Don't call it a comeback. 12 years in the making.
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Council Member
This build starts 12 years ago.
I had a swapped 88 HF that I kept getting into trouble with and lost my drivers license for the 3rd time. i was 18.
When it came time to get my license back, I had to go to a hearing and talk to a guy in a suit.
"Have you learned your lesson?"
"Oh yes sir, certainly, I sold my 2 seater and bought that wagon outside, look you can see it out the window"
"Ok, I see that you are reformed and ready to drive again blah blah blah blah blah..."
:onthego:
After driving it rusty and stock in some sort of over'sprayed blue for a few years...
7 years ago.
We removed a lot of crap from the car. I think in total we dug out a rag, some cardboard, and a piece of wood.
The inner wheel arch was replaced with an EK civic front fender. The beauty of this is that we bent the inner lip towards the outer lip and welded it up, now there is no lip at all, and no place for any junk to collect. below.
Once completed he started work on the outter wheel arch. We decided to use the front fenders from one of the parts wagons in the backyard, the arch seemed the same. We would later realize the arch opening was about 1" longer. The rear bumper was sticking into the arch. Easily fixed by trimming the bumper. Not perfect, but hardly noticable. Lack of Pics here. With the fender welded into place after much effort. We decided that tacking the piece into place and then just banging it to fit was our only option on this side. It's ugly to look at, bondo to the rescue.
Lack of pics for the passenger side, but it was MUCH easier. Less rust. Very nice work on the passanger side.
Trunk area. We pulled some cardboard out of that hole. below.
It lasted in that state, until this last winter when a major mechanical overhaul commenced...
530,000kms, owned for 12 consecutive years ( a forum record i believe )
MODS:
Cosmetic:
- nothing, painted bumpers and added the side view mirror. OEM flaps.
- lots of terrible body work, but rust is being held back for the time being.
- rust-o-lium white / tremclad white spray job.
Drivetrain:
- fresh d16a6. was sitting in my friends shipping container for 5 years. it had been rebuild top to bottom for an SCCA car, internals unknown. 10,000kms on engine now.
- crx si transmission. 91 with the bigger bearings.
- new clutch, 10,000kms ago.
- DC 4-2-1 ceramic
- AEM CAI
- new wires/plugs/cap & rotor.
Brakes:
- Russel stainless lines.
- Hawk HPS pads
Suspension:
- Prothane bushings almost everywhere.
- Koni Yellow adjustable's
- ITR springs 250f/ - 140/250r progressive.
- Godspeed rear LCA's
Wheels/Tires:
- Centra Type II's. 14x6 et30. (ugly, but i love the offset and size.)
- Dural SDLA tires
Interior:
- mostly gone. I am a drywall taper/finisher and i haul need to haul a lot of tools. (8' ladder and plank fit perfectly with glove box gone).
other maintenance:
- everything. everything mechanical has been replaced. ball joints, tie-rods, rack bushing, radius arm bushings, rear trailing arm bushings, rear drums hardware and pads, rad.
third speaker mod
yes, there are much nicer wagons. one's that are more loved... i doubt it.
I had a swapped 88 HF that I kept getting into trouble with and lost my drivers license for the 3rd time. i was 18.
When it came time to get my license back, I had to go to a hearing and talk to a guy in a suit.
"Have you learned your lesson?"
"Oh yes sir, certainly, I sold my 2 seater and bought that wagon outside, look you can see it out the window"
"Ok, I see that you are reformed and ready to drive again blah blah blah blah blah..."
:onthego:
After driving it rusty and stock in some sort of over'sprayed blue for a few years...
7 years ago.
We removed a lot of crap from the car. I think in total we dug out a rag, some cardboard, and a piece of wood.
The inner wheel arch was replaced with an EK civic front fender. The beauty of this is that we bent the inner lip towards the outer lip and welded it up, now there is no lip at all, and no place for any junk to collect. below.
Once completed he started work on the outter wheel arch. We decided to use the front fenders from one of the parts wagons in the backyard, the arch seemed the same. We would later realize the arch opening was about 1" longer. The rear bumper was sticking into the arch. Easily fixed by trimming the bumper. Not perfect, but hardly noticable. Lack of Pics here. With the fender welded into place after much effort. We decided that tacking the piece into place and then just banging it to fit was our only option on this side. It's ugly to look at, bondo to the rescue.
Lack of pics for the passenger side, but it was MUCH easier. Less rust. Very nice work on the passanger side.
Trunk area. We pulled some cardboard out of that hole. below.
It lasted in that state, until this last winter when a major mechanical overhaul commenced...
530,000kms, owned for 12 consecutive years ( a forum record i believe )
MODS:
Cosmetic:
- nothing, painted bumpers and added the side view mirror. OEM flaps.
- lots of terrible body work, but rust is being held back for the time being.
- rust-o-lium white / tremclad white spray job.
Drivetrain:
- fresh d16a6. was sitting in my friends shipping container for 5 years. it had been rebuild top to bottom for an SCCA car, internals unknown. 10,000kms on engine now.
- crx si transmission. 91 with the bigger bearings.
- new clutch, 10,000kms ago.
- DC 4-2-1 ceramic
- AEM CAI
- new wires/plugs/cap & rotor.
Brakes:
- Russel stainless lines.
- Hawk HPS pads
Suspension:
- Prothane bushings almost everywhere.
- Koni Yellow adjustable's
- ITR springs 250f/ - 140/250r progressive.
- Godspeed rear LCA's
Wheels/Tires:
- Centra Type II's. 14x6 et30. (ugly, but i love the offset and size.)
- Dural SDLA tires
Interior:
- mostly gone. I am a drywall taper/finisher and i haul need to haul a lot of tools. (8' ladder and plank fit perfectly with glove box gone).
other maintenance:
- everything. everything mechanical has been replaced. ball joints, tie-rods, rack bushing, radius arm bushings, rear trailing arm bushings, rear drums hardware and pads, rad.
third speaker modyes, there are much nicer wagons. one's that are more loved... i doubt it.
Comments
What are the Black Honda Wheels that you had on it before?
i think they may have come on some old 80's accords as well, not sure. They are going to turn into my winter wheels and the studded tires will get moved over from the steelies. they are hella light and OG. amazingly all the center caps are still there as well!
We may have to battle out who loves their wagon more :P
Anyway, it looks ok for now. More importantly i think, is how the car has been mechanically restored. There is very little that hasn't been replaced. Yesterday i finally found a clunk that i was convinced was coming from the steering system. Whenever i would rock the steering wheel, brake or accelerate from stop, i would get this annoying clunk. Turned out there was a bolt backed out behind the stereo, a 12mm that holds the rusty basket to the chassis. Took me forever to find. I also found some dense foam and stuffed little bits of it at various points in the dash to stop squeaks. Now it's nice in there... well as nice as can be with no interior.
Wagon seat... in the garbage with you. Del Sol red stripe... in you go. Very easy to do, took me about 2 hours without a clue if it was even going to work in the first place.
Del sol seats do not bolt in, the rails are to long and to close together... HOWEVER... the bottom foam and seat back mount 98% perfectly to the wagon pan/rails. I might do a write up, but i'm saying anyone with some metal snippers, zip tie's a 12,14,19mm and screwdriver can do it. Once you have both seats completely torn apart, just replace your wagon cushion with the del sol one and mount the del sol seat back to the oem wagon hardware (rails/pan). the del sol cushion is a very close fit, i filled some small voids with some foam i had around. probably didn't even need to.
it finally reminds me of the crx's i used to have when i was a teenager, but way more room.
pics to to come I JUST BEAT THE RAIN, thunder and lightning right now.
exhaust was right in the way, chopped. very loud and unsafe now.
wagon seat cushion left, del sol pan right. hard to tell but they are very similar in shape, the mounting points are all different though, hence just doing a foam swap.
Once you add the smell into the equation... it's a real force to be reckoned with.
I'm a drywall mudder and this is my tool hauler, everything is covered in dust.
God damn i hate posting pics. This is why I don't post pics! There is friggin rust and dust everywhere! gross... damn flash is showing it all off too.
I think you need like a little truck... Then clean your wagon before I lose my cool... and febreeze that shit apparently... lols... still no excuse for the gray console; some one on here has an extra blue one they will sale you for cheaaaap...
if it gets much worse you can just chop the top... and ACTUALLY make it a truck. I'm not hating, that would be awesome. lol
I am sure it is remarkably useful without interior though. :smug: Very cool that you have had it soo long.
give me a truck that gets 30+mpg and is as fun to drive, maybe i'll consider it.
DA exhaust installed today, ugly install but it clears the new sway bar and is dead silent like oem. i love it.
SS magnaflow
EG sedan armrest. keeping with my grey/blue/dirt interior scheme.
I totally agree with you about rear sway bars. The best mod I ever did to my wagon was to add one. The should have had one from the factory
yup, right up there with the koni/itr combo at 2% of the cost. the fact that wagons didn't come with the EX brakes and a rear bar blows my mind.
the del sol seat is also worth it's weight in gold!!! it's no secret that the wagon seat, however comfy, does not exactly hug you in the corners. the del sol seat does. The cloth is very cheap feeling for OEM, but the hugability is right up there. ALMOST as nice as CRX Si seats, not as nice on the bottom and side bolsters could be a touch bigger. The shoulder and head rests are just right. I'm drying out the passenger side from a cleaning (that's right, i cleaned it, the water was filthy!). They also make you sit about .75" lower in the car, if i had a crx dash, it would feel exactly like that, except i can see out the rear window.
Really thinking about restoring some interior now....
I remember your resto when I first joined up, and being amazed that anyone would go to such lengths with that much rust. There was another guy too, in Ohio, with a similar bucket. What was his name?
bam-bam is more my style! I'm not sure who the guy in Ohio was, but there is an active member on here with his signature as my quote "to even consider restoring that thing makes me think you might just be a little out of your mind. " along those lines anyway. That was directed to that guy in Ohio if i remember correctly. It makes me laugh every time i see it, because it reminds me how COMPLETELY out of my mind i am.
Enter ES 22mm bushings with brackets. 2x as thick and beefy as OEM honda. Plus i got the grease able kind.
Took factory wagon tow hooks and welded on some L channel, drilled out the holes where i wanted them, done.
I am also in the process of ditching the centra type II's in favor of team dynamics 14x7's.
A y8 intake manifold and obx adj cam gear have since been added as well.
Colt Tri Flow cam installed
New Exhaust Done
Tuned on Neptune, Innovate Wideband o2.
Prothane rear motor mount insert, solid.
Rebuild Si steering rack,
Vibrations gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!