Mapones Puzzle shuttle
mapone
New Wagonist
Despite this project is still in progress(more than year), I decided to share with you my experiences and difficulties. Now Im driving a 2007 Honda Fit Sport, but the Shuttle was my first car after I passed the driving school in 2004.
I just started looking at some nice Shuttles here in the Czech Republic more than year ago, but it is a big problem to find some good ones. At that time I couldnt find even one, so I looked at some international websites and I found one in Austria not so far from the city I live in. In the advertisement there was only one picture and the description said that it had a bad engine.
So I drove to Austria to have a look at it. It was the Shuttle Beagle 1.6 AWD and it was parked in the field next to the owners house for more than 4 years because of the bad engine, so all the parts under the car werent in good condition and there were some corrosion on the suspension and drivetrain, but at first glance the body looked OK.
After some negotiation, I ended up driving home with my new shuttle on the trailer.
But nothing is so simple like it appears, the next day at home I looked closely at the body. I took out the original side skirts and I found one big hole in the place where the rocker panel should be. The body was totally rotten on both sides. There were holes through into the interior. I showed it to the welder, he said there Isnt a healthy metal to weld in new parts. So it wasnt worthy the time and price to rescue it.
I just disassembled the good parts like the 4x4 drivetrain, the interior, the doors, the bumpers, all the wires, the engine, the transmission and the rest. I didnt know what to do with the body, but I kept it in case I found some little damaged shuttle to use its healthy body parts for a new one.
For a while I was a little bit discouraged because of the situation, but I decided to begin searching for a another one. I had only one requirement, the body must be in good condition.
After some time, believe it or not, I found via a local Honda club site someone, who kept in his barn a 1990 USA version of a Civic Wagon 1.5 FWD automatic. I think it is the only one USDM wagon in the middle of Europe.
First he didnt want to sell his wagon but after 2 months of mailing and calling to him I persuaded him to sell it. The guy said to me it hasnt run in more than 3 years because the distributor wasnt working. And he was keeping it only for the parts, because he has a second Shuttle which he uses all the time. Fortunately he didnt ever use any parts from the Wagon. The body has deep scratches on a both right doors but he had two spare doors in the same color.
I took out the plastic skirts and I was pleasantly surprised. It was 100% healthy, without any corrosion. So I decided to buy it, even if the price was a little bit higher. I paid about 1000 and from that time I was thinking about what I have to do first? Keep the 1.5 fwd automatic or completely rebuild it use the 1.6engine and AWD parts?..... What would you do??
I just started looking at some nice Shuttles here in the Czech Republic more than year ago, but it is a big problem to find some good ones. At that time I couldnt find even one, so I looked at some international websites and I found one in Austria not so far from the city I live in. In the advertisement there was only one picture and the description said that it had a bad engine.
So I drove to Austria to have a look at it. It was the Shuttle Beagle 1.6 AWD and it was parked in the field next to the owners house for more than 4 years because of the bad engine, so all the parts under the car werent in good condition and there were some corrosion on the suspension and drivetrain, but at first glance the body looked OK.
After some negotiation, I ended up driving home with my new shuttle on the trailer.
But nothing is so simple like it appears, the next day at home I looked closely at the body. I took out the original side skirts and I found one big hole in the place where the rocker panel should be. The body was totally rotten on both sides. There were holes through into the interior. I showed it to the welder, he said there Isnt a healthy metal to weld in new parts. So it wasnt worthy the time and price to rescue it.
I just disassembled the good parts like the 4x4 drivetrain, the interior, the doors, the bumpers, all the wires, the engine, the transmission and the rest. I didnt know what to do with the body, but I kept it in case I found some little damaged shuttle to use its healthy body parts for a new one.
For a while I was a little bit discouraged because of the situation, but I decided to begin searching for a another one. I had only one requirement, the body must be in good condition.
After some time, believe it or not, I found via a local Honda club site someone, who kept in his barn a 1990 USA version of a Civic Wagon 1.5 FWD automatic. I think it is the only one USDM wagon in the middle of Europe.
First he didnt want to sell his wagon but after 2 months of mailing and calling to him I persuaded him to sell it. The guy said to me it hasnt run in more than 3 years because the distributor wasnt working. And he was keeping it only for the parts, because he has a second Shuttle which he uses all the time. Fortunately he didnt ever use any parts from the Wagon. The body has deep scratches on a both right doors but he had two spare doors in the same color.
I took out the plastic skirts and I was pleasantly surprised. It was 100% healthy, without any corrosion. So I decided to buy it, even if the price was a little bit higher. I paid about 1000 and from that time I was thinking about what I have to do first? Keep the 1.5 fwd automatic or completely rebuild it use the 1.6engine and AWD parts?..... What would you do??