Hi all, I found this website surfing around last night and I think i remember it from my days in highschool. I have recently gotten into a phase where I cannot keep a car, I have been swapping and selling on Craigslist as of late, but just last night came across a car I do believe I will be holding on to.

I guess it started with a 1996 Celica as my first car. It was very pretty, had 17 inch fat chrome rims and a very nice paint job. The chicks loved it, it handled like a dream, but not very fast. It was very comfortable, and felt like driving a space ship when you sit in it with it's tight steering. This car was sweet indeed, but I wanted a CRX or Civic hatchback before I got it. All through high school I was kinda envious of the civic owners hehe. It was somethign about them that charmed me. They all felt the same driving, like a wooden plank with wheels that would dart around corners. It was not as smooth or graceful as the toyota by far, but something about them I still liked.

Later I owned a whole slew of vehicles like 90 nissan truck, 1996 toyota pickup , 04 ford focus, 90 trooper , 89 firebird, 81 dodge aeris , 85 f150, 96 vw golf, and a ton of motorcycles, mopeds and scooters. About a year ago my girlfriend picked up a 95 civic ex 4 door , I was jealous hehe. We still have this car, but it was hers and I wantedmy own Honda. I dont really love it like I should love a civic, but it is also not mine. She has made a deal with me though that if i fix a golf up , she will trade me it for the golf. I am still planning on doing this, but last night I finally nourished the need for a Honda.

I purchased a rusty, but floorboard is decent, 1986 Honda Civic Wagon Push Button 4WD ! I must say it drives great, maybe a little better than the 95 because of alignment and shocks. I had no problem going up inclines on the highway (colorado) in 5th gear , and could have easily accelerated past speed limit it seems. It def not more power than the 95 vtec, but for 73hp it suprised the hell out of me. I found that the drivers seat is not bolted in, it seems that the floor had a hole where it as mounted. It's not rusted, but looks torn out with shear force. I did not notice this till i got home, but I do not know that it woulda affected me buying it or not, maybe the asking price . I did not pay alot for it, 700$ . It has 210K on it , and everything works, even the AC. Shifts smoothley, but I can hear the throwout bearing rattling, also didnt notice it too much with the excitement of 4WD civic. If I barely tap the clutch it will go away sometimes for a while, and it's pretty slight right now. I finished off the rusted fender while backing out of the dudes driveway on a big *** rock lol. The back wheel went over with a slight bump, but the mud flap on the front wheel got caught on it and when under the tire casue it to rip from it's rusted shackle lol. All in all, it does not look much different then it did before at all, but not the fender can flap if you pull it with ur hand haha.

So for 700 bucks, new brakes, new seat , throwout bearing, rust repair, primer, new windsheild ( eh when i can haha) , and some TLC I have a sweet car, even ahs a roof rack. Check it out, glad to be on these forums, hope to fill my brain with knowledge.









This is my Dodge lol, I may make it look cool one day, all it needs is new vynl top and rims. Runs and drives great to my suprise when i got it, and ive kept it that way. Or maybe i'll sell it and get a CRX hehe.

 

There is an excellant chance that there is a whole lot more rust than what you can see. Before I got too deeply involved with this car I would pull up the carpet and get under the car to take a look.

The AWD Civic is fairly rare and uber cool. The 86-88 Integra's D16A1 (sort of like a ZC, but not exactly) will bolt straight to your car's transmission.

Good luck and be sure to visit www.redpepperracing.com for more on that year Civic.

Scott

 

cool car, I'v got a 1987 civic dx. Another good site to red pepper is www.3goc.co.uk
pretty cool guys on there.

 

"SL" 6spd 4wd is super cool. I sure do miss mine. These cars are rare as cbstd stated. If you ever need parts hit up the "hondacivicwagon.com forum. Great place & good ppl.

Check out these ( 2 ) vids as they should motivate you. WAGON ATTACK!!
This guy does an amazing job with the video's


http://vimeo.com/680690


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7ZzqBPz4sY


Enjoy

 

Hi all, thank you for the comments.
CBST - Yah that worried me some. I pulled up the carpet in the back a bit and didnt see any huge rust spots, but i need to start pulling plastic to really see what there. The undercarriage looks solid, it's coated in something. Looks good , but im not directly under it either while it's in the air, and feels good. I needa do more extensive search though. I have unlimited free supply to sheet metal and epoxies of different sorts, some welding suppply, so im up for some rust repair. Given theres not a hole big enough in the floor to fall through, i love the car and don't want to get rid of it , so im up for some repair. Yah that D16A1 Is Sweet! I have one located right now maybe for 200 bucks, is that a fair price? Dont know miliage, but compression and head gasket are good, i assume valves are and stuff. What else should I check out when asking/bying?

Nice Safehands, i'll check that out for sure.

Hell yah Norcal, that SL gear is Super Cool. It was snowing , has been for past 4 days, and I took it up a steep icy ally in 4WD with my step bro hehe. Crawled up it at a slow pace with no problem, even stopped on steepest part and took off. This thing is a billy goat, even with balding front tires. Yah that is a cool video, i actually watched that as i left to go look at the car, and a few times before hehe.

Here are some pics of today, had a little bit of fun today, but not too much. Tested out 4WD and SL gear. Definately pretty grippy.


This is more of a main road in the neighborhood, usually not as snowed over.


The best part, and perhaps only part, of why im glad I own the 1st generation wagon over the 2nd. Push button 4wd off and on!!! I really want both generations though to feed my strange wagon needs.




I hope i dont run out of photobucket bandwith hehe.

 

theres always imageshack.us when u run out of bandwidth

nice ride urself. definitely rare and unseen in my country either. no need for 4wd for such a warm country