Hello fellow EF fans. I plan to fly to Georgia to buy a civic wagovan. I spoke to the seller and just booked a flight. To some, it may seem crazy but to me it will be well worth the 1200 mile trip. The wagovan is currently not running due to a broken camshaft. The seller is willing to let me work on the car to get it up and running. I will be bringing a spare cylinder head with me on my trip. I plan to replace the cylinder head and drive it all the way back to MN. My flight leaves tomorrow morning at 10:30am and I should be arriving at 5:30pm at Atlanta - Hartsfield International. This will be my longest drive and will actually be my first time on an airplane. Time to pop my airplane cherry!

 

good luck post pics when u get it

 

Why not just replace the Cam? Save you alot of time.

 

Chances are if the cam "broke" it ****ed up the valve train.

 

Im going to drop in the camshaft from my spare head first and hope for the best. If not, I'll have the fun of scraping off that composite headgasket. Im starting to pack as we speak.

 

GO PEIKU !


I wish I could of gone down with you man.
Welcome back to the EF owners club..... it's been too long.

In MN most ef are in rusty condition, so flying down south for a clean car is normal.
It's even a bonus when the car is in repairable condition cause the price goes down drastically.

Too many times people want perfectly running EFs with no issues and perfect body.... they just don't want to pay the price for it. So when there is a clean car with repairable issues (bad head, blown clutch, ect) that's where you catch good deals if you put in the labor.







For those that don't know, back in Dec my buddy Zing and I did a similar trip on our quest to find MINT rust free cars.

Zing flew to NJ to buy my EG lx sedan white for me ($1,300)
then drove to PA to pick up a a6 swap (in the back of eg sedan) lol
then drove down from PA to NC to buy his EF ex sedan also white ($400)
I flew down 30hrs later to VA where he drove from NC to pick me up.
We both drove back to NC to replace head gasket on his EF ex sedan.
We flew with our tools & a spare a6 head just in case.
Work on it for 12 hours in the cold rain
Drove back home.

 

BTW
since your wagon is white.....when you get back we need to take pictures...

white ef sedan
white ef wagon
white eg sedan

 

How do you break a camshaft?

 

I think its a skill thing.

 

man that is so cool. I have a wagon too. Don't forget to check out http://www.hondacivicwagon.com/bb/

good luck and have fun!

 

damn dude what if the head broke a valve off and tore the pistons and walls up, did you think about that. Souns like your in for a world of problems dude. Never fly to get a car that isnt running, but whatever its your decision.

 

depends on how you look at it. i'd consider this a fun trip. almost like an adventure. going halfway across the country to find a car that isn't running, only to fix it and have the fun cruise back. that would be a trip I'd like to make with you, if only i knew you, lived in the general area, ect..., lol.

good luck man, just make sure you aren't expecting to only replace the head and have everything work. expect the unexpected. it could need other things as well so just be prepared. good luck and be sure to take plenty of pics on the cruise back, lol.

 

in for pics

 

Whoa! When the plane took off, it kinda felt like turbo lag, LOL! Just landed in NC for an hour long stop before continuing to GA. The airline wouldn't let me take my spare head so I had to call my cousin to pick it up before I boarded the plane. They said that if it's ever been in contact with oil or gasoline, I couldn't bring it on board, no exceptions. Great, there goes my plan of replacing the head. Anyone close to Atlanta or Toccoa or somewhere inbetween have a spare head they want to sell me? If so pm me and I'll give you call when I land in Atlanta.

Even if the block was damaged, my backup plan was to ship it back. Of course its gonna cost more money overall but the wagovan is so cheap that it's worth the price but I'd be disappointed if I couldn't driving it back to MN if worst came to worst.

I tool a couple of pics with my iPhone but photobucket won't let me log in to upload the pictures. I'm gonna have to find a place that has wifi to upload the pics. Hopefully
it'll be soon. Looks like my connecting flight to Atlanta is about to start
boarding.

 

i would honestly imagine all the time and money invested in flying there and working on it you could have had it delievered and not have to worry about breaking down hundreds of miles from home

 

dang this is epic!!!!!! in for updates! sorry about the bad news. you couldn't even take it with your luggage?

 

and where is the fun in that?? f#@k dat a die hard car nut will do ne thing and everything to get a nice car for a nice price.. good luck

 

The seller is an older guy who does not have a Paypal account. He had no idea how to ship the car back to MN and I had no idea how to send him the payment without being ripped off. The best I could think of was to fly there and try to fix it. Plus I needed a break from work and really wanted to take the drive back.

Well my flight just got pushed back another hour due to the weather. I finally found a wi-fi spot in the airport and uploaded some pics to photobucket.

Getting dropped off at Minneapolis/St.Paul International


Whoa the line is long despite checking in 1 1/2hrs early


Whoo hoo, I got a window seat!


Some pics over North Carolina






Landing at Charolette Douglas International



Looked around for some food and found this place. Kinda spendy at $9 for the meal. Tasted just like Wendys spicy chicken sandwich with bacon.



Thats all for now. Since the flight has been delayed, Im gonna walk around and take some pictures of the airport.

 

ditto.

Great time for bonding. I actually wish Peiku told me 5-7 days before so I could of made the trip with him. LOL


I shipped my a6 head down to NC w/out any issues. When asked what it was I just told them it was a large metal casting that has been cleaned. Peiku, your too honest at times....
Sometimes you gotta lie a bit.


Anyways bro I think i found you a head.....
In fact maybe I might have you pick up an extra a6 block for me too...
they guy has to call me back.
He's 1 hour from Toccoa.

 

this is awesome man,I drove 7 Hrs total for what I consider a clean bodied Ef hatch And I thought that was a long trip lol,I got there and there was starter bolts missing and nuts and screws missing from everywhere.But all the trials just made me enjoy the car so much more Now that it's been 2 weeks since I brought it home,Goodluck man.

 

Great just as I was gonna walk around and take some pictures, the flight gets cancalled due to weather and too many planes over Atlanta. That's just peachy. I'm sitting in line right now waitig to see what my options are.

 

good luck, I've been up to mass and nyc picking up cars with a dolly, always an adventure lol. We had a car come off the dolly right on canal street in nyc and no one even gave a **** lol.

Wish I could help you out somehow, someone in atl comethrough with a d series head for this guy

 

lol... Atlanta... "peachy" ... did anyone else catch that. jk


Anyways that sucks.
Did the airline offer another known flight time? or it is more of a waiting game on the weather to clear up?

 

Not too far from you at the moment! I'm in the Rock Hill area now. AND I'm guessing ya'll dont have Bojangles out in MINN. You should have tried the fried chicken and dirty rice! I was talking to my folks in Augusta, GA, and they were saying how bad the weather was getting there. Good luck on the trip!

 

PM.