1989 Wagon RT Plans to keep this one!!!
slo88crx
Senior Wagonist
Well hello there!! I'm Back for round.... 3-4?? Can't remember. haha I have been out of the wagon game for a little while, but recently just scooped up this little guy!!
So short but sweet plans for him! Mainly just bring back to original glory. But for now just need to get on the road.
Picked him up from another member on here bigdzysays, thanks again Dustin!!
He is a 1989 RT auto Wagon. Included in the purchase was everything needed to do a manual conversion! Plus some extras!
He is a little rough around the edges. As some of you know nothing I can't handle!
Well here are the few pics I have at the moment!
And here is one of my old wagon to refresh some memory!!:cool:
1990 DX Auto. Best daily I have ever owned and can never replace...
So short but sweet plans for him! Mainly just bring back to original glory. But for now just need to get on the road.
Picked him up from another member on here bigdzysays, thanks again Dustin!!
He is a 1989 RT auto Wagon. Included in the purchase was everything needed to do a manual conversion! Plus some extras!
He is a little rough around the edges. As some of you know nothing I can't handle!
Well here are the few pics I have at the moment!
And here is one of my old wagon to refresh some memory!!:cool:
1990 DX Auto. Best daily I have ever owned and can never replace...
Comments
Oh yea we do!! haha Put a battery in him last night started right up, just doesn't drive anywhere! Time to work out some small kinks then pull it all apart.
Probably not going to rebuild. Unless the compression checks out bad. I have a spare engine laying around for later. For now just want to get the conversion done and driving. I have a 90 service manual also.
Oh haha makes sense. Not a bad idea although never done one before. So that alone intrigues me.
Looks like Masterpro has it for around $50 with part number 8645
Gates for about twice that with part number 351550
So tonight I doughnut do very much. (Again) was late when I got home.
I decided that I wanted to figure out what is wrong with the a/c and p/s before pulling the engine and trans. That way I know what I need to do when it's all taken apart or if I need to change any thing. P/s I already know that the rack is leaking. So on to the a/c. Neither had a belt when I bought the car. So I picked up a a/c belt at work before I left. Got home wrong belt. Oh well. So I checked to make sure the compressor spun and wasn't locked up. Surprisingly it turned just fine. So tomorrow I will put the belt on and put a little Freon in him and see if I can't get it to work.
After I did that I wanted to make sure the compression was good. Kind of have a slight misfire at idle. But most likely needs a cap rotor and wires. Plugs are new. So I started him up let him get nice and warm. Then pulled the plugs disconnected the fuel injectors and checked each cylinder twice. Came up with about 150psi- 155psi across the board. I was pleased with the results. After expecting to find one with low compression.
Also while looking through the car I found a neat little surprise under the passenger seat!
A couple pics I took tonight.
Went to the junkyard today and picked up a few misc pieces I needed.
Got three new taillights, door molding clips, and headliner trim.
So in order to do the manual conversion I needed this little bracket for the clutch cable. Thanks to Bam-Bam for helping out with his experience.
Mine, since it's auto does not have the hole or the support bracket behind the clutch pedal assembly. So I need to drill and add it in. Some late model '89 - '90 - '91 auto's do have them. That means no need for this pain in the ass step.
Friday night I was going to put my A/C belt on and discovered another slow down. The bearing for belt tensioner was locked up. So I grabbed one of those while I was at the junkyard also. Put it and the belt on and put in a can of freon. Started him up and boom cold A/C!!! Stoked!! although the condenser fan never came on so now time to dig into that dilemma. Also the compressor started making sounds while idling, but when I raised the RPM just a little it would go away. So I'm not sure if the clutch is going bad or if it may be low on oil.
Also today kind of reorganized my garage and separated the bottom end from the Transmission. (Spare bottom end) And decided it may be easier to clean up the trans while on my engine stand haha. Soo I bolted it up and grrrrrr
Well that's all for now stay tuned for updates. Dash and interior are going to be coming out soon. Either that or almost time to pull the engine out. I think I have all the little things fixed that I wanted to tinker with before pulling him all apart...
So a few weeks ago I decided time to remove the dash and weld in the bracket for the clutch cable. Here are a few before and after photos, as well as some of the pedal assembly that had to repair! I hope my welds hold!!
Here is this picture I have removed the Dash and the Auto pedal assembly.
If you look here you can see that there is not a hole for the clutch cable or the support bracket.
After some cutting, grinding, fitting and a little bleeding. I have successfully welded in the new clutch cable support bracket!!!
Also I temporarily fixed my driver door catch thingy while had my welder out. Works for now!
Welp my pedal assembly is broken just like all the rest... Time to fixer up. Hopefully it holds!! And It's installed and bolts in perfect!
Something wrong with this picture???
A few more days went by after all this fun. Didn't really get around to doing too much! So I ordered myself a few little christmas presents!!
Not all for the Wagon though..
Had to put up a light above my tool box. And since I already had this laying around I went ahead and took it apart and hung from the ceiling. Worked out great, now I can see what I am doing!!
Alright back to working on the wagon!! over last weekend I pulled the engine out and went ahead and got it all cleaned up for the most part!
And the heart is out!!
All cleaned up and pressure washed!! Needs a little more detail but good enough for now!
Put the suspension back together and pushed her back outside. Man this thing is heavy!! I had to use a 4 wheeler just to put into the garage!!
Really looking like a 4x4 hahaha!!
Ok so here is the main reason why I am doing the manual conversion! The driveshaft busted free from the transmission. Not sure but I suspect that the tires are two completely different sizes may have caused it! It broke clean out!!
I was off yesterday so I stripped the interior! and started some clean up! Man that carpet was nasty. Sand, dog hair, long white human hair, fishing tackle all sorts of random stuff!! Took the carpet and seats out and pressure washed the carpet. But it's still gonna need a good shampoo! Also found some water leaks. I have some standing water inside so I'm going to have to track those down.
So final few photos and updates for the night. Went to go pull the timing belt off and the tensioner bolt was stripped out... Great!! So I ordered a Time-Sert kit to permanently fix it! I didn't trust a heli-coil for this important of a bolt. Also got the new timing belt and water pump on last night!! I cleaned up the V/C and wrinkle black painted it. This tool came in a very fancy box!! I like it Very easy to use and really great quality!!
I also went ahead and changed every hose on this engine! The oil cooler hose were so brittle that when I touched them they just crumbled. Every seal was replaced with a OEM Honda one, including the valve stem seals. (which was a pain with the head on still) It's coming together just slowly! I need to start taking more pictures. Maybe I can do a DIY write-up on the auto-manual conversion on the RT. Anyways...
Thanks for checking it out!! Soon to come installation and what to do about that passenger side trans mount!!
I'll Start off with a pic of where all the magic happens! This is my garage! As you can see Everything is neatly packed into every corner! I'm OCD about my garge being organized so I clean it at least once a week!! haha
So I have been trying to stay busy on this project, since my CRX will be coming home soon. Then my focus will all shift that direction!
When I do swaps and conversions I like to make things look as factory as possible. So here was my remedy for the reverse light wiring! I also had to replace a few plugs on this harness do to age and dry rot!
Basically I took the wires that were there for the Auto Trans and re-purposed them since they will no longer be used. They already go into the car, some what close the shifter assembly, so I didn't have to run any extra wires through the firewall. Also it looks a little cleaner by changing the connector for the reverse lights.
Onto some photos.
The two plugs I needed to change. Of course I used Factory colored wires from a spare harness I had laying around.
My task I gave myself for this afternoon consisted of a new/reman rack & pinion and a Suspension Techniques 22mm Front sway bar (stolen from my CRX). Since the wagon will get driven some what hard and some towing. I figured these would serve better on it! I will also be installing the matching rear! But that's later.
Old sway vs new sway and old rack vs new rack.
I had to push this heavy ass car up into the garage. haha Not so simple!!
Awaiting some heavy work to be done!
Wasn't too bad pulling the rack out. I've done a few. It was defiantly easier with no engine in!
But here was my hiccup. I got the old one out and fought with the new one to get back in, got two of the three lines hooked up! Fighting and fighting with the last one. Finally I decided to remove all the bolts so I had some wiggle room and kept fighting and fighting this damn line. Reached over and grabbed my flashlight and found this.
Well shit I guess it got damaged in shipping. I should have another one in about a week or so. But I still have a ton of work to be done. Including this mount I have been talking about, which should happen either Saturday or Monday! More wiring, now for the inside of the car and install of the shifter assembly and put all the interior back together.
Oh an BTW I wouldn't recomend to anyone to go offroading in a lowered Honda Fit!! Got stuck twice, need this wagon going that way I don't have this issue!
One more picture for the night. My Ruckus and my RT!!!
Stay tuned for more!!!