Personal Project Start: Project Lazarus

I don't even know where to start about what has happened today. Something amazing. Without getting into the long and sordid backstory with me waxing emotional and retarded, my CRX has been hibernating for well over 5 years. Today, it was set free from the confines which formerly held it and held it back from running on its own. It still has a long journey ahead of it, but today was the start of something new and fresh. I know many of you reading have never seen this before, so I will just admit right off the front:

1. My CRX is a mess.

2. I love my CRX.

3. Everyone who knows me and my car knows that it is . . . special to me and overall. heh

Anyway . . . 

Thanks to Steve for helping tow my car. He went out of his way to help me out. I had a great day overall. I was so excited I barely slept. I hardly ever have that happen to me! 

Both of my cars:

 I had taken off the front bumper cover a long time ago to tow it from Maine to Staten Island:

What interior?

Half the door cards. heh

Now intercooler to be fitted:

Can't really tell from this pic, but the front brakes are pretty much done from rust:

Score another point for rear drums! They work just fine:

The last time my CRX was registered and inspected. It's been a while . . .

Faze vac/boost gauge:

I know, I know, but it was cheap and works perfectly fine.

Not too many miles for a CRX:

 I do hope to put many more miles on it!

Rear view:

I'll have to replace this eventually: I don't even know when this happened.

Passenger side rocker is a mess:

I have OEM lower rocker panels to weld in some time. The top panels are super easy.

Twisted up front bumper cover:

Does anyone have any tips for straightening something like that out? I'm pretty clueless when it comes to some aspects of bodywork.

The omnipresent smiley face quickly sprayed onto the hood.

I will ALWAYS have a black hood and a smiley face on my CRX. Always.

Missing some things?

Most guys will not know WTF I was thinking, but I assure you there was a plan, which got thrown out through the window and then beaten and kicked under a bus and left for dead. I just hope you see some of the early creativity years of problem solving have cultivated into a much finer art supported by much better skills I have now:

Yes, that is a copper line for the coolant supply:

I don't like using braided stainless lines. Ever. I will eventually use some annealed stainless tube and bend it up properly, but until then, the copper and braided stuff will likely stay since it works just fine.

This radiator is trashed:

I think the sunroof needs adjustment:

The hatch struts are failing, though it isn't surprising. They hold sometimes:

My first intercooler:

Some of you may recall that I had it installed on the exterior of the car. Laugh all you want, it worked extremely well. I may reuse this thing since I can now weld aluminum and, quite frankly, it is made better even with the dent than the cheap eBay bar and plate thing I can also play with.

This 20' section of 1/0 gauge welding wire was coiled up in spare tire:

 I had completely forgotten about it. I'm going to use that to wire in the amp I have for my Legend, and be able to power a local power transfer station at the same time. LOL!

I know I will get made fun of, have my credibility and sanity questioned, but . . . I sat in my CRX today for the first time in two years. I sat in it, and memories came flooding back. The worn out seats are so comfortable. The seat placement was as perfect as I remember it. The horn button I fabbed together fit perfectly under my left thumb. The view front and rear is nearly unimpeded. It feels like freedom to sit in a CRX, especially when compared to the claustrophobic messes that are designed today.

Little by little and piece by piece, I will be working to restore and improve my CRX. I'll remember a lot. You will learn much if you choose to read my journey with this car. This car was the starting point of many things that made me the man I am today. I cannot and will not forget it. Maybe by the time it gets back on the road again you will see a glimpse of what I see and feel. 

More stuff. Be cause we all seem to like more stuff.

So, what happens when you take a dying John Deere front end loader/forklift that is older than most people in the Army today (the build date was in the early 70's, and actually probably saw part of Vietnam), and idiot Sergeant who loves to hotrod ANYTHING with wheels, and a lack of PMCS (Preventive Maintenance Checks and Services, basically checking your )(#$(*#$ fluids before using a vehicle)?

KABOOM!

Yeah, he blew the )_(#$(#*$ engine to bits, which is hard to do considering how tough those engines were. The issue with that is simply the fact that John Deere engine supplier (I forgot which turd of a diesel company made the engine) doesn't make that model anymore. A few poor schlub mechanics, who were my dear friends had the terrible job of pull the old engine apart, taking a new engine that wasn't designed to fit into anything that ancient, and piecing it together into something that works correctly (most of the time). So, what does this have to do with my poor, poor pitiful welding self?

A huge ()*#$(*$# radiator. 

Exhibit A:

Standing nearly 5' tall and weighing in at "OMG I need help with this thing!", it was a beast to deal with. And, nothing was in the same spot. Not one single dimension was the same. The endtanks were larger, the whole thing was thicker and taller than the original, and all the stupid hose fittings were completely and utterly wrong. *le sigh*

First mini-project: Fitting the side supports. This involved whacking a whole bunch of the original supports out and welding them back together. This wasn't particularly hard to do, just tedious to get everything correct, tack, uninstall, weld, re-install to check fitment, then "roll" it on the other side. 

Second mini-project: Bracketry. I really should call this a mini project, because this took me a day and a half to measure elenventry trillion times and make sure all my recorded dimensions were correct and translated onto the new radiator which had no reference points that were the same as the old one. 

 I even had to make some new threaded blocks to fit the radiator support, which was the rear chassis uprights of the frame.

The beast sleeps:

The monster awaits it's new guts:

Third mini-project: Hose fittings. Since nothing was where it should be, and I, being a welder and having to do what I was told, no matter how much I didn't want to (the Army sucks like that), I took hole sales and various welding tools and even broke into the machine shop to make the new hose fittings. (Yes, I made some of the hose fittings, too. The shiny ones are mine. It didn't take long to make, I just had to pick myself up off the floor when one of the tubes I was turning down decided it would rather make a bee-line for my face. I am just thankful I have quick reflexes . . . The wall wasn't so lucky. heh) 

And FINALLY, it was installed, BY ME because I didn't want any of the schubs ruining the radiator while craning it into position (I did everything myself with a forklift and a few straps, with a few disappointed mechanics watching over my shoulder. It's not my fault I hate fixing radiators . . . )

The End: