Happened to a buddy's CRX today. Not a repair I'm interested in providing....
Happened to a buddy's CRX today. Not a repair I'm interested in providing....
Ooof. That sucks. I guess all the years of stress, increased by stiffer components(?), took its toll.
He want some good news? he could probably sell it to some kid for 3k dollars.
Yikes! Looks like it's ripping the car in half!
Looks very much like a BMW.
I've not seen it in the rear before... but I'm also wondering if he runs a rear shock tower brace?
in the STS civics.. if you don't run a rear shock tower brace the car will start to fold and ripple the metal at the upper rear corners of the back pop out windows.
I've heard of this exact thing before up on the front end near where the motor mounts and chassis meet ion teh engine bay, but not so much around the rear suspension.
Maybe that's why the Japanese designers limited the power to something like 110 hp. 
Curious how the fix will proceed. Post the repair if possible.
In reply to Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) :
160 hp in Japan and elsewhere, though 
Years ago I worked pit for a team at the longest day of Nelson Ledges ( not a crx). There was two cars that had this issue. They tried welding the cracks but finally retired one car at least. Of course, Nelson was pretty rough at that time not helping the situation.
BoxheadTim (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) :
160 hp in Japan and elsewhere, though
Honda also had a habit of using different thickness stampings in strategic places for different model trims.
Isn't this the same chassis as everything up to and including the ITR?
Is that a Speedway style big rear sway bar installed on it? Was there a subframe brace installed?
EDIT: If it does have one, how was it mounted? I thought CRX/Civics have less of the issue since the sway bar is mounted on the frame unlike the later 92-00 cars
That does suck. Pour one out.
David S. Wallens said:That does suck. Pour one out.
time to make a jig off an unberked shell and build a tubular subframe to hold the suspension, and a cage to tie it into!
SkinnyG (Forum Supporter) said:Happened to a buddy's CRX today. Not a repair I'm interested in providing....
Not even if the repair is the same treatment you gave that Firefly? 
He does have a BIG rear sway bar, and runs 700lb springs all around.
The CRX did not have a lower chassis brace - apparently not legal for class? It runs some kind of street tire class.
They'd like to fix it, as the car and them go way back. I think the best fix would be either drill out the spot welds and get one from another tub, or just get another tub. Preferably get another tub. I did suggest tube framing it to make it lighter and stronger; it would move them to D/Mod which I prefer, as rules stifle my creativity.
I'm not interested in fixing this, as I already have enough on my plate; I'm not in want of a project.
Definitely want to get another tub if that is an option, because if the spot welds are that loose THERE, what are they like in the rest of the chassis?
Is it class legal to run braces from the sway bar mounting points up to the floor, instead of relying on sheet metal that Honda did not engineer to take vertical loads, only lateral?
SkinnyG (Forum Supporter) said:He does have a BIG rear sway bar, and runs 700lb springs all around.
The CRX did not have a lower chassis brace - apparently not legal for class? It runs some kind of street tire class.
They'd like to fix it, as the car and them go way back. I think the best fix would be either drill out the spot welds and get one from another tub, or just get another tub. Preferably get another tub. I did suggest tube framing it to make it lighter and stronger; it would move them to D/Mod which I prefer, as rules stifle my creativity.
I'm not interested in fixing this, as I already have enough on my plate; I'm not in want of a project.
lower chassis braces aren't legal for STS, but Strut tower bars are up top and if he's not running one.. he should be... the CRX will flex..
INTENSE. What exactly was your buddy doing? I beat the tar out of my Del Sol and never saw anything close to that. Hell, I put an EF Si into a curb at 30 or so MPH and it didn't tear any spot welds. Do I actually drive like a sally or what?
Yes.
Sally.
This car was bought -years- ago, and they only use it for Street Tire autocross. It does NOT ever see street use. They've never hit anything. It did have a shunt before they got it, which was repaired, and that might be the ripple in the middle That could have initiated the stresses which caused the fatigued. I do know one of the rear control arms was not OEM back when it was running stock arms, and it was difficult to align evenly (I did their alignments for years).
A new crossmember was sourced from the local wreckers, and is in the midst of being put back in. 32 spot welds drilled out.
Old and busted:
SkinnyG (Forum Supporter) said:He does have a BIG rear sway bar, and runs 700lb springs all around.
The CRX did not have a lower chassis brace - apparently not legal for class? It runs some kind of street tire class.
They'd like to fix it, as the car and them go way back. I think the best fix would be either drill out the spot welds and get one from another tub, or just get another tub. Preferably get another tub. I did suggest tube framing it to make it lighter and stronger; it would move them to D/Mod which I prefer, as rules stifle my creativity.
I'm not interested in fixing this, as I already have enough on my plate; I'm not in want of a project.
On a somewhat different different chassis (96 civic) I tore up one side pretty well with sticky tires/more sway bar/ and did indeed go to a junk yard with a battery powered sawzall and in frighteningly little time had a crossmember out with the pickup points intact and used an aftermarket brace and the existing suspension and some other widgetry as a jig and welded the new one in (with some subtraction over the old in my case- like two taco shells.) It has worked great since and that was 5-6 years and 80k ago. The guy at the counter looked me funny and charged $15 under the category 'bracket'. The hardest part for me was getting it clean enough to weld. Mine is a street car so no consideration was given for rules- I tried to double everything.
On a related note my 96 civic with 240k on the clock is bent front to back- sagging in the middle long ways. Not a bunch but enough so I had to adjust the doors to get them to be happy again. In my case I think beating up and down logging roads has taken its toll but as folks here are well aware civics are made of thin soft steel. Im pretty sure one can wear these chassis out.
I've consumed many hours watching a YouTube channel called Vehcor who does a really nice job showing unibody repairs including drilling out spot welds.
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