New to Hondas. road racing, and IT

boywonder

boywonder

New member
I just bought my first track car, and first Honda - an ITC '85 CRX.
Since this is my first Honda I don't really know all the best Honda specific forums and would appreciate it if someone could share them. Also, where is the best place to find body panels, namely all the brittle plastic on the front of the car?

Thanks!
 
I'm not 100% on the pre-1988 models, and I know that the plastic nose and fenders can be a real PitA to find, but for anythign else, try redpepperracing.com and welcome to the party!
 
I noticed your other post, and saw you're from Columbus--as am I! While I'm no Honda expert, I've worked on several, though I'm building an ITA Miata slowly as my first car.

I hit a lot of the local junkyards, and I've found that Woody's on McKinley Ave. tends to have a few 1st Gen CRXs every once in a while. Cantley's might have some to pull stuff from too. If you'd like, get me a list of what you might need, and I could check for you next time I go.

Heck, if you just need a hand, I might be able to help you out. . .
 
I replied to your other thread in the General Discussion area, but I'll answer a couple of the questions you've got here too....

Like Chris said above, finding those plastic nose pieces for the first-gen CRX's can be real tough. Yes, Woody's for some reason likes to get old Honda's like that, so maybe keep an eye out there. If you're not familiar with the place, bring wadding boots and get a tetanus shot before going - haha! redpepperracing.com is a great resource for finding old Honda parts and asking questions to old Honda guys. roadraceautox.com is another than many of us are on as well where there's lots of IT Honda racers who will be willing to help out. Good luck!
 
okay, we have the same basic car. i have the 86 crx si in ITB.

I just got a header panel from Auto Body Panels for $114.30 shipping and tax included. it is pretty good. i had to file the outer holes some to fit but the front of my ITB crx is tweaked and so it was mostly on my end.

the invoice has them listed around and a website www.abpanels.com

i dealt with them at 5111 Miller Road, Kalamazoo, MI 49048 and a local number but also at 800 537-2161.

i have not replaced fenders yet but had picked up some second hand. the header panel had just got to a point that i was tired of trying to patch together.

you might pick up a parts car and for ~ $250. that will get you much of what you want in terms of a spare motor/trans, etc.

and i have some stuff from the carbed cars too. i got 4 engines in various stages of unknown condition.

i was getting ready to pull the heads off and put them FS on redpepperracing.com along with distributors and such. if you come to the IT fest as an entrant, i will give you the carbs and intake manifolds and a distributor. don't know if it works but you might be able to turn it in for a core.

i got some of this for free and would like to pass some of it on. still looking for some good carma.
 
Thanks for all the info guys. I haven't hit up Woody's or Cantley's before but will be sure to do so. Right now I'm mainly concerned with finding sources for all the plastic body bits as mine has definitely seen better days. Once I stock up on those bits is there a way to prep them as a preventative measure? While I have no desire to put carbon fiber fenders on my car (and yes, I understand that would be illegal) I also don't want to be constantly replacing fenders every time someone leans against them, especially if they're hard to come by in the first place.

I don't want to get in trouble for posting the same stuff in multiple locations on this site, but in my other thread under General IT Discussions I asked about necessary spares. What do you think the minimum spares package would contain? Again, you can post the answer over there so we don't have mirrored threads going at the same time.

Also, which manual is considered the Honda bible for these cars? The guy I bought the car from still races another CRX so I have no books, manuals, etc...

Thanks!
 
You'll need to get yourself a copy of the factory shop manual per the GCR. Plus it's the bible of how to fix your car. I also picked up one of the simplier Haynes or such manuals as well.
 
If Kevin Ruck is anywhere near you, lean on him, he apparently knows how to make Hondas run reasonably well!

Replace the rear hubs as a maintenance item, we do ours about every 5th race weekend, easy to replace and not to expensive (unless they break!)

The first gen CRX is fun to drive and competitive in class, the most important thing to remember is HAVE FUN!! You should get out of the car every time with a big ol' s*** eating grin on your face!:happy204:
 
gran racing said:
You'll need to get yourself a copy of the factory shop manual per the GCR. Plus it's the bible of how to fix your car. I also picked up one of the simplier Haynes or such manuals as well.
Click to expand...

go to redpepperracing.com and you might be able to find an electronic version of the manual there. not sure if it meets the GCR requirement or not but if you had a laptop and a CD, i am unsure why not...
 
myhondapartsstore.com has a lot of new and otherwise unobtainable parts, not much of the fragile plastic stuff tho.We got all of the bumper support hardware for the front of ours, new, still with original honda tags. Reasonable prices too, IMHO.
 
redpepperracing.com
the haynes manual has some of the stuff, but the factory book is much better. it is on the faq at redpepper, and you might be able to print it out.

the plastic bits that you are going to have the most difficulty in finding would be the rocker panels.

the CRX is a fun car and capable of winning in ITC.

hoop
 
Fortunately I already have a HANS from rally so that's one less expenditure I have to make.

Good to know about the Raybestos pads, I think Carbotechs are currently on the car. I've heard that Carbotech made good pads and has excellent customer service but that they've been having trouble lately with quality control.

Thanks for the links, advice and offers. I appreciate it all and will try to reciprocate when the time comes. Right now I'm just trying to quickly get up to speed and get my ducks in order.
 
tom91ita said:
not sure what you have for brakes but the best value ($ per race) for my ITB crx si has been the Raybestos AP 256 ST-43. i worked with Wendy at Porterfield Brakes.
Click to expand...

Bang for the Buck might be understated on these pads... They provide awesome grip, while not eating rotors or pads. Everyone says Hawk Blues, but they don't make a pad for our cars anymore, everything that is available is a cut down pad.

hoop
 
I remember those crx days. I've gone through about 15 crx's in my days, 6 of them were 85-87 Si's. I remember bouncing off the guard rails or tire walls, get off the track, pull bumper off, put it back on, and get back on the track. Those plastic bumpers and fenders made my racing budget very inexpensive.

Those cars are so light, you don't need crazy mad race pads. I did use porterfield pads and I loved them, but I think in ITC the CRX can probably out brake any other competitor with any good street pads. I do have some vintage Lightspeed Carbon Metallic pads for the CRX Si and DX, but I think the HF is different. Not sure, look into it if you're interested. Oh, I also have some AEM pads too. They will also work great. The Lightspeed and AEM pads all will cost $25 or less.

Ed
 
One more note about pads......back in the days, we put pads in the oven and bake them. You could do that too, but make sure you clean up the oven afterwards so you won't poison your entire family :)
 
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