June 2016 ~ GENONE Blog

As you've seen from Part 1 of this 3 part post (It started off as a 2 part post, but there were so many pictures, I had to create a 3rd part.), Serge's craftsmanship is second to none. After spending two years on the body, ensuring a flawless execution, Serge moved on to the mechanical side of the build. In this post we'll be covering the installation of the interior and suspension.

Interior:

For as rough as the car looked on the outside, the interior looked great in comparison. The two front seats were intact, but for one tear in the drivers seat. It was a complete interior, but it had to go. The factory dash was replaced by a hand made aluminum dash, created by Serge himself. To closely match the custom dash design from the original GT4 car, he used pictures of the car that he had obtained through his research, as a guide. The dash was neatly trimmed in a microfiber material, and a Mugen badge was added to the gauge face, just to the left of the tachometer. Above the dash, a four-pane racing rear-view mirror was also installed, and below that, the steering wheel was replaced with an original Mugen wheel, with correct center cap. Matching the seat with the original part in the race car, however, proved to be impossible. After contacting Sparco. they confirmed that it would be impossible to find an original part, so Serge chose to use the modern equivalent of the seat. After finishing up the details in the drivers area of the car, which included meticulous cleaning and refinishing of original parts (such as the foot pedals and hand brake), adding a Mugen badge trimmed cover over the re-routed fuel lines, and mounting the racing harness, the roll cage was installed.

Once the cage was in, Serge moved to the rear of the car where the fuel tank and pump were to be installed. First, a floating metal support was installed in the area of the trunk where the spare tire would normally be, and then the fuel cell was strapped onto the support. Next, since the fuel lines were routed along the outside of the drivers seat, the fuel pump and its support were installed just behind the drivers seat, and in front of the fuel cell. To stay true to racing regulations at the time, a compartment had to be constructed around the fuel pump and cell, to protect the occupants from fire. This was done in sheets of aluminum. Serge completed the compartment by installing a refueling door just above the fuel cell. The final result is a thing of beauty.

Suspension:

In the same fashion as the rest of the car, the suspension received the same attention to detail. Every component that was not able to be repaired and rebuilt was replaced by NOS parts, Custom parts, or parts from the original parts provider. Each part and/or parts assembly was taken apart, cleaned, repainted and then rebuilt. The original plan was to copy the suspension setup in the original GT4 car, but in order to keep the car street legal in Europe, Serge had to go a different route. He got in contact with BC Racing, who kindly made a set of coil-overs for the front and rear of the car, from scratch. Additional upgrades include stainless steel brake lines, an adjustable panhard bar, and polyurethane bushings.

That's it for part 2. Stay tuned for part 3, which will feature the engine build and images of the finished product!

Red Pepper Racing member Rich's CRX story started back in 1985 as a senior in college. He was flipping through a magazine when he came upon a two-page ad featuring the one and only, CRX Si. With his attention sparked, he went on to read a review of the car in the April issue of Car and Driver. The review was very positive, stating that, "...The Honda Civic CRX is one of our favorite cars." It was all Rich needed to get himself down to the dealer to check out the car. With gainful employment, and a graduation date near at hand, he had the means and need to indulge himself with an affordable sports car. After a thorough going over at the dealer, he purchased his first CRX, a red and gray, 1985 Si.

Photo courtesy of 944turbo.net

Not long after purchasing his two-tone Si, Honda introduced the updated version of the Si in 1986, with full body color. The full body color was too much for Rich to resist, so he promptly traded his '85 in for a black '87 Si. Rich enjoyed his '87 Si for 12 long years, until it was totaled from a rear end collision.

Fast forward to present day. As a recent retiree, and with his two children freshly off to college, Rich realized that he was going to have a lot of time on his hands. The first thing that came to mind was, "How nice it would be to have my old black '87 CRX Si to drive." What began as a 'fun thought' quickly turned into a reality, after coming across an ad on craigslist. He had been doing research on crxcommunity.com, and redpepperracing.com to see what others had done with their cars, when he decided to find a project car. It did not take long before he came across a red '87 Si in California. After a little more research into the car and a couple phones calls, the car was on its way across the country to his home in Illinois. The car turned out to be in fantastic condition, which we all know is a rare thing. Since the car was in such good shape, Rich struggled with the idea of restoring it in the preferred black instead of the factory color. "If I do a full restore to black, am I bastardizing an original?" Then, while sharing the dilemma with his daughter, she reminded him that it would be very unlikely that he would ever sell the car, and that he needed to 'just make it his'. That was all he needed to hear. The project had officially started.

Completing a restoration on a car is not for everyone. It's grueling, costly, time consuming, and requires a lot of patience. Thankfully, Rich was no stranger to working on his own cars and he knew what he was getting into from the start. The car was completely disassembled, and the engine, body and interior sent to their respective specialists. The body was placed on a rotisserie for the duration of the restoration that included minor rust repair, and a very well done, 'better than factory' black paint job. The same shop that repaired the body also restored all the exterior trim pieces and interior panels. The engine was already running well, so all that needed to be done was a simple tear-down, and replacement of gaskets and rubber parts. In addition to the rebuild, Rich sourced a DC Sports header, Magnaflow cat, and a Monza exhaust system to be installed. The interior of the car received new carpet, repaired headliner, and seats and door panels that were reupholstered in leather, with embroidered red CRX logos. The shift boot was also redone with the same leather and stitching. Lastly, all four corners of the car received new brakes and struts, and Ground Control coil-over sleeves were added to the rear.

After 8 months of work, the car was complete, and what a result. This was a complete restoration. There were no short-cuts made with this car. In fact, the foam in the sun visors was even replaced. Needless to say, the attention to detail and extra effort put into this car shows. It is one of the best restorations I've seen done on a 1G. I never get tired of hearing how the 1G CRX has left such a lasting impression on their owners, and this story is the perfect example. Congratulations on making your dreams a reality Rich. May your future drives be filled with smiles.