Simplyhonda's RT-4WD

simplyhonda

Well, I picked up "Wagondriver's" 89' RT wagon from the for sale section yesterday! Traded him my motorcycle for it. Very happy with my trade! 166K, Cold Air, Running good! As soon as I got home with it, clean-up began. My buddy Jim was there to help. He details cars at the local Ferrari & Lamborghini dealer. Good guy to know! What a job. Here are the pics.

Me picking up the wagon. (crappy phone pics) We met at IKEA in Charlotte, NC. Notice my bike in his truck in the background. You really can get cool stuff at IKEA!!



My bike I traded 72' CB100


Back home and washed 2 hours later. (Nice Window Sticker!!)


Bottle of P/S fluid had dumped in the back along with a pine tree. Ewww.


Seats out - Nasty!



Crack!


NICE!


These need attention!



Back is fresh! Much better!



Love the stock AWD wheels. Powdercoating soon to come!


First problem! No big deal. Off to Napa!


Picked these up last week from "88hybrid's" partout for my 2WD build. Build scratched for 4WD build! 2WD probably going up for sale soon!


Oh Yeah!


Motor Shot!


Well back to work! More pis to come as work continues! Thanks Wagondriver!

superhatch

Awesome! Looks like it's really solid, and has a lot of potential!

I had a CB350 that I restored and sold shortly after. Miss that bike.

neckface

Aww lucky I wanted that thing so bad haha. RTAWD's are hard to find in columbia but good luck with the build man

debris

I hate you.
I have been looking for a year now for a wagon in that colour & have had no luck so far.

unlimited02

nice pick up... can't wait to see more...

simplyhonda

Well, I've been super busy cleaning this wagon the past two days. How do they get soooooo.... dirty?
I cleaned the rear, shampooed the carpet. Scrubbed the headliner, doors, dash, rear seats & soaked it all in armorall. Starting to look and smell much better! I also fiberglassed the broken e-brake cover back together. and removed broken gauge face.
Also managed to get all the wheels off finally! I think godzilla put them on last time. I have never had such a time. Broke a stock lugwrench with pipe attached!, large craftsman rachet, & a 1/2 - 3/8" adappator. Finally got them free with a large borrowed breaker bar and deep impact socket. So much for proper torque!
More to come!

EDwEFprts

^ good cleaning so far.
keep it up.

i've cleaned mine somewhat intensive and i still find dirt, stains, etc.
some people just don't care for their cars at all.
i've seen late-model cars in worse shape than my wagon.

Foofighter

Very clean looking wagon!!! Good luck with it! I need to find one, I am getting really eager.

simplyhonda

Well, I spent the weekend with the wagon. I accomplished general maintenance including - Spark plugs & wires, Valve cover gaskets, New real wheel cylinders and pads as well as more cleaning. Here are some more pics!

Ugly valve cover!


This looks pretty good


The Strip



Ahh Fresh!


Painted my mudflaps. I love it - Looks hot!


Also started on the seats.



All for now. There will be more!

Reaccion

Nice job... Great find!!

coreyfrenzel

I'm so jealous! I want to find one!

nerdariostomp

lookin good man. you've really done a killer job of cleaning things up

superhatch

What are your plans with the seats?

simplyhonda

I took the seat bottoms apart so I could wash the covers. This turned out to be quite a task. I treated them and threw them in the washing machine. They were pretty stained. I couldn't find hog rings anywhere. (this was mostly due to laziness) However being in aircraft maintence school, I have a set of safety wire pliers. These worked great for reassembly of the seat bottoms. I got the passenger seat washed and put back together. It looks great! All but one stain came out. That is acceptable. At least I know they are clean and they smell nice and fresh. Drivers seat is a different story. I got it apart and washed, but as we all know, it is nice and worn. I plan on going to the fabric store and getting some type of brown fabric to make a patch for the small rip in the bottom and the torn side bolster. Not a big fan of patches, but it will be better than ripped up seats.

Passenger seat done!


Disassembling drivers seat


This is going to be fun


Tools of the trade


My buddy Garcia helping me out! He loves the wagon too. (Notice mud flaps!)


Anyone know how I can fix this bumper? It looks like it warped due to heat from the muffler.

nerdariostomp

Maybe some blankets overtop and some weight on top of the bumper and leave it in the sun for a while??? Just throwing out ideas, but either way, I'd assume you'd need to take off the bumper.

Maybe a heat gun to keep the paint from cracking as you push up on it with a jack and apiece of something flat??? That might help. A heat shield on the muffler might help to prevent further damage too...I know summit or jegs has muffler wraps that hot rodders use

simplyhonda

Word of warning: Do not attempt to remove seat covers unless you have alot of patients! This is a real chore, but it is coming along nicely!

nerdariostomp

hahaha yeah removing those is a PITA dude. I've pulled my old CRX seat covers to fill in some foam in the seat and patch some rips and it was hilarious...i just ended up using a lot of zip ties instead of the hog rings, but that's just me and my ghetto ways haha.

EDwEFprts

nerdariostomp wrote:

...i just ended up using a lot of zip ties instead of the hog rings, but that's just me and my ghetto ways haha.

i like that way.
much easier and cheaper.
it makes sense to me.

simplyhonda

Zip ties are a great idea! Handn't thought of that one.

simplyhonda

It's been a busy week with these seats, but I got them done. Here is the driver's seat patched, washed, and all back together. I think it turned out pretty good! Many thanks to my wonderful wife and mom, for doing my sewing work. You rock!


Also, I went to the DMV friday and got my tags! Took her out for the first time yesterday, and today
I took the family on a 150 mi. trip up to the mountains. Wagon did great! Now that it is on the road it will be nice to slow down working on it a bit and enjoy driving. Next area of concentration is the body. I want to get it waxed up and fix the two small rusty spots as well as remove a few dents. Also want to beef up the audio and get my Yakima rack back from my friend Grrr.... (don't let your good friends borrow your good racks! If you do, make sure they give them back before they move cross country!) All in due time. Here is a parting shot from today's ride!

Socalwagon

Great thread! this RT4wd is looking sweet nice find! cant wait to watch and see how fresh this turns out to be... im envious

Foofighter

Seats turned out awesome! Keep up the good work on the restore.

simplyhonda

Ebay score! Watched these all week, Can't wait til' they get here!

91_wago

was that the one for 250 on ebay?

truedson87

Dude, I LLOOOVVVVEEEEE what you did with the mudflaps. They look soo good.

simplyhonda

No, not the $250 one. It was black. I scored both items for way less than that!
Thanks on the mudflaps! I love how they turned out!

simplyhonda

First fuel milage figures are in. 29.67 mpg! Not too shabby.

Chaife

Its already starting to look really good.

simplyhonda wrote:

First fuel milage figures are in. 29.67 mpg! Not too shabby.

not bad at all.

simplyhonda

Finally got the backseats put back together. They turned out better than the front.

I also installed some Polk tweeters with component woofers in the door. They sound great!

Oh yeah! And I installed my Center Console that arrived friday! So Stoked! I think it looks great.

Maybe soon Ill upgrade my head unit if I can quit buying other crap.
I still have to install the armrest. It was in pretty poor shape , so I am in the process of recovering and doing some fiberglass work on it, but it will be fresh and installed soon enough!
Now it is on to more routine maintence!

Anyone else have trouble seperating the axle from the half shaft? I can't get it loose. There has got to be a trick to this.

wagodizzle

jam a crow-bar in there between the axle and half-shaft. worst-case scenario if that doesnt work (i had to do this with my DA) is unbolt the half-shaft with the axle still attached. not hard, just time consuming lol.

Real Time EE

Damn dude wagon is sick, mudflaps,.. genius, got a RT myself and yes I will be doing that also hehe