CRX to VX Pictures are up

[dresp]

The wiring photos are terrifying! All I could think was, "Where are the meatballs to go with that spaghetti?"

How much custom fabrication was necessary to do the engine swap? motor mounts? tranny mounts? What was that clutch conversion mount? How much was necessary and how much was you showing off (impressive! by the way!) Did you do a custom exhaust route to boot? How long did that all take you? A day or two? The whole weekend?

[soletek]

Originally Posted by dresp

The wiring photos are terrifying! All I could think was, "Where are the meatballs to go with that spaghetti?"

How much custom fabrication was necessary to do the engine swap? motor mounts? tranny mounts? What was that clutch conversion mount? How much was necessary and how much was you showing off (impressive! by the way!) Did you do a custom exhaust route to boot? How long did that all take you? A day or two? The whole weekend?

Hello, dresp. Welcome to gassavers.org. Lots of neat people and projects here.

Are you planning a swap? What car do you have? Will you put it in the garage?

You will find the answers to most of your questions in the How to/Do IT Yourself thread where the writeup is located as CRX HF to VX How To.

The custom fabrication included: aluminum hood 1/2 weight of orginal, parts of motor mounts and whole left front mount, clutch conversion from manual to hydraulic clutch ergo the mount, fan shroud, radiator neck, creation and install of airbox hose fitting, entire exhaust system routed according to need, reconstruction/creation of the three entire wiring harnesses--engine, underdash, chasis, reconstruction and/or replacement of many connectors and their related pin locations, creation of 5 wire harness for ECU, custom dash to fit the different dash electronics for the VX.

Everything done was necessary. It's too much work just to show off. I'm going for mileage, comfort, handling, aerodynamics (not done yet), good sound, and useable power. Efficiency using today's flawed propulsion systems is a goal toward which to strive. Many things have to be changed to achieve the goal of going from a carbureted car with no computer to an SFI car with the most complex ECU and engine design of the VTECs. Read up on the VTEC-E, you will be impressed by the creative engineering done by the Honda factory.

It took about a year to collect all the parts needed, including the Honda HF car. Once I started the project in earnest it took approximately two months of steady work, give or take a week or so.

For this job there was no instruction manual. Everything done was because of a lack of knowledge about what I was getting into. However, I'm really glad I did it. Every person that has ridden in, or driven the car, is amazed at the accelleration, the torque, and incredible driveability. This is the car Honda should have made! To all of the people that have HFs --on hills where I had to shift down to third from fifth to maintain my speed, this combination requires no down-shift. Additionally, I had to purchase Premium gas to keep the HF from pinging. The VX now runs on regular.

This swap is only for Gen 1 HF to '92 VX. Other years of Hondas may differ.

Thank you for asking.

[dresp]

Thanks for the expansion Soletek, I will be checking out the How-To/DiY Thread. I hear the phrase "custom motor mount" and my brain comes to a shrieking halt. It seems to me there are two kinds of guys in the field of engine swapping. The first kind goes for it without thinking, and the second kind thinks about it so much, he can't see past the problems. This project and you as a builder seem to have struck the happy compromise. I am truly impressed. this is the kind of work that should be featured in hot rod magazines... or a high MPG version of one... Why isn't there one? I have always considered MPG to be vastly more important than MPH.

Again, I just want to say how impressive this work is (that "Did that take a weekend?" remark was a joke... but... never mind!).

I will be poring over your photos and comments...

As I have yet to buy my high mileage rig, I am still considering exactly what route I want to take. I feel up to removing, rebuilding, and reinstalling an HF engine. But even converting a "DX" or "Si" to an "HF" seemed daunting to me (half-shafts, wheel size, motor mounts, suspension, etc...). It suddenly occurred to me after reading of your adventure that swapping a D15Z1 into an '88-'91 CRX Si might be easier than converting an Si to the D15B6. So, your project has opened up my pre-purchase options!

[soletek]

I'm pleased to help, and yes, I knew you were joking. It was a good question because I had never talked about the time involved before. Others were probably wondering, too.

My personal feeling about the HF engine is that it is too weak, horsepower and torque-wise, to be installed into anything heavier than the car it came in. I don't like the CVCC combustion chamber design. Not because it was bad, but because it was never intended to use today's fuels. The fuel management design is too complex: too many vacuum hoses, actuators, control valves, diaphragms, and on and on. If it can break, it will. Lack of complexity is efficiency.

I think the path of least resistance would be to purchase a '92 to '95 CX and install the D15Z1, engine only, against the already there CX tranny. Additionally, swap or modify wiring harnesses, both underdash and engine. Also, all lightening that can be done on the VX can be done on a CX. Example:
carbon-fiber hood, fenders, lighter seats, wheels, tires, and anything else you can think of. The next (more difficult) choice one might make could be the '88 - '91 CRX, a fuel injected model. Most of the parts that I had to pick up were from a fuel injected car (since mine was carbureted). They would already be in place for you. Example: EFI, airbox, fuel tank, and fuel injection hard lines already exist on the chassis.

As far as the steps I took to make custom motor mounts: use an existing mount, if possible; I start by bolting it to the 'as final positioned' tranny or engine, depending on which mount you are making, then I mark the most advantageous cut-off point, remove the mount and cut it at that line. Rebolt it onto the tranny/engine, next, take the original interfacing chassis mount, roughly mark where the two will interface, cut it off leaving a little extra material, grind the extra material off until there is an eighth inch gap between the two mounting segments when bolted to their final locations. Slide a piece of eighth inch steel plate in between the two segments, hold in place and trace around each segment on each side of the plate. You will see that the two images do not line up perfectly. Take the lines that are the furthest apart and connect them at the most convenient location incompassing all the area of both segments. Now, cut the plate steel to that shape, tack weld all three pieces while they are bolted to their final position. They will fit perfectly to each of their outlines. Final weld with the mount off of the vehicle. If you look straight down at the top of the motor mount, the off-set of the two segments can be observed. It will be too weak to use in this form. Take an additional piece of the steel plate and triangulate a gusset or two from the side of the steel segment that inserts into the rubber mount, back to the tranny/engine segment. Be sure to remove the rubber mount. Weld it/them into place. This will reinforce the mount. The mount should bolt up with no problems. Do the next mount.