In a highly unusual occurrence for a Honda, the CRX wouldn’t start this weekend. The starter sounded like it was spinning the engine just fine, but the engine wasn’t even trying to fire. We figured it was spark or fuel and checked all of our connections. Everything looked good.
Then we remembered something the seller told us: Every now and then the car would have trouble starting, and for some reason he figured it was one of the battery cable clamps.
They looked and felt tight, but we put a little torque to them—-and the car started right up. Then we over-tightened the positive clamp and snapped it. Doh! A couple of bucks later for a new one and were back in business.
Long-term, we wanted to do something about our stock battery. For one, it’s heavy. It’s also positioned pretty high in the car and forward of the front wheels.
The traditional solution would be a battery box in the back of the car. While that improves the weight distribution, it also adds a few pounds thanks to the longer cables. It also robs us of some precious storage space.
The modern solution is a lightweight battery under the hood. We have a 6-pound carbon fiber battery from Braille Auto Development on the way. It’s 5.8 inches long, 3.4 inches wide and 4.2 inches high.
By the way, the head guy at Braille is Blake Fuller. We have known Blake since he was just a tike and have featured some of his cars in GRM. He was the guy with the infamous Sonny’s BBQ-sponsored Civic hatch that ran up Pikes Peak.
Braille offers several lightweight batteries, as well as lightweight battery tie-downs.
We also have a new Sparco steering wheel on the way, as ours just sucks. The Sparco wheel is covered in fake suede so we can be cool yet PC at the same time.
The faceplate of our climate control is also broken, which apparently is common with these cars. We figured that one from the salvage yard would be the answer, but then we saw what may be the coolest thing ever
We have talked to Todd, and we’re going to meet up during this weekend’s NASA Championships so we can get a plate.
We’ll post some pics of the new equipment once it arrives.
View all comments on the GRM forums
You'll need to log in to post.
