Hello to all. I have been pretty active with the build up of this car on a couple of different forums, but have yet to post any of my build on this site.

This is what I started out with about 7 months ago: a neglected 1987 Honda Civic RT-4WD wagon. It hardly ran the day I bought it. It was in pretty rough shape cosmetically, inside and out. However, it had almost no rusting on the shell. Here is the wagon just a few days after my purchase:

Exterior:



Interior:





Engine:





Shortly thereafter, I got my game plan together and used the picture above and some art skill to put together a basic rendering of my final goal for this project. I wanted the car to be quirky yet hip by today’s standards. However, I still wanted the prodiminent look of the wagon to be very 80’s retro, and suit the era that it came from. After initially disliking the two-tone brown interior, I began to embrace it with respect to it’s contrasting relationship to a possible off-white exterior. I then began to make plans of utilizing the interior to create a slightly luxurious feel. Here was the initial vision I put down on paper. Very little change to this initial plan has been made ever since:



After 6 months of working during my free time, here is where I’m at right now.














































The stock engine now runs a dual-Mikuni side draft carburetor set-up. Paired with the custom 4-2-1 headers and 2.5in exhaust the engine flows much better now, and I am very pleased with the increase over stock. It has been a lot of work, but the car is (for now!) a pretty reliable daily driver. I have fun going to and from work, and am simply AMAZED at how well the car handles around turns! Thanks to the 4WD (I think!), its actually more stable at taking turns at speed than my last ride, a fairly intensely modified B16a2 powered EK hatch.

Rather than posting all of the details about how I have gotten to this point, I will just post the links to my build threads at redpepperracing.com and clubcivic.com below.

http://www.redpepperracing.com/forum...howtopic=39431

http://www.clubcivic.com/board/showthread.php?t=143676

As you can see by reading through either of the threads above, I am still a novice at working with cars, and have struggled with virtually every step of this build. However, I cannot thank the many members of both of the sites above enough for helping me to get this far, particularly the crew over at RPR. When I first started the build, it was very frustrating to find help and advice on my wagon. While plenty of 88-91 Wagons have been built, hardly any one has built a 3G wagon with heavy documentation on the net. Of course, the 84-87 wagons are a COMPLETELY different ballgame than working with an 88-91 wagon. With help from many knowledgeable 3G Civic guys over at RPR, I’m trying to document the process as much as possible, so that in the event that anyone else is even remotely interested in building up a 3G wagon, they will have a little more information starting out than I did. I believe that these wagons are neat cars, and that the RT-4WD model, in particular, holds a special part of Honda Motor Co.’s history. I am hoping to do this car the justice it deserves! I’ll be updating here as I go along as well.

Remaining plans for this build:

Engine: Prepare an Si head with P&P, 3-angle valve job, send cam off for regrind.
Dual valve spring conversion (Use both the Si AND DX springs on the head).
ARP head bolts and Cometic head gasket.
Take off the pretty-good running Mukuni carbs and totally rebuild them.
A few SS fuel lines and –an fittings in the bay.
ITR Oil Cap
Mugen reservoir cover to match the wheels ☺
NGK red plug wires
Front Strut Tower bar: Cusco or Ebay (depending on my current budget!)

Exterior: Mod a 86-87 Integra Front Lip to fit the wagon.
Put on my NOS OEM fog lights with Nokya Hyper Yellow bulbs.
JDM shuttle (black-housing) headlights and smoked corners.
JDM 3G Civic side markers
Try and pick up some center caps and lug covers for the MR5 rims.
Reprint the “RT-4WD” decals for the rear doors.
Paint the door jams and trunk lid jam to match the body.

Interior: Paint and install my rear cargo cover.
Paint and install JDM Shuttle center console. Mount OEM EQ in it, if possible.
Mugen pedals.
Rewrap drivers side seat, possibly with modified/beefed-up bolstering.
Gooseneck-type ipod holder (coming from base of passenger seat).

Suspension: Install my Energy Suspension Master Bushing kit.
Obviously I want to upgrade MUCH more here. However, I am having
problems doing so, as the 4WD model has absolutely NO aftermarket
support. If I had a 2WD model, I would have a lot more bolt-on suspension
options.

Most of the rest of the work will have to wait until this summer, as I have a lot going on right now between my full-time job as a teacher and basketball coach, and helping my wife to raise our little 7-month old daughter.

Thanks for checking out the wagon, and please let me know if you have any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions!

 

beautiful, nice work

 

So much work and it shows

Great build!

 

spectacular! i love it...

 

Thanks for all the compliments guys. I appreciate it. I'll keep you posted.

 

Great build subscribed!

 

Thanks man!

How did my thread get rated with 5 stars? Wow, blown away!

 

Cause its not the same dc2 k20 build you see everywhere

 

cool. thanks.

 

When I replied, I subscribed and rated this thread excellent (as I'm sure we all did)

 

Awesome. I hardly ever see these cars around, let alone restored.

My only gripe...Imageshack sucks, I hate clicking on their slow site with popups. It would be better if you put the images in your post (resized to 800x600 or 640x480) so we could see them all at once in a good size.

 

Yeah man, I was just trying to do something I had not scene done for a project before. I had NEVER seen one of these cars until it popped up on Craigslist. I was like "Dang, that car is UGLY!" LOL. Then I thought "wellll, it MIGHT could be polished up a bit!".

Sorry about the imageshack deal. I was just cutting/pasting from another forum, to save time on the post here.

I like the thumbnails, as they speek up the post download and scrolling speeds. I'll try to get away from this system in future pics. Thanks for the heads up.

 

Nice work! I was very impressed with the sketch and the pictures following it that supported your initial vision. It's unique to see someone with a specific goal that they want to achieve and it's even more unique to have a hardcopy of it. I liked every photo, right up until the bay shot...CARBY! Now I love this car. Great work.

 

i dig it

 

The project continues!

(1) Totally rebuilt the carbs: New everything. EVERYTHING. Cleaned off all the paint I put on them in the process. What a STUPID mistake that was! (NEVER paint your carbs if you want them to run good) Now, beautiful CLEAN pewter goodness

Some process pics:

Disassembly-



Fresh Mukini parts.
Thanks to Todd at Wolf Creek Racing!-



Freshly cleaned carb body-
I was VERY blessed that my 75 year old neighbor, Mr. Sheryl, let me use his machine shop to work in!



The carbs fully reassembled....a week and 2 more part orders later, LOL!
New butterflies, throttle shaft, and seals-



(2) Picked up a Mugen res. cover:



It's fireproof. wow.



(3) I also picked up a set of NIB Nology wires on the cheap! Notable power-band difference. Nothing crazy, but more responsive throughout the rev range. Most noticeable in the first 2 gears. I still need to get my plug gaping figured out.

Everything buttoned up in the car:



(4) JDM black-housing Shuttle headlights and corner lights installed. 86-87 Header panel fits perfectly!

Horribly overexposed cell phone pics from a recent trip to Target. I apologize, but you get the idea:









The JDM lights also use H4 bulbs, which are a bit brighter than USDM bulbs.

Next, I did some research and decided I needed an upgrade in fuel supply, so I called these guys, and this came in today.



I wonder whats inside?...



(5) BIG fuel system upgrade.

Carter 4psi rotary fuel pump; Holly fuel pressure reg.; Summit f.p. gauge; a lot of -6 AN fittings; -6 AN SS line.

How it all mates up:



I'm going to try and get everything set-up in the wagon ASAP. I'll post pics of it in the car once it's all up and running. I'm hoping the new fuel system set-up will help to give me a more consistent level of fuel in my bowls at all rpm levels. Unfortunately, the stock mechanical pump has variances in the amount of fuel it delivers, depending on engine speed. It works decent but not perfect. I'll need this electric pump to max out the potential of my sidedraft carb set-up.

BIG thanks to RPR member Airgazm for all of his advice with the set-up of my Mikunis and the proper fuel system parts that I would need!

I also hope to get my Teg front and rear lips on soon. Here's a pic of the front lip. It needs A LOT of love before I can put it on, particularly on the drivers side corner. Is bondo the best thing to use here? -





Still also waiting to go on:



I have my fog harness with switch now, Thanks to RPR member Alex of New Zealand for ALL of my JDM stuff! I still need to fab up some brackets for the fogs first though. Hopefully that won't be too tough. Anyone have a template?

I'm also about to order a 4300K slim-ballast HID headlight kit as well as Nokya hyper yellow bulbs for the fog lights very soon.

JDM center console should clear customs from New Zealand soon. Been waiting for a while now. Not really sure what the hold up is. Also included in this shipment is a pencil etching/rubbing of the fender hole for the JDM sidemarker lights. So, when that comes, I'll pull out the metal nibbler, nibble out my holes, and get those installed and wired up on the fenders as well.

The "RT-4WD" logos for the rear doors are being made a vinyl print shop in town right now. Should be out in about a week or so and on the car. Let me know if you want me to have some printed for you as well.

Thinking of more ignition upgrades, maybe not, we'll see...

Lots going on right now. As always, I'll post up more pics as I go.

Thanks for looking!

 

Dope build!

 

Thanks man!

 

Updates- New fuel system install is complete, and running great! Still needs a little more fine tuning.

Pics:

BEFORE (stock mechanical fuel pump set-up)



AFTER (Carter Electric Pump, Holly FPR, various -6 goodies). Thanks to RPR member Airgazm for all his help and advice on this set-up! You are THE MAN!!





Got all of this installed, and then the alternator died So, replaced it with a refurbished unit and now the wagon is running fine again (for now, LOL!).

Front lip is done and installed as well. Looks sick. I'll get up pics as soon as I can.

Thanks for looking!

 

Hella sick! Major Props!

 

nice tastfully modded civic wagon, looks great, keep us updated

 

OMG, crappy iPhone pics of the modified Teg lip installed...

 

Looks great on there

 

I loloveit.....

 

Man I saw your pics in the classic pics thread. That is one badass wagon! I love the sidedraft carbs, you've really set that thing up right!

 

Thank you sir!

Now, if I could just get my fuel pressure to be stable....

Would you believe it: BOTH the pump AND the regulator that I just recently put on the car were faulty units !!!!!???!

Back they go. Wish me luck on the next shipment!