Hello From Houston, TX
JesseCRX
Council Member
I been a lurker here for a long time, and i have a friend who is a longtime member and owns an RT4WD Wagon. It's because of him that I set out to find one of my own.... so onto the news!!
I've got some DOUBLE good news.
First, I'm gonna be a DADDY! My wife and I just found out that she is 2-3 months pregnant and we are super psyched! So, being that we only own a CRX, a hatch and a Del Slo we figured we were gonna need a 4 door car. With the economy sucking n all we opted to pull out a small loan and look for a deal and that didn't take long at all.
A lady had posted up an 89 RT4WD Honda for sale in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I called her and asked her some basic questions about the car and she was super nice. My wife and I were gonna drive from Houston to Tulsa but at the last minute I changed my mind and flew up there. The lady was kind enough to meet me at the airport. We drove to a local Denny's where I got to check out the car and do the deal.
The goods: The car had some really nice options! Passenger mirror, optional center console ashtray/lighter, rear speaker pods, rear head rests, roof rack(missing some rails tho), mud flaps, all 4 wheel covers(not in the pics)
The bads: tiny rust spot near the passenger tail light, warped front driver side rotor, code 1 CEL, and the car had the stench of dog piss!! The only interior piece that was fubar was the rear carpet. It was a complete mess, stained and stunk!!!
I was able to talk her down to $1100 and she accepted. I drove her all the way back to Houston. The hwy mpg on this thing is amazing! At the halfway point of my gas tank I was at 240 miles!
Here are some pics..
Now my I have a few questions(I posted this whole thread on h-tech.com and I was advised to post here..so here I am).
1. What pieces are missing from the roof rack??
2. Can a CRX or hatch aftermarket exhaust work on this particular Honda Wagon model?
3. Is there anyone here running an aftermarket spring/shock combo(for other efs) with good results???
I'm still a n00b to this site, so take it easy. I am still doing searches for some topics, some with luck and some with none so bare with me.
I've already started taking apart all the interior for a thorough cleaning and OMG this thing is DIRRT-TAAYYY!!! I am talking old coke syrup/dust on top of dust kinda dirty.
Anyway, wish me luck. This is my first wagon! Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I've got some DOUBLE good news.
First, I'm gonna be a DADDY! My wife and I just found out that she is 2-3 months pregnant and we are super psyched! So, being that we only own a CRX, a hatch and a Del Slo we figured we were gonna need a 4 door car. With the economy sucking n all we opted to pull out a small loan and look for a deal and that didn't take long at all.
A lady had posted up an 89 RT4WD Honda for sale in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I called her and asked her some basic questions about the car and she was super nice. My wife and I were gonna drive from Houston to Tulsa but at the last minute I changed my mind and flew up there. The lady was kind enough to meet me at the airport. We drove to a local Denny's where I got to check out the car and do the deal.
The goods: The car had some really nice options! Passenger mirror, optional center console ashtray/lighter, rear speaker pods, rear head rests, roof rack(missing some rails tho), mud flaps, all 4 wheel covers(not in the pics)
The bads: tiny rust spot near the passenger tail light, warped front driver side rotor, code 1 CEL, and the car had the stench of dog piss!! The only interior piece that was fubar was the rear carpet. It was a complete mess, stained and stunk!!!
I was able to talk her down to $1100 and she accepted. I drove her all the way back to Houston. The hwy mpg on this thing is amazing! At the halfway point of my gas tank I was at 240 miles!
Here are some pics..
Now my I have a few questions(I posted this whole thread on h-tech.com and I was advised to post here..so here I am).
1. What pieces are missing from the roof rack??
2. Can a CRX or hatch aftermarket exhaust work on this particular Honda Wagon model?
3. Is there anyone here running an aftermarket spring/shock combo(for other efs) with good results???
I'm still a n00b to this site, so take it easy. I am still doing searches for some topics, some with luck and some with none so bare with me.
I've already started taking apart all the interior for a thorough cleaning and OMG this thing is DIRRT-TAAYYY!!! I am talking old coke syrup/dust on top of dust kinda dirty.
Anyway, wish me luck. This is my first wagon! Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Comments
nope..no help here : )
and congratz on both occasions...
Thanks for the tip
I am cleaning her up now. Noticed some interesting differences between Civic hatch and Wagon parts.
I was just cleaning the interior parts with mild soap and water last night, and the OEM wagon shift boot was NASTY. So, I took my old momo boot off of my civic hatch piece and as I was looking at both pieces side by side I noticed that they are different. The wagon parts are shorter and wider.
Wagon on the left, Civic Hatch on the right
Wagon center console piece on top of the Civic hatch center console. Doesn't fit AT ALL.
Wagon center console piece on top of the Wagon center console...mates perfectly.
And since the back carpet that was in the car was totaled, my buddy Jay told me he saw one at a local scrap yard. I went and picked it up, and even though it's stained it's in MUCH better shape than the one that was in there. I am soaking it with stain remover and shampoo foam now.
and OMG the cigarette gunk! there was tons of it embedded in the plastic. I went through a full can of cleaning wipes to get that shit out. I am taking my sweet time cleaning this thing but damn it's alotta work!!
Question 1: You're missing the two main crossbars. Look up wagodizzle or revmaynard's thread for pics (those are two that I know have OE style racks)
#2: No. If you have another 4th gen exhaust and want to modify it to fit it can be done, but none will fit right off the shelf.
#3: idk, you're out of my area of interest there
2. NO! you will need to do quite a bit of fab work. i tried hooking up a Hatchback exhaust and its impossible without serious chopping.
3. i am running on Tein Basic dampers, feels awesome, basically just stiffer then stock. i love them lol. they were for a Hatchback, fit right up no problems.
and of course, WELCOME!
I took out the seats to expose the carpet. Oh, and I just found out the car has oem floormats..
Here is the rear cargo area after clean up. I shoulda taken pics of this before I cleaned it. There wasn't a clean spot of red anywhere. There was a combination of spills and stains back there. By the way, what is that black plastic ring for? The one on top of the tire.
I also noticed that the rear speaker pod on the passenger side was really flimsy. I started to take off the 10mm bolt and noticed that it was cracked. Any quick remedies? I tried to remove the pod, but it felt like something might break if I applied too much pressure. They feel really delicate.
By the way, does anyone have any experience working with PIC Performance coilovers on a wagon?
He's right^^ it's a spacer ring so that the spare holds the cover up. I've eliminated them and am carrying full-size spares in both of mine.
ONE RING TO RULE THEM AAA.....uhm...ok, so the ring goes beneath the tire. Now I know!
Thanks for the heads up. I had no idea wtf it was when I saw it.
You must've never heard that akward squeaking noise the tire makes rubbing against the bare metal on a long road trip. Welcome to the forums! Beautiful RT!
It was driving me crazy.
Well, I did a shampoo job on both front seats, the rear cargo carpet(I may just have a new one made cuz I am not too crazy about how it looks), the front floor mats, and the rear seats. I also vacuumed and lint rolled the carpet to get all the crap and pet hair out of there. I went through 2 giant lint rollers to get it all out. Tomorrow I shampoo the interior carpet and start washing the interior panels(yay!)
My brother took a pic of me enjoying the cleaning
My cat was watching me bust my ass all day..the bastard.
Interior carpet vacuumed and de-haired lol!
I tried to use epoxy to strengthen the plastic but I couldn't get the pods off. So I used some oversized washers and some ninja foam to add some support! Now they don't budge and you can't see the foam underneath that will be supporting all the weight...hence the name, Ninja Foam
Here are the mats. These are SUPER clean compared to what they looked like before. Yes, I know they are not spotless, but that was the best I could do by hand. Steam clean maybe??
Here is the rear cargo carpet. Again, this thing is super clean compared to what it was before. Not perfect, but it'll do for now.
Spent over an hour cleaning my seats only to have my cats use them as beds(facepalm)
Tune in tomorrow for more updates
Car looks to be getting nice and clean though! I think the worst vehicle is that owned by a smoker.
Dude, when I was cleaning the optional center console I went through so many cleaning wipes. Every single one of them was turning YELLOW! Like a baby had taken a shit on it or something, only the shit wasn't visible to the eyes.
I finally got tired of wiping it down and just soaked that thing in concentrated simple green for a few hours. That did the trick.
By the way, I found some sort of storage compartment tray under the passenger seat. It's pretty neat. Never seen it before on a honda this old.
Oh yeah, and the AC blows Ice Cold
The guys are going to hate you now. :P
Missing the arm rest
Do you has one for sale?
Speaking of "for sale"
Do you guys have a market forum for sales and trades etc??
Me haz one for sale? Haha no - i'm in NZ and havn't had a wagon for about two years. It got stolen.
Yes we areee! :evil: Haha. I wish I could get the motivation to clean my interior myself. Haha.
I was told that 88-89 models came with arm rests. 90-91 did not because of the auto-seatbelts.
How do I gain access to the classifieds here?? I'd really like to shop around for some stuff
As for cleaning your interior, dude just put on some 80's movie montage soundtrack music(Rocky 4, Transformers The Movie, Revenge of The Nerds, Top Gun, etc)and the will to do it comes naturally. No BS.
One of the things I DO NOT like about the car is the boomerang wheel. I'd really like to use a 90-91 EX steering wheel and make use of the cruise control buttons for power locks. I did a mod like this in my Civic Hatch using a 90-91 Prelude wheel. I'd imagine it would be easier using a Civic EX wheel since it's going from Civic to Civic and not Prelude to Civic. I made a thread about my trial and error process over at HTech..maybe it can work on the wagon
http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=2221237
wagon.................4ever......................
I also picked up a DA maplight for cheap at the salvage yard!
The interior is shampooed and washed. Now just waiting for it to dry in the sun so I can vacuum it one more time. While it's drying I am starting on the vinyl interior parts. This is gonna be a real test of endurance ...oh LAWDZ!!
I went to the junkyard and got:
Rear Wiper
Radio Harness Pigtail(previous owner cut it to wire a cassette deck!)
Antenna Assembly(mines is broken)
DA Maplight(for that DIY mod I saw on here..thanks OP!)
Radio border din(mine was kinda warped because the cassette deck was jammed in there)
I detailed the areas between the door jams and where the water drains around the rear cargo door....holy shit this thing had shit built up like you wouldn't believe. I think the car was sitting for a loooong time because the mud was so caked. It smelled pretty bad too. Thank God I didn't find any rust underneath all the gunk.
I also went through 2 buckets of hot water/soap cleaning the headliner and dash. Layers and layers of dust, dirt and cigarette tar. The interior looks almost new now. Oh, and the previous owner used the coin container as an ashtray. The velvet lining has burns!! Ffffuuuuuu!!!!
Finally I had to re-splice the radio harness back to OEM spec. For some reason the prev owner had the front right speaker running on it's own separate set of pos/neg wires. I didn't feel like ripping apart the interior to trace the wires so I used what was there and made it look neat.
Tomorrow I attack the inside with Meguiars/Armor All to bring back that juicy look to the interior. If I have time I'm gonna attack the engine bay as well and do a full tune-up. I am still getting a CEL code 1(haven't changed the O2 sensor yet)and the BRAKE light in the cluster stays on for some reason.
I am officially a redneck BLATINO now(Black/Latino)from being in the sun all day.
The wife and I were thinking about future plans for the car already(after we have it repainted of course)and since the swap for the hatch fell through the cracks we are now thinking of tackling a special kind of swap for the RT4WD :P
With this being a D-series I assume I should have no problems mating it to the tranny in the wagon, right?
wagon.................4ever.........................
It's a D15B 3-Stage VTEC(Scroll down to where it says 3Stage VTEC in the link)
http://asia.vtec.net/spfeature/vtecimpl/vtec1.html
Took me 9 months to track down the elusive P2j-003 ecu!
1. Finished wiring the oem radio harness pigtail. Finished trouble shooting the speaker system.
2. Installed both my CD/Mp3 headunit. Also added my Sirius Satellite system, Ipod adapter and seperate DVD headunit. Also installed new 2 way speakers in the front.
3. Tried installing a fresh antenna, but can't find the damn antenna cable under the dash. I had tied a string to pull it through but it slipped off. DOH! Will try again tomorrow. Anyone know where exactly to look for the antenna cable under the dash?
4. Put the seats back into the car.
5. Started doing the valve cover gasket and tune up.
Here is the interior now(front only)
Tomorrow I finish the tune up(plugs, wires, cap, rotor, air filter, oil change, rad flush).
After that I plan on working on the brakes. New calipers, ss brake lines, new drums n shoes.
Speaking of drums n shoes. Who carries them? Would they be dealer only? Advance Auto had NOTHING for the rear brakes.
More updates to come. Shower time!
Thanks my good man!
My cat rocks. He loves hangin out in my cars.
my other cat hehe
I am talking to a fellow member here in HCW.com about doing a Spring shock combo install, and I think I got a pretty good shot of making it work on the wagon.
Here is the combo I have on my CRX
But I wanna go with Pic Performance coilovers on my CRX because I wanna go just a little lower. The pics will give me more freedom to do that(duh!) But for the wagon, I want a mild drop and imo the HR race combo is mild. I'll post that project up when I get to it tho... so much stuff to do it's mind bottling! :P
Props man! You do good work!
Can't wait for more updates.
Ok, the engine bay is pretty much done. Did the tune up, fixed the CEL and the Brake light problem(faulty brake reservoir cap). I also replaced the heat shield with a fresh one and replaced the old rusty bolts with stainless steel ones to add some mild bling
Pics for comparison
BEFORE
After
Tomorrow I attack the paint to see if I can maker her shine again. Clay bar treatment..the works!