[EFB055]

Finally decided to give the wagon it's own thread.

Anyway, i flew interstate to pick this up a few months back now off a mechanic who told me it had a blown motor. It's one of the tidiest original wagons i've seen in Australia. They're super rare here, and only came in one trim spec (the RTX - 4wd twin carb, manual only and all came with manual mirrors/steering/windows but an electric sunroof) and were only sold between 88 and 89. Some pics from a friend who went to look at it for me before i flew down:

When me and my mate arrived, the thing damn fired right up. I checked over it and the oil level was really high, but apart from that everything else looked really well serviced. So we took off heading back north on our 12 hour drive home.

We made it about 15 minutes in before it started pumping bulk oil smoke out the back. Not a good start, haha. So i pulled into a local parts shop and did a kerbside oil change, I was banking on the culprit being the oil level causing it to burn:

Luckily it ran mint after that, and it was literally smooth sailing for the remaining 11hrs and 45mins haha.

I haven't bought licence plates for it yet, but i'm thinking EEP055 to match the theme i've got going with my other ED/EF's haha. It's a shame that i'll lose the originally issued licence plate because it's registered interstate.

 

[EFB055]

I've lived with the wago for a few months now and got to know it's flaws and figure out what my goals are with it. I've decided i want to spec it similarly to a RTI trim (same spec as my white sedan) which means EFI, 1.6L and electric everything. The factory carb setup is suffering from the typical cold start issues that are starting to plague ED's over here, and it really needs the extra displacement of the 1.6 (currently 1.5) to get it moving.

So i've started hoarding parts and will dive into the conversion in the coming weeks/months. So far i found a set of CRX alloys for it, which were actually a factory option for the wagon, and i think they look mint:

Over the christmas break me and my mate road tripped back down interstate to pick up a motor from a Concerto that another mate was wrecking (pictured here in his shed... only pic i have of it lol):

These come with a d16z3 which is basically a D16a6 but with a unique head casting that has provisions for a mechanical fuel pump which is left unmachined (because they're EFI). They're good for 88kw/120hp, which i think is a little higher rated compared to the US d16's because they came with a high flowing 4-2-1 header. Trouble is, my wagon has the 4-1 header which would mean it would be rated the same as the US's D16a6 108hp, because Concertos high flow header does not clear the RT transfer case. Luck was on my side however, as an RT specific 4-2-1 factory header popped up on Yahoo auction japan which shifts the 2-1 assymetrically to one side to clear the gearbox and boost power by +12hp.

I borrowed a trailer and we hit the road, of course it felt poetic to take the wagon on the adventure to pick up it's new heart:

Before we left i checked over the coolant lines, the timing belt and water pump and everything looked mint. Despite being nearly 40°C it did the 7 hour trip down without a hiccup. I parked it up next to another mates ED sedan that he bought for 100 bucks haha:

Wasn't long after that we pulled all the bits out of the Concerto:

Having a hoist certainly makes short work of things. It's a shame these Concerto's are mostly used as parts cars here, they're actually quite well built compared to the ED. Far more solid feeling, and unique. Anyway, loaded UP:

Tell you what, loaded up with 2 people on board and a boot full of parts, this little 1.5 was working HARD hahaha.

Also there is SO MUCH GLASS in these little things, you can literally not escape from the sun. I brought along a bunch of rags to use while we were ripping the motor out, and we ended up wearing the rags because they were long sleeves and protected our arms from the sun lol. AC + tint is going to be a must when this thing gets back on the road.

Anyhow, watch this space as i start cleaning up the motor and getting the bits together to swap her in.

 

[drtalon123]

You keep the coolest damn cars alive, great stuff! Good luck with the work, ill be following along!

 

[Oldcivicjoe]

That wagon is AWESOME! Can't wait to see how everything goes, ill be following along. 😁

 

[Sailor]

Marvellous.

 

[EFB055]

Started the tear down to inspect what kind of condition she's in, tidy it up and push fresh seals through it. The motor had been sitting for a few years, and the oil that came out of it was pretty rank, but i poured some fresh oil through it a few times and its draining fine and ran clear eventually. I'll be pulling the sump to swap the pickup/sump for an RT4WD unit to clear the new 4-2-1 header i've got on the way so i'll know the pickup will be clean.

I can see it's got an aftermarket head gasket on it, but i think i'm just going to get it running and see how it goes before i pump too much money into pulling / rebuilding the head. I was told it ran fine, but the car it was in was just a parts car so the new owner wasn't really paying a whole lot of attention to the condition before it started getting pulled apart.

 

[Oldcivicjoe]

Ill keep my fingers crossed for you

 

[EFB055]

So i've been hoarding parts and getting ready for this swap:

Hopefully get stuck into it soon, but in the meantime i picked up this EF steering wheel:

Obviously it had seen better days, but i took it in to get the leather repaired (not wrapped) and i was flawed at how good of a job they did:

Stoked with it!

 

[robgoof]

look at those funny outlets..

 

[drtalon123]

look at those funny outlets..

I've got to make a thread starter for this lmao

 

[EFB055]

look at those funny outlets..

laughs in 240V

 

[EFB055]

Spent a day ripping in this weekend, I wanted to get the manual steering rack out to swap it with the track POS next weekend (track POS currently has power steering). I'll also pickup the engine hoist while im at my mates place too to yank her out.

Hopefully start freshening up the motor through the week if i cbf.

 

[EFB055]

Finished off the motor last weekend. I decided not to go full ham on the resto as i'm not really sure what the condition of the motor is like, and i'm also keen to get it driving again. If it turns to be solid then i might get the valve cover re powdercoated and the intake bead blasted etc.

For now though, just fresh seals:

I also came across something new to me. In Australia, all our 1.6L ED's were either DOHC or 1.5L SOHC, this 1.6 SOHC motor is a bit of a rarity and really, the first time i've gotten to work on one from this era. When i was doing the timing belt i could not for the life of me get the cam gear timing marks to sit flat against the head, it was either half a tooth off one way or half a tooth off the other. Checked the USDM CRX workshop manual - nothing listed there:

Dusted off a Concerto workshop manual (the car this came from) and realised that the SOHC 1.6's have a different timing mark at around 7oclock on the cam gear that aligns with the back timing cover. (obscured in the photo above by the mount post). Are all you guise d16a6s the same?

 

[slo_eg8]

I want to say yes....

 

[EFB055]

What really tripped me was that i had my wagon 1.5 next to this one with the cam gear aligning perfectly with the head haha. I was starting to think it might've had something to do with the head being shaved or some BS.

 

[Oldcivicjoe]

Just imagine the headache of a block with the stamp so worn its illegible, a d15 back plate and a y7 head with an unmarked knock off cam gear, customer complaint "low power"🤬😱

 

[patxi]

How cool are these awd wagons.

 

[EFB055]

Just imagine the headache of a block with the stamp so worn its illegible, a d15 back plate and a y7 head with an unmarked knock off cam gear, customer complaint "low power"🤬😱

No thanks!

Todays efforts, power steering pump overhaul:

 

[EFB055]

Spent a few hours transferring the caked up oil/grease on this trans straight onto my face with a high pressure washer. Came up ok:

 

[slo_eg8]