I've been sort of half working on a couple projects here and there and finally have enough progress to show work on one of them.
bam-bam set me up with a set of 14" Del Sol wheels (Mini Fat Fives). On the good side was their very low cost to me. On the other side was that they had been painted. Poorly. (Just to be clear, bam DID NOT paint these wheels. If he had it would have at least been done well!) Since they came from two different sets they were painted by two different previous owners with varying levels of commitment and expertise. Two of the wheels had just been given a fogging with flat black while the other two were partially stripped before getting a bubbled and sagging coat of something that had to be at least semi-gloss black. bam recommended using lacquer thinner to get it off which worked well enough with the first two since they were painted directly on top of the factory clear coat. The other two where the factory clear coat was partially stripped the results were extremely uneven.
One of the two that had been partially stripped of clear coat before painting.
Well, I got fed up with this approach. After all of that work I'd still have two pairs instead of a set up four if you know what I mean.
For reference, the pair with tires still had the factory coating under the paint.
So I got an old friend to help out. I had mixed feelings about stripping all of the paint and clear coat but I really wanted the set to match.
Here's the black paint bubbling up off of the wheel. Since the two without tires had been subjected to stripper before the remains of their paint came off fairly easily. I ended up hitting the two with tires three or four times with the stripper; first to get the paint off, then to get the rest of the clear coat and paint off.
Later that day.
A while later I rolled them out of the shed again after acquiring primer and paint. Unfortunately I forgot to get pictures of the primer.
I roughed them a little with red Scothbrite then laid down two coats of primer and three or four coats of "Aluminum" (That's 'Al-yoo-MIN-e-um' for you English speakers out there.)
Here are the paints.
I looked at a lot of pictures of painted wheels and really wasn't a fan of the gold or bronze or white or other colors I saw. I wanted them to look like factory aluminum wheels. This doesn't exactly hit the mark but it's pretty good for rattle can paint. I'm reasonably pleased with the results. I may sand a couple rough spots and hit them again this weekend. I also may go back and mask off the faces and hit the "beveled" edges with a darker color to mimic the factory look of these wheels. It'll have to be something pretty close in color but a slight contrast. That choice will most likely hinge on whether I find a color that will fit my mental image. I'm also toying with painting the lip with a contrasting color, maybe to tie in with the body color.
And when will they get tires and get installed on the car? Mostly likely after the rubber wears off my 13" steelies, lol!
Still on my 'To Do' list is the exhaust from the axle back. I think the exhaust forward of that is sound.
looks good.
You put any clear coat on that?
Brake dust will stick to it like a mofo.
Clear coat will help the brake dust not stick.
You raise an interesting question. The paint's instructions specifically recommend against using clear coat. I'm not sure why, it may have something to do with the brightness or reflectivity of the paint though it may be that clear coat negatively effects the paint itself.
On the other hand, I've not yet found a workable clear coat in a rattle can. Any recommendations?
I wasn't totally satisfied with my previous results from painting. I had several spots of what looked like too much or too little paint as seen above. So I took some synthetic "00" steel wool and busted the shine off one to test another way of painting them.
[Photo credit bam-bam]
Now keeping in mind that this is how they are SUPPOSED to look I tried something a little different than what I did on my "first draft." Since the "Aluminum" paint was so shiny I didn't feel too bad about grabbing a can of "Smoke Gray" in gloss.
Here are a couple light coats to get the 'beveled' edges of the holes.
It's amazing how much paint you throw around even just trying to get it on a relatively small area of the wheel. This is when I tend to respect people who do really artistic things with rattle cans.
Anyway, the next step was our old friend Mr. Masking Tape.
A little time and a little patience and you get the tape where you want it.
And then hose them down with "Aluminum" again. I tried especially to go "light" with it this time (since I'm assuming the previous flaws were from too much paint) but it's tricky with this particular paint. The shiny bits in the paint cover quite well. I mean, heck, I thought I was going "light" the first time!
And here are the results on my test piece which I think turned out quite well. I was confident enough that I went ahead and sanded and painted the Smoke Gray on the other three wheels today. I'll just need to mask them in the next day or so (after the paint is dry: 24 hours) and then hit them with the "Aluminum" later in the week. Or next weekend. And try to find some of that SEM clear coat somewhat local to me. :roll:
Today was a big day! First, my smartphone went for a swim in, well, just about where you'd expect. :oops: So I grabbed it out and washed it off (because it was already fully submersed) an took it apart to dry out. Surprisingly, not a lot of water got into the internals. But now it's buried in uncooked dry rice to hopefully draw out any residual moisture. I think I got away with relatively little damage if any. We'll see when I power it back on. I wish I had a way to put it in a "dehumidifier" chamber. I thought about the oven on very low temperature but I don't want to risk it.
And then later, on the way home, I stopped at a local shop for an A/C diagnostic. The weather has been giving us very warm temps for Spring since March and the wago has not been 'cool running', at least not in the interior. Well I've driving by a shop twice a day for that has had a sign up for A/C diagnostic for MONTHs. (This also happens to be the shop sporting the sign saying they specialize in Hondas.) Well it's a one-man shop owned by a guy that put in fourteen years working for a Honda Dealer. Fifteen minutes and a quick tweak later and and my A/C is working as great as it ever did. 8) Turns out the compressor was never kicking on due to a lack of good contact with the relay that does that job. No refrigerant needed. Just need to keep an eye on the switch (doesn't always stay in""on" position) and pay attention to the noisy compressor. Not bad for $25!
Happy Wagoneering to all of you nuts out there! I thought I'd post a micro-update and wrap up with a question.
In the past two weeks I've had two flat tires. And of course, on both days I was wearing a spotless white shirt and they happened on the way to work! I might have to re-tire the white shirts, lol. Both on the left side of the car, too. I keep thinking that maybe there's something that I've run over on my into my neighborhood to cause a slow leak in my tires so they'd be flattish in the AM. Oh well, one more thing to take better notice of on my 'pre-flight' walk-around.
One I was able to get patched for $20 and the other I replaced with a used tire for $30. If I was sitting on the cash I'd've been looking at buying 4 new tires for the Del Sol wheels aka Mini-Fat Fives.
Left front tire 5/2/12.
Left rear tire 5/10/12.
Speaking of Mini-Fat Fives, bam-bam hooked me up with a set of center caps. As with the wheels these have been used in a normal fashion which is to say they had been subject to some damage and corrosion where the clear coat had chipped.
For giggles I rested one on one of my painted wheels to see how it'd look. In this picture it looks like it matches much better than it does with your actual eyeballs in natural light. To get them to match the wheels they will need to be painted. It should be a one-stage process since they really only need a shot of "Aluminum" paint. After prep, of course. For the finishing touch I'm thinking a set of "H" decals from this guy: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Honda-H-Sticker ... 337124951a These have a ring around the "H" but either it looks okay and I keep it or it doesn't suit me and I peel off the ring. Unless anybody's found a source for 'ring-less' "H" decals? Regardless, I'm not trying to go super hardcore OEM resto so if it's a little different than stock it'll be okay.
Now for the question: Since these center caps have some scratches, gouges, pitting, etc. to the aluminum outer surface of the caps (although one looks pretty good!) and on some pieces the aluminum skin has been damaged by ham-handed wrench-monkeys at the point where they need to be pried to pop them off I wondered what they look like underneath that skin. Has anybody seen what the plastic surface underneath the aluminum looks like? Since I will be painting them the "aluminum-ness" of their surface is not so mucho importante. As long as the plastic surface underneath is smooth, it could work for my purposes. Properly prepped, plastic can hold paint quite as well as aluminum.
Update on the A/C front: I was still not getting good contact at the relay. I peeled the boot back, unplugged it and tried to tweak the tabs just a bit more to get more solid contact. It would make momentary contact and turn the compressor on but lose contact as soon as I let go of it. a gentle pressure in one direction made contact; no pressure, no contact, no A/C.
So I rigged it.
I was looking for a supply of zip-ties (which I have neglected to include in my mobile collection of band-aids and bailing wire - have to fix that) but what I DID find was a batch of assorted bungee cords. I plugged everything back in and "re-booted" the connection. The smallest ones are about 8-9 inches long and very light-weight. Then I looped one around the harness leading to the relay and anchored it to exert a slight pressure in the direction that made with the cold air. Not a lasting fix, but it should make driving home in the afternoons more bearable.
Funny things happen when you visit BamTech. I got a good look at the inside edge of my right rear tire and saw that the belt was beginning to delaminate from the tires. Looking around for a matched pair of tires that weren't showing air through produced these RT steelies with 195/70R14 tires. They're a bit old but still have a good bit of tread. As a bonus this is about the size I want for my mini-fat fives.
Wow! Very nice build! I can't wait to see how you wagon will look with those rims!
Thanks! I priced some tires today just to have an idea of how much I'll need to save up. I may need to buy two and two to break it down into smaller amounts.
I've used the SEM line before with dealing with clear coats.
just need to do a test piece first due to differences in the paint.
I wasn't able to get any SEM clear coat so I snagged a can of Rustoleum Clear for a test piece. And now I know why they say not to do it. It just makes the bright reflectivity of the "Aluminum" paint into a sort of muddy gray. No bueno. But now I know.
Without clear:
With clear:
Speaking of painting, I had three different painting projects going in the back yard the past two days. First was the center caps test, and second was a project for the kitchen. The Wife and kidlets wanted blackboard paint on the pantry door so I dismounted it and dragged it out back. Because I'm a big believer in purpose-built tools and because it was Chairturday, I balanced it on a couple chairs and spray-bombed it.
This picture was about halfway through. I took it out there again today and sprayed another whole can of chalkboard paint on it. I'll hang it tomorrow and finish out the instructions by going over the whole surface with the side of a piece of chalk. Then we'll need to find some erasers, huh?
The third project was something I've been meaning to do since the Fall.
At this point I've run out of Trim Paint and daylight (and also masking tape but I wouldn't figure that out until this morning!) But I ran out to WallyWorld searching for the same brand paint (DupliColor) which they had the last time I looked. No luck. Everything in their automotive section is Rustoleum (I think) now. So I went back to the general spray paint aisle and snagged a couple cans of Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Satin Black hoping it would match.
It didn't. But having thought at least that far ahead by buying two cans I sprayed another coat on the drivers side for matchy-ness. So started looking at what else could be painted while I had the daylight and the weather.
Wiper arms! I've been saying I would take them off and spray them properly so I did that.
Finished results. It looks quite nice! BTW, the Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Satin was a tiny bit shinier than the DupliColor Trim paint, in case you wanted to know.
Wandering the aisles of WallyWorld late at night I found these bins in the clearance section. Two of them fit side-by-side nicely. This is if you want some storage in the hatch that's out of sight and out of mind. Makes loading and unloading the hatch easier if you keep stuff back there.
Also found bling for my mismatched wheels!
Annnnd Tomatoes! This planter is made to hold three tomato plants. After a past experiment in which I killed the only plant I planted, I planted a dozen in this thing! Seven survived. Watering everyday, fertilizing every two weeks. That two week recommendation for this planter was prefaced on just three plants... I may need to increase that. Can't wait to eat tomatoes that taste like tomatoes should! (The ones from the grocery aren't worth my time to eat!)
Damn your Topsy Turvey is going ape shit! That's awesome, I always like to grow tomatoes in the summer as well. Last year I had 9 different 5 gallon buckets in my front yard, each with a different heirloom in it. My favorite were the small sungold cherry tomatoes. I ate them off the vine daily! I kinda like the look of those rear wheels/tires and how they fill out the well better, and I have been meaning to repaint my trim as well. Got my wipers and lower door trim, but not the rest. I know it'll make a big difference!
Damn your Topsy Turvey is going ape shit! That's awesome, I always like to grow tomatoes in the summer as well. Last year I had 9 different 5 gallon buckets in my front yard, each with a different heirloom in it. My favorite were the small sungold cherry tomatoes. I ate them off the vine daily! I kinda like the look of those rear wheels/tires and how they fill out the well better, and I have been meaning to repaint my trim as well. Got my wipers and lower door trim, but not the rest. I know it'll make a big difference!
Yes, it is a bit wild but with seven surviving plants in a planter made for three it's going to look a bit wild. You should see it now! I've got just one variety planted in it, Rutgers, but now I sort of wish I had diversified a bit more. I've got another just like this one that I was going to hold until next year but I may plant it for late-season harvest. I might even follow the planting directions, you never know!
For tires, when I get around to (or am forced to) buying I'll probably go with that size or one up... I think DRMORTY recommended one size up IIRC. I'm pretty sure that size is standard for RT4WD models so they ought to fit under the car.
For trim paint, I still need to paint the lower body molding and bumpers. I'm holding off to acquire some adhesion promoter which yields a better, longer lasting result. And I may hit the side skirt at that time but painting my tiger-stripe bumpers is a higher priority.
I acquired a rear seat "console/armrest" for the wagon. It started life as my mother-in-law's luggage.
Samsonite really was some high-dollar luggage and just about as tough as their commercials would lead you to believe. This piece is in great shape and probably about the same age as the car. Since I'm always going to or coming from the airport accessorising the wagon with luggage seems about right. And the color is a good match, too.
In this state we have to get our tags renewed by our birthday every year. And in the Metro area we have to pass a smog test. It's nothing like as hard to pass as some other places out on the left coast but it has to be done. So, having my birthday and payday fall on the same day meant that I didn't have the money to get it done until then (and because I had not set aside the money it would take... but let's not talk about my bad habits, lol!) So I slept in, got up, and moseyed on down to a nearby emission tester. I should have driven a little further but I didn't figure that out until a little later. When my turn in the bay comes up I step aside to wait. And wait. And take this picture.
There's part of the test where they put the drive wheels on rollers and run the car up to specific speeds. The guy working that day was apparently in training or something because he tried one of the tests THREE times before the owner of the shop had to go out there and mash his foot down on the gas pedal to get it right. And after all that Dory failed the test for high levels of NOx.
Wanting to get it taken care of I start texting bam-bam to try to figure what to fix. The direction I needed to take seemed to be to replace the catalytic converter. In the meantime, and because I had taken a vacation day from work I had already decided that I wanted to visit the place where happy Wagons go... or rather where unhappy Wagons go to become happy Wagons the BamTech Speed Shop to replace two parts that had been giving me trouble. Well, one thing leads to another and bam agrees to weld up my converter if I can acquire it and wait 'til he gets home.
I want to take a minute and mention how generous bam is with his talent and time. Above and beyond the generosity he displays with parts (and not just with his brother) he's as willing as he is able to be to help a Wagoneer out.
So I get to BamTech and visit with Dad a little while before I start in with the part of the repairs I can do. Since so much of what makes these Hondas work is modular it's fairly easy to swap out parts if you know what to change. I had been 'getting by' with my bungee-d rig to my A/C relay so I wanted to get that squared away. The second thing I actually tackled first; something was wrong with my ignition switch. Sometimes I could start the car and have all systems normal but it had gotten to where at least fifty percent of the time I'd start the car and with the switch in the run position the blower for the A/C and the stereo would NOT work. Some video from a week or so ago:
To borrow some slang I saw on the interwebs once, it was 'teh suxxor'. I pulled my switch and it looked like this:
I didn't take a picture of the one I swapped in but let me assure you that it had a rounded bead of solder on each of the posts unlike what you see here at the end of the brown/black wire and to a lesser extent the blue/white wire. I buttoned up the mast jacket (or clamshell or whatever) and tidied up that area and moved on to the A/C relay.
Now since this is not my metier I try to approach auto electronics in an orderly fashion. I pulled my relay loose from the where it lives next to the battery, peeled back the rubber jacket, and looked for identifying numbers. As I recall mine said 2201 and 97U in addition to a simple diagram of it's circuit. So I check the few relays readily available for similarity the nearest match said 2201 and 96U. I puzzled about it for a bit then had a sudden attack of logic. Here I am trying to figure out something electronic, something automotive, when standing just a few feet away is Dad who has quite likely forgotten more than I know about electronics, automobiles, and automotive electronics. Like any wise (rather than smart) man would do he immediately looks at the diagrams on each relay rather than get too hung up on (what I assume are) the part number and serial number. They were both 'always open' relays so he said that would be the one to try. So I installed it and it's been working ever since! But I didn't take any pictures of that part.
I had gotten done what I could handle that needed doing so I did another logical thing. I washed the Wagon. Well, it's logical if you're at bam's. He likes a clean car. Just because the car is twenty-odd years old there's no reason for it to be dirty as well. And he has a pressure washer. I did the washing and let Dad do the rinsing.
Then bam got home and later these things happened:
I jacked the car up and placed one jack-stand in almost the right place. After that I had more opportunities to observe and document.
The cheap converter is the universal one... or the one that is going to have to be adapted to fit your application. So bam pulls the old one out and cannibalizes it for components to make the new one fit.
Once he has enough pieces to fill the length between the manifold and the exhaust pipe he takes them under the car to 'dry fit' them. He was probably feeling a bit cramped here after working under his latest project, Fool's Gold, lol!
Here's the new assembly ready to bolt on.
After which bam bolted it up and my once unhappy Wagon was able to go happily on its way. In unhappier news, the shop with the smog-testing machine (you remember the shop, right?) has had their machine inoperative for TWO DAYS while waiting for the appropriate state agency to get out there and fix it. This is important to our story because you get a free re-test if you return to the same shop, presumably after repairs, within thirty days. So now I'm hoping that the state dunderpates will get that machine working Monday so I can re-test in the afternoon. More news as that develops.
You may or may not have seen prennro's new wagon but he's putting together some neat ideas. I saw this decal there and asked about it. He cut it and has cut several others for his Wagon check out the decals he's run up for the front-strut-tower-stabilizer-bar-thingie. Here's the one he did for me:
After I applied it last night. It was a bit cramped in the carport and getting dark.
Here it is this morning.
And this afternoon. I couldn't decide which of those I liked best up I posted them all, lol! A big thank you and Wagoneer shout-out to prennro!
This has taken an alarmingly long time to write. For the ADD types I'll sum up:
TL;DR failed smog, replaced converter, replaced other failed parts, got cool decal.
Over due update: After about a week the State had re-certified the shop's smog machine and they were able to retest my wagon and it passed because Catalytic Converter.
I've also been working on a little project. When it all comes together I'll write it up nice and pretty-like. Until then I'm waiting on paint to dry.
You may or may not have seen prennro's new wagon but he's putting together some neat ideas. I saw this decal there and asked about it. He cut it and has cut several others for his Wagon – check out the decals he's run up for the front-strut-tower-stabilizer-bar-thingie. Here's the one he did for me:
A big thank you and Wagoneer shout-out to prennro!
Thanks for the props! Glad you like!
I have a few more custom ideas floating around in my head, but not sure when I will have time to design/cut them.
And as your sig says, Bam is our YODA!
Much wagon knowledge that we all can benefit from, he has. Hmmmmmm.
Thank you! There are a few cracks here and there but overall it came to me pretty much complete. bam-bam hooked me up with almost everything that was missing or messed up and rbwdriven helped out, too, with some interior pieces when he swapped out his blue for grey. Without the help of the community it'd just be another antique car.
This is awesome to see. Restoring cars is one of the greatest things especially when it is done right. I have to be honest when I see cars all smashed up or half cuts coming from Japan it hurts a little. Props on bringing another Honda back from the grave.
Comments
bam-bam set me up with a set of 14" Del Sol wheels (Mini Fat Fives). On the good side was their very low cost to me. On the other side was that they had been painted. Poorly. (Just to be clear, bam DID NOT paint these wheels. If he had it would have at least been done well!) Since they came from two different sets they were painted by two different previous owners with varying levels of commitment and expertise. Two of the wheels had just been given a fogging with flat black while the other two were partially stripped before getting a bubbled and sagging coat of something that had to be at least semi-gloss black. bam recommended using lacquer thinner to get it off which worked well enough with the first two since they were painted directly on top of the factory clear coat. The other two where the factory clear coat was partially stripped the results were extremely uneven.
One of the two that had been partially stripped of clear coat before painting.
Well, I got fed up with this approach. After all of that work I'd still have two pairs instead of a set up four if you know what I mean.
For reference, the pair with tires still had the factory coating under the paint.
So I got an old friend to help out. I had mixed feelings about stripping all of the paint and clear coat but I really wanted the set to match.
Here's the black paint bubbling up off of the wheel. Since the two without tires had been subjected to stripper before the remains of their paint came off fairly easily. I ended up hitting the two with tires three or four times with the stripper; first to get the paint off, then to get the rest of the clear coat and paint off.
Later that day.
A while later I rolled them out of the shed again after acquiring primer and paint. Unfortunately I forgot to get pictures of the primer.
I roughed them a little with red Scothbrite then laid down two coats of primer and three or four coats of "Aluminum" (That's 'Al-yoo-MIN-e-um' for you English speakers out there.)
Here are the paints.
I looked at a lot of pictures of painted wheels and really wasn't a fan of the gold or bronze or white or other colors I saw. I wanted them to look like factory aluminum wheels. This doesn't exactly hit the mark but it's pretty good for rattle can paint. I'm reasonably pleased with the results. I may sand a couple rough spots and hit them again this weekend. I also may go back and mask off the faces and hit the "beveled" edges with a darker color to mimic the factory look of these wheels. It'll have to be something pretty close in color but a slight contrast. That choice will most likely hinge on whether I find a color that will fit my mental image. I'm also toying with painting the lip with a contrasting color, maybe to tie in with the body color.
And when will they get tires and get installed on the car? Mostly likely after the rubber wears off my 13" steelies, lol!
Still on my 'To Do' list is the exhaust from the axle back. I think the exhaust forward of that is sound.
You put any clear coat on that?
Brake dust will stick to it like a mofo.
Clear coat will help the brake dust not stick.
On the other hand, I've not yet found a workable clear coat in a rattle can. Any recommendations?
just need to do a test piece first due to differences in the paint.
I wasn't totally satisfied with my previous results from painting. I had several spots of what looked like too much or too little paint as seen above. So I took some synthetic "00" steel wool and busted the shine off one to test another way of painting them.
[Photo credit bam-bam]
Now keeping in mind that this is how they are SUPPOSED to look I tried something a little different than what I did on my "first draft." Since the "Aluminum" paint was so shiny I didn't feel too bad about grabbing a can of "Smoke Gray" in gloss.
Here are a couple light coats to get the 'beveled' edges of the holes.
It's amazing how much paint you throw around even just trying to get it on a relatively small area of the wheel. This is when I tend to respect people who do really artistic things with rattle cans.
Artwork by Stack aka keusta. http://keusta.net/blog/index.php/2009/0 ... m-graffiti
Anyway, the next step was our old friend Mr. Masking Tape.
A little time and a little patience and you get the tape where you want it.
And then hose them down with "Aluminum" again. I tried especially to go "light" with it this time (since I'm assuming the previous flaws were from too much paint) but it's tricky with this particular paint. The shiny bits in the paint cover quite well. I mean, heck, I thought I was going "light" the first time!
And here are the results on my test piece which I think turned out quite well. I was confident enough that I went ahead and sanded and painted the Smoke Gray on the other three wheels today. I'll just need to mask them in the next day or so (after the paint is dry: 24 hours) and then hit them with the "Aluminum" later in the week. Or next weekend. And try to find some of that SEM clear coat somewhat local to me. :roll:
Tomatoes!
And then later, on the way home, I stopped at a local shop for an A/C diagnostic. The weather has been giving us very warm temps for Spring since March and the wago has not been 'cool running', at least not in the interior. Well I've driving by a shop twice a day for that has had a sign up for A/C diagnostic for MONTHs. (This also happens to be the shop sporting the sign saying they specialize in Hondas.) Well it's a one-man shop owned by a guy that put in fourteen years working for a Honda Dealer. Fifteen minutes and a quick tweak later and and my A/C is working as great as it ever did. 8) Turns out the compressor was never kicking on due to a lack of good contact with the relay that does that job. No refrigerant needed. Just need to keep an eye on the switch (doesn't always stay in""on" position) and pay attention to the noisy compressor. Not bad for $25!
In the past two weeks I've had two flat tires. And of course, on both days I was wearing a spotless white shirt and they happened on the way to work! I might have to re-tire the white shirts, lol. Both on the left side of the car, too. I keep thinking that maybe there's something that I've run over on my into my neighborhood to cause a slow leak in my tires so they'd be flattish in the AM. Oh well, one more thing to take better notice of on my 'pre-flight' walk-around.
One I was able to get patched for $20 and the other I replaced with a used tire for $30. If I was sitting on the cash I'd've been looking at buying 4 new tires for the Del Sol wheels aka Mini-Fat Fives.
Left front tire 5/2/12.
Left rear tire 5/10/12.
Speaking of Mini-Fat Fives, bam-bam hooked me up with a set of center caps. As with the wheels these have been used in a normal fashion which is to say they had been subject to some damage and corrosion where the clear coat had chipped.
For giggles I rested one on one of my painted wheels to see how it'd look. In this picture it looks like it matches much better than it does with your actual eyeballs in natural light. To get them to match the wheels they will need to be painted. It should be a one-stage process since they really only need a shot of "Aluminum" paint. After prep, of course. For the finishing touch I'm thinking a set of "H" decals from this guy: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Honda-H-Sticker ... 337124951a These have a ring around the "H" but either it looks okay and I keep it or it doesn't suit me and I peel off the ring. Unless anybody's found a source for 'ring-less' "H" decals? Regardless, I'm not trying to go super hardcore OEM resto so if it's a little different than stock it'll be okay.
Now for the question: Since these center caps have some scratches, gouges, pitting, etc. to the aluminum outer surface of the caps (although one looks pretty good!) and on some pieces the aluminum skin has been damaged by ham-handed wrench-monkeys at the point where they need to be pried to pop them off I wondered what they look like underneath that skin. Has anybody seen what the plastic surface underneath the aluminum looks like? Since I will be painting them the "aluminum-ness" of their surface is not so mucho importante. As long as the plastic surface underneath is smooth, it could work for my purposes. Properly prepped, plastic can hold paint quite as well as aluminum.
Ideas and comments welcome!
So I rigged it.
I was looking for a supply of zip-ties (which I have neglected to include in my mobile collection of band-aids and bailing wire - have to fix that) but what I DID find was a batch of assorted bungee cords. I plugged everything back in and "re-booted" the connection. The smallest ones are about 8-9 inches long and very light-weight. Then I looped one around the harness leading to the relay and anchored it to exert a slight pressure in the direction that made with the cold air. Not a lasting fix, but it should make driving home in the afternoons more bearable.
I wasn't able to get any SEM clear coat so I snagged a can of Rustoleum Clear for a test piece. And now I know why they say not to do it. It just makes the bright reflectivity of the "Aluminum" paint into a sort of muddy gray. No bueno. But now I know.
Without clear:
With clear:
Speaking of painting, I had three different painting projects going in the back yard the past two days. First was the center caps test, and second was a project for the kitchen. The Wife and kidlets wanted blackboard paint on the pantry door so I dismounted it and dragged it out back. Because I'm a big believer in purpose-built tools and because it was Chairturday, I balanced it on a couple chairs and spray-bombed it.
This picture was about halfway through. I took it out there again today and sprayed another whole can of chalkboard paint on it. I'll hang it tomorrow and finish out the instructions by going over the whole surface with the side of a piece of chalk. Then we'll need to find some erasers, huh?
The third project was something I've been meaning to do since the Fall.
At this point I've run out of Trim Paint and daylight (and also masking tape but I wouldn't figure that out until this morning!) But I ran out to WallyWorld searching for the same brand paint (DupliColor) which they had the last time I looked. No luck. Everything in their automotive section is Rustoleum (I think) now. So I went back to the general spray paint aisle and snagged a couple cans of Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Satin Black hoping it would match.
It didn't. But having thought at least that far ahead by buying two cans I sprayed another coat on the drivers side for matchy-ness. So started looking at what else could be painted while I had the daylight and the weather.
Wiper arms! I've been saying I would take them off and spray them properly so I did that.
Finished results. It looks quite nice! BTW, the Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Satin was a tiny bit shinier than the DupliColor Trim paint, in case you wanted to know.
Wandering the aisles of WallyWorld late at night I found these bins in the clearance section. Two of them fit side-by-side nicely. This is if you want some storage in the hatch that's out of sight and out of mind. Makes loading and unloading the hatch easier if you keep stuff back there.
Also found bling for my mismatched wheels!
Annnnd Tomatoes! This planter is made to hold three tomato plants. After a past experiment in which I killed the only plant I planted, I planted a dozen in this thing! Seven survived. Watering everyday, fertilizing every two weeks. That two week recommendation for this planter was prefaced on just three plants... I may need to increase that. Can't wait to eat tomatoes that taste like tomatoes should! (The ones from the grocery aren't worth my time to eat!)
For tires, when I get around to (or am forced to) buying I'll probably go with that size or one up... I think DRMORTY recommended one size up IIRC. I'm pretty sure that size is standard for RT4WD models so they ought to fit under the car.
For trim paint, I still need to paint the lower body molding and bumpers. I'm holding off to acquire some adhesion promoter which yields a better, longer lasting result. And I may hit the side skirt at that time but painting my tiger-stripe bumpers is a higher priority.
Samsonite really was some high-dollar luggage and just about as tough as their commercials would lead you to believe. This piece is in great shape and probably about the same age as the car. Since I'm always going to or coming from the airport accessorising the wagon with luggage seems about right. And the color is a good match, too.
Perfect condition. Looked like it came out of the sixties.
There's part of the test where they put the drive wheels on rollers and run the car up to specific speeds. The guy working that day was apparently in training or something because he tried one of the tests THREE times before the owner of the shop had to go out there and mash his foot down on the gas pedal to get it right. And after all that Dory failed the test for high levels of NOx.
Wanting to get it taken care of I start texting bam-bam to try to figure what to fix. The direction I needed to take seemed to be to replace the catalytic converter. In the meantime, and because I had taken a vacation day from work I had already decided that I wanted to visit the place where happy Wagons go... or rather where unhappy Wagons go to become happy Wagons the BamTech Speed Shop to replace two parts that had been giving me trouble. Well, one thing leads to another and bam agrees to weld up my converter if I can acquire it and wait 'til he gets home.
I want to take a minute and mention how generous bam is with his talent and time. Above and beyond the generosity he displays with parts (and not just with his brother) he's as willing as he is able to be to help a Wagoneer out.
So I get to BamTech and visit with Dad a little while before I start in with the part of the repairs I can do. Since so much of what makes these Hondas work is modular it's fairly easy to swap out parts if you know what to change. I had been 'getting by' with my bungee-d rig to my A/C relay so I wanted to get that squared away. The second thing I actually tackled first; something was wrong with my ignition switch. Sometimes I could start the car and have all systems normal but it had gotten to where at least fifty percent of the time I'd start the car and with the switch in the run position the blower for the A/C and the stereo would NOT work. Some video from a week or so ago:
To borrow some slang I saw on the interwebs once, it was 'teh suxxor'. I pulled my switch and it looked like this:
I didn't take a picture of the one I swapped in but let me assure you that it had a rounded bead of solder on each of the posts unlike what you see here at the end of the brown/black wire and to a lesser extent the blue/white wire. I buttoned up the mast jacket (or clamshell or whatever) and tidied up that area and moved on to the A/C relay.
Now since this is not my metier I try to approach auto electronics in an orderly fashion. I pulled my relay loose from the where it lives next to the battery, peeled back the rubber jacket, and looked for identifying numbers. As I recall mine said 2201 and 97U in addition to a simple diagram of it's circuit. So I check the few relays readily available for similarity the nearest match said 2201 and 96U. I puzzled about it for a bit then had a sudden attack of logic. Here I am trying to figure out something electronic, something automotive, when standing just a few feet away is Dad who has quite likely forgotten more than I know about electronics, automobiles, and automotive electronics. Like any wise (rather than smart) man would do he immediately looks at the diagrams on each relay rather than get too hung up on (what I assume are) the part number and serial number. They were both 'always open' relays so he said that would be the one to try. So I installed it and it's been working ever since! But I didn't take any pictures of that part.
I had gotten done what I could handle that needed doing so I did another logical thing. I washed the Wagon. Well, it's logical if you're at bam's. He likes a clean car. Just because the car is twenty-odd years old there's no reason for it to be dirty as well. And he has a pressure washer. I did the washing and let Dad do the rinsing.
Then bam got home and later these things happened:
I jacked the car up and placed one jack-stand in almost the right place. After that I had more opportunities to observe and document.
The cheap converter is the universal one... or the one that is going to have to be adapted to fit your application. So bam pulls the old one out and cannibalizes it for components to make the new one fit.
Once he has enough pieces to fill the length between the manifold and the exhaust pipe he takes them under the car to 'dry fit' them. He was probably feeling a bit cramped here after working under his latest project, Fool's Gold, lol!
Here's the new assembly ready to bolt on.
After which bam bolted it up and my once unhappy Wagon was able to go happily on its way. In unhappier news, the shop with the smog-testing machine (you remember the shop, right?) has had their machine inoperative for TWO DAYS while waiting for the appropriate state agency to get out there and fix it. This is important to our story because you get a free re-test if you return to the same shop, presumably after repairs, within thirty days. So now I'm hoping that the state dunderpates will get that machine working Monday so I can re-test in the afternoon. More news as that develops.
You may or may not have seen prennro's new wagon but he's putting together some neat ideas. I saw this decal there and asked about it. He cut it and has cut several others for his Wagon check out the decals he's run up for the front-strut-tower-stabilizer-bar-thingie. Here's the one he did for me:
After I applied it last night. It was a bit cramped in the carport and getting dark.
Here it is this morning.
And this afternoon. I couldn't decide which of those I liked best up I posted them all, lol! A big thank you and Wagoneer shout-out to prennro!
This has taken an alarmingly long time to write. For the ADD types I'll sum up:
TL;DR failed smog, replaced converter, replaced other failed parts, got cool decal.
I've also been working on a little project. When it all comes together I'll write it up nice and pretty-like. Until then I'm waiting on paint to dry.
Thanks for the props! Glad you like!
I have a few more custom ideas floating around in my head, but not sure when I will have time to design/cut them.
And as your sig says, Bam is our YODA!
Much wagon knowledge that we all can benefit from, he has. Hmmmmmm.