Small But Mighty
Japanese Performance|April 2017

In a time when engine swaps are commonplace, it takes a special kind of maverick to stand out from the crowd. Canadian tuning fan aaron weir is just that, and his rwd, s2000-engined honda crx definitely dares to be different

Small But Mighty

Who in their right mind would want a rear wheel-drive-converted CRX with an S2000 F22C engine underneath its bonnet? Surely, anyone with even an ounce of sensibility would simply head out and buy an S2000 instead. You’d have the screaming motor, the sleek looks and boundless reliability, and all for a shed load less cash and hassle than it would take to transplant the engine into an ageing front-wheel-drive chassis. And that’s even if you knew how to do the conversion in the first place. Take into account the fact that you’d be working blind with no previous builds to draw information from, not to mention that the CRX was never conceived to have a longitudinal engine in its bay and the power diverted to its rear wheels in the first place, and you can see that the whole process would be fraught with headaches and challenges to overcome.

Aaron Weir, on the other hand, doesn't shy away from such minor inconveniences. He’s a man that laughs in the face of adversity and smirks behind the back of complication. And when he sets his mind to something, he can accomplish anything. His totally insane Honda CRX is proof positive of that.

Just look at the thing! From the jutting lip of the C3 Custom Carbon Composites front splitter to the Gurney strip on the trailing edge of the huge rear mounted Kognition carbon-fibre rear wing, Aaron’s CRX looks like it means business. And, not that you know it from first appearances, but underneath the Anything Customs vinyl wrap lies a Fiber Images carbon-fibre bonnet and a pair of Carbon Creations carbon-fibre arches. These not only help shed overall weight, but they also aid the car’s front to rear weight distribution, which was heavily skewed forward when the engine swap was carried out.

This story is from the April 2017 edition of Japanese Performance.

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This story is from the April 2017 edition of Japanese Performance.

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