Restoring a 1989 CRX Si: AHC Garage

I found AHC Garage on YouTube when I was looking for some how-to stuff on the new Integras.

The AHC stands for Acura Honda Classic, and they seem to work out of the back of an Acura dealership after hours. Our tastes differ in a few areas, but I've watched a bunch of their videos, and they're pretty well done and informative. I hit Like and Subscribe.

They just picked up a really nice 1989 CRX Si survivor in Barbados Yellow, and are doing a pretty extensive restoration on it. They've posted two episodes so far, and I'll link them below. They said, "Like and share", so that's what I'm doing. 

I absolutely love these cars. I've said it many times already, but I bought a new Civic Si in 1989, and drove it for 300,000+ miles. I was actually working at a Honda dealership that year, but I actually bought the car before I got there. I drove a bunch of these cars when they were new, and I loved them all. Surprisingly, my favorite was a fairly low optioned (air, radio, mats, and Canadian stripe package) silver CRX DX five speed (98hp) on 13 inch steelies. About ten years ago, I bought the nicest surviving 1988 CRX Si that I could find and wrote about it here. I'll try to dig up some photos of my old cars. I miss them.

I've done a few restorations in the past; early Mustangs, Mopars, Willys Jeeps and a Chevy C-10. For as simple a car as a CRX is, and how much work I've done on Civics in general, I'm surprised at how complex this little car is underneath. I was particularly fascinated by the simple string pulling tools used by the glass guys in episode two. I look forward to watching ACH Garage restore this car.

ACH Garage, Project CRX Si, Episode 1

ACH Garage, Project CRX Si, Episode 2

Thanks for sharing!

Photos of photos of my beloved 1989 Civic Si. 
 

My 1988 CRX Si project thread

As soon as I rounded the corner and saw the ugly original alloy wheels, I knew that I was buying this car. I probably should have held onto this one, but I really didn't have a place to keep it.

God... I miss these cars!

Pretty sure this is filmed out of the Pembroke Pines Acura/Honda dealer down here in south Florida. 

I test drove a 2005 Civic Si when new there, wish I would have bought it. Picked up a Scion tC that had just came out instead. 

In reply to Slippery :

That sounds familiar. I think they mentioned that in one of the Acura videos. 

I heart EF civics so much, after spending years and years working on them and racing them.  I was so sad to have to retire my k24 powered 89 Si after 30k race miles and too many crashes for an EG.  The EF was peak Honda. 

Since they were new, I've never not owned at least one EF.  Have owned three at several times.

Currently own two CRX's...one K-swap, one b-swap.

Big regret... I let this one go after I drove it 200,000 miles.  

Woody (Forum Supportum) said:

Photos of photos of my beloved 1989 Civic Si. 
 

 

 

Thanks for sharing!

I actually saw two of these last week - both on I81 in Scranton / Wilkes Barre area. Silver with Maine plates going north, and a red one going south on Wed. They were both similarly modded and looked to be well-loved. Compete random car-guy moment x2...

Watching ep 1 now.

I also watch this guy: Mad4Motors

I think he's in Ireland, but he finds abused cool stuff like this Integra Type R

Thank you for posting those vids.

Just because I know a guy who's interested; what's the closest analog to the CRX built within the last 15 years? Fit? Something else?

Cool build. Very similar to what I did with my Prelude.

Not sure I'd have committed to a full respray, the starting point was faded but pretty serviceable. I hope they delete the horrible USDM seatbelt setup.

I miss my EF terribly too. Mine was a 1990 DX hatch. Started off stock, then a tired D16Z6, and finally ended up with a MPFI "Mini-me" - D16A6 bottom end with a D16Z6 head run by the stock Z6 ECU. First car I did an engine swap on.

The algorithm pointed me to this video today. I thought it was worth a share:

CRXseth - Restoring a 1988 CRX SI in 30 minutes

If you to his channel, he has videos for every subgroup and how he restored it. Nice channel. 

I was teaching my step-son how to drive stick today (in a Miata, of course) and we saw a white Civic Si like Woody's.  It was very clean with tasteful mods, and I got pretty nostalgic. Those really were peak Honda.

I would take another 1st gen CRX if I could find a good one, Si or not.  My first car was a '86 CRX DX.

Slippery said:

The algorithm pointed me to this video today. I thought it was worth a share:

CRXseth - Restoring a 1988 CRX SI in 30 minutes

If you to his channel, he has videos for every subgroup and how he restored it. Nice channel. 

Same thing showed up in my feed. Watching him now...

I regret that I missed out on these things back in the day.  I had a couple of the 1g Accords, wife had an EF Civic transportation appliance, and I had my rusty $250 EG for a couple years, but I missed the boat on a fun one.  Too much distraction with F Mod and karting at the time I suppose. I do have my dad's RSX though, slightly bigger with K20 already installed.

Feels like I'm missing something here-what is so good about the EF Honda?

I picked the CRX for my challenge car, but mostly because it was in a sweet spot of cheap, light, and able to hit 300+hp with a turbo. Didn't really see them as great cars for anything else though.

In reply to XLR99 (Forum Supporter) :

My dad had both an '80 (maroon) and '89 Accord (white) sedans, both 5 speed. I remember driving the 1G in our driveway and washing it. Took my driver's license test in the '89.  

My mom had an '80 Civic 3 door (brown) with a 4 speed and an '89 SI with a 5 speed (white). I learned to drive in the '80 after I stole it one day with a couple of friends. 

I would love to find a clean unmolested EF SI. 

In reply to CrustyRedXpress :

They are very simple, but extremely well built cars. 

Its like if VW made a well built GTI. My 16v GTI was great, but the build quality and "feel" of all the switches was nowhere near the Honda quality. 

Isn't that colour cursed?

CrustyRedXpress said:

Feels like I'm missing something here-what is so good about the EF Honda?

It was a high point of double a-arm suspension design, light weight, and modular drivetrain interchange from other Hondas.  And with the CRX, add in a very aerodynamic shape (the hatch, less so).

Crxpilot said:

Just because I know a guy who's interested; what's the closest analog to the CRX built within the last 15 years? Fit? Something else?

Nothing. and that's the problem. A Fit is heavy, with a high cg (tall car) and has a crappy twist-beam rear suspension. 

Blame modern crash standards for much of that, but also Hondas move away from SLA suspension towards cheaper and easier packaging.

Way back in the day, loved my '88 Si, would love to get another one of these days. 

In reply to Slippery :

I had an 88 accord lx-i 5 speed and I'd LOVE to have that thing back.  I drove it for 10 years and probably 200k miles before it finally died. 

I had an '86 CRX Si.  It wasn't as fast as a 1.6 Miata but it handled like a go-cart.  Fun car.

 Put 110,000 miles on it.  I sold it after I bought another vehicle.  My wife told me not the sell it, that I would regret it.    Yep...

To add a little perspective to the conversation, I took delivery of that white Civic Si in March of that year. There was no Si in 1988 (although there were CRX Sis in 88). 

MSRP of the white Civic Si in 1989 was $10,225. After adding a/c, stereo with equilizer, mats and armrest, I think it came to $11,400 before taxes. It was a bargain, but it was absolutely all the money that I didn't really even have. A comparable CRX Si would have been about $1000 more, and there was no way that I could have pulled that off. Even if I could have, the insurance on a CRX would have been a deal breaker.

My car was only the second one that I had seen in person. Honestly, I didn't even recognize the demand for these things yet, and if I didn't have a friend who was managing a Honda dealership at the time, I probably never would have been able to get one without a long wait. I knew that it would be special though. I had seen the previous generation Civics and CRXs autocrossing with great success, and spent a good part of 1988 trying to buy a used 1986 or 87 Civic Si without any luck. There were simply no used ones on the market. The people who had bought them new just held onto them.

The really interesting part though is that the sport compact aftermarket was just getting started, and there really wasn't a ton of stuff out there yet. Jackson Racing was the big player at the time. They had a really slick, almost magazine quailty catalog, but even they didn't have a ton of stuff yet. I may even still have their 1989 catalog around somewhere, but I think they probably had shocks, sway bars, plus a cam and header package, and a catback muffler. That was about it. The rest of the catalog was more generic stuff like BBS wheels and Momo steering wheels and shift knobs.

The King Motorsport (Mugen) catalog was basically a few typewritten pages with photocopied pictures stapled together like a newsletter.

There were a few other small companies like A-T Engineering and CRE / Chuck's Civic Center, but they were still focused on the earlier Civics and CRXs.

Cold air intakes, fart cans and strut braces hadn't even really become a big thing yet.

So by the time that my white Si was about six months old, I had pieced together a few modifications from wherever I could find them. I bought adjustable Koni yellows, a Momo shift knob, braided brake lines and drilled rotors from Jackson Racing, and then Mugen sway bars and a full bushing kit (stiffer rubber, not urethane) from King Motorsports.

I bought a Mugen steering wheel and hub adapter from the display case at the Honda dealership. The parts manager didn't even have a price for it, so I just offered him $75 for everything that said Mugen on it, and he said OK.

I would have loved to add the Jackson Racing cam and header, but it was way, way beyond my budget. I couldn't even afford a nice set of wheels, and so I made do with a new set of 1987 Integra takeoff alloys that I bought from another guy at the parts counter for $150.

I drove the car, pretty much in that form, for more than twelve years and 300,000+  miles. I replaced the original clutch at 212,000, even though it was still holding at that point. It just wasn't smooth anymore.

The sport compact aftermarket really took off around 1991, and these cars were largely responsible for that.