superhead's super-slow wagovan build

[superhead91]

Also, forgot to post up my last little "mod"



Rubber boot on the clutch pedal came off a while ago, and my foot would slip sometimes if it was wet. Since I put the grip tape on there it hasn't rained, so I haven't had the chance to see if it's any better lol. Better in the dry though. Makes heel-toeing easier.

 

[superhead91]

Forgot to mention that I finally fixed my ride height a few weeks ago lol. Not long after I got my coilovers, I was stupid and just cared about being as low as possible, so I spun my coilovers as low as they could go, which made them ride kinda crappy and my back tires rubbed a lot. Finally quit being lazy and spun them back up to the correct height.

Still low, but rides so much better now, and no rubbing!

 

[superhead91]

Went to the Tail of the Dragon today. So much fun. I ran it 4 times. Pretty happy with how the wagovan handled it. The Falken Ziex ZE 912s provided plenty of grip for my power, which admittedly isn't much, but still. The car handled very well, maybe a tad of understeer, but very little. A rear swaybar should sort that. Brakes performed pretty well too. I didn't notice any fade, although I stopped for 5 or so minutes between each run, and I was in 2nd gear almost the whole time, so I didn't need to brake very heavily.

All in all a successful trip!

 

[superhead91]

So I've been having intermittent squealing noises when I first start the car. I thought it was a belt for a while, but I finally got out after it started doing it the other day to pinpoint it. Turns out it's the radiator fan. Probably a combination of it being old and now wired to run constantly finally wore it out.

 

[superhead91]

So I finally replaced my radiator fan. No more squealing! I also decided to change up my intake to try and get colder air.

Just used the stock intake tube to lengthen the intake.

+5 ricer points for my little air filter

 

[superhead91]

So yesterday I was almost home, and all of a sudden second gear was whining way louder than the other gears. At first I actually thought it was a firetruck siren or something lol.

Therefore instead of playing FO4, my evening was spent changing my transmission fluid. Fortunately I had 2 1/4 bottles of Honda MTF sitting around. It took me longer than it should have because there are three plugs on the side of the transmission. I only saw the two at first. One was obviously the drain plug, and the other I thought was a fill plug, but after unsuccessfully trying to fill through that plug, I realized that the actual fill plug was somewhere else. The plug I was using it seemed was there for the sole purpose of being able to get to a C-clip inside the transmission.

After finding the fill plug, it went pretty smoothly. Since it was on the side of the transmission instead of the top, I had to fit a rubber hose over the end of my funnel and put the other end into the fill hole. Fortunately I had a hose that fit perfectly.

Also I realized that what I thought was a big water drop inside my headlight from condensation was actually a big crack/impact site. There's actually a pinhole in my headlight right in the middle, so I'm assuming a rock or something hit it on the interstate. Fortunately the main headlight part is interchangeable between all the Civics for that year, so finding a replacement shouldn't be too difficult.

 

[superhead91]

Started having issues with the clutch pedal/cable the other day. I've had my eye out for a new DD for a while, and a clean '97 hatch popped up on Craigslist for a decent price. That plus the clutch issues was the straw that broke the camel's back, so the wagon now has a new stablemate.








































The paint is shot, and the input shaft bearing is noisy, but the interior is absolutely mint, and it only has 124k miles.

The big downside is that now I have two cars to spend money I don't have on lol.

Trying to decide if I should create another build thread for it, since it will also be a very slow build.

 

[mymmeryloss]

I like it! I need to buy me a hatch to f**k around with...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[superhead91]

I've kind of been wanting an EK hatch or sedan for a while anyway as a DD/future K-swap candidate. I'd like to go K in the wagon.... but it's quite a bit more involved than an EK, plus the aftermarket for EKs is so much better. Most of the EF aftermarket is for the CR-X/hatch. Stuff like suspension is mostly interchangeable, but almost nothing exterior-wise is.

 

[R3dline]

that hatch is a nice project machine.

 

[superhead91]

that hatch is a nice project machine.

Yeah that might happen down the line. For now I'm gonna focus on the wagovan.

Speaking of that, I'm trying to decide if I want to start stripping the wagovan, and how far I want to go with it.

 

[superhead91]

Removed my pedal assembly today

First I took out the driver's seat



Then I dropped the steering column to make things easier



The culprit



You guys may or may not be aware of the issue the wagovans (not sure if it's common on other EFs as well) have with the pedal assembly breaking and flexing. As you can see, that bar shaped piece in the middle is broken on the right end. That piece is holds the pivot for the clutch pedal, but it also somewhat holds the clutch pedal in place. Since it's broken, it weakens that side of the pedal assembly and allows that side to flex when I press the clutch pedal in. That causes slack in the clutch cable and screws with the clutch engagement. That's why my cables keep loosening. I'll have to either find another pedal assembly, and strengthen it before putting it back in, or just try and bend this one back, weld it back, and then brace it. Most people either weld up both ends of that bar more, or cut a strip of metal or two the length of the bar, and then weld the metal in to brace it up.

I'll probably just try and fix this one, since it shouldn't be too bad.

 

[HeX]

It definitely looks like welding or drill & bolt in extra support would be the best options to make it worry free that way it eliminates further flexing weakness in that broken area.

 

[superhead91]

As much as it pains me, I've been tossing around the idea of selling the wagon for the past few days. My car goal is to have something I can have fun on roads like the Dragon with, and maybe eventually do some track days if I can afford it. The problem with the wagon, even though I love it, is that it will require a bunch of work and money to even get to the same level as the hatch is stock, at least suspension-wise. Sure it has coilovers, but I really need all the bushings replaced as well. Furthermore, the aftermarket for the wagon sucks, as opposed to a pretty big aftermarket for the hatch. Plus pretty much any swap will be much more expensive in the wagon, as well as more difficult. Plus the wagon could probably use some seam-welding. The chassis has over 240k miles and is probably pretty worn out by now. Compare that to the hatch which has only 124k miles.

Ideally I could modify both. I'd love to have a stripped out, Dragon-slaying, K-swapped wagovan. Realistically, I barely have any extra money to mess with one car, let alone two. I love the wagon for its relative uniqueness, but it probably just makes more financial sense to sell it, because really in a few years I'd like to get something like a Focus/Fiesta ST or maybe even an FR-S/BR-Z or something along those lines. At that point the hatch could become the stripped out fun car.

 

[superhead91]

Been a while since my last update. Decided against selling it lol.

Finally got the pedal assembly welded up. I put the pedals back in after work today. Now all I have to do is put the A/C ducts, steering column, and fuse box back in place and she should be good to go. I also ordered some StopTech front pads and Centric rotors to try and improve my brakes, since they leave much to be desired.

 

[stcopley]

Glad to see you're still around man. That hatch looks just like my old one input shaft bearing noise and all. I just picked up an EF hatch last night as my new DD

 

[5SpeedEJ6]

The pedal assembly problem you talked about is DEFINITELY a wagon problem. I've talked to a couple of wagon owners and they said this also. One of them actually dealt with this problem himself.

 

[Diana Nam]

now this is intersting digging the wagovan by any chance is it the awd wagovan? one of my friend has one in red

 

[superhead91]

Glad to see you're still around man. That hatch looks just like my old one input shaft bearing noise and all. I just picked up an EF hatch last night as my new DD

Heh. It's my second EK and my first one had a bad countershaft(?) bearing. Honda makes some great shifting transmissions but they seem to have bearing issues, at least in the 90s. Enjoy the EF. I'd love a hatch and a CRX to round out the stable but I don't have enough room, or money lol.

The pedal assembly problem you talked about is DEFINITELY a wagon problem. I've talked to a couple of wagon owners and they said this also. One of them actually dealt with this problem himself.

Yeah I know it's an issue with the wagons, I just wasn't sure if other EFs were prone to have it.

now this is intersting digging the wagovan by any chance is it the awd wagovan? one of my friend has one in red

Nope. It's just FWD. RTs have paint-matched bumpers.

 

[superhead91]

Got the wagon all put back together and wow what a difference fixing the pedal made. Drove it to work today. Man I missed driving it.