From MN to GA and back: One mans quest for a wagovan
peekoo
New Wagonist
Hey guys, I started a thread on HT about my first wagovan. I just wanted to share with you guys also. This will be a rather long post putting everything together since I already get back home. Sorry for not posting on this site first. Well here goes, sit back and relax, grab some popcorn and enjoy the show.
I had been searching for a wagovan for the past two weeks and then I found one that I had to have. One catch, it wasnt running due to a broken camshaft and was located 1200 miles away in Georgia. I spoke to the seller and everything sounded good bodywise. I booked a flight to GA 30mins later. The plan was to replace the cylinder head and drive it all the way back to MN. 1200 miles driving will be a new record for me not to mention that it was going to be my first time on a plane.
So here I am getting dropped off at getting dropped off at Minneapolis/St.Paul International on at 9:40am on Friday.
Whoa the line is long despite checking in 1 1/2hrs early.
When I go to check in my stuff, they wouldnt let me bring my spare head with me saying that if oil or gas has ever touched it, its not getting on the plane. I explained to her that it has been hot tanked and professionally cleaned but she wasnt hearing any of it. So I call my cousin to pick it up since he lives 10min from the airport. That ruined part of the trip.
I hopped onto the plane to find my seat and whoo hoo, I got a window seat!
Since this was the my first time on a plane, I must say that takeoff feels alot like turbolag, LOL! There wasnt much to look at out the window, just cloud after cloud. When I finally saw some, land we were over North Carolina and about to land.
Landed at Charolette Douglas International
While waiting for my connecting flight to Atlanta, GA, I looked around for some food and found this place. Kinda spendy at $9 for the meal. Tasted just like Wendys spicy chicken sandwich with bacon.
So after I get done eating, I head to the departure gate and still have another 25mins before taking off. 2 mins later, theres an announcement that my flight was going to be delayed for another 45mins. So with over an hour of waiting left, I took out my laptop to update my HT thread. 15mins later the flight gets cancelled due to weather in Atlanta and airplane traffic. So I called up the seller to let him know that it got cancelled and to see if I can find another flight to GA.
After two hours in line, the airline tells me that the soonest they can re-book me to GA was the following night at 8pm. I took it anyways as a backup plan. I called the seller and he suggested me to rent a car and drive down 3hrs to GA instead of wasting a day in NC. I take his suggestion and arrive at his place in 3hrs. By that time I arrived that the sellers place, it was already 10pm. I check in at a motel for the night.
So Saturday morning, I take the title to see if I can get temp plates for the wagovan since the seller has turned in his plates already. When I arrived at the DMV, they didnt do title transfers at that location. They told me where to go but also mentioned that they were closed on the weekends. Whats even worse is that the had a furlough day where the state workers had to take a mandatory day off. Great, just great.
So I check Craigslist and call around looking for a head. I found one for $20 but the seller didnt pick up. While waiting to hear back from him, I decided to take off the rockers to inspect the damage. Crap, there goes my hope of just dropping in a camshaft and driving it back.
Took some pics after I inspected the damage.
Finally heard back from the seller with the head and OMG! He's 1 1/2hrs away. I needed it so I drove to his place to pick it up. So when I got back, I started to took off the IM and header only to find that one of the headbolts wont back out. So now I'm cursing left and right and its already 7pm. I had already reserved a Uhaul and dolly before I left MN but I had it reserved for Monday. I called them and they werent able to find me anything within 45miles on Sunday and the seller had to work during those hours. I had no choice but to wait until Monday to pick up a truck and dolly. So on Sunday, I rested most of the day to get ready for my long journey back to MN. Thank goodness the motel had WI-FI.
So Monday morning comes and the seller takes me to return my rental car and to pick up the Uhaul 10ft truck and dolly. i originally found the wagovan on craigslist for $500 and it only has 87k miles on it. YES, you read that right. some of you wagovan fans might have seen the ad. i'm the SOB that picked it up. its an autotrajic but for the price and condition, i didnt care.
here are some pics loading it up on the dolly. tyler (the seller) is on the left and cedric ( tylers friend) is on the right. they helped me load it on the dolly.
Thanks to a rockslide on i40w in NC, I had to take a 100 mile, 3hr detour up some mountain and back down to take i80s. With the wagovan in tow, I could go no faster than 45mph. Made me feel like a trucker becus I was as slow as them LOL! After almost driving for 12hrs, it was about 3am so I decided to to rest at an Indiana rest area. Here are shots of the place and my morning coffee.
I take off after washing up. I drove about 3hrs and started to get hungry. I saw a sign on the highway that said "4 meals under $4". I decided to stop and grab something to eat. The place was called "Steak n Shakes". They were famous for their steakburgers. I didnt want to eat any more burger so I got their signature "Chicago style frank". It was ok but after eating it, I wished I wouldve gotten the steakburger instead. Took some pics of the place before I left.
After leaving that restaurant, Indiana had nothing but land and these. Almost fell asleep becus the scenery was so boring.
After stopping at my sisters place in Milwaukee for 3hrs, I drove 5 1/2hrs straight home. I was so tired that I just left my bags in the Uhaul and knocked out on my bed.
Today, my brother and I unloaded the wagovan and pushed it into the driveway. I had to return the Uhaul and dolly so I didnt have time to upload pics of it sitting in the driveway. I had to go to work as well.
Well thats all for now. I hope that didnt bore you guys. There more to come.
I had been searching for a wagovan for the past two weeks and then I found one that I had to have. One catch, it wasnt running due to a broken camshaft and was located 1200 miles away in Georgia. I spoke to the seller and everything sounded good bodywise. I booked a flight to GA 30mins later. The plan was to replace the cylinder head and drive it all the way back to MN. 1200 miles driving will be a new record for me not to mention that it was going to be my first time on a plane.
So here I am getting dropped off at getting dropped off at Minneapolis/St.Paul International on at 9:40am on Friday.
Whoa the line is long despite checking in 1 1/2hrs early.
When I go to check in my stuff, they wouldnt let me bring my spare head with me saying that if oil or gas has ever touched it, its not getting on the plane. I explained to her that it has been hot tanked and professionally cleaned but she wasnt hearing any of it. So I call my cousin to pick it up since he lives 10min from the airport. That ruined part of the trip.
I hopped onto the plane to find my seat and whoo hoo, I got a window seat!
Since this was the my first time on a plane, I must say that takeoff feels alot like turbolag, LOL! There wasnt much to look at out the window, just cloud after cloud. When I finally saw some, land we were over North Carolina and about to land.
Landed at Charolette Douglas International
While waiting for my connecting flight to Atlanta, GA, I looked around for some food and found this place. Kinda spendy at $9 for the meal. Tasted just like Wendys spicy chicken sandwich with bacon.
So after I get done eating, I head to the departure gate and still have another 25mins before taking off. 2 mins later, theres an announcement that my flight was going to be delayed for another 45mins. So with over an hour of waiting left, I took out my laptop to update my HT thread. 15mins later the flight gets cancelled due to weather in Atlanta and airplane traffic. So I called up the seller to let him know that it got cancelled and to see if I can find another flight to GA.
After two hours in line, the airline tells me that the soonest they can re-book me to GA was the following night at 8pm. I took it anyways as a backup plan. I called the seller and he suggested me to rent a car and drive down 3hrs to GA instead of wasting a day in NC. I take his suggestion and arrive at his place in 3hrs. By that time I arrived that the sellers place, it was already 10pm. I check in at a motel for the night.
So Saturday morning, I take the title to see if I can get temp plates for the wagovan since the seller has turned in his plates already. When I arrived at the DMV, they didnt do title transfers at that location. They told me where to go but also mentioned that they were closed on the weekends. Whats even worse is that the had a furlough day where the state workers had to take a mandatory day off. Great, just great.
So I check Craigslist and call around looking for a head. I found one for $20 but the seller didnt pick up. While waiting to hear back from him, I decided to take off the rockers to inspect the damage. Crap, there goes my hope of just dropping in a camshaft and driving it back.
Took some pics after I inspected the damage.
Finally heard back from the seller with the head and OMG! He's 1 1/2hrs away. I needed it so I drove to his place to pick it up. So when I got back, I started to took off the IM and header only to find that one of the headbolts wont back out. So now I'm cursing left and right and its already 7pm. I had already reserved a Uhaul and dolly before I left MN but I had it reserved for Monday. I called them and they werent able to find me anything within 45miles on Sunday and the seller had to work during those hours. I had no choice but to wait until Monday to pick up a truck and dolly. So on Sunday, I rested most of the day to get ready for my long journey back to MN. Thank goodness the motel had WI-FI.
So Monday morning comes and the seller takes me to return my rental car and to pick up the Uhaul 10ft truck and dolly. i originally found the wagovan on craigslist for $500 and it only has 87k miles on it. YES, you read that right. some of you wagovan fans might have seen the ad. i'm the SOB that picked it up. its an autotrajic but for the price and condition, i didnt care.
here are some pics loading it up on the dolly. tyler (the seller) is on the left and cedric ( tylers friend) is on the right. they helped me load it on the dolly.
Thanks to a rockslide on i40w in NC, I had to take a 100 mile, 3hr detour up some mountain and back down to take i80s. With the wagovan in tow, I could go no faster than 45mph. Made me feel like a trucker becus I was as slow as them LOL! After almost driving for 12hrs, it was about 3am so I decided to to rest at an Indiana rest area. Here are shots of the place and my morning coffee.
I take off after washing up. I drove about 3hrs and started to get hungry. I saw a sign on the highway that said "4 meals under $4". I decided to stop and grab something to eat. The place was called "Steak n Shakes". They were famous for their steakburgers. I didnt want to eat any more burger so I got their signature "Chicago style frank". It was ok but after eating it, I wished I wouldve gotten the steakburger instead. Took some pics of the place before I left.
After leaving that restaurant, Indiana had nothing but land and these. Almost fell asleep becus the scenery was so boring.
After stopping at my sisters place in Milwaukee for 3hrs, I drove 5 1/2hrs straight home. I was so tired that I just left my bags in the Uhaul and knocked out on my bed.
Today, my brother and I unloaded the wagovan and pushed it into the driveway. I had to return the Uhaul and dolly so I didnt have time to upload pics of it sitting in the driveway. I had to go to work as well.
Well thats all for now. I hope that didnt bore you guys. There more to come.
Comments
You traveled to the wagon capital of the US and didn't even know it! I live about 100 miles from Toccoa and could have helped you out.
This wagon was posted on here- in fact turbo_teg from WA. was interested. Now we know why the seller stopped returning calls :P
Really, Georgia is wagon central? I'm kicking myself right now. It was a last minute thing, I had to show the seller that I was serious. At one point, I thought that I wasnt meant to buy it with the cancelled flight, closed dmv, headbolt problem, etc....but I stuck to it and kinda glad that I went thru with it.
OH, forgot to say Nice Wagon!
and surely not a relative of cuckoo
j/k
If somebody from down south wants to make some money, load up a big rig with rust free Hondas, Nissans and Toyotas from the 70s,80, and 90s. and bring them up to MN. They are like gold up here.
Great story! Glad I'm not the only food photographer when on vacation lol
But that is by far my favorite pic of them all.
Glad someone picked up this car!
I'm from Milwaukee, so I totally know the whole "rust free cars a like gold" thing.
thanks, i'm glad that you guys enjoyed it.
no rust was the big factor in picking up the wagovan. for now, the plan is to get it up and running. afterwards, i plan to do the following:
1. auto/manual conversion with ZC tranny
2. obd1 conversion
3. JDM EF hatch front bumper
4. eagle rod/vitara Z6 engine
5. 50trim A/C complatable turbo kit
6. 350hp max HP (dont want to run faster than 11.5 in the 1/4mile and have to install a rollbar)
7. wire tuck
8. alarm system
i flew US Airways. im really hating myself for not posting on this site first.
350hp should put me in around the 11.5sec 1/4mile mark. any faster and i would have to get a roll bar installed, which i dont want to do. so anywhere between 300 and 350hp should do the trick. yes, its gonna be my daily driver
add to your stable? how many do you have now?
i love to take road trips. my friend and i drove 7hrs to michigan once for a clean crx. it had a bad headgasket so we fixed it and drove it back another 7hrs the same night. needless to say we were pretty tired. i found a decently cheap partial greddy turbo kit and might just settle for around 215. ideally i would rather keep the A/C and P/S intact.
i knew it was gonna be more also. i acutally did take a head but the airline wouldnt let me bring it onboard. i drove 3hrs round trip from the sellers place in GA to pick up a head only to find out one of the headbolts wouldnt back out. but what do you know, today my cousin comes over and we use an impact gun to spin it faster and a flathead and it comes out :x. the head is currently off the block and i finished scraping half of the block already. i didnt have time to take pics since i had to leave for work.