n00b here! things to look for on high mileage CRX?

[fivespeedsquirrel]

Hey guys! I like your forum... These are my roots, baby. I used to have a Civic in college, and I remember (as if it was so long ago) spending hours upon hours on homemadeturbo.com learning how to boost my LX. But fortunately, I didn't turbo it, after finding out my D15 rods were wicked thin.

And here I am, 3-4 cars later, and my DD is a Miata. So far I have owned an Escort, Civic LX, 240sx, Infiniti G20t, Nissan NX2000, and now the 'yata. and now that I have a real job, I am considering becoming a two-car guy. I have a friend with a 1990 CRX Si, she may be selling it within the year because her daddy will buy her something newer. I have already made my presence known as prospective buyer #1.... but I want to know what to look for.

Her CRX is red/black, and has about 200k miles. I am not worried about the mileage at all, you know how Hondas are. The car looks to be in great shape -- interior, paint, glass, wheels, etc. No tears in the stock Si seats. I haven't taken a look at the mechanicals yet, or driven it. Here are the things I am going to look for on my own:

1 -- timing belt history. This is an interference engine, right? Belt snaps, and valves get smushed?
2 -- valve/lifter tick
3 -- CV boots
4 -- any visible engine leaks around seals and gaskets
5 -- rust around the rear wheel wells

Anything else I should look for? Is there anything about CRX's that set them apart from other Civics?

[91siredrex]

u have pretty much everything right. whenever i look at a crx, i look for rust, oil leaks, hacked wire jobs, and anything a ricer could have done done to the car. other than that its a honda it will last a long time.

[silverkorn]

since engine swaps are so common for these cars i wouldnt even worry about the timing belt and leaks and all that, if the car was babied for the first 200,000 miles then you could get maybe another 100,000 if its not burning oil yet.

personally i would make sure the exterior is in good shape, here is what my checklist would consist of:

overall paint condition
no leaks, prone spots are the sunroof, the rear window squirter, rear taillights
sunroof still works
rear quarters arnt rusted out
the hatch where the spare tire is kept is prone for rusting

and overall make sure it wasnt in an accident of any kind

other then that your ready t go, and swap in a nice b series motor

[fivespeedsquirrel]

Did all 1990-91 CRX's have a sunroof? I can't remember if hers has one or not.

[Spec]

just the Si model came with a sunroof.  As far as the car goes I agree with silverkorn, as long as the body is in decent shape then the motor really is almost disposable in these cars.  For under a $1,000 (along with everything else you need to swap it) you get a lower mileage zc which is a simple swap into an Si.

[fivespeedsquirrel]

Yeah the engine swap thing is one of my favorite things about Civics and CRX's. Drive them until they die, and then swap in something else. And it's all been done before by thousands of others, so there's lots of research out there. Plus, if I went ahead and got another engine swapped in, I would go ahead and fab a turbo kit at the same time. No sense in doing that now, I want to see how long the original engine will go!

[silverkorn]

there are some little things you can do to the stock engine to get more power without spending a fortune. i can go into detail later

[fivespeedsquirrel]

there are some little things you can do to the stock engine to get more power without spending a fortune. i can go into detail later

Yeah, I am sure there are. But just for funzies, I'd like to keep the car bone stock for as long as possible, if for no other reason than the fact that it's getting dang near impossible to find clean, original CRX's.

[GoFastTshirts.com]

i like to check for the following

* rear seat area usually will warp bad if the hatch struts leak so check that
* rear bumper is not totally rusted ot
* driver side floor boor not rusted
* the way the body panels line up, headlights, corner lights, front fenders...
* nothing cut under the dash (wires) youd be surpised what people do
* exterior rust
* clean interior, specifically not missing the following parts cause there very hard to get -
***triangle side view mirror interior block off peices(tabs always broke on me when trying to remove.
***plastic box peice that goes on the rear view mirror, usually crumbles from old age if you ever try and take it off.
***Rear speakers (if you care)
***All screws are there things aren't missing screw or hardware ie..speaker covers no scres just held in with oem tabs

*Sunroof Works
*All Lights work

im sure there are more these are just some i can think of

[dilbert]

There is a big list in the FAQ section of things to look for when buying a crx. or basically any other car.