Just bought an 88' rt4wd, wondering if I made a mistake.....
Autotechwagon
New Wagonist
So I just bought a 4wd last night, its my first 4wd. I had a fwd that I sold in april and had a chance to buy it again last month, but it had brand new 13,000 new miles added on. So I decided to move on. I bought a 1964 baja bug to be my winter car, but with winter getting closer I decied that water cooled would be better for heat. Anyway I found this wagon 50 miles from home, so I thought I would check it out. Well I bought it. Its got a strong motor. It runs well except for a wierd idle issue. Anyway the car has rust, more than I have seen on cars like this. More like rust on old volkswagens that I have owned. The guy that I bought the car from said that he had put the car on a lift to make sure the 4wd worked. It lookes like the jackass I bought it from lifted the car with a two post lift, by lifting by the front FLOOR BAORDS! Really? So the car has problems, but what the ......? Here is a pic I had in my phone. I'll post more pics of the car and the floor stuff tomarrow. Did I make a mistake?
This is before I washed it and cleaned the wheels.
This is before I washed it and cleaned the wheels.
Comments
Rust is everyone's enemy. It's tough to avoid. It can be fixed, but sometimes requires significant effort.
I don't think you'll find anyone here claiming you made a mistake, especially not with the RT4WD. Some folks have different ideas about the year, but the '88 was lighter than later years, and was the last model to come with manual seatbelts; the automatic belts are widely despised. So in terms of the model and year, I think you did great. Especially if the price was right.
One of the reasons I was an old Bug guy was because of the wide availability of parts. Unfortunately, that's not the case for the Wagons. If your floorboards are dented, you'll have to pound them straight yourself; I doubt you'll be able to find a new pan. You might manage to get something at a junkyard, but our only other resource is swapping with the board members.
The motors are standard, thankfully. Honda reliability! By and large the Wagon is pretty easy to work on, too. There's sufficient space in the engine compartment, and most of the parts are bolt-on. It's not like the VW Thing, which could be completely disassembled with a screwdriver and two ratchets, but it's not bad: I've got a small toolbox in my trunk with all the tools I've ever needed when working on my car. It's small.
The 4WD is a lot of fun, especially in snowy climates and off-road conditions. The cargo area has surprising room. Together, these make the Wagon an ideal camping machine. Unlike most similar machines, it's also a fantastic daily driver.
I think you'll find you've made a good choice. I don't think it'll cure you of your air-cooled addiction, but I do think you'll find yourself gravitating towards the Wagon on a regular basis, just for the fun!
If you feel like you've made a mistake, let me know and I'll drive out with a trailer and take it off your hands. :twisted:
All washed and ready to be registered.
rub it in ...
realll good...
post some more pixxx...
Yesterday I picked up this driver mirror and bumper lens from a wagon at the scrap yard. Score!
Does anyone have a corner lens for sale?
I took the crapy aftermarket radio out. Looking for something oem. Maybe my cr-v cd player.
And here are the damaged floor boards I was talking about earlyer.
edit: ok yeah the undercarriage is a lil jacked up meng...nothing not worth fixing tho
At least it looks repairable. Just pound it down, prime anywhere the paint came off, and cover it with a floor mat. On the bottom you'll probably want to caulk it. Nobody's going to look under there anyway.
In my opinion you will most likely regret fixing it if you do. And even if you did, i doubt the car will be anywhere as good as it used to be.
Your best bet is to find a donor shell and swap everything across.
Its supposed to snow this week. I hope we get dumped on.
I got lucky, I own an 86 and it's floorboards and undercarrage seem rust free, cant say so much about axles and drive shaft.
I agree with peter pan and judebert