Project Wagon: See where it goes.....

Hey guys whats up. Just joined this morning. I just bought a 89 wagon dx a few days ago. This is only my second honda. Ive been in the Srt4 game for awhile. Anyway back to business.. I found the car at a buddy of mines shop. He said it was broke down and customer had no money. So long story short.... I called the owner and bought it for $300.00 (Not running) AS IS.. <
Who cares :encouragement:

That was my intro. Now Imma try and start a build thread. I have started and completed alot of projects, but never have documented it. So here it goes. The original price the owner was asking was $700.00, due to the fact he just put a brand spanking new set of tires on it which were 13 inch, so they were no good to me. I offered him 300.00 plus he keep his own tires and try to sell them on the local craigslist. He accepted my offer. :encouragement: So I picked it up that weekend. Heres what she looked like when I got her.
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So the story was told that the older couple had a mechanic that they found off Craigslist, come by there house and put a timing belt and water pump on it in there driveway. Needless to say the guy didnt do such a great job, because later that afternoon they were driving to the store and the tensioner let loose and bent some valves. Then it was towed to the shop where I found it so a professional could verify it was dead-needing major repair. I think they said the shop quoted them $1200.00 to fix.(Would only replace the whole engine and not the head due to 203k on her). So this is her when I got her home to my shop. (1st day)
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Pretty much just checked out what I got. Stood around and looked at it for awhile dreaming and preaching all the Imma do this and Imma do that mess. <~~ You know how it is:cool:
Well a few days went by as friends came by to see the project, and I had verified that the valves were bent with no compression so I was on the hunt for part to repair her back to OEM. After a few days of Craigslisting it.. I came up with this
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Scored that for $60.00 bucks and it came off a car with 92k. Seen all the ifs,ands, or buts for myself. So on the way home from the parts gathering trip I stopped by Napa and got a headgasket kit, Timing belt kit, water pump and oil change...Ooo and some new plugs. While I was waiting for all my parts to come in, a friend of mine gave me a stock DA Integra lip and a set of H&R springs, So I chopped it up and this is what I got.
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I thinking it was a few days later and all my parts came in. Didnt take a pic of all that but trust me its all in there. lol Did manage to bust a pic off when I started to do the job
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Soooo...the out come of that lil major job was that she started and purrred like a kitty.:encouragement: I was happy but it sounded like crap due to someone robbing the muffler off it. So it was a straight piped wagon rocket. The first test drive went well and I also agree with the original owners story for a fairly new clutch. Cause she felt great along with seeing two new axles, new rad. hoses, and wiper blades!! Score!!:encouragement: SN: Found 6.00 dollars in change when cleaning the car out. Nothing like getting ur money back! Unfortunately I didnt take any pics of the inside or its filth.( Didnt intend on making a build thread) But the interior is a 8 1/2 outta 10. Just missing one rear headrest which is brown and Im sure Ill never find it. But I shall hunt before giving up. Soooooo now its running, lowerd, had a good inspection, has a lil lip action going on and some nice wheels(that need work).
Next step is to get a muffler on this 1.5 bag pipe and some kind of radio. Just another pic or two for the record.
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My wheels came out nice. Came across some stuff called "White Diamond" must say this stuff is killer and made the wheels look new again. With a few hours and some elbow grease all 4 were back in action. With the ride coming together a lil quicker than what I thought, I figured it was time for some other kind of lighting. Those 1989 flash lights in the front just aint cutting it. :disturbed: So I orderd some of these.
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3000k 9006 set up. What do you think?607.jpg

After I finished the lights it was raining cats and dogs outside so I started to mess around at the shop, called Advance Auto and had them deliver what they had at the moment to cure my craving to mod something else.:encouragement: So this is what they sent
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Not bad for a for a 43.00 dollar purchase. Some dumb-a$$ lost the horn button for the wheel so they knocked 29.99 off the asking price of 49.99 for the wheel and I gave 23.00 bucks for the adapter hub. Not bad huh??:tickled_pink: Although I do dig the wheel for what I have in it, I felt like I needed something a lil different so I got this off Craigslist for 35.00 bucks.. with a lil work this will be awesome just wait and see.
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Well thats pretty much where I am with the wagon as of right now. Like I stated before my second son is due in less than 16 days. So for now playing at the shop with the wagon is on a stand still till lil Liam is born. Thanks for tuning in and let me know what ya think!!:nightmare:
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Comments

  • 89Wa-gone89Wa-gone Band Wagon
    Hey whats up guys. Well I havent been able to do much since the 2nd son was born but Ive got a round to diong a lil bit. Not that it really matters to much since it doesnt seem anyone cares about this build. But I shall continue. Anyway so I got the steering wheel on but lack pictures at the moment. But I did see where a few have attempted to put the hatch wing on the wagon so I figured I wud give it a shot.

    Here the wing on a car at the junk yard:
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    And this is it after doing the install. I tweeked it a lil bit and I think I did my install a lil different than others due to little info I cud find. Anyway if the pic gathers interest Ill post more pics, but heres a few for now. And yes I did away with my OEM third brake light and hooked up the other.:
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  • VLxTurtleVLxTurtle New Wagonist
    Clean wagon, it's always good when you find a wagon without rust!, wing looks good I think you should paint it tho to make it stand out more.
  • jpciiijpciii familEE
    holy crap, you got an awesome deal. I would have GLADLY paid the $700 they wanted.
  • crx_arturocrx_arturo New Wagonist
    Wagon looks dope. You got a really good deal on it
  • 89Wa-gone89Wa-gone Band Wagon
    Hey...thanks guys for the comments. Ya she is somewhat rust free. Shes has the normal rust "cancer" spots around the rear wheel well, and around the rear tail lights a little. But Hopefully by summer she will be painted. And Vlx idk, I hunted for that cream wing so long I dont think I have it in me to paint it another color lol. Well anyways thinks for tapping in on my build thread guys and stay tuned Im sure there is more to come
  • 89Wa-gone89Wa-gone Band Wagon
    O ya and you guys were right. $700.00 for the car was still a good deal but Im a lowballer so I told him what I wud pay and he bit the bait per say. They way I look at it. The cheaper you get them the more u can spend on them.:smug:
  • ultm8mindultm8mind Band Wagon
    $700 and now rolling, good deal and it's looking pretty good. Keep it up...and about the straight pipe I rolled like that for 2 hours this past weekend and about went deaf, lol.
  • 89Wa-gone89Wa-gone Band Wagon
    Hey guys Im back but not with alot of progress. Been super busy at the shop and with the new born. Anway Ill cut straight to the chase with the update. I finally choose some paint I wanted to go with for my "secondary" color. Its the Army flat green. Is nothing fancy but Ive always liked that color for some reason(prob cause I was an MP for 5 years) but anyway so thats the that. I started first with the valve cover and my DPFI cover. Did a lil sanding and cleaning and this is what I came up with:
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    I think it turned out pretty nice. Still debating if I wanna keep the intake tube/box stock with my "drop in" or should I make up some kinda nice intake tube with a cone filter? Well after working under the hood the need to fix stuff fever struck again and I fixed the a/c which still holds R-12 and is cold as a mofo. I also installed a nice cd/mp3 head unit and added some old school MTX speakers- pics later. Next I came across some ebay coilovers and did a lil strut swapping and she was sitting like this
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    I think she looks sick and believe it or not the ride quality isnt that bad..lol Well after thinking long and hard if I wanted to paint my wheels or just trade them and go a different route, me and a friend went to the shop with a case of beer and some paint and tape. Heres a few shots:
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    A few beers later for some reason we started to think the bright green lips were cool so we tried it..
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    Well after a few hours of hard work and lots of beer this was the outcome. Im still iffy on it but we'll see how it turns out before ECHM.
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    Well thats pretty much it for now. Let me know what ya think. I been following along up here and have seen some really nice wagons. I know I got along way to go but every week shes changes and Im hoping for the better. Well over-and out fellas!!
  • TerminusVoxTerminusVox Senior Wagonist
    Good find / rescue!
  • 89Wa-gone89Wa-gone Band Wagon
    -No longer for sale change of plans- stay tuned.!!
  • Nooooo dont sell it. Its the best car you got (even though i dont know what else you got) The car has made excellent progress in the little time you have had it. Keep it going
  • Ridge911Ridge911 New Wagonist
    Why are you selling? UNLESS something in your life got exigent, its only logical to keep it: You got it for cheap, fixed it for cheap, it's reliable, it's paid for. Keep it as a 2nd car, at least. You WILL regret selling it...
  • simplyhondasimplyhonda Council Member
    You have a PM :)
  • simplyhondasimplyhonda Council Member
    Love How the wheels turned out By the way!
  • HEcreated487HEcreated487 Band Wagon
    Any more info on that rear wing (top of hatch)?
  • 89Wa-gone89Wa-gone Band Wagon
    What kinda info you looking for? If your looking for a "How To" with pics I would have to disassemble it, and take pics. I failed to do so when I modded it up.
  • PopPopsGaragePopPopsGarage Council Member
    Hell yah man!
  • jongsrjongsr Wagonist
    This wagon still around, in curious about the hatch wing mod as well!
  • Love it! Looks to be in good condition, even better now you showed her some love! Congrats
  • 89Wa-gone89Wa-gone Band Wagon
    Hey whats up guys. Thanks for all in the input. I really haven't done a lot to the wagon lately. Just driving to and from work. The cold seasons tend to slow me down. Since I have posted tho, I have put on Skunk 2 coil overs (full bodies), new upper control arms/ball joints, lower ball joints, inner and outer tie-rod ends, and fresh alignment and 4 brand new 195/50/15's. Just didn't take any pics. I didn't think my thread gathered that much interest to continue to post. But I will get detailed pics of the wing-mod up soon. Ill post a few pics when I get home from work later this afternoon just to show her current status.
  • 89Wa-gone89Wa-gone Band Wagon
    Ok..so I dropped a few lines before work the other morning and didnt have time to post any pics. I also forgot to mention among all the stuff listed that I have done recently, that I've added new exhaust, took the 3k HIDs out and put 10ks in. I also added a roof rack, and a nice system. Im in the middle of a project for a roof basket and I should be getting my windows tinted soon and possible new wheels... so stay tuned and heres a few pics of the recent progress.. Later guys

    Just a pic of her cleaned up at the store
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    This is her getting the new exhaust welded on
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    Getting that Toe and Go
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    The wagon just sitting in the crowd @ ECHM13
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    Posted up
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    And this would be the first stages of my roof basket for the rack. Stay tuned.......
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  • Do want shopping cart basket! Tasty mods and a great looker!
    Good job mate
  • jongsrjongsr Wagonist
    Interested in seeing that roof basket!
  • jongsr wrote: »
    Interested in seeing that roof basket!
    Me too it's going to be off the chain!
  • Nice basket, I had one on my hatch a little while back. It's very entertaining watching other drivers struggle to snap a picture of the car with it on.
  • What exhaust did you use? Car looks super clean good job!!
  • 89Wa-gone89Wa-gone Band Wagon
    To be honest I have no clue. A buddy of mine ordered a 50.00 ebay muffler and never used it. He said it was to big, so I tucked it up and had some 2 1/4 pipe bent and welded all the way to the cat. Its a lil loud but nothing like having no muffler lol Thanks for all the input guys, shes a work in progress.
  • bam-bambam-bam Council Member
    A work in progress... Aren't they all? Nice work, don't let the lack of replies deter you. I read just about everything here at least once.
  • PrennroPrennro Council Member
    Def a nice looking ride! Its always nice to have another clean almond wagon build on the forum. Keep the updates coming.
  • Howdy.. Haven't really done anything to the wagon lately. Although the other day, I had the guys that work in detail pull it in. They stripped all the oxidized paint off and buffed her ass to death. Once spring hits I'm gonna start the cancer repair and give her a fresh almond coat. But for now, Im working with 25 year old paint. Let me know what you guys think.. And thanks for all the positive comments!
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