What has been seen cannot be unseen! This poor wagon. *PIX*

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What a story.
It is said "if walls could talk"... well, if wagovan's could talk what a story mine would tell.
This is not the first time I've owned this particular wagon and of all the wagon's i've owned I should have never let his one go.
I originally fell for her back in July of 2007.
I saw her on Honda-tech and for the very small agreed price of $1500 I headed out of the far east coast to obtain her.
Somewhere around 22 hours of driving later she was in my garage!
Only three problems with her, small dent on front of hood, 2 inch tear on drivers seat lower and she would not recognize her button to lock into low 2low.
Anyway, she was pretty much perfect in our eyes.
My wife would driver her.
I would drive my ZC swapped 2wd wagon daily and our date car would be our vtec crx sporting black on black on bronze on black ;-)
Plans change, namely, in this situation, a 99 subaru forester on ebay to the sum of $1500 with transmission problems.
19 hours of driving later and she was in our garage.
Something had to go, I said at first which ever of the wagons sell first... then I feel in love for a impreza in TN.
Ended up delievering the ZC swapped wagon to a kid down there when I picked up the Impreza.
Sold the CRX to my cousin because it wasn't family oriented (My wife still is not impressed with me on that one and neither am I)
Worked out a deal with my wife's grandmother to buy the rt4wd wagon for my mother-in-law who had recently gotten out of jail and was "working to get her live straightened out"
So no more hondas, what a sad time for us.
Life is full of should-have's, but I should have kept the rt4wd wagon as my daily and my crx as our "date car" and the forester for my wife and kids... dream on i guess...
So my mother-in-law turned out to not change her ways, big suprise, and the short story is that she trashed the car and got it impounded about a year or so ago for DUI.
I went to buy it back at auction, but my wife's grandmother insisted it be bought back for my mother-in-law which her husband did for a grand some of $300 plus a now Salvaged Rebuilt title as all impounded vehicles have around here.
Fast forward to more recently.
January 1st 2010, my mother-in-law is arrested for DUI again and the car is impounded.
This time there is a manadatory hold on the car for three months, she will be going to jail for violation of parol and no one, finally, will be buying the car back for her... time for me to take action.
At this time I own an awesome 2wd 5-speed wagovan bought from a now great friend on these very boards, whom obviously missed his wagon and becuase of some recent changes and need for employment was back in the market for a car.
So I sold it back to him, delivered by myself minus the Thule Roof Rack it came with :-) that'll be for my rt4wd when i get her back.
That was in march I sold him back the Wagon antisipating the three months hold to end... Not that simple.
I spoke with the police over the impound many time, had to jump through a lot of hoops and still didn't get the car to auction until May 8th 2010, just this last weekend.
I brought $775 just in case with the intentions of buying the car and paying taxes and getting it tagged that day even if the auction went high.
My buddy called me at the last minute and asked if he could follow my wife and I over becuase he wasn't doing anything.
He did.
Good thing.
They bid me up.
I was told by a few people there that they set me up since they already knew I wanted the car.
Some random dude pushed the bid to... wait for it... $1000, geeezzzzz that was my whole budget practically and the car is trashed and needs tons of work... buy my wife helped me hold strong and was very happy with me afterwards.
My buddy gave me his $200 he just happened to have (I paid him back monday) which gave me just enough with my wife running to the bank to make up the extra $25 and pick up a battery for the car since they jokingly said all the batteries were stolen the night before, yeah right, they even laughed as they said it.
But guess what, after being trashed and abused for 3 years and setting not driven for 5 months, she started right up!
What a trooper!
It is sooooo good to have her back.
I truely feel terrible that this mint clean car as been reduced to this but I will make things right again for her no matter what.
Welcome home fish bowl, we should have never let you go!

I do have tons of pictures I'll upload some of which tonight.
I spent 6 hours on her that day, probably more and 4 hours on her sunday and she's a great deal better.
I have a list to post of all the things I done to her so far and fixed and replaced so stay tuned.
I drove her to work today and yesterday and my love is renewed, It's almost unbelievable that I have her back.
My wife and I could not be more please nor focused on making her right again.

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Comments

  • lil'ghostlil'ghost Council Member
    Wow! What a story. Even with the "steep" price, congrats on getting her back! :D

    A good day for wagon lovers everywhere.
  • Thank you my friend.
    I doesn't seem real, I tired to buy her back from my mother-in-law on a few occation but my wife and I were always turned down.
    Even tried to trade her once but she couldn't drive a stick.
    Glad it worked out, but still hasn't completely sunk in yet that we finally get to keep her.
  • TIMELESSWHITETIMELESSWHITE Senior Wagonist
    That's quite the story. Cool, the two of you are stoked!!
  • If you love it let it go. If it comes back it was meant to be. Glad you finally got it back.
  • wagodizzlewagodizzle Council Member and EDM expert
    glad this has a happy ending (or beginning ;) ) i was anticipating the worse for some reason.. maybe your thread title :lol:
  • lol, the thread title is a reference to how the car was treated and the illegal activity i'm sure it was directly involved in... still can't believe it was trashed like this... well, i guess i can, pics will be up soon, hold tight had computer problems at home but got all the pictures uploaded to my computer.
    I will try to get them on here very soon.
  • while people are waiting for pictures, I'd love some help with my recent problems with her

    Check out my thread.

    Car starts but immediately stops:
    viewtopic.php?f=10&t=9142
  • wow! that's bad. sucks she couldn't get her act straight, but hopefully you can clean up the wagon and make it fun again. NEVER SELL IT AGAIN!
  • wow! that's bad. sucks she couldn't get her act straight, but hopefully you can clean up the wagon and make it fun again. NEVER SELL IT AGAIN!

    "NEVER SELL IT AGAIN"

    best advice ever

    Quick update too, she might be getting a new motor, having lots of problems with this one.
    I posted a link to the "HELP ME PLEASE" thread a few posts up.
    Any feedback is always helpful.
    Spent all my spare time working on her so i haven't posted pictures yet, hang on everyone, i'll make good on the pix, thanks for being patient.
  • 'desperate'
    I neeed to see the patient...



    :mrgreen:
  • hehe
  • Quote from my 'help me' thread so no one would think i was lossing heart:

    "Worked on the car some this weekend.
    Had 2 qtz of oil too much in it, yikes!
    No I didn't do it, but I fixed it.
    Cleaned and redid gaskets with honda bond, no more oil on my plugs! yay!
    Blowby from too much oil???

    Verified every plug was getting good spark.
    Figured out that the main relay really was bad, pulled the lower dash out and located the relay, a couple of soders look bad to say the least, i'm ordering a new one today should be in within a few days.
    Hopefully she'll run and all this talk of a new motor will fad away and we'll be pulling our parts car home soon *fingers crossed*"

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  • Still not running, found out it wasn't the main relay, my buddies crx fired right up with mine.
    Might be the fuel pump though, trying to verify that but i don't have a lot of time right now with finishing up projects around the house and putting in our privacy fence.

    But a nice little update... Going to check out a potential parts car this weekend, hopefully it's in as good a shape as i was told.
    Quick list of needs.

    Drivers fender
    Hood
    Rear drivers side back door (the whole thing)
    2 head rests
    axle back muffler (i don't even have one)
    AC wiring (mine is fried!)
    Trim peice around pass side tail light
    Steering column windshield wiper arm
    One decent seat to replace my drivers seat (looks like edward sissor hands owned my car)
    Fan wiring, mine has been spliced and tampered with
    Front Windshield
    ...maybe more, but this should get me started

    Needless to say, this parts car could be pretty vital to me getting my car back into fighting shape.
  • Just wanted to drop in with an update, been really busy around the house and yard finishing up projects with my wife and playing with my kids, actually i've been playing with my kids more than anything, but they are super fun so i cannot help myself.

    I did get by "honda heaven" to check out the parts wagon he said he had.

    And I bought it... didn't have a hood which kinda bummed me out but it has most else from my list

    Drivers fender *check*
    Hood
    Rear drivers side back door (the whole thing) *check*
    2 head rests *check* (and only two headrests)
    axle back muffler (i don't even have one) *not sure since it was soooo covered in poison ivy and over a hill, and yes i got poison ivy*
    AC wiring (mine is fried!) *check*
    Trim peice around pass side tail light *check*
    Steering column windshield wiper arm *check*
    One decent seat to replace my drivers seat (looks like edward sissor hands owned my car) *check*
    Fan wiring, mine has been spliced and tampered with *check*
    Front Windshield *check**check**check*
    Also has the passenger side mirror since my glass was busted out!

    Dude was supposed to deliever the car yesterday but he didn't I guess he'll drop it off sometime today.
    Need to get our privacy fence out of it's space in the garage (gotta put it up this weekend if it's doesn't rain anyway) so i can get the cars side by side for the swap... oh, i forgot to mention the kicker! the crown jewell, the piece de resistance!
    It has a rt4wd 6 speed tranny complete!
    That means the auto is going out and the stick is going in!
    Can't wait to get to work!

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  • So dude dropped off the car, he said he would tuesday or wednesday, my wife and I stayed home in the evening all the way up till friday.
    Friday evening we had gone to my parents house for dinner and during the hour he dropped off the car... in the front driveway, which i asked him to drop it out back behind my garage since it would be out of the way... and guess what, it wouldn't roll.
    My wife was not impressed and since it was dark out by then she bought a car cover to go over it.
    Saturday morning, i get up nice and early and start going through the car with big thick gloves on, it was horrible, soooooo many very very large spiders and three wasp nests.
    Found out the reason it wouldn't roll was the front driverside caliper and brake pads were locked on the rotor.
    I used and Air Hammer, chissel, and finally a very large hammer to remove it.
    Anway, it's out back now and didn't have a good exhaust, so i can cross that off my list and the door i was gonna swap for the glass has a touch of rust under it so i'm gonna actually have the glass itself swapped.
    But everything else is there.

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  • adamEFwagonadamEFwagon Senior Wagonist
    i sold my wagon, wish i hadnt, and i just found out like about a month ago the dipshit totaled it. =[
  • Mandalore88Mandalore88 Senior Wagonist
    haha thats pretty funny she bought a car cover for it.
  • lil'ghostlil'ghost Council Member
    nothing is ever easy, eh? :lol:

    so you're swapin' all the rt4wd stuff over?
  • lil'ghost wrote:
    nothing is ever easy, eh? :lol:

    so you're swapin' all the rt4wd stuff over?

    It's definitely a concideration, if not I might sell the parts car to recoupe some money. I figure someone might want the complete swap.

    And no, nothing is easy worth doing. :-)
  • haha thats pretty funny she bought a car cover for it.

    Now it's outback with the cover on it, think we are gonna return the car cover since it's way too big once we get these last five pieces of privacy fence out of the garge... which reminds me I'll be able to work on my car finely, we should be able to finish the privacy fence tonight!!!
  • i sold my wagon, wish i hadnt, and i just found out like about a month ago the dipshit totaled it. =[

    Oh I understand your feeling, I feel very blessed to have this one back.
  • Finally!

    here's the update from my help thread:

    'FIXED!
    Got the pump from rockauto.com!
    Great site!
    Installed it last night and she runs just wonderfully!
    Thanks to everyone, special thx to udubrx7.
    Also wanted to mention it was way easier than i thought it would be, my but wagon had two access places under the rear seats!
    Opened the one closest to the door and low and behold there she was!
    What a great day!"

    Now that she's running, my sis had a battery, i had my grandfather-in-law test and charge it and replaced the $100 battery my wife bought for me with it.
    We will be taking the $100 battery back and putting the money towards lowering the car and getting an exhaust rear section with muffler.
    Gonna get my parts car in the garage now and get to work on swapping parts out, gonna leave the transmission auto for the time being becuase i need to get the windshield swapped and the side glass swapped, plus the exhaust, lowered and painted... BLACK!
    My 2 year old son picked the color ;-)
    Updates on the way and finally pics.
    As i mentioned earlier i have tons of them but just haven't taken the time to upload them.
  • 3rd4ce3rd4ce Council Member
    this was a nice read this morning, :shock:
    Congrats on getting your RT back.... ive used rockauto.com also had good luck with them... 8)
    my wagon has been sitting about 5 years and the fuel pump was found to be bad & will be replaced as soon as I get off work this evening ... I hope my RT fires up like yours did :roll:
  • felt unreal, i was conviced it wasn't gonna fix it, just seemed toooo simple.
    if you have any problems message me, i can give you my cell if you have questions.
    hope yours fires right up, these honda's never fail to amaze me.

    Got another update too!

    My sister's wagon needed a new fuse box so i got up early before work and pulled it this morning, gonna drop it off this evening, hopefully it'll fix her up.

    Also got a sec to do a couple of things to my car and the parts car, started to pull the wiper control arm on the steering column, also got half the a/c wiring harness pulled.
    Pulled from the the trim off the parts wagon and now my exterior trim is complete.
    Also pulled a cheap set of ebay springs off a set of blown struts that came with my sister's wagon... I am soooo tempted ;-)

    Need to get the wiper control arm pulled and installed, the a/c wiring and fan wiring pulled out the parts wagon and installed, I also need to swap the parts wagon's pass seat with my drivers seat tray so i can have a nice drivers seat.

    I will be ordering my new oem style rear exhaust section this weekend, so i won't be roll'n getto anymore.

    Then the next order of business will be getting money together to get a new windshield and get the glass swapped out of the parts car rear drivers side door (the part that doesn't roll down).
    I know a guy in the glass business and he said $225 for the new windshield installed and to pull and install the door glass... I think that's a pretty fair deal but it's tough to stomach forking out another $225 at this junction.

    Lastly, I am gonna start sanding and preping for paint.... black on black on black on black, I can't wait!
  • Finally!
    Pictures, i'm gonna make a few posts, this first one is some pictures of when i first brought her home from auction about a month ago.
    She was rough and needed cleaning very badly!
  • hope is on the way!
    this next set of pictures is after a nice cleaning and a few changes.
    Did all this the same day.
  • I later got less protruding lug nuts and have the center caps back on with the H.
    Looks much better, but i don't have pics of that yet.
    I'll get there.
    Now for the infamous parts wagon, rt4wd manual, has the complete swap!
    I literally had to use hedge trimers and full sized vac and a rake in cleaning up the wagon so i could even feel comfortable setting in it.
    Yike!
  • the last two pictures there were after shots, after it was cleaned up a bit... i use the term clean loosely.
  • WagonAttackWagonAttack New Wagonist
    yay for donor cars!
  • driftin90driftin90 Senior Wagonist
    I hope you never sell her
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