So, after changing the oil, I like to clean and tire shine things under the hood. Oven cleaner is a good thing...
Eats the grease right up, it's been a little while. While I was cleaning things, I found that one of the spade connectors for the reverse lights had come loose.
Then I found the broken wire at the cooling fan temp sensor plug:
You can't really see it, but the red wire was broken off, and right after taking the pic, the other wire let go! Found another plug in my "doodads pile" and soldered / heat shrunk it in place..
After finding the broken wires, I decided to peek around and make sure there weren't going to be any more surprises - THERE WERE!
I don't remember what this one is for, but the wire broke off the connector. Couldn't find another similar connector in my goodie bag, and the damn thing wouldn't take any solder. I ended up brazing the connector onto a bit of speaker wire and heat shrinking it as well:
Not sure what that one was called, but it goes here on the head..
good times! gotta love playing around with 25 year old wires..NOT! but I think Skiddy's ready for now. This has me thinking the OBD1 conversion will require a new harness rather than trying to re-use these old wires...
wiring checks out for now, time to connect things again and secure wires..
Dizzy back in place, starting to hide the speaker wire...
From this angle, you'd never know, but I already showed you - don't tell anybody!
So, Skiddy's got a fresh bit of wiring love under the hood, and fresh oil. good for another 2,000 miles or until I get bored....
Got a "clicking" noise from the front right corner of the car while cruising the little one to school and back. I got Skiddy up on jackstands and did the old "wheel wiggle" test - she failed..
Looks like the EMUSA brand upper camber adjusters almost made it 6 months. almost. Ok, I wasn't shure what to expect out of them, but my expectations weren't high. stupid.
They were cheap add-ons to the coilover set, along with the rear camber adjusters (which are starting to slip on their bushings at the body side). stupid.
Stupid behind me, I spent some $$$ and got the skunk2 pro series camber kit on the way. Looks like this:
So, I'm going to have some colors going on under my Skiddy, Blue and now red as well! I'll have to see what I can find for the rear camber adjusters, and what color they will be!
-Also wanted to share a drawing my buddy OG VX made for me. It makes me want to take back all the things I said about no airdams, side skirts, and wings. The trick at that point is getting all the period correct, model specific goodies for Skiddy, NOT LAWN EDGING!! That means one thing and one thing only - $$$$. But look at this picture and tell me otherwise:
I think this is how Skiddy should look. OG, you hit the nail right on the head! ( I wish I could draw like this guy, my stick people are all deformed, even! ) So, more time will be needed to get stuff together to make this vision of Skiddy a reality...
This is going to be a good one - lots o pics, I'll share contact info at the bottom of this post!!!
It's been a few days and about 1600 miles since I've been on the forums - Skiddy and Yoda and I have been out on "field trip" to Tennessee!
I'm not going to talk about Indiana and their terrible highways, I'm still a little ticked off about that - ( Indiana broke a weld on my exhaust out back, about halfway thru the trip in the middle of the night ) but I did find that Waffle House is my new favorite thing in Indiana.
Touched about a quarter mile of Virginia on the way down:
Tennesee was the coolest! Great people, AND you can drive thru the clouds...
After looking for about a month, I finally found a "honda only" junkyard (turns out, up until about 6 months ago they really were honda only - now it's about 85% honda). I figured they would have the best odds to have a wagon - these guys had about 5 of them! Even better, they had an 89' with the same color code as Skiddy - the paint in the pictures looks a little white - it's actually a little moss or something, came right off at home.
Check these beauties out:
YES!!! Battery died on the phone, or I would have got more junkyard shots.
For those of you with the eagle eyes, the red wagon is an RT4WD model, but the whole drivetrain is gone. Plenty of good Wagon parts here, though..
I had my own little laundry list of items that I wanted to pick up for Skiddy. Both front fenders, both glass headlight assemblies, tail lights, bushings for the rear seatbacks' pivot points, rear seat release handles, and more..
Too bad the Skiddy donor didn't have a passenger side fender...
This is my current right brake light - hard to see, but the amber is cracked as well as into the red on the left:
New one's just got a little scratch - should buff out.
New glass heaadlights with adjuster assemblies! The dude that was pulling my parts (yeah, THEY pull the parts YOU pick out) did show me an awesome trick with the headlights. First, let me point out that he flat out would not sell me anything with moisture inside the glass - good. Then he explained that all THE GLASS BODIES ARE THE SAME SHAPE IN THIS GENERATION - THE ADJUSTER BRACKETS ARE DIFFERENT!! We ended up taking one headlight assembly complete from one wagon, and only the glass from a CRX. He mounted the CRX glass in the Wagon's mount / adjusters, and VOILA
The other assorted goodies don't really need pics, but they include the bushings for the rear seats, handles for the rear seats to fold down ( not the right handles - those were gone. got round door lock posts with same thread )
I'm so happy I got the rear seat bushings - that damn rear seat (actually the seat- backs) can get to rattling and squeaking without either the bushings in place or rear passengers!!
After speaking to the OWNER of this yard directly, I found out that they had DESTROYED a couple wagons here in the past year. We had a very pleasant conversation and he PROMISED NOT TO SMASH ANOTHER WAGON!!
I also promised to share his contact info with all my fellow Hondaddicts Wagonheads on both ecomodder.com and civicwagon.com thru my threads...
That said, if you need anything for any Honda (non motorcycle) I would send you to the fine folks at Hilltop Honda in Johnson City, Tennessee!
You don't have to be insane like me and drive a 25 year old Wagon you pulled out of a field less than 6 months ago across the country to get there, either. They have Facebook! look up Hilltop Honda Auto Salvage on facebook...
Tell them the crazy dude that drove from Illinois in the Wagon sent you....
Thanks! I was checking and double checking everything for a week before I left. I'm just glad the only real trouble on the road was with the exhaust.
Trouble was, in the middle of the night, no place to get it repaired. I brought tools, but not a welder! I used a bunch of my "liquid crack" cans (monster, red Bull, nos, etc) with some hose clamps to get me thru the night. .
I started putting the "new" body panels on Skiddy yesterday.. To get at the fenders, you have to remove the bumper first. 4 bolts behind the lower turn signal lamps, and 3 screws at either end of the bumper, by the wheels.
The new door needs a lot of goodies from the old one - window regulator, door card, mirror, some gasket/trim for the airseal,etc..
Started lining things up, and noticed the clip on the door frame had cracked out! This is for the thingie that "holds" the door open. I took the new door back out and "burned" a bead of weld across the top and inner side of it after tapping it back into place:
That should do for now, until I can get some primer and hopefully some rattle-can paint mixed up for little spots like this.
Back to work! still need the new fender installed and the bumper should go back on as well...
Now there's just a little cancer out back, over the wheel wells. A natural beauty!
I've been having some issues with my radio, It seemed like it would cut out at weird times on me. I took it out and double checked all my wiring for shorts / breaks and found none..
That had me a little worried. Out came the meter, and found that I wasn't losing voltage, I had TOO MUCH!! It seems that the voltage regulator had failed in my alternator - allowing it to send as much as 16.43 volts to it before it would cut out! New alternator at O'riellys was $75 - not too shabby.
I was glad to have discovered this alternator issue thru the radio acting up, versus an underhood fire or battery explosion! New alternator is in, but the radio's still all over the place and I'm not done with the driver's door either.
Sure! Sorry, life kinda got in the way of things for the last few weeks.
When I took Skiddy on the trip to Tennessee, I just tightened up the old adjustable upper control arm stuff and got out on the road with the new goodies in the trunk ( along with enough tools and balls to do the repair on the side of the road, if necessary! ) Here's what the new stuff looks like and a side by side:
Here's a torque refrence straight from the wagon FSM:
I got the pinstripe removal tool from OG VX again and cleaned up the "new" quarter panel and door. This was the last pic I had shared with OG.
These were taken today.
The driver's door is all put back together now as well. I'm using a severely faded maroon lock handle - it really looks brown!
As far as the seat covers, I hated them from jump. I got these iron on patches pretty cheap on amazon. Tan looks stupid, the TWEED or TWILL colored ones are much closer to the original material. Good enough for now..
That first interior door pic made the seat look much better (washed in light) this is closer to the truth.
Comments
So, after changing the oil, I like to clean and tire shine things under the hood. Oven cleaner is a good thing...
Eats the grease right up, it's been a little while. While I was cleaning things, I found that one of the spade connectors for the reverse lights had come loose.
Then I found the broken wire at the cooling fan temp sensor plug:
You can't really see it, but the red wire was broken off, and right after taking the pic, the other wire let go! Found another plug in my "doodads pile" and soldered / heat shrunk it in place..
After finding the broken wires, I decided to peek around and make sure there weren't going to be any more surprises - THERE WERE!
I don't remember what this one is for, but the wire broke off the connector. Couldn't find another similar connector in my goodie bag, and the damn thing wouldn't take any solder. I ended up brazing the connector onto a bit of speaker wire and heat shrinking it as well:
Not sure what that one was called, but it goes here on the head..
good times! gotta love playing around with 25 year old wires..NOT! but I think Skiddy's ready for now. This has me thinking the OBD1 conversion will require a new harness rather than trying to re-use these old wires...
wiring checks out for now, time to connect things again and secure wires..
Dizzy back in place, starting to hide the speaker wire...
From this angle, you'd never know, but I already showed you - don't tell anybody!
So, Skiddy's got a fresh bit of wiring love under the hood, and fresh oil. good for another 2,000 miles or until I get bored....
Thanks,
Victor
Thanks dude! I get elbow grease for free! Haha!
Looks like the EMUSA brand upper camber adjusters almost made it 6 months. almost. Ok, I wasn't shure what to expect out of them, but my expectations weren't high. stupid.
They were cheap add-ons to the coilover set, along with the rear camber adjusters (which are starting to slip on their bushings at the body side). stupid.
Stupid behind me, I spent some $$$ and got the skunk2 pro series camber kit on the way. Looks like this:
So, I'm going to have some colors going on under my Skiddy, Blue and now red as well! I'll have to see what I can find for the rear camber adjusters, and what color they will be!
-Also wanted to share a drawing my buddy OG VX made for me. It makes me want to take back all the things I said about no airdams, side skirts, and wings. The trick at that point is getting all the period correct, model specific goodies for Skiddy, NOT LAWN EDGING!! That means one thing and one thing only - $$$$. But look at this picture and tell me otherwise:
I think this is how Skiddy should look. OG, you hit the nail right on the head! ( I wish I could draw like this guy, my stick people are all deformed, even! ) So, more time will be needed to get stuff together to make this vision of Skiddy a reality...
Thanks,
Victor
It's been a few days and about 1600 miles since I've been on the forums - Skiddy and Yoda and I have been out on "field trip" to Tennessee!
I'm not going to talk about Indiana and their terrible highways, I'm still a little ticked off about that - ( Indiana broke a weld on my exhaust out back, about halfway thru the trip in the middle of the night ) but I did find that Waffle House is my new favorite thing in Indiana.
Touched about a quarter mile of Virginia on the way down:
Tennesee was the coolest! Great people, AND you can drive thru the clouds...
After looking for about a month, I finally found a "honda only" junkyard (turns out, up until about 6 months ago they really were honda only - now it's about 85% honda). I figured they would have the best odds to have a wagon - these guys had about 5 of them! Even better, they had an 89' with the same color code as Skiddy - the paint in the pictures looks a little white - it's actually a little moss or something, came right off at home.
Check these beauties out:
YES!!! Battery died on the phone, or I would have got more junkyard shots.
For those of you with the eagle eyes, the red wagon is an RT4WD model, but the whole drivetrain is gone. Plenty of good Wagon parts here, though..
I had my own little laundry list of items that I wanted to pick up for Skiddy. Both front fenders, both glass headlight assemblies, tail lights, bushings for the rear seatbacks' pivot points, rear seat release handles, and more..
Too bad the Skiddy donor didn't have a passenger side fender...
This is my current right brake light - hard to see, but the amber is cracked as well as into the red on the left:
New one's just got a little scratch - should buff out.
New glass heaadlights with adjuster assemblies! The dude that was pulling my parts (yeah, THEY pull the parts YOU pick out) did show me an awesome trick with the headlights. First, let me point out that he flat out would not sell me anything with moisture inside the glass - good. Then he explained that all THE GLASS BODIES ARE THE SAME SHAPE IN THIS GENERATION - THE ADJUSTER BRACKETS ARE DIFFERENT!! We ended up taking one headlight assembly complete from one wagon, and only the glass from a CRX. He mounted the CRX glass in the Wagon's mount / adjusters, and VOILA
The other assorted goodies don't really need pics, but they include the bushings for the rear seats, handles for the rear seats to fold down ( not the right handles - those were gone. got round door lock posts with same thread )
I'm so happy I got the rear seat bushings - that damn rear seat (actually the seat- backs) can get to rattling and squeaking without either the bushings in place or rear passengers!!
After speaking to the OWNER of this yard directly, I found out that they had DESTROYED a couple wagons here in the past year. We had a very pleasant conversation and he PROMISED NOT TO SMASH ANOTHER WAGON!!
I also promised to share his contact info with all my fellow Hondaddicts Wagonheads on both ecomodder.com and civicwagon.com thru my threads...
That said, if you need anything for any Honda (non motorcycle) I would send you to the fine folks at Hilltop Honda in Johnson City, Tennessee!
You don't have to be insane like me and drive a 25 year old Wagon you pulled out of a field less than 6 months ago across the country to get there, either. They have Facebook! look up Hilltop Honda Auto Salvage on facebook...
Tell them the crazy dude that drove from Illinois in the Wagon sent you....
Thanks,
Victor
Trouble was, in the middle of the night, no place to get it repaired. I brought tools, but not a welder! I used a bunch of my "liquid crack" cans (monster, red Bull, nos, etc) with some hose clamps to get me thru the night. .
Thanks,
Victor
The new door needs a lot of goodies from the old one - window regulator, door card, mirror, some gasket/trim for the airseal,etc..
Started lining things up, and noticed the clip on the door frame had cracked out! This is for the thingie that "holds" the door open. I took the new door back out and "burned" a bead of weld across the top and inner side of it after tapping it back into place:
That should do for now, until I can get some primer and hopefully some rattle-can paint mixed up for little spots like this.
Back to work! still need the new fender installed and the bumper should go back on as well...
Now there's just a little cancer out back, over the wheel wells. A natural beauty!
More later.
Thanks,
Victor
That had me a little worried. Out came the meter, and found that I wasn't losing voltage, I had TOO MUCH!! It seems that the voltage regulator had failed in my alternator - allowing it to send as much as 16.43 volts to it before it would cut out! New alternator at O'riellys was $75 - not too shabby.
I was glad to have discovered this alternator issue thru the radio acting up, versus an underhood fire or battery explosion! New alternator is in, but the radio's still all over the place and I'm not done with the driver's door either.
Skiddy, Skiddy, Skiddy. Always something!
Thanks,
Victor
Sure! Sorry, life kinda got in the way of things for the last few weeks.
When I took Skiddy on the trip to Tennessee, I just tightened up the old adjustable upper control arm stuff and got out on the road with the new goodies in the trunk ( along with enough tools and balls to do the repair on the side of the road, if necessary! ) Here's what the new stuff looks like and a side by side:
Here's a torque refrence straight from the wagon FSM:
I got the pinstripe removal tool from OG VX again and cleaned up the "new" quarter panel and door. This was the last pic I had shared with OG.
These were taken today.
The driver's door is all put back together now as well. I'm using a severely faded maroon lock handle - it really looks brown!
As far as the seat covers, I hated them from jump. I got these iron on patches pretty cheap on amazon. Tan looks stupid, the TWEED or TWILL colored ones are much closer to the original material. Good enough for now..
That first interior door pic made the seat look much better (washed in light) this is closer to the truth.
Thanks,
Victor