Daily Wagovan

"Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo" (akioohtori) 02/07/2019 at 17:20 • Filed to: project golf ball

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Slow day at work, so let’s talk about the 1986 Civic Wagon! I’ve been driving and errand running in the Wagovan* today, putting the most dynamic** number of miles on it since I bought it, and I am prepared to offer some observations.

*Yes, I know it isn’t technically a Wagovan, but you knew what I meant.

**By dynamic I mean mix of highway, city, parking, and eating plus a couple of hot starts. Basically a comprehensive “if this old car is going to eff up, now is the time.”

Cold Start

It was 18F when I started out this morning. Too damn cold, but I understand a lot of Oppos are having a lot harder time so... yeah. I will say the Wago was... reluctant to start. I need to do more reading on how to start a carburated engine on a cold morning, but I’d get a brief start, then die, and repeat before it finally sputtered to life. After that, no problems.

Driving

Driving the Wagovan is... weird. Sure the shifter is sloppy and the cable operated clutch takes some getting used to, but there is something about the driving position I can’t quite articulate.

To say it feel like a go-cart would be inaccurate. It does not drive like a go cart. In fact, it doesn’t really seem to like changing direction at all. When it does, the tired suspension and heavy body protest and try and drag even the most modest line wide. I wan’t planning any track days anyway.

I think it is more that the interior feels like a greenhouse, even more so than the Alfa and Saab. The windshield is expansive, even by modern standards, the hood is short and steep, and the dashboard seems uncommonly low. Ditto the belt line, actually.

So I guess it is less like a go-cart and more like driving a bubble.

A big blue bubble.

This is pretty cool as it feels more like driving an armchair around then driving a car. You very much feel like part of the traffic, rather than you’re sitting in a little mobile house, dead to the world.

Other than that the power is adequate but not confidence inspiring, as would be expected from a older car. Brakes meet a similar description. The manual steering is surprisingly sharp and direct with very little slop, though it can be a pain at low speeds.

Wait..So which is it?! Bubble or armchair!???

Uhh... slightly less than plush armchair in a bubble? Next topic!!

Features

It has them.

Sort of.

It has heat and AC.

The HVAC system has an unusual set of options. Rather than have the usual face, feet, face and feet, defrost options, the Wagovan features “Vent,” “HI-LO,” “HEAT,” “H-DEF”, and Defrost. Aside from HI-LO and Defrost I’m not actually sure what the other mean. This is independent of the large center vent, a wagon exclusive, one can pop up to divert air from the car-width vent under the windshield to the more direct-able center vent.

You also get analog control of the recirculation controls, which seems to indicate you can choose just how much fresh air you want, rather than the on-off you get in... most every other car. This, of course, is independent of the fresh air vents located on the far passenger and far driver’s sides, which only put out outside, unheated air. This seems to be an 80s thing as the Saab, Cabriolet, and Alfa all feature this. I like it, but still think it is rather odd. Still TBD is these blow hot in the summer, but if they are like the Saab I think they are air-conditioned.

All that said, the heat works well once the car gets warm, a feat in itself thanks to what appears to be a stuck thermostat. I haven’t tried the AC other than to prove it is operable, which it is. Good thing too, because it will need a R134a conversion when the time comes. Pity.

Other creature comforts include... Well I put in a new bluetooth radio so there is that, but this particular Wagovan was only optioned with two speakers so the sound is functional but not immersive.

Oh and the ash tray is rather expansive and the accessory port is always on... which is a thing.

No cruise control, power windows, or power locks are a bit of a bummer, I will say.

Ugh.... and no cup holders.

General Comfort

The seats are comfortable, I like the driving position, and everything with the exception of the radio is very ergonomic. The suspension is jarring and the whole car rattles when you hit one of Tulsa’s many potholes. At any speed under about 80 it feels like any other car. Any more than that... well I’ll get back to you I haven’t tried it yet.

The engine is surprisingly quite overall and basically inaudible at low RPM. The exception to this is when the choke is fully engaged, at which point you get some horrible induction noise, but that is mostly unavoidable. There is also a mildly annoying drone at highway speeds, but that is probably because I gave my exhaust guy too long of a leash. Adding a resonator or a cat back in should fix that.

Back seat seems... fine, though I wouldn’t want to sit in the middle seat!

Interestingly, it looks like the rear seats do recline. In 1986!

I mean... they don’t recline much, but they do recline.

Cargo Space

It is a wagon with fold flat seats. Cargo space is fine.

Economy

Still TBD on this. I’m at 150 miles and still just above a half tank. I’m hoping for 30 MPG and expect to be disappointed. With a 12.4 gallon tank I just might do it, but with a mechanical sender I expect the 2nd half will go much faster than the first.

Reliability

With the exception of the aforementioned cold start, the thing seems good. The turn signal isn’t the biggest fan of... working due to a tricky switch and the wipers are a bit slow, but as of right now I mostly trust it.

Hot starting it is wild. If the car is even a little warm it takes one crank before it starts and immediately settles at proper idle. It is unlike any car I’ve driven or owned in that way.

But most importantly: At the moment everything works! The tach, odo, trip, blowers, diverters, trunk latch.... everything the car came with works just fine! Plus I’d say 90% of the plastics are still in good condition.

Honda FTW, I suppose.

Parts Availability

Notice anything missing?

This one is a bit tricky. Some stuff, pretty much anything that was available on the normal Civic, is really easy to find. However, a shocking amount of this car is wagon only and that stuff is difficult to find. Honda seemed to go pretty crazy with the customization on these and I don’t understand why. Stuff that didn’t have to be different like the dashboard and side-mirrors are, for no good reason.

Unfortunately, unlike the Alfa and Saab, I have not yet found a retailer specializing in Wagovan parts. This leaves me at the mercy of Rock Auto, Amazon, and whatever I can scrounge up from the forums and facebook groups.

So far this hasn’t been a deal breaker, but when I go to do a suspension refresh things might get hairy.

When the pavement ends

I did a write up on this when I took it out to the local ORV park and it did... fine. I’ll do a more detailed review after I have some time to work on it and get it where I want it, then try again.

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Overall

I find this little car strangely charming. It is slow and pretty sparten, but it also reminds me of when Honda made interesting, reliable, and well featured cars. The Wagovan was designed just before the “Bubble Era” but it certainly shows a Honda that was willing to embrace the weird and see what worked for them.

I say all this to say I like this car. I don’t think it has a permanent place in my garage, but it certainly does in my heart.

I know I use this photo a lot, but it is one of my favorites.

Aremmes > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo 02/07/2019 at 17:38

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Vent means face, Heat means feet, H-Def means High Definit...  er, feet and defrost. So it's just like every other Japanese car of the period, but with words instead of pictures for function labels.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > Aremmes 02/07/2019 at 17:41

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Makes sense- well no it doesn’t, but if you imagine it with the little symbols like any other car the progression is very conventional.

vicali > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo 02/07/2019 at 17:42

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Westy HVAC are hilariously complicated as well ;

Four sliders and two dials..

The dial to the right is the fan, the dial to the left is the rear seat heater.

Both side vents are always fresh cold air as well,

Aremmes > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo 02/07/2019 at 17:49

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Right. If you went from a Corolla or a Sentra to a Civic, you’d be able to operate it without taking your eyes off the road, which is much more than can be said of today’s touchscreen fetish and iDrive-ish knobbery.

lone_liberal > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo 02/07/2019 at 18:05

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In an old car it is not an “accessory port”. It is a cigarette lighter and most cigarette lighters had a constant 12v to them.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > lone_liberal 02/07/2019 at 18:22

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Fair point. Oddly the Alfa's isn't, which hurts the stereotype haha.

lone_liberal > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo 02/07/2019 at 18:25

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T he Italians wouldn’t enable you to light your cigarette at any time? Mind blown.

Urambo Tauro > lone_liberal 02/07/2019 at 18:35

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Some manufacturers actually called it a cigar lighter. I see that in service manuals, and it doesn’t appear to be an abbreviation.

lone_liberal > Urambo Tauro 02/07/2019 at 18:37

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Well, sure, if you want to be fancy .

Urambo Tauro > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo 02/07/2019 at 18:37

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Great review! Those dash vents are pretty cool. Shame about the cupholders though.

Urambo Tauro > lone_liberal 02/07/2019 at 18:45

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Sew fawnsey! I have factory service manuals for my Sierra and Mustang (both ’95s), and while GM uses cigar and cigarette interchangeably, Ford never says cigarette except for one warning about smoking around batteries.

lone_liberal > Urambo Tauro 02/07/2019 at 18:53

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You got me curious so I looked up my (‘71) Camaro’s owner’ s manual and it uses cigarette. I would have thought the older the more likely to use “cigar” but I guess not.

Urambo Tauro > lone_liberal 02/07/2019 at 19:22

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Huh, I would have thought so too.

Just wondering, did you check the whole thing? I mean, I certainly don’t expect you to read the whole thing cover to cover haha . The only reason I was able to check mine so thoroughly is because my manuals are in digital form. It takes me only a few seconds to run a text search. M y Sierra manual keeps alternating between terms ( 14 results for “cigar ”, only 9 of which are part of “ cigarette”. )

lone_liberal > Urambo Tauro 02/07/2019 at 19:28

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I just double checked to see and it uses either “lighter” by itself or “cigarette lighter” no “cigar”. Strangely in an 88 page document there was only 4 returns for lighter, 3 for cigarette and none for cigar.

Urambo Tauro > lone_liberal 02/07/2019 at 19:53

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Huh, well ok. BTW, my GM manual also has several instances of “CIG LTR ”, and with an abbreviation like that, it’s highly doubtful that any of the cigar mention s are to be considered abbreviations for cigarette . At any rate,  m y manual is over 3000 pages, so I’m sure they had more than one writer working on it .

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > Urambo Tauro 02/07/2019 at 20:29

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Haha I had to check too. Alfa is cigar.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > Urambo Tauro 02/07/2019 at 20:31

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But Saab is c igarette! Land Rover is cigar...

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo 02/07/2019 at 20:49

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Rear springs will be the same dimensions as all the others but likely a different rate. Probably easy to sort with a pair of spacers if they actually need replacing. Same thing with the rear shocks...they’ll probably be the same as all the other variants  but potentially with different valving . Again no biggie to just go with the standard shocks...

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > vicali 02/07/2019 at 20:52

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Yeah that is kinda nuts.  I like it!

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 02/07/2019 at 20:54

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Yeah. I think people replace the springs with (some year) Integra springs and it actually gives you a mild lift.  I’ve seen a couple options with the shocks and struts, so I think I’m OK there.  But yeah, most of the important stuff appears to be available but just not as much as you’d expect from a Honda I guess.

twodudesnape > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo 02/08/2019 at 09:43

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Hey been following this Wagovan journey for a bit but never commented. I have my own project 86 Civic Wagon 4wd. Parts are definitely hard to come by but I have found a few places. Hondapartsnow.com will be able to show you every OEM part of any system on the car (love their diagrams) , and if they have the part or if it’s been discontinued. 25Honda.com is a cool website dedicated to Honda/Acura and can be good for finding rare trim/switches/accessories. Finally, the good old Honda dealerships will still sometimes have parts! Surprising, but helpful when you need a new auxiliary valve adjustment screw because your torque wrench was out of calibration and snapped the old one.  These are just what I’ve found in my journey the last year, but I’m sure there is more out there. Redpepperracing.com is definitely the best forum for this car, but unfortunately the host is migrating the website so it’s been down for a while, which is making my project harder. Anyway, I’ve been enjoying your series on this car, so keep it up!

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > twodudesnape 02/08/2019 at 10:49

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Awesome! Thanks! I’ve been using some random Honda dealer’s website for the parts diagrams, but those have only been getting me so far. Good to have a couple extra tools in my belt. Luckily I haven’t needed too much stuff yet, but it’d be nice to be able to grab a couple of the heater hoses and stuff when I do the coolant refresh.

Sidenote: Did you feel the need to relocate the coolant reservoir?  The location is killing me (I can’t see it!) so I am considering relocating it to the firewall.  Not seeing a downside to it but you never know...

twodudesnape > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo 02/08/2019 at 11:57

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Yes I completely agree about the coolant reservoir . Even with a flashlight right on it I struggle to see the level. A relocation would be useful in the long haul. Coolant hoses are bad if you’re looking for small molded ones that sit behind the head. I’m on the hunt for the bypass hose and haven’t found anywhere that sells them yet. Might just see what I can find at O’Reilys that I can make work. But that’s a future problem as the head is still on my work bench

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > twodudesnape 02/08/2019 at 19:56

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Oh hey, Rock Auto suggests using these for some of the smaller, NLA mo lded hoses. Haven’t tried them yet, but might be worth a try.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0027YTB2U/