Sept 3, 2002
Well, this is season two of the CRX-Files. Alot has changed. First off, I have moved garages. I now have a 2 stall garage with electricity for only $10/more a month than the old garage! Woohoo! AND the stupid garage door stays up! (YES!) No more killing myself with the garage door just trying to get at the car. Thank God for that! Further, this garage has electricity, which means power tools, music, and lighting (and potentially heat this winter). All of these things bode well to getting some progress on the car.
Progress: I had originally thought that the problem with the car was the cylinder head-- WRONG! turned out to be that piston #1's connecting rod had about 1 inch of play around the crank shaft, thus creating huge amounts of racket. So now I have two good cylinder heads and no good engine to put them on. Oh well, live and learn. At least I know what the problem is!
So the question I have running in my head now is essentialy this: do I replace the engine and get it running that way, OR do I wait to find a B16B to throw in there double the car's HP? It's a tough decision either way. On the one hand, I could use the engine experience, and I would like to have a guinnea pig to test on(d16a6's are relatively cheap and they work). On the other hand, the B16B doubles my horsepower almost, and increases my readline from 6500 to 9000(!!!) Both options are tempting. As money permits, I will probably just get the existing engine running and worry about doing the swap later. I have plenty o body work to be working on, some of which has started. Pictures fourthcomming.
Things I have done include: ripping the engine to pieces, cleaning the interior alot, and alot of 'garage work.' I built some shelves, and just started orangizing stuff. I got all my tools organized, so that is a good thing. I did start on some body work, just little tests and practice stuff here and there. I haven't gone back out to take a look, but hopefully it restored well.
I tore the bumper faschia off, as well as the drivers quarter panel. The rust factor is pretty low on this car, all things considered. Lots of dents to pull though....all in good time.
I shall post some pics here soon enough, so keep your trowsers on. Not much will be happening over winter, just saving money and occasional shopping for parts. Next summer should be really scary - I will have money and time to burn. Sweet...
