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88 DX Blade silver*B18C installed (pg3)

21K views 107 replies 40 participants last post by  vanrij 
#1 ·
I picked this little DX up back in July to save gas on my 140 mile commute. Either of my Jeeps would have broken me during the first month at 15 mpg.

100% stock and 196kmiles when I bought her, I've put another 6k miles on her so far. The usual rear quarter rust and faded paint, but the interior is in pretty shape other than the seats. She burns maybe 1 quart of oil per month but I only see a small amount blue smoke when I rev the engine in the driveway. I easily get 39-41 MPG average per week so I'm not going to complain too much about a 200K engine using a little oil. ;)

This is how she looked on day one.



I've started slowly restoring/modifying to my taste. So far it's been mostly cosmetic stuff as the car in in great shape for the age.

First was the Integra cup holder mod. Driving 45 minutes each way to work, a cup holder for my morning coffee was a must. When i first installed it the cup holder was angled up so much that it was almost un-useable. I added a bracket in the back or the holder pulling rear up and bringing the angle down to something much more useful.




Next was to cover the seats, the previous owner was using old black t shirts. I used the generic Honda seat covers found at advance auto for $25. Sorry I must have deleted those pics.
Wheels were next, I went with bronze TE37 replicas, but the color never really grew on me. Still much better looking than the 13" 1st Gen CRX rims that were on it to begin with though. I cut out the factory holes in installed Bosch yellow fogs about the same time.

You can really see the bad condition of the paint in this pic. The hood is very faded and chipped.


I added front and rear mud flaps. The rears are off a 90-91 but I added a home depot rear lip and it covered the gap. The fronts are civic flaps that have been modified to fit the CRX better. I heated them up with a heat gun and formed them to the sides and I think for the time being it came out looking pretty good, they will do at least until I find a better deal than $150 for a used set on ebay.

The rust shows pretty bad in these pics. I've already gotten my new patch panels but will probably wait until spring to start that work.


I bought a polisher a few weeks later and started working on the paint.
before

after


I added '90-'91 tails next. I had just solved my leaking tail light issue with my '88 lights only to inherit the same problem with these. Nothing that a little clear silicone won't fix.


Ordered these custom floor mats a few weeks ago on ebay. About $95 with lettering and shipping. I wish now I had order black instead of charcoal gray but these will do for now.



Last weekend I added this J's racing replica front lip. I looked around for a factory '88-89 but those seem to be hard to come by these days and this was IMO the best looking after market lip made for the CRX. Install was pretty easy, it took a few hours but most of that time was making sure it was lined up just like I wanted before riveting it on.

You can also see in this pic where I repainted the front fenders and hood. It looks so much better, but it still looks like someone sprayed it with a rattle can in the driveway, which I did, so I'll be paying someone else to spray the whole car once I get the rust repair done.


As I said before the bronze never really did it for me and I always saw brown more than anything so last week I stripped the wheels down and had a brilliant, almost chrome finish. After a little light sanding, with a fine scotch brite pad, I had the brushed aluminum finished I was going for. Sorry for the blurry pics.




Future mods:
Remove cracked/faded quarter panel window trim-looking for a tool to make this easier
Recover cracked upper door panels-started this project but the glue didn't stick so it's back to the drawing board.
Si rear sway bar- just came in last week, this goes in next!
90-91 LCAs- also came in last week. I'll swap these out before I put new springs and shocks.
SiR rear spoiler-on the way
Perforated leatherette heated seat skins from ebay
Ground Control springs
Koni yellow shocks
Engine mods??-not sure on this. I really need a dependable daily driver that gets good gas mileage but I sure would love a few extra horses to make this an even more fun quick car. For now, I'm driving her stock but I'm considering the MPFI swap with the possibility of an engine swap with the D15 kicks the bucket.

That's it for now, thank for looking.
 
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#6 ·
Thanks guys. I really think the wheels much better than before. I am a little worried about how much I can lower it, my driveway is angled, so I'm just barely clearing the lip as it is. Once I put the ground controls, I can play around with it until I get it just right.
 
#7 ·
I'd been keeping an eye on this flat black SiR spoiler on ebay for the last few months and finally bid on it around Halloween. It came in this week from Germany, so Saturday after getting a job done for someone else I was able to get it installed. It's a real pain in the butt to get to the two nuts on the right side of the spoiler, the whole job took about an hour and a half with about half that time spent getting to those two nuts. Eventually it'll paint the spoiler silver, when I respray the car but it looks good enough in flat black for now.




 
#10 ·
^ I second what he said, but regardless the car looks nice. May I ask how you made the rear lip, and if you have any more pics? Looks pretty neat :)b
 
#11 ·
I definitely agree with everyone on color matching the spoiler.

The rear lip was made from a garage door seal. I got the idea from this thread. I don't have any other pics of it right now.
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=43222
I cut and screwed it along the under side of the rear bumper using self drilling, taping screws. Using a heat gun I shaped it around the corners because it deformed a little when making the bend. Then I trimmed it around the exhaust and to fit neatly around the rear mud flaps. I've had it on for maybe 3 months now and it's holding up just fine.
 
#15 ·
Quick update. Instead of opting for seat skins right now, I decided to send her off to have the rust repaired and repainted. I spent yesterday pulling the side skirts off and repainting those with krylon fusion. I need to do the front and rear bumper then she'll be ready for a fresh coat of silver. I should have her back and hopefully put back together this weekend. :)
 
#16 ·
Beautiful Rex man.I got a 89 dx as well but I bought it primer black it looks fugly and I looked up the original paint and it's the same so that's wat my car will look like wen I paint it ,I like it :)..just wondering did u have to make any special holes for the cup holder to drill in? :)b
 
#18 ·
I had to cut out the ash tray and 12 volt plug. I did a little work on the back side of it all to make the cup holder sit better when out. I didn't take any pics of it all when I had it apart.

I visited my rex at the paint shop yesterday. He let me come in and paint the front and rear lower bumpers, door trim, and rear hatch trim with krylon fusion before he sprays it. I'd hate to mess up a new paint job doing those things later on. She's looks to be in a pretty sorry state right now with all the rust cut out and patch panels in but I know it'll be great in the end.
 
#20 ·
A few quick shots this morning. I picked her up on Saturday and didn't get all my trim back on until yesterday afternoon. I had him paint the door handles and bumper/door trim to match but I painted the side skirts black with Krylon fusion. I also took out the rear quarter window trim before it was painted. I like how it looks without it. Overall I'm very pleased with how it came out, it looks great from 6 feet but on close inspection there is quite a bit of dust in the clear coat. I'll be taking her back to his shop next Saturday for a wet sand and polish which should remove most of the imperfections, then I'll clean her up and take better photos.



 
#26 ·
I believe I have the same goals for my car as you - you just got there MUCH quicker. I too have the blade silver but currently mine has no black trim. I planned on doing the exact scheme on mine and your results confirmed this was / is a good plan. The splash guards you added - are they the newer flaps or were you able to find the 88 style? I ask because i have given up on the 88 flaps because of cost...

Again, the car looks great - now get those seat skins!!!
 
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