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