Resurrection of the Wagon!

Well, this isn't really a resurrection actually. The car wasn't dead. It's more like a reconditioning, or a restoration.

But "Resurrection" sounds better, it has a little religious flavor to it. And why not? This is religion to the faithful here on hondacivicwagon.com!

Give me an "Amen" brothers and sisters!


I am the recent new owner of a 1991 Honda Civic Wagon RT4WD.







Yesterday I straightened out my exhaust, so now I’m driving my new/used Wagon, (a 1991 4WD, 6 spd, with 158,500 miles). I drove the car 250 miles yesterday in fact, mostly highway at 75-85mph. The wagon ran good, just as long as I kept the engine tached-up.

Wow, when I read some of the forums posted here I’m impressed; you dudes are down with these Civic Wagons! That is way cool. It psychs me to work on my car!

I’m from Vermont, USA. Up here most of the main roads are paved, but most of the secondary roads and virtually all of the residential roads are dirt. 50% of the roads in Vermont are dirt. These roads are frequently rutted, potholes, dusty, wet, and sometimes washed out.

We also have something here in Vermont we call “Mud Season.” Mud season happens in the spring when the frozen roads begin to thaw. A gravel/dirt road melts from the top down. For a time the water in the top thawed layer is trapped by the frozen lower strata. When this happens the roads get muddy, even soupy and very frequently rut up big time! In fact sections of certain roads sometimes become impassable for cars for a while. 6”, 8”, 10” ruts are common. 4x4 pickup trucks are all that moves down some of these roads for a time; ground clearance is the issue.

For this reason ride height is very important to me. I notice that most of you guys are lowering your wagons for better handling on the street, a lower center of gravity, the low profile look, etc. This won’t fly here in Vermont if you want to drive in the spring and the fall.

It’s no exaggeration to say that sooner or later I will be grading the road with the undercarriage of my wagon, even with the OEM ride height. This is a given, it happens to everyone.

Shocks, suspension and front-end parts take a brutal hammering here in Vermont. The front end on my wagon seems to be reasonably tight, but the shocks are tired. The shocks on this car will never cut it in Vermont.

My immediate objectives for this wagon are:

*Make this car into a reliable daily runner, able to drive anywhere in New England in any weather. This is a tall order for a 16-year-old car that has seen better days.

*I cannot spend a lot of money on the wagon at this time. This said, I always spend the money to do a job right. I’ve spent $500.00 plus on parts and repairs on the car in the last week and a half, and fully intend to spend more; but there is a limit and it’s fast approaching.

I really like this car, but stuff like building the engine or a motor swap are out of the question right now. Later? Who knows?

These are my questions for you guys:

1) My shifter needs to be rebuilt. I HATE a sloppy shifter, and fishing for gears. I had a look and it seems that the sleeve/bushing on one of the eyebolts on the shifter cables is blown. Some of the other bushings are worn pretty good too, and could use replacing. I can get some OEM shifter parts, but cannot find a source for those eyebolts on the shift cables. Can anyone help with this?

2) What’s the deal with the short shifters for these Civics? Is there a short throw shifter kit available for the 6-speed 4WD Civic Wagon? Is it OEM, if not what brand? Where can I get this kit? What is the installation hassle, and what is the cost?

3) I plan on mounting 4 primo snow tires on the 14” OEM white rims for this winter. Therefore I will need new street rims for the wagon in the spring. I’m thinking of getting some bone yard OEM Honda alloy rims, maybe from one of the hotter Civics, or maybe off an Accord, or a Prelude. Can you gentlemen recommend some 4 x 100mm OEM Honda rims to search for? What about after market rims? Make? Cost? Keep in mind that I can not lower the car significantly overall, but I am certainly open to, say a 15” rim and lower profile tires preserving the original ride height more or less.

4) I also need some advice on tires. The Tire Rack tells me, for my 14” OEM rims: Michelin X- Ice for snows, and Sumitomo HTR 20 for the street. I have no experience with either of these tires. Anyone have ideas/experience with other brands? Size recommendations? I have 185/70 R14 tires on the car now; an obscure brand “National,” the tire is called “Metric”. The tires are steel belted radials and have excellent tread; they don’t look half bad actually.

5) I have a Haynes Manual for the Civic, as well as “Honda and Acura Performance Handbook” by Mike Ancas on the way. In the meantime, can anyone give me some specs on type and capacity for fluids: the transmission, the differentials front, middle and rear? I have found that synthetics work the best for the drive train of AWD cars in Vermont, it will get –20 F here in the winter. Anyone run synthetic in their RT4WD wagon?

6) I need to spend some time looking at your links forum, but can anyone give me a tip on cheep OEM and aftermarket Honda parts? I’ve been using HondaPartsDeals.com for OEM parts and they are great. What about aftermarket parts?

7) I am open to simple, affordable modifications to get optimum performance from my stock 1600 motor. Any advice for the clueless would be helpful.

8) Likewise, I am open to simple affordable modifications to get optimum performance from my suspension. I see all sorts of names for suspension parts, especially the coil-over shocks, and some are BIG money. KYB, Tokico, Skunk,… I am baffled! What about shock tower braces, do they help? What to do? Lil’ help please.

I assure you that even though I’m not out to “build” my wagon at this point, I am very definitely a performance driver. I am going to spool up the engine in this wagon and scream!

Give me an "Amen" brothers and sisters!

Thanks for reading this book and for your thoughtful advice; this really helps me out with the learning curve. It is a good deed to help the clueless; you’ll go to heaven. Amen.

Thanks again!

Spike