Joe Locash's "nice" CRX.
Joe Locash
Special Thanks to HASport
Text and Pictures by John Moeller
Back in the day, Locash Racing was known for things like this:
..a B16 CRX in the garage, a beat up HF faster than the boosted Si sitting next to it. The B16 CRX was getting a new and pumped up head put in it, Joe did the work. The old head found its way into my car. Then the B16 CRX found its way into Joe's possession. The HF was totalled in an accident, and Joe began the lcrx LCR-VTEC 2.0 after that.
and who can forget this:
..the "yay!"s and jokes about Hyundai purple still live in some circles. Oddly, the #crx stickers didn't show up until this year. I remember the remnants of that car being cut into big pieces that were hauled off and the guy who took them away got $7. I don't remember his name, but I remember he had an HF with a B18A in it. I'm still using the purple car's battery tray in my car.
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But nowadays, Locash Racing is into bigger and better things! Like this:
Bigger and better being relative terms...
My first experience with the CRX Joe is now building was when I went with my friend Tony to go look at it. He finally got rid of his old truck and decided to get a CRX, mainly because they were cheap and he was impressed by the Hondata. He bought the car from a guy who owned a very modified MR2 turbo and he blew up the engine of his wife's FD-era RX-7 R1 while she was out of town, and got rid of the CRX to finance the repairs. The car was clean, and lowered, and like three days later went to the HYBRID open track event at Willow Springs.
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Not long after it returned, it had a B16 swap, the Hondata, Rotas, an intercooled T3 turbo system, a custom radiator, 3" Thermal and other stuff I am forgetting. The car pulled very strong up top, even on conservative boost levels. The car was mysteriously totalled, and Joe bought it and parted it out. It sat for a long time in his shop, along with the rest of his CRXs.
But car projects have a way of getting going, even when there is no specific plan. Joe (somehow) got a B16B engine and tranny, and for some reason he decided to put it in a CRX. This CRX was the most presentable at the time, so off it went to get painted.
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And that began the "nice CRX" goal. A racing motor that hasn't been touched by anyone but Honda, and a paint job (!) on a locash car. The car came with some decent interior, so the goal of a nice daily driver type CRX was on its way...
The car is using HASport's latest (prototype) B-series motor mount kit, and shift linkage. In order to retain the CTR tranny, a new HASport hydro conversion kit is being used. Its pretty trick, but its hard to tell with my blurry camera style:
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The car's electronics are handled by a Locash Racing custom wiring harness (utilizing a new OEM engine harness! told ya it was nice..) to the LCR OBD2 ECU adapter harness to run the 1999 Civic Type-R ECU that came with the swap.
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And then the parts started rolling in. The suspension consists of a Z10 crossmember, Tokico Illuminas, Progress "swap" springs (springs intended for cars with swapped [heavier] engines), Progress camber kit and rear sway bar and Spoon Sports front and rear strut bars.
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Wheels are Rota "RNR" style, or if you're clever, like Brian, Rota "Far From Rs". He'll use Toyo Proxes RA-1s, in 205/50/15. They feature a 40 treadwear rating. Good times!
The wheels are turned by some custom axles by The Driveshaft Shop. They look especially tough in the "green army boots":
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And don't forget the custom plate and CRX SiR cluster!
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Also going on the car, but not pictured:
- Fastbrakes 11inch Wilwood front brakes.
- Custom 10inch rear disc setup using OEM Honda parts.
- Greddy SP Exhaust.
- Fiber Images raised (SiR Style) Carbon Fiber hood.
- Del Sol VTEC half-width dual-core radiator.
- Some kind of cold air intake.
Random HASport fun:
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Joe would like to thank the following manufacturers for their generous support of this project:
- Progress Suspension
- Z10 Engineering
- Fastbrakes
- Fiber Images
- Driveshaftshop
- AEM
- Hasport Performance
7/1/03 Update:
Here's some more recent pictures of the CRX..
6/2/04 Update:
Joe got his dyno, and dynoed his car. Here's the chart:
Pretty good for a relatively stock motor with a stock ECU. Joe believes some Hondata tuning will yield more impressive results.
-John
yay!