Buying an older Japanese car.....

[takemorepills]

Rust would be a game changer for me as well. Then it truly becomes a project car lol. Good luck! I'm excited for this! I love me some old Hondas. The oldest one I ever had was a '90 Prelude Si. Loved that thing. Then a couple Integras after that. The 90's was Honda's magical decade. Of course the 80's were good too, but that's before my time hehe.

Yeah rust is more trouble than it's worth, mainly because it's nearly impossible to find a trustworthy body shop that works on non-insurance repairs.

Way back in the day we had a 1991 Prelude Si SE, the SE model was 2.1L and had FRM cylinder lining. The engine had to be replaced under warranty due to the FRM (or whatever it's called) but holy cow that generation of Prelude, with the big pop-up headlights just looked so cool, you sit low, look over a low dash.... just felt special like a Ferrari.

 

[takemorepills]

Well, the CRX was covered in cancer. So bad, on the driver side a-pillar there is a dime-sized hole that went right through to the back of the windshield glass.
Not one panel without huge rust holes or rust blooms popping through the paint from behind.

Way too bad, the interior is mint and it even had working AC and factory OEM Honda fog lights.

Oh well, struck out and now I have nothing to distract me from the new Z!

 

[jdm-rhd]

too bad...

what were they asking if you don't mind me inquiring for reference sake?

 

[Loco38SUP]

Well, the CRX was covered in cancer. So bad, on the driver side a-pillar there is a dime-sized hole that went right through to the back of the windshield glass.
Not one panel without huge rust holes or rust blooms popping through the paint from behind.

Way too bad, the interior is mint and it even had working AC and factory OEM Honda fog lights.

Oh well, struck out and now I have nothing to distract me from the new Z!

That doesn’t sound like a garage kept for 20 years type of car. I hate it when people are sketchy like that.

-RJM

 

[West Aussie]

Well, the CRX was covered in cancer. So bad, on the driver side a-pillar there is a dime-sized hole that went right through to the back of the windshield glass.
Not one panel without huge rust holes or rust blooms popping through the paint from behind.

Way too bad, the interior is mint and it even had working AC and factory OEM Honda fog lights.

Oh well, struck out and now I have nothing to distract me from the new Z!

Sorry to hear that

 

[Raven1]

That Sux Mang !!

 

[Blackbeard]

the guy i did work for down here imports classic jdms and stuff i had a GTR R33 i was working on for him i wanted to buy it but thhey wanted about 40k

 

[takemorepills]

too bad...

what were they asking if you don't mind me inquiring for reference sake?

$2500. It would make a good parts car, as long as it's not body parts you needed.

 

[takemorepills]

That doesn’t sound like a garage kept for 20 years type of car. I hate it when people are sketchy like that.

-RJM

Yeah, I'm surprised my coworker only said it had some small rust spots on the sunroof panel... those spots were holes bigger than a quarter and 6 of them!

His wife even opened the hatch and said "it even comes with snow chains" then it became clear to me that this car was not babied in a garage. It was left in a garage I'm sure, because it's as water tight as a cheese grater!
I'll give it some credit, every body panel did line up better than most I've seen.

 

[trackratZ]

Well, the CRX was covered in cancer. So bad, on the driver side a-pillar there is a dime-sized hole that went right through to the back of the windshield glass.
Not one panel without huge rust holes or rust blooms popping through the paint from behind.

Way too bad, the interior is mint and it even had working AC and factory OEM Honda fog lights.

Oh well, struck out and now I have nothing to distract me from the new Z!

Too bad that didn't work out, fun CRXs that dominated autox back then. Here's one you can drive around with (not garage queen). The ITR!

https://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/cto/d/sherman-oaks-2000-acura-integra-type/7513609650.html

 

[takemorepills]

Too bad that didn't work out, fun CRXs that dominated autox back then. Here's one you can drive around with (not garage queen). The ITR!

https://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/cto/d/sherman-oaks-2000-acura-integra-type/7513609650.html

Wow, $28.5K for a rotted Integra!

When I was researching the CRX for modern feedback (I am very familiar with CRX in the context of "back in the day" but now that they are 30+ yrs old....) rust was by far the biggest issue, maybe the ONLY issue besides terrible mods.
Very few people understand how bad rust is. They see a rust bubble in the paint and they think it's just a surface problem, and so many suggestions to "just sand it out and touch it up".
Nope.
If rust is bubbling up or blooming through paint, that's because the entire backside of that panel is rotted, what you can see in your paint is actual hole....that entire area is gone. No amount of sanding and treatment will do a damn thing to slow it down.

That Integra is going to need some expensive bodywork, even if they are lucky it's just one panel from a previous improper repair (pretty likely a car accident repair from many years ago not properly done) it will still be expensive, and how can you be sure the body shop does it in such a way that it won't rust out again in 5 years? You really can't trust anybody these days....

 

[fliplover]

Wow, $28.5K for a rotted Integra!

When I was researching the CRX for modern feedback (I am very familiar with CRX in the context of "back in the day" but now that they are 30+ yrs old....) rust was by far the biggest issue, maybe the ONLY issue besides terrible mods.
Very few people understand how bad rust is. They see a rust bubble in the paint and they think it's just a surface problem, and so many suggestions to "just sand it out and touch it up".
Nope.
If rust is bubbling up or blooming through paint, that's because the entire backside of that panel is rotted, what you can see in your paint is actual hole....that entire area is gone. No amount of sanding and treatment will do a damn thing to slow it down.

That Integra is going to need some expensive bodywork, even if they are lucky it's just one panel from a previous improper repair (pretty likely a car accident repair from many years ago not properly done) it will still be expensive, and how can you be sure the body shop does it in such a way that it won't rust out again in 5 years? You really can't trust anybody these days....

We had a saying in the Navy, "Rust never sleeps!"

 

[trackratZ]

Another nuts optimistic seller of a second gen.

https://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/cto/d/los-angeles-1991-honda-crx-si-owner/7517016587.html

 

[indio22]

Wow, $28.5K for a rotted Integra!

When I was researching the CRX for modern feedback (I am very familiar with CRX in the context of "back in the day" but now that they are 30+ yrs old....) rust was by far the biggest issue, maybe the ONLY issue besides terrible mods.
Very few people understand how bad rust is. They see a rust bubble in the paint and they think it's just a surface problem, and so many suggestions to "just sand it out and touch it up".
Nope.
If rust is bubbling up or blooming through paint, that's because the entire backside of that panel is rotted, what you can see in your paint is actual hole....that entire area is gone. No amount of sanding and treatment will do a damn thing to slow it down.

That Integra is going to need some expensive bodywork, even if they are lucky it's just one panel from a previous improper repair (pretty likely a car accident repair from many years ago not properly done) it will still be expensive, and how can you be sure the body shop does it in such a way that it won't rust out again in 5 years? You really can't trust anybody these days....

That's been a nice thing about my older "body on frame" 4x4s. Short of the thick steel ladder frames rusting, the body work is more manageable.

Back in the day I had an old 1976 Datsun pickup with a weak rusted floor, hit the brakes hard and my friend put is foot through the floor onto the spinning front tire! But the thing still ran a few more years with some sheet metal pop rivetted over the hole.

Also having dents, a few rust spots or whatever on a 4x4 ... is more acceptable than on a performance car, where you'd want a nicer finish. Man once the rust gets hold on older unibody cars in my area (winter salted roads and all), generally stay away. And I'm saying that as a hobbyist welder, it can be a lot of work to salvage and make look like new. Not to mention metal prices which I'm still grousing about. Next old car I'm buying will be from dry sunny Arizona.

 

[takemorepills]

Another nuts optimistic seller of a second gen.

https://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/cto/d/los-angeles-1991-honda-crx-si-owner/7517016587.html

That's a very nice car, but the miles are too high for the asking price. It'd need to be under 60k miles to even consider that asking price.