1990 Highway Warrior

Hello all. Joined a while ago in hopes of getting a wagon, and the day has finally come. Story time. See this wagon on the corner for 700 bucks. My buddy sees it aswell. He needs a car more then I do cause he wrecked his hatch. I loan him the money. He pays me back. He drives it for a year and a half. He wants to get another hatch. We find one, then I buy the wagon off of him for 500 bucks. It looks like it was hit in the back, the back end is kinda crunched under, but other then that it is perfect! Drives on the highway fine and everything doesnt pull to one side or another.
PLANS: I want to turn this into a highway warrior, drive it as many places I can to see what the country has to offer. So keeping with the honda reliability is a must. Here is a list of things I want to do to it.


(This is an on going list, in no paticular order. I will add to it as I Think of more things.)
-Rebuild the d15b2 I have sitting on the stand.
-Convert to MPFI
-A6 cam
-Shaved valve cover, Painted with black wrinkle paint.
-Repaint the steelies white. (or find some stock Honda wheels, keep them stock color though) Done found some VX's with brand new tires for $100. What a deal!
-Get a dashmat.
-Get sidemarkers for the fenders.
-Paint the fenders flat black, Write all the states I have been to in gold paint marker on fenders
-Mod the cluster (either take out the amber film that’s in there, or just replace the bulbes with some LED’s, or a combination of both to make them brighter. Or a cluster swap, not likely though.)
-Matience as needed (list here)
Drivers side axle boot is torn, expect to replace the axle.
Perform Typical tune up. Include fuel filter.
-Repaint all the moulding and bumpers black again.
-Make some kind of light bar and mount some lights on the bumper?
-Get a TomTom.
-Rattle can it flat tan maybe?
-All weather floormats?
-Some kind of roof rack (not an aftermarket one, a stock one off another vehicle, Kia Sorento ect.)
-Scrape off the old bubbling purple tint and get it re tinted.
-Deep clean the interior.
-Make the car smell like clean laundry all the time.
-Try and find a hood bra. (might make one, because I cannot pay $100 for one.)
-Cover the headliner in some cool fabric. (Loctite Heavy Duty spray adhesive)
-Do a cup holder mod like this one? (viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3988

I will add to the list as I think of things. But on to the pictures!! THanks for viewing. Comments and Crits welcomed!

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Comments

  • doitdubdoitdub familEE
    I like your plan, my friend. See the world...hopefully you'll share your adventures with us.

    Add a tune-up to that list. Plugs, wires, dist cap/rotor, fuel filter, air filter.
  • ohyeahcrxohyeahcrx New Wagonist
    Ah good idea. Isnt a fuel filter kinda tough to change inside the fuel tank?

    Another heads up, my sister is going to drive this until she saves up enough money for her own. So the start of this build will be slow but hopefully it will finish strong!
  • jDmVeGajDmVeGa Band Wagon
    I had a radio just like that when i bought my wagon lol
  • ohyeahcrxohyeahcrx New Wagonist
    jDmVeGa wrote:
    I had a radio just like that when i bought my wagon lol

    Haha yeah my buddy put in this nice alpine unit when he had it, but of course he took that out haha. Atleast he gave me back the stock one. First time ive had music in my car in a long time haha.

    So for tomorrow I plan on changing the oil (going to teach my sister how to), cleaning up the inside a little bit more, and buy some dryer sheets. Depending on how much we do before I have class.

    Another thing. I will be keeping a running price list of everything I buy for this car, from matience to mods. Cause I like seeing all that stuff haha, also to keep track on how much this money pit is costin me! haha.
  • superhatchsuperhatch Moderator
    -Make the car smell like clean laundry all the time.

    hahahahah...awesome.

    If you're gonna keep a log you should just start a blog somewhere.
  • bam-bambam-bam Council Member
    Welcome. Somehow this car looks familiar- a member here had one that was hit like that awhile back...same car?
  • ohyeahcrxohyeahcrx New Wagonist
    superhatch wrote:
    -Make the car smell like clean laundry all the time.

    hahahahah...awesome.

    If you're gonna keep a log you should just start a blog somewhere.

    Haha well I guess the weather stripping leaks somewhere, but until it rains I cant find it to fix it but it definately has this musty smell...
    Thats why Im using this thread as a blog ha. Maybe if I actually drive all over the country then I will, but right now its just a plan and we'll see if I stick to it or not.

    bam-bam wrote:
    Welcome. Somehow this car looks familiar- a member here had one that was hit like that awhile back...same car?

    Maybe? I am not sure if my friend started some kinda thread with it on here? If he did Im sure it didnt go very far haha.
  • The HX wheels look great! I'd really like to get another set, but they have been kind of hard to find for a decent price.
  • ohyeahcrxohyeahcrx New Wagonist
    The_Head wrote:
    The HX wheels look great! I'd really like to get another set, but they have been kind of hard to find for a decent price.

    Close. They are infact VX's. Which are smaller (13's instead of 14's) and more narrow. Which means they are even lighter then HX's! I have some HX's on my CRX so I figured Id compare them for ya.

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    So I got some work done today. I bought some dryer sheets ($1.46) and changed the oil (Castrol High Mileage 10w-30 and a Wix oil filter for a combined total of $22.56.)

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    Nice hot day in the Sonoran desert I might add haha.

    I also had some free time so I decided to start painting some of the trim that needs to be repainted. And some how I always seem to underestimate how long it takes to mask the smallest of things off haha. But heres what I painted

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    (black strip under the back window that used to be chrome.)
  • doitdubdoitdub familEE
    ohyeahcrx wrote:
    Ah good idea. Isnt a fuel filter kinda tough to change inside the fuel tank?
    I think youre thinking of the fuel pump. The fuel filter is a black cylinder in the engine bay on the firewall where your fuel lines connect to.
  • wagowillwagowill New Wagonist
    i had vx rim on my wago b4
    ride like shit and i was sliding everywhere
    but good look on your wago
  • ohyeahcrxohyeahcrx New Wagonist
    doitdub wrote:
    ohyeahcrx wrote:
    Ah good idea. Isnt a fuel filter kinda tough to change inside the fuel tank?
    I think youre thinking of the fuel pump. The fuel filter is a black cylinder in the engine bay on the firewall where your fuel lines connect to.


    Yeah your right haha. Definately should change it after seeing what yours looked like. Gross. After you changed it did you notice any differnce in MPG's? Performance?
  • SparklesSparkles Wagonist
    Yes! Another wagon in Az.
  • ohyeahcrx wrote:
    Close. They are infact VX's. Which are smaller (13's instead of 14's) and more narrow. Which means they are even lighter then HX's! I have some HX's on my CRX so I figured Id compare them for ya.

    Ah sunuva... you got me! I have had both, but I haven't had VX's since 2001. But, the VX's look great too! I'd rather have 14" HX rims though.
  • doitdubdoitdub familEE
    ohyeahcrx wrote:
    doitdub wrote:
    ohyeahcrx wrote:
    Ah good idea. Isnt a fuel filter kinda tough to change inside the fuel tank?
    I think youre thinking of the fuel pump. The fuel filter is a black cylinder in the engine bay on the firewall where your fuel lines connect to.


    Yeah your right haha. Definately should change it after seeing what yours looked like. Gross. After you changed it did you notice any differnce in MPG's? Performance?
    Mine was very inoperable at the time. :lol: I will say that it is one thing many people forget about in searching for mpgs and tune ups. It's twenty bucks well spent and will be good to go for quite a while.

    VX wheels are very good for mpg. 8)
  • ohyeahcrxohyeahcrx New Wagonist
    doitdub wrote:
    Mine was very inoperable at the time. :lol: I will say that it is one thing many people forget about in searching for mpgs and tune ups. It's twenty bucks well spent and will be good to go for quite a while.

    VX wheels are very good for mpg. 8)

    Definately going to do the fuel filter then. Ill forever be on the quest for those MPG's without doing anything drastic..ha.

    VX's are the best of both worlds, they look cool and help towards MPG (plus tires are CHEAP too, atleast thats what people say) Though they are slightly lacking in the performance department, but thankfully the wagon is not the speed machine. Thats what the CRX is for :D

    Did some night paintin and painted the rear bumper. Got some krylon Black satin. 2 cans was $5.83. Am going to take pictures and maybe paint the front bumper tomorrow...or maybe the window trim. Time will tell!
  • 806wagon806wagon New Wagonist
    your cawagon is lookin good bro
  • ohyeahcrxohyeahcrx New Wagonist
    Minor update. Repainted all the window trim. I think it looks 23x better. I also painted the rear bumper. Doesn't look too bad. Better then it did before!

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  • ohyeahcrxohyeahcrx New Wagonist
    Little update. Its monsoon season here in the good ole Sonoran desert which means tons of rain in short periods of time, which means I will be able to find out where the car leaks from. And as far as I can tell its only leaking from the top of the rear doors. My plan of action? Bulk up the weather stripping with old bike inner tubes (this stuff is sooo useful).

    Also the engine started bogging sometimes at a low RPM (under 2500) but its not all the time. Only sometimes. And it seemed to happen more after I filled up the tank (89 octane, before its only ever gotten 87). Ill more then likely go through all the possible problems tomorrow (plugs, wires, injectors ect.) Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

    I also plan on painting 2 of the doors flat black, along with the roof, so people can draw on them with chalk (since the paint on it is less then stellar) and I know chances are my friends will draw male genitalia half the time but ill erase it before I start driving haha.
  • ohyeahcrxohyeahcrx New Wagonist
    So I am almost positive I found the bogging problem. Upon checking of the spark plugs I come to find out they are covered in oil, just drenched. My friend claims to have changed the valve cover gasket and the little spark plug gaskets shortly after he got the car (+/- 5,000 miles ago). So I took them out, cleaned them up as best I could then reinstalled them. Its still a little boggy but not as bad. I figure ill see how much oil collects in them over a certain period of time. I think its a combination of that, and crappy sparkplug wires. So definitely something I will be keeping my eye on.
  • Mandalore88Mandalore88 Senior Wagonist
    your to-do list looks rad keep it up
  • ohyeahcrxohyeahcrx New Wagonist
    your to-do list looks rad keep it up

    Thanks man. Trying my hardest..

    So I replaced the valve-cover-gasket-spark-plug-tunnel-gaskets today. My friend had accidently bought more then one when he did his so he had an extra set and he just gave them to me, so no cost there. Also my spark plug wires are total sh!t but one of them in paticular was really bad. I couldnt even get it to click onto the sparkplug. And I couldnt buy new wires until monday (thats the next time my friend worked at the auto parts store) so I had to do a temp fix for today so I wouldnt have to deal with the boggyness. I had a stroke of ninjanuity. I used the throttle cable and its brackets to hold the wire in place so it wouldnt pop out as I was driving. I did about 30 miles today and not one spot of boggyness. I could run this setup for longer if I wanted to (thats how confident I am in my contraption haha) But tomorrow I will get new wires, maybe plugs, maybe a new cap and rotor, maybe some other things. We will see how I feel. But here is a picture of the setup.

    81.jpg

    Closer version'

    82.jpg

    yes I know I have a dirty engine bay.
  • ohyeahcrxohyeahcrx New Wagonist
    Alright so the other day I bought NGK sprak plug wires, a new AC belt,NGK sparkplugs (v-power), and a cap and rotor for a grand total of $58.57. I installed the AC belt to be greeted with a terrible sound coming out of the AC compressor. I just figure whatever as long as the air is cold. So Im driving along and the noise stops, so I was just like "oh cool, dont have to hear it anymore." Then I smell this horrid smell, followed by smoke coming out from under the hood. Time to pull over. Open the hood and and I am greeted with the stench of burning rubber, and then I see that the AC belt is shredded. So somewhere along the line looks like I am going to need to get a new compressor haha. (unless I can somehow rebuild this one?) And I have yet to install the cap and rotor, because it looks a little bit more involved to install the rotor then I had anticipated?

    Also I have been in the market for another valve cover, and I was able to find a complete B& head (minus dizzy and IM) for $10. So I scooped that up, not sure if I am going to use it or what but for 10 bucks I said why not, considering all the other valve covers I found people wanted like 30 bucks for.

    But no more boggyness and its running like a top! (knock on wood)Loving it more and more each day.
  • civicgsr96civicgsr96 Band Wagon
    That suck man, but the cap an rotor are not that hard. If you were in the mid-west I could help you out.
  • ohyeahcrxohyeahcrx New Wagonist
    Im sure its alot easier then I am making it out to be haha
  • ohyeahcrxohyeahcrx New Wagonist
    So I was wondering if the AC compressor from a CRX is interchangeable with the wagons? Because I think I might be able to score one pretty easily. Also is the window regulator of the CRX interchangeable with the wagon? Thanks
  • ohyeahcrxohyeahcrx New Wagonist
    No real updates, just been driving the wagon. I just past 1200 miles! Hope to get it tinted soon, and get a halfway decent stereo system in it haha.
  • I like it *thumbs up*
  • ohyeahcrxohyeahcrx New Wagonist
    Another minor update if theres anyone even following this thread haha.

    Finally got around to start getting it tinted. I have a good friend of mine tints, so he and I started tinting this beast. We got the back window, and all 4 back door windows. Still need to do those rear quarter windows and the front window. I decided to go with 20% tint. I think it looks a ton better then before. I still need to repaint the moulding on the side, cause the front bumper and rear bumper are painted. Ill get better pictures when its fully tinted but this is just a minor update!

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  • I need to tint mine so bad even though its not hot here anymore
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