[vtec=good]

Hello everyone. Some may recall a dear running into the side of my CRX after driving it home from Arizona last April. Things have been slow moving but I would love to hear opinions from my like minded Crx community.

I have been torn on replacing the door and hood or having them repaired. Cost is not a factor. I have a minty door and hood I can rob off my other 88 HF. Up until this the car had all original paint and zero accidents. My OCD wants to replace the parts so there is little to no filler after repairs. Another part of me though wants as many parts to remain original as possible. There was no choice on the fender as it was trashed. Even with the small tear on the bumper it was cleaner than my other one or any I could find. Blending other panels (or not having to) would be better with keeping the original parts. Any and all opinions are welcomed and encouraged.

 

[Baker]

I would rather have clean, originally undamaged parts that fit correctly with as little filler as possible, over trying to save the original parts just to save.
No one will know it is not the OG door or hood, it's not like it's stamped with the VIN.

 

[bambbrose]

Agreed with Baker, if you have rust free parts with original paint to replace with that are straight, thats the route to go. Filler never looks as good as new.

 

[mossin_90]

Call a Paintless Dent Repair services and see how much can be brought back without damaging the paint.

Worst comes to worst, repair its original parts with someone who is good at it.

As far as I know, the PDR guys will not touch the vehicle if the paint is damaged. They use paints reflection to correct the metal.

 

[mossin_90]

Filler never looks as good as new.

Someone who is good at it will solve that problem.
My car has body filler in a few spots and it is practically impossible to sopt.

It actually came with repair dents with bodyfiller from Honda; one on the top and 1 fender.
I only found out after preparing the car for its new paint job.

 

[vtec=good]

Thanks for the feedback. I did have two skilled PDR guys look at it and both said take it to a body shop. The "spare" parts would still need to be painted. Underside of hood and inner door would be fine because at least they are both blue HFs. Here is a pick of the donor parts. The fender had a few dings that came out decent with PDR

.

 

[Baker]

Save yourself the time, use the donor parts, especially if they're already from a blue HF.

 

[vtec=good]

Thanks dude. Thats the direction I was leaning as well.

 

[jwharnish]

Save yourself the time, use the donor parts, especially if they're already from a blue HF.

Agree, Blue HF donor for original HF car is the way to go. Best chance to keep original car with the cleanest look. Use aftermarket or repaired parts on track car. You know you can get center caps for those RPF's.

 

[vtec=good]

Highly value your opinion my friend! I haven't tried to find center caps for the enkei's. I'm actually going to sell the "track shell" this year after I use what I need. Probably with the rpf1s but who knows.

 

[jwharnish]

Highly value your opinion my friend! I haven't tried to find center caps for the enkei's. I'm actually going to sell the "track shell" this year after I use what I need. Probably with the rpf1s but who knows.

Donor car looks pretty good, especially door and fender. With your experience I would think you have a good painter to match everything up. That will be the biggest challenge. Hood I'd get the good painters input on that one.
Nice to see the HF is as clean with fender off as rest of car. Still have not see anything close to this HF. Good painter and donor parts and should be as good as new, well almost.
I have someone locally who wants to trade his SSR's for my RPF's. Probably will go that route since the RPF's need spacers to clear wildwoods. Found non OEM RPF center caps that are good fit. Got them for the street look. Hope it all comes together for you.

 

[jwharnish]

Highly value your opinion my friend! I haven't tried to find center caps for the enkei's. I'm actually going to sell the "track shell" this year after I use what I need. Probably with the rpf1s but who knows.

Hope you took that deer out when it ran into you. It ran into a pristine car!!! Good luck with this. Looks like you got it under control.

 

[vtec=good]

Sure did. I asked insurance if I needed to take a pick of the dead dear...nope. there was actually two so at least they both didn't get me. It's still a little painful to think about but I'm pretty much over it. Just want this things back on the road to drive when weather gets better! The SSR trade sounds decent. I like the ride height on your car. Did you raise it a bit since I saw it? It looks great.

 

[jwharnish]

Sure did. I asked insurance if I needed to take a pick of the dead dear...nope. there was actually two so at least they both didn't get me. It's still a little painful to think about but I'm pretty much over it. Just want this things back on the road to drive when weather gets better! The SSR trade sounds decent. I like the ride height on your car. Did you raise it a bit since I saw it? It looks great.

I did raise the height to a more acceptable street ride height. Took race shocks off and put dbl adj konis back on with different springs. Really tried converting back to street use with everything. Did have a tough time finding a OEM rear bar. Not as many around as used to be. Keeping the RPF's, guy with SSR's had trash tires and crappy paint job. Would have cost more than wanted to spend to get into them, plus already have one set. I just want to touch up paint and it's ready to go. Put an HKS exhaust on it and is a nice unit. Wanted the dual tip exit. Put in an old ECU I forgot I had, that is a Revspeed chipped with 7600 limit. So performance should be close to what it was when raced, but in street trim. Turns out I have 4 ECU's for this car. Should be a fun driver.