bheinen74

Last week I was a high bidder on a red 1991 Civic RT4WD at insurance auction, bidding based on pictures the car was 750 miles from me.

Had the car shipped and it arrived today in this condition.
first day pictures before a wash.


it has issues of which I will have things to work on and would like some help from you members who may have some parts to help finish it up. I am planning to winter drive it as a Daily Driver.

So far, the good:
It runs
159k miles
clean title, not salvage from the auction, autocheck good
Tires are pretty good Goodyear Assurrance (?triple treads?)
Interior good (except driver seat worn)
non smoker, ashtray never been used
pretty rust free except one panel
new exhaust midpipe all the way back to new muffler
hood paint has life left, tested a small patch with clearcoat safe compounding, will look good with work
clean underside, no rust or rot.

BADS/Cons:
driver seat worn, and passenger seat looks dirty
broken right hood hinge
driver door hinge stopper cracked loose
missing right rear splashguard
no passenger side mirror
dented right rear quarter panel, and that panel is the only one with rust too (so a rust fix, dent pop, and paint on that panel will help alot)
one cracked wheel center cap
a few small dings on the passenger fender
faded paint on roof, tested with clearcoat safe compound, and a small patch of paint came off to primer


Too soon to report anything else. Oil looked real good, coolant looked somewhat diluted, but levels were good.



























I would like to find a right rear mudguard, and a passenger door mirror (I have one from a 3dr but they are not the same). I have a hood hinge off a parts car.

I would have much rather purchased one off a member here, or locally, but couldn't really find one that was still ALL stock, down to springs and wheels etc. I won't be doing any mods, just making it as solid reliably as it was back in 1991- not new to Honda here, this makes about the 12th or so EF…..but my first RT4wd

kayONE

Dosent look bad at all
and even better its a RT4WD

Freemananana

iTrader: (3)

I can't believe this thing was getting auctioned off. For a RT4WD, I'd say it is mint. These things are hard to find and when you do find them, the RT4WD system is removed. Good find. Good choice keeping it stock. The carpet looks rough. I've seen a couple people do full carpet restores and they turn out okay. A good pressure wash may be enough though.

bheinen74

broken hood hinge fixed and installed. Forgot to get pics of the broken and the fixed..

bheinen74

claybarred and waxed shot



still haven't touched the engine besides changing out the coolant today.
so a before cleaning of the engine. Also, have a bouncy idle think its the tps cause if i unplug it bouncy goes away and a get a cel.
I did loosen the coolant bleed valve. Haven't really driven it since awaiting title.

Sikocivic

What color are the seats? Hard to tell from the pics. I have a set of blue front seats that are in very good shape.

bheinen74

still little cleaning needed.

bheinen74

new throttle position sensor arrived today, I had already prepped the old one removal, so in the new sensor went. That was the fix for the bouncy when warm idle from 600-1600-600-1600 idle hunt.

Cleaned up the engine too and now she is looking about new under the hood. Too late and dark for pictures now. Will post tomorrow sometime.

Went for a drive to see my parents the next town down the road 8 miles visited had dinner. Checked the fluids after things cooled off, all good, then gas'd it up before returning home. Just adjusted the headlights beam some.

that was the first real trip anywhere in the car.
worked on the rust of the rear passenger quarter and the dent earlier this week.

GoldieWang

I just purchased a rt4wd wagon and Im pretty sure the mudflaps are on it. if so Id sell them. Just pm me if your interested in any of the parts on mine as I am using the rt4wd on my hatchback.

bheinen74

engine shot now.

Freemananana

iTrader: (3)

I'd find someone to patch that driver side seat or redo the whole thing. A local shop would have some insight. Other than that, the car is looking great. Like I said, mint for a RT4WD.

bheinen74

plans will be find a junkyard car and cut some good seat material from the back seat out, then have a shop use it to repair the driver seat, or if the passenger seat is good, to get it and use it redo my drive side.

fixed the back bumper gap yesterday near the right taillight, and replaced a burned out climate control backlight.

Freemananana

iTrader: (3)

Please tear it off of an already ripped seat D:

bheinen74

yeah that is sort of my plan, or if someone here has some good chunks of seat….or headrest ..might be some time for one of these to show up at the junkyard.

Freemananana

iTrader: (3)

I'm so in love with this car. It would make a great addition to my growing red Honda fleet.

Also, I've seen a couple RT4WD builds. Most don't reuse the seat. Check some of those members out and they may have a scrap for you.

bheinen74

saw a passenger door side mirror on ebay last week, and emailed the person to ask if it would come will all interior trim stuff with it too, he emailed me a phone number.

Called the number, and ended up making a package deal, he had set of rear mudflaps, the mirror with interior trim, and a good wheel center cap.

Everything came yesterday and I installed on the afternoon.

If anyone needs rear driver side mudflap splashguard mudshield, I have that side as extra now and would sell it off, it does say 4wd on it.

now just pretty much need some good seat material for my driver seat in gray..

bheinen74

these were all the parts when i got them out of the shipping box

sr20paisa

that's a beautiful wagon right there

bheinen74

reflections off a 1/4 panel
.and the 3rd day this RT4WD got driven to work i already had a note under my wiper, from someone leaving a number if I ever wanted to sell it.

whited

beautiful! Where you at want to sell?

bheinen74

been daily driving the RT4wd.
about 3 weeks ago spilled my coffee mug over.

ordered cupholder on amazon, and it FINALLY got here today.
mounted it here, used existing trim screw, didn't make any new holes to mount it.
for test, here it is.










-just wondering what the emblem on the holder means …? HotShit.? HondaSlow? HasSnow?
I am probably going to move the location so the rare, but occasional passenger doesn't break it with a leg/foot.

gone thru 2 tanks of gas now, last tank was around 32.8 mpg, still have a idle surge (vac leak?) sometimes when idleing...
also, yesterday we got about 7 or 8 inches of snow. This morning, I had to be at work at 7am, next town over which is about a 12 minute drive. I left 25 minutes early, and when I backed out my LONG drive, the snow plow in town was just starting rounds.
went down my street which he had just plowed, currently moving snow, got down the corner, and the next turn he had not plowed yet, was some pretty deep stuff, drifted probsbaly a foot in some places, I went right thru. Got on the main road, and it had been plowed, but the turnoff to go to the next town, no plowing yet in my direction, the lane coming my way had been plowed once, but not my direction. I mainly drove in the center line on the other sides lane, unless i met a car of course, and then I was plowing my own snow. did okay for me. some better tire selection would make this near the same as my old outback….a little light on the back-end i may add a sandbag.

MrWhoopee

I want a red one soooo bad! I think it is the best stock color by far on a Wagon. Really nice find!

32.8 mpg is phenomenal for an RT. The best I've seen in any of mine is 30, more commonly 27-28. It improves by disengaging the RWD.

I LOVE driving in the snow, driven in it so deep that it was flowing up over the hood. Never even hesitated. I've even used them to pull a snowplow.

Here's my cup holder, made from a piece of 3 in. ABS drain pipe and a piece of 2x4 shaved to fit the ashtray opening.







Clearance is close, but it doesn't interfere with shifting. Just watch your fingers.


You've got an excellent start, keep it up.

Ef4doorwagon

How much did you pick this up for? I regret getting rid of my 4wd...

bheinen74

my winning bid was 1400 at insurance auction. -think it was a donated charity car, the sticker for insurance auction said rocky mountain pbs, so that is why i think it was charity car.
then I had the usual screw-you-over- fees for the auction, and my ridesafely broker, and then I had the car shipped to me and that is not cheap….I probably could have got one cheaper local there have been just a few pop up, but this one was appealing at how clean it was under the hood etc so here it is. all in all with shipping and stuff it was just around 2800 or so total, which I had just sold my cr-v for 3300 so this was to replace it for about the same money… the side mirror, rear mudflap, and center cap cost 140 shippped total, and the tps sensor was 35 and that is really all i have into it.
-i had looked at one locally last year that he was asking 2500 for but it had quite a bit of rust..there is one just popped up in KC now for decent price i would have bought it if i couldnt get this one.

bheinen74

for the past month i have been watching some tire sales come and go. Was watching black friday sales, and was about to buy some snow tires, but decided to wait to see if the deals were even better for cyber monday tire sales. well, the deals were the same so this AM i now have full set of Hankook snows comoing for it, after rebates they entire set is going to be like 106 bucks….tires were about 292, but they have 185 bucks in rebates…..could have got a other style hankooks for 96 after all rebates…..but i went with the better tire…i think
getting 185/70/14 which is what is on it now...
will be no excuses when we get 15inches of snow now…..