On 11:19 PM 10/27/02 -0600, Matthew Welch said...
Well, I may have mentioned this a few months ago, but it is now (finally) official. Some time next week I will be purchasing a beater to daily drive so I can restore my CRX to like-new beauty and swap a B-series engine into her.SIDE NOTE: Strange... I've never really called my car a her before, but it just kinda slipped out... my wife calls it a her... she's even got a nickname for her... "The Mistress" ;) Ok back to the beater... I am acquiring a 1985 AWD Civic Wagon for the grand sum of $100. It has low compression in one cylinder, so it's going to require some TLC... I'm considering either a rebuild or just tossing the engine and swapping. I've heard rumor (from another wagon owner) that although the stock engine is the EW4, the AWD tranny has the same bolt pattern as the D-series engines... if that's the case, I could swap a ZC in there. I believe the car is carbuerated, so I guess that means (for ease of swap considerations) I'd have to go with one of the older Integra ZC's. I've been told I can get a carbuerated ZC from Nippon Motors. Hmm... doesn't Jackson Racing make a supercharger kit for the ZC now? Maybe a FI motor would be a better bet after all! ;) I bet that would be getting REALLY close to the limit on the amount of power the rear differential could handle before it snapped like a little twig.... Anyway... thoughts?
I would look into the low compression. This could be something as simple as a valve adjust but probably will be a ring. In any event, since this is just a "beater", I would just fix it just enough to keep it running while you address your CRX.
All the suggestions, thoughts and ideas you indicated for the Civic should (in my mind) be done to your CRX. And then later invest the time, effort and money into the Civic (if you still see the need).
Now.. if the engine in the Civic is on it's last legs and an engine swap is perhaps the easiest and most economical way to go, then I would understand why the need to replace it with something other than stock.
Of course, who knows? You may end up becoming a Civic AWD freak (enthusiast) and devote the time, effort and money into said vehicle. I've seen it happen... a friend of mine was into nothing but Chevy's and then when he needed a beater car, he picked up a Toyota Celica for dirt cheap and he had to fix a few things on it in order to keep it somewhat reliable. 5 years later and he's a HUGE Toyota freak. :^)
Robert K. Kuhn
CRX Owners Group President (http://www.crx.org/southcal)
1990 Honda CRXsi (http://www.hooligan.cc)
ICQ # 3714283 (nickname: godzilla)
