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I've been poking and prodding the CRX to find flaws and fix them. During a drive last night, I found that the high beams didn't work! I checked the fuses, but they were fine. "Hmm. I hope it's not a relay," I thought. After wiring up the lights to a 12V source manually, it turns out that both lights were just broken. I replaced them, and it works like new, now. I also filled up the coolant reservoir, checked all the spark plugs, adjusted the front bumper to fit flush with the hood, and cut out a section of the hood latch cable sheath to give me some length to work with in order to fix the latch lever. Funny story on the latter:

I took apart the latch area to cut away some of the sheath, then put it back together. After closing the hood, I tugged at the cable to make sure the hood would still open. Try as I might, though, I couldn't. It was only after feeling around from under the bumper that I realized that I never reconnected the end of the cable to the latch. I got that fixed, the cable still works by tugging on it, and now I know how to open the hood of an '88 Civic from outside the car. :)

I managed to find the service manual in PDF format from the CRX-UK Homepage, which should be very helpful should something go awry. The Owner's Manual has some interesting tidbits in it, like an ecological concern about fuel: "Honda cannot endorse the use of fuels containing methanol since evidence of their sustainability is as yet incomplete." And something disconcerting to me (and I'm sure others): "Engine oil and the filter should be changed together every 6 months or 7,500 miles (12,000 km), whichever occurs first." Only in harsh conditions, it says, should the oil be changed every 3,000 miles. "Harsh conditions," though, is listed as "repeated short distance driving, driving in dusty conditions, driving in severe cold weather, driving in areas using road salt or other corrosive materials, or driving on rough and/or muddy roads." Illinois has at least three out of five in just about anywhere you could live, so it's probably a good idea to change your oil every 3,000 miles, anyway. :)

I've been wrestling with the transaxle oil fill bolt, which is an inconvenient 17mm bolt about an inch away from a suspension member. My socket is too big to fit in that space, and I have no metric wrenches. I checked Wal-Mart and Home Depot (conveniently located next to each other), but I can't get a metric set with a 17mm wrench for less than $45, and the largest single wrench I could find was 15mm. I'm going to check more stores tomorrow, but it may turn out I'll just have to buy a nice set of wrenches. Oh, well...

Once I can confirm that the transaxle oil is in good shape, I plan on heading out to the mountains. There's a little bit of transmission whine that's got me worried, but it may be entirely normal. Oh, and before I forget, I just took a picture of the car. In any case, I'm grimy and tired, so g'night, everyone.