Life with a 1985 CRX Si

If you don't mind me asking, and it might be way too late in the thread to ask (I just saw this article for the first time) What is the color code on that blue?

Baltic Blue (B32), I believe.

Keith Tanner said:

This was posted to the GRM Instagram feed a little while ago. Taken by Travis Ingram right near my house.

 

Right near your house?  That explains the donuts in the cul de sac. ;)

I don't do donuts on dry pavement. Too expensive!

Now, if that was covered in snow...

About the shocks, are there any koni inserts that will work up front into the housings of the stock front shocks?

I could have sworn for the rears, the 88 CRX and Integra Type R koni yellows fit.

If there are, nobody knows about them. Including Lee Grimes at Koni, who is a CRX guy and wishes they had an option. Then again, nobody else has ever put Protege5 struts on a GTX before either...

Update! 

It's been hot in Grand Junction this year. Super hot. And the AC in the CRX doesn't work. I've just never managed to get around to fixing it because I'm not a big AC tech. So between that and the fact I'm not driving to work, the poor thing hasn't been driven much. I did fire it up and take it for a run last week when the temperature dipped into the 80s, and boy is it fun. It's got a real playful nature to it, very Mini-like.

The passenger front fender developed a crack running up from the center of the wheel opening. I did the ABS trick on it but I think it's growing. I think I'm going to have to either replace that fender or pull it off and do repairs on the front and back, which will require paintwork. I continue to monitor the situation.

I see that most of the pictures in this thread have gone away because I made the mistake of linking from FB. I'll go and restore them someday. But I had the MG parked beside the CRX due to some car moving, and I have to say the scale of the cars surprised me. So here are some gratuitous CRX shots.

Nice tookusses

Keith, if you need some arm chair mechanic guidance on your AC fix, let us know, I've replaced components on two systems recently, now they both work like a charm. Need some Amazon gauges a 21 dollar leak sniffer and a vacuum pump. See frugal mechanics posts. Nice CRX i love those years very tempting to look for one myself...

FM has a proper AC...magic box on wheels that does discharging and charging and leak testing...and people who know how to use it. I am perfectly happy saying "hey Kyle, want to make a little extra cash?" for this fix. AC and automatic transmissions are two things I remain happily ignorant of.

I love your CRX.  I had a blue 85 Si like yours many years ago. It was a great little car that finally succumbed to rust here in western Pennsylvania.  I'd love to own another one at some point but prices have been getting crazy lately.

Enjoy!

Prices might be crazy for the BaT creampuffs but there are still a lot of very affordable ones on the market. Even the CRX owners groups don't think they're worth anything.

Pardon, but where is this article everyone is referring to?

It was an op-ed column in an issue of GRM that is long gone. Don't bother with it. 

I love the comparison of the two beasties.  I had my rabbit parked next to my buddies 88 MR2 and it was hilarious to have another car make the rabbit look large.  Love that CRX. It have such a soft spot for the 90+ 2.0 16v cars.  Many good memories of terrorizing 5.0 mustangs in one.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Got ya. I have always loved the CRX. I had a buddy who was on Red Pepper Racing. He tracked his 1G. He had a B20 CRV driveline swapped in it. Wide steelies and agressive tires.  Was NASTY.  Love the car man, love the wheels even more!

My first time hanging out in the back of a cop car was due to me driving my then-girlfriend's 85 crx si. Ah memories.

Usually I'm the one with the big noisy V8 at the track. The tables have turned!

Hmm. Brakes could use work. Even a CRX needs to slow down occasionally.

88-91 Si calipers fit, and still fit under 13" wheels. I think the rotors are the same size?

I think it already has those. It's got some sort of parts bin modification. I think it's just a matter of crap pads with a negative coefficient of friction. Not sure I could lock them up if I wanted. Of course, I also need to figure what pads those should be so I have to ID the caliper.

It could use a bigger master as well, it's not a reassuring pedal. Iirc an S2000 unit can work. I'll do pads first. 

In my run group is a slightly newer Si. I'm just a bit quicker - less than a second, I believe. I must uphold the honor of the torsion beam. 

Called it a day. Car ran happily, the handling balance is pretty good these days. I have thousands of laps on this track in high power/weight RWD cars, so adjusting to a low power/weight FWD was a challenge. I shaved a couple of tenths off on each session, getting down to a very respectable 70.7 second lap with a 71.3 average on the last run. That's quite a bit quicker than I'd expected. I did not embarrass myself at all.

Best session of the day was when they sent a 997 911 turbo out hot on my tail. This track is run without passing (it's a kart track, so cars are sent out at 10s intervals and grouped according to speed - in theory, that 10s gap is constant) so I had the black beast in my mirrors the whole time. This caused no end of entertainment for the spectators. 17 years of driving this track helped me not humiliate myself, but I wasn't able to open up a gap. 473 vs 91 hp...

Brakes are very high on the list now. It won't lock a wheel although it will hang one in the air mid corner. So caliper and master ID then some new pads and fluid. 

Keith Tanner said:

Prices might be crazy for the BaT creampuffs but there are still a lot of very affordable ones on the market. Even the CRX owners groups don't think they're worth anything.

I wish that I could find a better than decent driver. That's all I really want.

Get on the CRX Facebook groups. The cars are out there - like mine- but not common. 

Take the Rex for a spin today? Spotted this post by a Colorado resident on Facebook...