If you can pick up a good 2G Civic, grab it. I paid $800 for my near mint red '83 S car, and $150 for a second '83 S car which is really just a parts car for me. I've had my one for over a year now, and I've driven it daily since I got it. It's got 212,000 miles on it and has been very reliable to me so far. Even the a/c works! I've YET to see a 2G Civic on the road here in Dallas...in over a year. From what I can tell, they are decently popular up north though.
You are right about the DX, and also about the CVCC head.
Regarding weight, they aren't as light as one would think. In fact, your CRX HF is probably lighter. My S car weighed 1,878 lbs with full interior including OEM floor mats, full a/c system, full tank of gas, spare tire, jack kit, 15" wheels with 11" brake rotors and ITR brake calipers. The 1G cars weigh 1600-1700lbs depending on if you've got a 1200 model or a CVCC model.
Are you sure the car is an '82? The '82 was the only year to get a cool backseat. They have a pseudo rear bucket seat setup where the lower bench is divided by a plastic console. Kind of like the ITR or the Prelude. Very cool looking, and appears to have only come on '82 cars. It may or may not have been an option; from what I can gather so far it was standard but
only during the 82 model year. All the other had the plain-Jane flat rear bench.
As far as gas mileage, when I first got my car with the stock 13" wheels and teeny tiny brake system, I averaged 45-50mpg. A few months after I got the car it started burning some oil (burns 1 quart ever oil change currently, not too terribly bad), and I added the 15" wheels and the huge brakes. I currently average 32 mpg. I'm sure the wheels and brakes contribute to the decline, but so does the condition of the engine. So it's hard to say exactly what it would be if I still had the tiny wheels and brakes. It would certainly be better, no doubt.
Something to look out for on these cars is the headgasket...they are notorious for going out. I think mine is on its way out. But it went over 200k miles, so I'm by no means upset about it. I'm converting to EFI and putting a newer Honda engine in it anyway.
If you want to stay carbed you can do an EK swap. It's a 1.8 liter out of the early Accords and Preludes, and has roughly 100hp. That's nearly a 40 hp jump! Might as well look for one of those swaps if you're going through the trouble of a transmission swap. It bolts in, and I'm sure you could get some great gas mileage with it since you wouldn't need your foot in the gas all the time to keep up with traffic.
Something to look out for is the front and rear window seals. They are pretty much impossible to find new, so make sure they don't leak, or you'll have to seal them up with silicone or something else not cosmetically appealing. Pretty much everything else for the car can be found if you look hard enough on ebay or in junkyards.
Be careful what you get into. My love for old Hondas started when I got an '81 prelude. Now I have a '79 Civic, the Prelude, and two '83 Civics. Not to mention my '89 LX! Never ending projects, that's for sure. Okay, I'm rambling now.
Here's some inspiration for you. The backseat is the cool rear seat I was talking about that came in the '82 models. The red car is mine. I've been waiting on some B&G lowering springs for 5 months now. Those things are on like eternal factory backorder. It's going to look so good when I lower it.
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