I’ve always been a big fan of having both summer and winter wheels for a car.  One narrow set with winter tires for driving in cold weather, and another wide set for spirited driving in the summer.  My tires were badly worn down and were only 15×7, meaning the widest tires I could realistically put on it were 205/50-15… not a very effective contact patch for the winding roads of Western Massachusetts.

Because the tires were worn on the outside more than the inside (shown to the right), I thought I had a positive camber condition (meaning the tops of the wheels are farther apart than the bottoms of the wheels) but it turns out that the rear trailing arms (which control which direction the rear wheels point) had completely shot bushings, and were causing the car to handle oddly as well as wearing the tires down extremely quickly.

I replaced them with wider, meatier wheels off a BMW z3, increasing dimensions to 17×7.5 in the front and 17×8.5 in the rear for the price of $300.  The 15×7 wheels will be great for the winter, as they’re just the right size to get the cold-weather tread down to the ground without “skiing” on top of snow and ice.

Overall, the car feels much more stable and planted now, and although larger wheels weigh more and slow the car down in every way possible, I think it was a great way to spend $300.  Now I just need to get some fresh tires on these wheels, replace the trailing arm bushings, and lower the front end a little, and this car will be ready for anything.

I love wide, sticky tires.

Now that they’re finally becoming economically priced, I don’t see a reason not to add a wider contact patch to your car.  While most people are into skinny tires on wide wheels, I’m into filling the wheelwells with traction.  Wider tires decrease wheelspin during acceleration, prevent wheel lockup when braking, and increase cornering traction.  It’s a simple concept at heart, but so many car builds seem to miss out on my core principles.

In my book, traction is at the top of my priority list, and since tires are the only part of my car that are designed to touch the ground, I’ll take as much as I can get.

They’re finally starting to come into popularity, with 315/35-17 sizes becoming commonplace so I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m going to have to order some wheels to mount them up on my next fun daily.

Back by popular demand, a wiring diagram for the obd0 b18a1 in an MPFI 88-91 CRX (that’s HF and Si, not the DX).  This should also apply to EF/ED Civics, but I’m running on memory here and don’t have a car to verify this on.

If there are any questions or corrections (as I’m sure there will be), feel free to leave them in the comments.

I’ve always been a big fan of the CRX HF as a platform to build upon.  It’s lightweight and lacks the extra luxury components from the Si, yet is outfitted with MPFI (multi-point fuel injection) instead of the CRX DX/STD’s DPFI (dual-point fuel injection).  With a little creative swapping, the CRX HF shell can be made into a lighter, more purposeful driving machine than an Si or a DX with less work.

HF Rear Brakes

The stock CRX HF brakes are small, light, easy-to-maintain brakes that suit the stock 1900-lb HF perfectly.  The stock drums do suffer from brake fade as soon as the car is driven moderately roughly, so an upgrade isn’t a bad idea.  The problem is that the trailing arms (which are the parts that your brakes bolt to) are completely different designs.

Si Rear Brakes

The CRX Si rear brakes use a stronger, heavier trailing arm to mount onto.  The whole assembly needs to be swapped for it to work on the CRX HF.

At the end of the day, this setup just makes maintenance simpler and decreases brake fade.

Installation

These images offer a look at the differences in the rear braking system setup between the CRX HF and Si.  The first notable difference is the trailing arms, the part that supports all of the bearing housing and the area that the brakes bolt to are in fact different.  The holes around the si “axle” hold the brake “plate” on, then the caliper covers that and the brake system is complete.  Also, in doing this swap, be aware that the brake lines will be vastly different.  I think the parking brake is shorter on the HF also.

Just for reference know that the lower control arms are also different.  The parts are interchangeable (you can fit SI lca’s on the HF) but the HF lca’s don’t have the hole for the rear sway arm.  If you are switching everything from an SI to HF the sway bar also wont bolt up to the body.  There are holes for it, but they are only empty holes and are not threaded..

I didn’t get as many pictures as I would have liked, so if you do this swap and don’t mind sharing your pictures let me know and I’ll post up more details.

It’s no secret that the first-gen suspension is mushy and leaves much to be desired. The aftermarket suspension for the 84-87 CRX leaves much to be desired as well, so you may think your options end there.

You’d be dead wrong! You simply need to get a little creative with a hybrid setup. First-gen Integra parts are still commonplace as well as third-gen Civic parts.  The second-gen CRX stole the first-gen’s fire, so to speak.

A full rear end can be used from the Integra, which gives the added bonus of rear disks (unless you race heavily, the only difference you’ll notice is the ease of maintenance). The front end of the first-generation CRX is respectable, but the rear really needs lots of suspension love. Focus on stiffening the rear with a strut bar and upgraded sway bar, and if your budget allows, move on to springs and struts.

If possible, search for a full set of matched coilovers or a kit that includes struts. Remember to drive safely, and keep speed on the track.

I spent a lot of time researching options to control fuel delivery in my l28et for the Sinister s30 project.  Xenon’s website is a great resource overall, and answered the majority of my questions, but I had trouble finding a concise explanation as to what common fuel management choices were available.

Fuel Storage

First off, if you’re putting an l28et into your own s30, you’ll need to decide if you’re going to keep the stock fuel tank or not.  The stock tank is un-baffled, so fuel sloshes around when cornering, accelerating, or braking.  If the tank isn’t full, the fuel pickup will sometimes run dry and won’t deliver fuel to the engine.

If you don’t mind replacing the stock tank, make sure you get a baffled tank.  These essentially have doors that keep a small amount of fuel at the pickup so the fuel pump never runs dry.  Many s30 owners install baffled fuel cells, which are the ideal solution but are time-consuming and require a welder to install.

If you’re keeping the stock tank without modifying it, you’ll need two fuel pumps and a surge tank.  The surge tank is a small container (less than a gallon) that holds fuel.  The first fuel pump feeds the surge tank, and the second pump pulls fuel from the bottom of the fuel tank into the engine.  This is a simple, economical option if your stock tank is in serviceable condition.  I’ll be using an old  1.5liter fire extinguisher as my surge tank, and I’ll post up a diagram of exactly how it works later.  For now, you just get a picture of the extinguisher.

The third, more uncommon option is to fill your stock tank with a sponge-like foam.  The foam holds fuel and keeps it from sloshing.  It reduces lateral weight transfer and is relatively inexpensive, but render conventional fuel gauges useless.

The final option is to keep the stock tank but add baffles.  I can’t come up with a compelling reason to do it unless you’re really into keeping the car looking completely stock.  You’ve gotta be pretty OCD to care what the fuel tank looks like, though.

ECU

280zx-t ecu is pretty much a paperweight that uses electricity.  For most cars, it’s better to unplug the o2 sensor, which feeds information that would be absolutely critical to any other car.  The z31 ECU is pretty much plug-and-play and will improve mileage somewhat.  There are aftermarket ECUs available, such as the Wolf, which come highly recommended, but are expensive ($1000+ USD).

I came to the conclusion that the ideal solution is to install MegaSquirt, but it’s a time-consuming ordeal.  First, you’d have to decide which version of MegaSquirt to purchase.  There’s MS1, MS2, and MS3, and there are various versions of software that can be run on each.  Without getting into too many details, my recommendation is a pre-assembled MS2v3.  It’s worthwhile to purchase a relay board, a cable to connect the two, and another cable to run to the engine itself.  You’ll still have to connect all the wires to the correct sensors and inputs, but it’s a straightforward affair.  You can get away with building the whole thing for around $400 if you don’t value your time very highly and have a moderate amount of experience with soldering, but I highly recommend the pre-assembled kits.

Sensors

The most crucial sensor on for fuel delivery is the air measurement sensor.  The stock AFM (air flow meter, uses a flapper to measure air being sucked/pushed into the engine) is inferior to a MAF (Mass Air Flow sensor, measures air density/velocity), which isn’t quite as good as a MAP (Manifold Absolute Pressure, measures how much pressure is in the intake manifold).  MS2v3 comes with a MAP sensor built-in, and can accurately read up to 15psi of boost.

The second sensor that’s important to note is the o2 sensor.  It measures the amount of unburned oxygen that leaves the engine, and the ECU adjusts the fuel map based on what information the o2 sensor offers.  I’ve heard from several people that the stock 280zx-t ecu goes a little crazy with an o2 sensor plugged in and they recommend removing it for better performance and mileage.  It’s strange and contrary to normal logic, but it’s become common knowledge at this point.  That’s just one more reason for me to dislike the stock ECU even more.

If you’re installing megasquirt or making a major change to your engine configuration, you’ll want to borrow or buy a wideband o2 sensor.  A wideband displays just how rich or lean your fuel/air mixture is.  It’s much more useful than a traditional o2 sensor that essentially only tells you if you’re rich or lean.

The more accurate the information you’re feeding into the ECU, and the more information you’re feeding it, the more accurate it can be.  The faster and smarter the ECU, the more precise the end result will be.  There’s a big difference between accuracy and precision, but you want both, not one or the other.

Conclusion

Fuel management is where you’ll gain almost all the mileage gains on an older efi car.  There can be significant performance increases as well if you end up fine-tuning your setup and spending a respectable amount of time getting it right.

Tales are told around the campfire on moonless nights about the CRX’s dreaded bitch pin. If you haven’t heard of this terrible monster before, gather ’round and I’ll tell you about it.

There will come a day when you find that your engine must come out of your car, and while your breaker bar will get those motor mounts, and your old rotting rubber hoses can be cut and replaced, the bitch pin is there to stay. Every swap is fraught with danger, but none so great as the bitch pin. It’s an impossible hydra-like beast, meaning every time you hit it it gets stronger and embeds itself further. You may find that perfect punch and a big mini-sledge, but the bitch pin still refuses to move. Never fear, though! This bitch pin has a great weakness to be exploited.

After I had already screwed my bitch pin into a pulp of metal that refused  to move, I looked around on the internet to find that everybody else just whacked it with a hammer.  Eventually it’ll come out, right?

Wrong. Actually, using physics for dynamic pressure and using only enough force to move it is the key. Experimenting with a c-clamp and a wooden dowel yielded positive results, but I came across a better way. This article gives nice pictures and a good walkthrough of what needs to be done:

bitch pin removal

Add this “bitch pin removal kit” to the budget of any swap you tackle.

1. C-clamp
2. sockets (deep and shallow) that fit the bitch pin inside
3. small drill bit set (for putting pressure on the bitch pin itself)

There’s definitely a science to it, but hopefully this will help you work that thing out.

I’m increasingly frustrated with my l28et s30 not being finished, so I went ahead and made a drastic change.  My s30 is up for sale for a grand total of $3500.  However, that’s not the drastic change.  It’s the result of the drastic change.

I have been planning to drive off to Boston in my Z since the day I bought it.  Just pack up a few choice belongings, sell everything else, and make a go of the drive from the San Francisco Bay Area to New England.  As I progressed through the project, small issues continued to crop up that I wasn’t willing to simply kludge and spent more time fixing than I’d like to admit.  Although there are only a few known issues left, and it’s likely that I’ll sort these out before selling it, the car still needs a shakedown period before I’d consider it reliable enough for a cross-country trip.  I have a lot of people who are apparently looking forward to me moving back (one lovely lady in particular) so I’m not willing to spend (waste?) any more time on this when I could leave sooner.  I have mixed feelings about cutting my losses on this project (selling it for $3500 means lots of losses) but at some point, enough is enough.  I’m missing out on other things that are more important to me.

I’m still driving back, and will give you the full details on those plans this weekend, but for now just contact me if you or someone you know would be interested in a sinister s30.  I’ll add details on what’s included in the multiple goodie-bags and where the project sits today in another post shortly.

In the 1990′s engine technology took leaps and bounds, and manufacturers began adding advanced engineering principles to all the cars that rolled off their showroom floors.  Small-displacement, highly efficient powerplants were in vogue, with the Honda b16a1 and Toyota’s 4age powering hot hatches all over Japan and Europe.  Even today these engines are sought after as inexpensive ways to produce surprising amounts of power.

The ZC was special because it was a small-displacement 4cylinder motor with aggressively tuned dual overhead camshafts.  It came in the CRX and Civic in the early 90′s, and the very similar d16a8 came to the US in the Acura Integra.  This stocky little beast had excellent transmission options as well with short gear ratios, long gear ratios, and limited slip differentials available.

It is also obd0, making it a simple plug-and-play swap from a previous MPFI engine, and keeping tuning simple and straightforward using PGMFI.  If you have a stock CRX DX, you’ll need to convert the wiring harness to MPFI and use the ZC ecu.

The ZC is one of the more difficult Honda engines to identify, so the folks over at jdmcars put together this pdf:  zc_identification for your reference.  Power output is generally ~130hp with torque to match, and is a very strong candidate for boost with low-compression pistons.  The combination of being inexpensive, efficient, and powerful for its size make this a perfect candidate for a daily driven CRX.

If you’re looking for more info about the ZC, read here:

d-series.org

I’ve been writing a lot about my own project, so today I’m taking a break from updating on that and instead you get to read about one of my all-time favorite engines.

The b16a1 ROCKS.

The b16a1 is the holy grail of CRX motors.  It boasts true vtec, aggressive dual overhead cams, a high safe redline, a lsd-equipped close-ratio cable-driven transmission, and a very tuneable ecu.  It really is as nice a fit for the CRX as Honda ever made.

All b16 motors are good choices because of the aftermarket available and the near-perfect rod/stroke ratio, but the b16a1 is particularly suited to the ED chassis (88-91 CRX and Civics) because it’s obd0 and uses a cable transmission.  If it came from a CRX SiR, the transmission will be LSD-equipped.  If it’s from an Integra XSi, it will come without an LSD.

However, there are downsides.

Because the b16a1 was only available in Japan, and was only produced in the CRX and Civic SiR, getting one requires contacting an importer (who will generally buy one from a running car because of modern Japanese smog restrictions).  You will not know any of the history of the motor, but if the shop is worth spending time on, they will offer a full test run on the engine (dyno run and leakdown test) to ensure that it’s in working condition.

The other problem that arises is finding replacement parts.  The B family of Honda motors benefits from a large aftermarket parts availability, but stock parts are difficult to find because they need to be imported directly.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the b16a1 is a great choice to put in the CRX.  As long as you find a reputable dealer that offers a “complete swap” (axles, ecu, wiring harness, intake manifold, throttle body, exhaust manifold, etc) and the motor and transmission are both in good repair, expect to spend roughly $3,000 USD on this swap, assuming you will be installing it yourself.

More Info

That’s just the beginning.  There is a wealth of information available for the b16 series.  Here’s a good start for your hunt for more:

• Identify a b16
• Ryans CRX (I can’t find Ryan’s original build thread, but droppedcrxsi was one of the best b16a1 writeups I had ever found.  Now this site is a forum, and I haven’t browsed it yet)
• B16a1 Nitty Gritty
• Wikipedia B-series