I had an '88 Civic automatic back in the early 90s (probably same driveline as
your CRX) and a Honda specialist laughed when I asked about the possibility of
converting it to manual. Apparently it isn't all that easy, probably for less
obvious reasons that the lack of clutch pedal or hydraulics.
A used Honda motor shouldn't be too hard to come by or terribly expensive. You
won't be able to find too many transverse engines of other makes, and probably
none that would fit. A guy at work has a '92-'93 Prelude that had 250K+ miles
on it. He had that motor swapped to a newer version (by a year or so) with
more power and 200K fewer miles for around $2K, including labor. That Civic
motor should be cheaper. Hondas will run forever if properly cared for, but
will crap out if poorly maintained for a long period of time.
Good luck,
Adrian
http://www.midgetweb.com
-----Original Message-----
From Trisha [mailto:patricia.sauthoff at Colorado.EDU]
Sent: Wednesday, May 01, 2002 3:53 PM
To: spridgets
Subject: no lbc- honda question
Hey there cats and kittens,
I don't know if any of you know much about computer controlled cars, but
you seem to know everything else so it's worth an ask I suppose.
Here's the issue. My '89 Honda CRX is very sick, and she's slowly dying.
A few weeks ago I parked the car outside of my house, and she didn't want to
start for awhile. We checked the compression and it's really low. The
battery is brand new and fully charged. After tinkering with it a lot my b/f
managed to start it yesterday. The best he could tell me is that he gave it a
stern talking to and cranked it until it started. I drove her today for a
little bit, and she's definitely having some issues off the line. 0-10 mph is
pretty slow, after that she's okay. There is a subtle knock in the engine,
and we're guessing that a rod is going bad. The knock is really quiet, so
it's not too bad for now, but I do realize that it'll only get worse, and
probably pretty fast.
My questions are: How long until the engine dies completely? Is a rebuild
easy? How easy is it to get the engine out anyway? If I decide to look into
wrecked cars to steal parts from I'd like a manual transmission (I have an
auto right now), is it a fairly easy conversion? Also if anyone knows, are
there any other engines that easily drop in, other Honda's, or Japanese cars?
I've signed up for a CRX list, so if no one knows that one should be
coming through in a few days, but since I know you and trust your expertise I
thought I'd ask here first.
If this all works out I intend to change the fuel filter, which is pretty
old, and probably the spark plug wire set, since it seems a little off as
well. Would changing these first do any good, or should I just wait until I
can get the engine out and open?
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