Can this Honda CRX be saved?

Let me introduce you to my newest project. It is a 1988 Honda CRX Si. It was cheap, it has a clean title, and it's rusty.
Let me know if I am nuts trying to repair this and restoring it to it's former glory.
I have some new rear quarter panels on order for it. And will be fabricating the rest of the panels needed myself. Wish me luck!

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

Let me know what you think? Am I nuts to try to repair this? Is it too far gone?

[@KarasouTengu]

Anything can be saved with enough work. If KZbin has shown me anything, it is just that. Really depends on if you wanna, or can put in the work. But fixed up nice and running, you could sell them for quite a bit in the states.

[@EnglishCharlie]

Depends how much you want a crx specifically. If you can get the quarter panels and arches you can fabricate the sills. Just time isn't it.

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

Already have a set of rear quarters built for it. I have a week off next week so I hope to make some decent progress.

[@EnglishCharlie]

@Research Design Build excellent. Looking forward to the next video! Will you paint it yourself?

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

@@EnglishCharlie Yes I think this will be a full build in the garage start to finish.

[@sum-dood]

Every crx deserves to be saved

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

I'm kind of with you on that one. I'll give this a go.

[@Colin_Rickard]

Looks pretty rough my guy. But if you decide to bring it back to life then I'll definitely be following along!

[@Mr.Gal1kanokus]

Worth it yes. But above my skill level and patience lol. Good luck with it

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

Probably technically above my skill level too. But I'll learn as I go, hahaha.

[@78MatWar87]

Looks good to me, compared to some of the American stuff that I've seen where there's almost nothing left underneath the car. Realistically it's all up to you on how much you're willing to spend on it. This definitely looks recoverable though.

[@abdulazeezsaid3746]

Only a Honda guy would consider fixing this thing 😭

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

Yes but would a Honda guy be crazy to modify a clean CRX shell they days with the prices clean ones are fetching?

[@GodsGunsGlory777]

pillar mounted seatbelts for 88 only. Me personally wouldn’t tackle it, but I’ve seen worse

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

The nice thing is that metal fabrication is just time, it's not really that expensive, so I'll give it a start and see where it goes.

[@georgerenolds859]

here in New England most of them look like this the first crx i went to go and look at had holes in the rockers holes in the trunk missing more than half the interior pretty much the same condition if not worse and he was asking 3k lmaooo it is defiantly fixable but i would deff go with the cleaner shell less work on your end and body work is not fun unless you really know what your doing

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

I'll probably start practicing on this one and refresh my body work and metal working skills. It has been a few years since the last time I took on a major project like this.

[@tonyekthree]

Go ahead save it I just subscribed go go go

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

That's the kind of support I need to keep going on projects!

[@hmbpnz]

That's the spirit! There's more than one of us out there. I have a really rusty one too and am working on it. I agree, press on!!!! Some advice I've gotten from metal fab folks up here in the rust belt is to start fabricating stuff that won't be seen normally, i.e. the floor repairs and other hidden things, until you refine your technique, then move on to the more cosmetic parts.

[@sheldonlamey7010]

Yes and could the fender be changed to a CRX one also....thanks in advance 👍🏾

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

I think the previous owner was a little resourceful.

[@timathysills26]

This one might be to far gone. It would be a parts car for me. I would say you over paid for it.

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

Where I am at in the country they are really hard to find. I have been looking for almost 8 months, and ended up buying the only two cars that came up for sale in that time that were even remotely close to me. Guys are asking 5-6K for a car that runs and drives but still needs rear fenders.

[@turbo79civicbf]

Any car can be saved ,just needs money ,I seen worst like 60s 70 s cars full of rust be brought back to life

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

Unfortunately these cars don't have the support the 60s and 70s cars have in terms of replacement panels you can purchase. Perhaps one day they will.

[@bodevaughn1599]

Imo, even if you were willing to spend $15,000 on this project, the parts avaliablility and cost wouldn't let you make this car enjoyable. If it was a new civic then maybe but from my understanding, project CRXs are hard to do right especally with all the rust the car has seen (Arizona gang lol). If you still want a project CRX, I would try to find a diffrent chassi that at the very least has less rust.

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

I'm not too worried about the rear quarter panels as even the $8,000 crx's have some rear rust. And that means a full paint job anyways. The rocker panels are another issue all together. They are really bad.

[@hmbpnz]

@@ResearchDesignBuild I've started discounting the Honda folks from the Southern US. What to them is major rust is just surface rust to us folks up north. Most of these folks have never spent two days removing a rusty fastener on what should be a 20 minute job.

[@JimBrodie]

If the swap to a K is well done and tidy, most us Honda bois dgaf. Personally i like seeing potential resurrections, better than seeing a tatty runner being gutted into a drag machine. Far too many are doing that not taking into consideration these things are finite and have been for some time.

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

I would feel really bad tearing apart a clean car to do a K swap and racing it.

[@JimBrodie]

@@ResearchDesignBuild For sure. That said, i don't mind those that are swapped and run as a daily, (restomod/modernisation) given it's a fantastic base for hot rodding to begin with and a good little grocery getter. =]

[@pauleggert1863]

Yes it's possible but you'll most likely end up spending more money than it would cost for one in better shape. That being said you can do a better job than the factory. My advise would be to reinforcement the body by adding some bracing inside. Also 3m makes panel bonding adhesive that you can use in conjunction with spot welding for added strength and to seal the whole joint from rusting out again. Good luck 👍

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

For me it's just time. I will be doing the work myself and I 100% agree that paying someone to do this type of work would put you in the poor house quickly. And I would love a nice southern US shell, but up here in Canada that is just not going to happen without a lot of $$$ for shipping etc.

[@pauleggert1863]

It will be a fun video series anyways and good to save as many as possible 😊. Sounds like you made up your mind good luck 👍

[@miclomusic805]

Man I’ve been hunting a crx for a while now, I might purchase one tomorrow but it has some rear end damage

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

How did it go? Did you end up buying one? Took me forever to find one and then a second one came up for sale not a week later.

[@miclomusic805]

@@ResearchDesignBuild I ended up buying it ! I’m already in love with it haha I’m so glad it was running and driving, solid interior with extra bumpers and wheels, a few extra parts, and best of all rust free with a Title 🙏 It’s my first manual car and I’m already driving on the road (with a few stalls) but hey gotta learn sometime 🤣💯

[@sum-dood]

In this case. The firewall swapped to a cleaner no title shell would be the way to go

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

I think that was the plan from the guy I bought it off. Even shells are hard tom come by in decent condition. And I'm sure this would be a little more legal than vin swapping. What would be your biggest concern fixing this? The rockers, the rear inner fenders, or the rear outer fenders? Or the holes in the floor?

[@sum-dood]

@Research Design Build all of it as a whole. Not 1 thing in particular. I see clean ish shells with no title get cut up all the time. Just seems like less work. I know it's bootleg af, but if done cleanly who cares

[@henryantonov3492]

I also have an 88 si that I bought mostly stock almost 8 years ago. It had about 124xxx miles and was overall clean aside from some apparent body work. Back then a few people close to me thought I overpaid ($3500). Now it looks like it was an awesome buy. These are getting to be scarce being 35 years old now. I'd say if you have the resources to fix it up, that would be my vote. I'm really interested to see how this goes.

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

I'll start with trying to clean up the rockers, if that goes well then I will move on to the rear. I'll make videos' along the way and will be interested to know what people think of the project or if I'm crazy or not. They are getting rare to the point where modifying a clean shell might be a terrible idea.

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

I am one of those people wishing they had picked one up a few years ago. But that is the way it goes. I remember years ago a guy I knew picked up an NSX for 35K and I thought that was too much... I was so terribly wrong.

[@henryantonov3492]

@@ResearchDesignBuild Yeah there are several specific cars I wished I bought a few years ago, but then a few years ago I had less income and different priorities. Now starting to advance a little in my career and of course realistic dream cars like the NSX are increasing in value. Kinda how things seem to go sometimes. Maybe some day!

[@EnglishCharlie]

Nice video, you're in for some work there but all easily possible. Got some workshop time coming! Looking forward to the next one!

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

Thanks Charlie!

[@dags475]

Since you have another crx in better shape.. this should be your parts car… is the other crx an SI also?

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

The other car is an Si as well. So the few little trim pieces it is missing I can take from this car. The other one is 100% stock outside of the stereo and Y-49 so might make a nice completely stock restoration. If you were doing a K swap would you really want to start with a perfect shell that could be restored to stock?

[@araybeezy1653]

@@ResearchDesignBuild dont swap the good one!

[@mryang3644]

Parts car only

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

Race Car? K Swap. Wouldn't it be a shame to hack up a clean CRX these days?

[@mryang3644]

@Research Design Build well maybe a Race chassis, that's it.. to Restore that is too much work. The damage and rust inthe chassis wheelwell is to much and not worth to me....I'd start with a cleaner one to Restore.

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

Ya this one will probably go more towards race car, and the other one I picked up will hopefully be more of a stock restoration. I'll have the intro video up for the other car here shortly. Will be interesting to see what everything thinks of that one.

[@akmc3313]

part it

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

Race Car?

[@akmc3313]

@@ResearchDesignBuild if you get a full cage, then yes.

[@ResearchDesignBuild]

@@akmc3313 I would really like to do a Turbo K Swap, all wheel drive and cage it.

[@hmbpnz]

Super interested in your project. I have a similar '89 with rotted out rockers and holes in the floors. Good luck!