262 replies to this topic

[OG Wagon]

Hey. Sorry I've been off of the map for a while. I'm back with an update:

ENGINE:

- Running smoother now! I Sea-Foamed the intake, crankcase, and fuel tank. This helped out tremendously, and I can tell that it is continuing to help the more I drive the car.

- New radiator on the way, which should stop the cooling issue. All pray for the water pump, please.

- Once the radiator arrives, I'll install it, then detail the engine.

EXTERIOR:

Obtained cleaner items of: all trim molding, passenger tail light, driver headlight & trim, set of
badging front and rear, new corner light, pas. bumper lens, front plastic grille

Painted wiper arms and rear trim piece on hatch; painted wheel-wells black

RT-4WD logos removed (work in progress!)

Me and a couple of guys here at RPR are working on creating duplicate
decals. I'll add a fresh set on later, hopefully.

Removed roof rack (I thought I was going to keep it. I removed it to clean it, and found that
I like the wagon better without the rack on top. What do you guys think?)

Applied Forever Black to the side moldings.

Washed and Xymol'd the heck out of the exterior.

I am working backwards than previously planned, doing the exterior work first. Paint will not come this summer. With the new baby and new responsibilities, I just don't have the time.

However, I am trying to refresh what I have as much as possible.

So, the exterior is pretty much done for now. I just need to apply forever black to the front/rear bumpers, do some touch-up paint work on some places, and continue to get sticky residue form the RT-4WD logos and that Texas logo off of the hatch. They had been on there for 20 years, it's just going to take a little while for it to get off of there, and a lot of patience on my part!

Here's the pics:













Also, I saw a few pics of wagons with basket-weave/mesh wheels. I really liked the look, and went out to try and find some. Low and behold, I found a set of 15x7 BBS wheels at a local Honda salvage yard. I got them for a sweet deal, and couldn't pass these up.

Pics:





I'm going to paint the mesh gloss black, and then polish the heck out of the lips.

BBS center-caps were missing in action, unfortunately. However, while I was there, I picked up these mint condition center caps from another Honda wheel. i'll cut the tabs off the back of them, glue them, and they should line up rather nicely.

I still have plans to paint the exterior cream and drop some Mugen MR-5's on this bad-boy. However, they will have to come in time. These rims will be great for me right now. Plus, they were dirt cheap. I just have to get some tires. It will be nice to nearly double the thickness of my current tire set-up!

INTERIOR:

Sourced every worn down/missing part, and a better rear carpet section. Search complete, except for the front drivers seat, which I have a cool plan on how to fix.

Trying to put together the best audio set-up that Honda had available for this wagon at the time it was built.
I got REALLY lucky and found some rear-speakers and panels for my color interior at pull-a-part. Now, I'm trying to secure an audio EQ and cassette-holder console to sit under the dash with an OEM equalizer to match.

Steering wheel hub for the Nardi wheel and an OEM clock are also on the way.

I have some Formula 303 Aerospace Protectant and Fabric/Vinyl cleaner on order from my favorite online detail store (www.properautocare.com; check them out!, super cool people), and it should be here today or tomorrow. So, once that arrives, I'll start gutting, vacuming, cleaning, stitching seats rips, etc..., then I'll put everything back in with a fresh set of floor mats.

Should be done with the interior very soon.

That's all for now. I'll keep everyone informed.

Let me know what you think about the rims!

Anyone have any ideas on how to get the rest of the RT-4WD sticker residue off of the car?

I have been using A LOT of goo-gone. How about rubbing compound?

[Screech]

.....BBS center-caps were missing in action, unfortunately. However, while I was there, I picked up these mint condition center caps from another Honda wheel. i'll cut the tabs off the back of them, glue them, and they should line up rather nicely....

Just a note: If you glue them on use a glue that is not too hard to undo. Most places that balance the rims/tires need to put the rim through that center hole, so be prepared to remove and reglue them every set of tires or any balances in between new tires.


I like that sketch. Looks really good to me.

[OG Wagon]

Just a note: If you glue them on use a glue that is not too hard to undo. Most places that balance the rims/tires need to put the rim through that center hole, so be prepared to remove and reglue them every set of tires or any balances in between new tires.


I like that sketch. Looks really good to me.

Thanks for the heads up, will do.

Anyone have a good experience with a particular type of glue for this kind of application?

[OG Wagon]

Just a note: If you glue them on use a glue that is not too hard to undo. Most places that balance the rims/tires need to put the rim through that center hole, so be prepared to remove and reglue them every set of tires or any balances in between new tires.


I like that sketch. Looks really good to me.

Oh, and thanks for the compliments on my sketch! I'm glad to hear that you like it. Sorry, I just noticed that you had wrote this!

[OG Wagon]

Updates:

On a diet



Out for cleaning



Cleaned Carpets:





Fresh Paint for Shifter and Pedal Arms





Headliner out. Will be sent to be professionally re-upholstered on Monday morning.



As always, thanks for looking!

[eduardo nieves]

wow i really like this project. The wagon has turned out even better after your work,I like it without the roof rack too. Kepp up the photos man . I woul keep those wheels and find a better center cap, They sure look really good and are bbs.

[OG Wagon]

wow i really like this project. The wagon has turned out even better after your work,I like it without the roof rack too. Kepp up the photos man . I woul keep those wheels and find a better center cap, They sure look really good and are bbs.

Thanks for your support Eduardo!

I'll be posting up completed interior pics very soon. Almost done, and I'm VERY pleased with how it's turning out.

[OG Wagon]

Prepped for paint. Pics...

[OG Wagon]

[OG Wagon]

I ended up having a bit of time left in the summer to hit up the exterior work. I was just going to spot paint the car. However, I quickly realized how expensive paint is nowadays! Plus, I would have not been able to match the panels to the color of the rest of the car very well. The sensible option, especially for my current budget, was to take it down to Maaco and have the whole exterior repainted.

Maaco had a special on their "Supreme" paint service. It's a single stage Dupont Urethane paint, with integrated clear. It's usually 600. They were offering it for 400, and I was able to talk them down to 320, WITH the color change, which is usually an additional 50 bucks. They were VERY COOL about working with me. They said they were pretty happy with the prep work I did, so well see what difference it will make on the final product.

Since I have the oppurtunity to START on my color change for this car, thats what I'm doing. The exterior will be painted along with my original plan: Chrysler Cool Vanilla; with black moldings/accents, and a red pinstripe all the way around.

I will paint the jams at the same time as my engine swap, which may even be as soon as this Fall. It looks as if this car will become my daily. We are planning to sell our '97 Accord to pay off all of our debt. We will also use about a grand off the profit from the sale to swap a DOHC D16a1 into the wagon, and totally fix all mechanical problems (if possible!) Then, I'll drive the wagon, and wife and baby will ride in the '03 Xterra. We don't need 3 cars right now, and I like the wagon much more than I do the Accord. The wagon has...originality and character. While nice cars, everybody and there momma drives a 94-97 Accord!

I did a lot of research as to why Maaco jobs were a success for some, and a failure for others. I tried to prep the car in the same ways as those who found success with Maaco jobs. My process is below.

I basically sanded down all my high spots, filled and sanded and primed all of my low spots/dents/dings/scratches, filled and fixed the deep dents in my header panel and front passenger fender, and the lower part of the rear door panels . All trouble spots got 60-100-150-220 grit sanding, then primer.

I then sanded the whole car from 400 to 800 grit.

The rear doors took ALOT of work. The "RT-AWD" logos had burned DEEP into the paint. It was more effective to just fill over the whole panel on both sides and then smooth them down. However, it took A LONG TIME.

This was my first experience with body work, bondo, primer, etc... So, its not perfect, but I learned a lot. This is what matters most to me. I put about 12 hours into the prep total. I feel that I could do the same amount of work again in about 8 hours, which I'm happy about.

I took off as many of the panels/molding as I could. I also removed all of the lights (tail lights and roof antenna mount removed when I got there).

I taped all the areas I didn't want painted, as seen in the pictures.

I will be painting all of the accessory pieces, as well as the bumper trim, myself. The bumper trim, moldings, mud flaps, front air dam, lower part of front bumper, and all other black plastic pieces will be painted with this SEM satin-black bumper paint featured below. My front and rear bumpers, as well as the mirrors were given treatment with the pictured high-grade Dupont Adhesive Promoter prior to taking it down to the body shop. I'll treat all the other black rubber and plastic pieces with this stuff prior to paint as well.

My 3/4" red pin-striping should arrive tomorrow at the local paint supply store. This will be going 360-degrees around the car at the middle of the trim molding. It was hella-expensive, since it only came in a 150-ft role :x However, I feel that it is worth it, and I know that the pinstripe is what is going to set the car off and give it the old-gansta vibe I'm going for.




Lastly, after much careful thought, I opted to have them paint the mirrors as well. The base of the mirror will be left OEM black rubber, while the body of the mirror will get the Cool Vanilla treatment with the rest of the car.

Close-Up pic to give you the idea:




Once again, here's color choice. The shade is called "Cool Vanilla", and its from the current Chrysler line.



I hope it will all come out hot. I'll post pics when the car comes back from Maaco early next week, and then I'll post more pics as I get the molding/trim pieces and the pinstripes on.

Thanks for looking!

[eduardo nieves]

yeah post pictures when the bring it back. That wagon will ba really nice, now its just missing the front lip

[Screech]

Looking fwd to the follow up pics myself. Makes me want to to look in a 3G wagon that was mentioned to me a couple weeks ago, guy was saying he thinks his buddy only wants $100 for it.

[OG Wagon]

Looking fwd to the follow up pics myself. Makes me want to to look in a 3G wagon that was mentioned to me a couple weeks ago, guy was saying he thinks his buddy only wants $100 for it.

Nice! You need to get that wagon brother!!

yeah post pictures when the bring it back. That wagon will ba really nice, now its just missing the front lip

Man, you are definitely right. I want a lip! Can anyone find me the JDM shuttle lip, or like a 3-piece Si or CRX lip, or SOMETHING!

Help a brotha' out PLEASE!!!

[BigOrange]

Looking good dude!!

Crx lip wont fit.

Get a 3g civic si lip or a 1g integra front lip!!

I cant wait to see her all painted!!

Were in Nc are you?

Edited by BigOrange, 16 August 2008 - 03:36 PM.

[OG Wagon]

Looking good dude!!

Crx lip wont fit.

Get a 3g civic si lip or a 1g integra front lip!!

I cant wait to see her all painted!!

Were in Nc are you?

Ah-ha! Now THIS is what I was hoping to hear. Great information Big Orange. Thanks! I knew about the various lips, I just didn't know which ones would fit.
I'll get one of these on there as soon as I can find one. I've been searching pull-a-part for an integra lip for months now.
They have a BUCH of 2nd gens, just no 1st gens on the lot right now.

I'm in Charlotte, NC. I'm about to move a few miles north to Mooresville.

Edited by OG Wagon, 17 August 2008 - 06:09 PM.