks. Its such a headache I swear. I guess that comes with a 21 year old car, though. But c'mon, all the overtime I've worked in the past week was all for nothing because now I need to order a starter when I get my check on Thursday. On the bright side, I will make a wicked write up about it if I'm not too lazy. Also, my crxcom stickers came in from Ollie, so that's a :)b .

Oh.. the saga continues.
 
#38 ·
Sweet sticker lol.
Sorry bout te starter. These things happen. They're old cars. At least it wasn't the dizzy lol!
I changed my oil and flushed my rad today.
Oh the brighter side, there may be a way to save your starter. Although it's impossible without some Down time. You can get a rebuild kit or just take it apart and check the bushings on the case and the connectors on the solenoid. I think there's a writeup somewhere on how to rebuild and increase the output of the coil.
Either way, best of luck.
 
#42 ·
Okay, so since my last post, I took off and disassembled my starter. I took brake cleaner for the exterior of the starter and rubbing alcohol for the inside. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the starter after I cleaned it, but there is a huge difference.

This is the inside of the coil that the ground wire goes to. I'm not sure of the technical name of it, but it appears that its a giant magnetic coil that spins a gear that in turn actuates the part of the starter that turns the flywheel.

This is what sits inside the coil. It has a gear at the end that spins another gear in the other half of the starter assembly.


When I looked at the wires for the starter essentially I found a wiring mess. I didn't have the time to rewire it all completely how I want it done, but this weekend I will. Basically there's a 2 awg wire from the starter that's ran all the way to the battery in the trunk. There's another wire from the hot side terminal of the starter that goes to what I thought was a relay, then to the fuse box. Well what I thought was a relay is actually the original battery terminal connector just covered. I need to look around as to where I would find an amplifier fuse that has one input and two outputs, basically one that goes like this..
-[ ]=
.. so that I can split the battery line to the starter and to the fuse box. It will not only make my engine bay a little cleaner, the wiring a little safer, but it will be new. There's nothing wrong with new things in an old car. :D
I was also looking at my bumper alignment to the headlights and I realized how bad it really is off. I need to take the bumper off and align it better. :frusty:
Well that's all for now. Gena is running again so I can't really complain. No more driving Rhonda, who happens to be my girlfriend's 2000 Ford Focus. Oh well :yay:
 
#43 ·
Niceee.... Mazel tov lol. Nothin like saving $$$ And fixing stuff.
Good to hear.
And i DESPERATELY NEED to align my front bumper.
If you end up doing this before I, please gimmie some tips or something because mine sags and it's mildly depressing..



https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=d ... =inline&zw

Thanks =p
 
#50 ·
Since the last update my CRX broke down in Home Depot's parking lot. I had to leave her there over night and the next day I brought my tool box home with me. I found a short in the transmission ground and replaced it, along with the battery being relocated to the engine bay for now. I got her home safe and sound, but now my tach isn't working. I checked behind the cluster for any disconnected plugs, and the distributor's connections too. Urghhh!

Yesterday I rotated my tires because of the ill rub I get up front. Welp, it followed the tires to the rear. New struts will go on maybe tomorrow at the shop? Now for pics..

Right before it broke. I lol'ed.


Can anyone identify these coilovers? I can't tell if they're cheap eBay or GC, and that would help with my alignment specs.



More updates soon. ;-)
 
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