Wagoman

Greetings

I'm new to Honda's and have just purchased a 1988 Honda Civic Wagovan, kinda funny looking but very functional.
It's a 1.5L with a 5 speed, AC and power brakes. Which is why I purchased it. I wanted as few accessories as possible.

I'm looking for some general information about the car that you guys should be able to answer.

I have quite a bit of experience with turning my own wrenches. But it is mostly on american v8's. I'm very familiar with GM's Tuned Port Injection fuel system. So explain as in depth as you can, i'll probably understand.

I'm getting a Helm's manual for the car but it'll be couple of weeks.


1. Is there any difference between a Honda Wagon and the Wagovan? Or is it just a name given to some honda wagons?

2. What is my engine designation (I see people referring to their engines as b16 etc.)

3. I have no idea when the timing belt was last changed, is there a simple way to check for wear?

4. How do you check and set the timing on this car? (I've done this many times on other cars, and each can be a little different).

5. It appears to have Throttle Body Injection. Is it computer controlled? If so where is the computer? And, is there a way to do on board diagnostics?

6. I'm getting a lot of pinging under normal conditions after it warms up. (I haven't checked for too much advance yet). Besides timing what else should i check and adjust?

7.I'm assuming it takes regular gas, or is the compression high enough to warrant premium fuel (could be why it's pinging)?

8. How many gallons does the tank hold?

9. I bought some hatch struts at AutoZone, i have not had time to install yet, but the mounts and lenght don't look like a good match. Is there anywhere online to get replacements...for cheap?

10.Complete head assemblies seem pretty cheap for old Hondas. It looks like a fairly easy swap. Is it?

11.What are the well known free mods for performance and better driveability?

12.If I want to upgrade my seats, what will fit?


I'm not currently interested in performance (I may be later on) but I wanna get it running perfect first. But anything fairly easy or super cheap if doable.

First Impressions: It's fun! I can haul a **** load. It goes from 0-45 pretty quick (all i need with the traffic). Handles better than I thought it would.

Thanks for the help

excitid

Heres a little group that has some helpful stuff.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hondacivicwagons

I believe the wagovan is the base wagon model. do you have the vinal seats in yours

Your engine is a d series I believe a d15 someone will fill in the letter for me.

I believe to check your timing belt you can remove the four 10mm bolts on the valve cover and the two 10mm bolts onthe timing belt cover to inspect it.

I still can't get timing right so I'll leave that to the other guys

Your ecu is under the passenger side carpet where you feet go. I believe its 4 more 10mm bolts to remove the cover but to check codes you just look at the led and count the blinks after you turn the key to the on position.

I would definitly do a complete tuneup including fuel filter.


www.hondaautomotiveparts.com is a good place for oem parts.

I hope this helps I gotta go to work I'll add more later.

Oh Welcome to the forum.:thumbup:

Gasoline Fumes

The Wagovan is a step up from the DX Wagon. I think the seats are different, or something stupid like that. No major differences.

WhiteRice

I'm thinkin it's a D15B2 engine code. Check your block. It'll say right there!

FourthGenHatch

I thought WagOVan was the name for the 3rd Gen Wagon, while the 4th Gen never really had one.

Gasoline Fumes

I think Wagovan was used on both gens. My '84 was just "Wagon." I believe they started using Wagovan later.

excitid

I had a wagovan first it had vinyl seats that sucked so I always considered it to be the base wagon. I got my next two and 1 was a 4wd and the other would have been the equivilent of a dx but had no badges. I saw a wagon at the yard for sale it was a 4wd with all the options including oem speaker pods and an armrest and I went back yesterday and it had been crushed. They saved the trans and sold it for 600. I really wanted that armrest.

Wagoman

Thank you for the responses. Yes, mine has vinyl seats, so i'm assuming it's a base model.
It'd be nice to have a console with an armrest. Does anyone know of a civic console that'll drop in (what years)?

Gasoline Fumes

Maybe the Wagovan is the base model.
Vinyl seats? No wonder you want to change them.

excitid

94-2000 integra console is what everyones been using.