Two things in swore I would never own:
1. An automatic
2. A 7 seater
Well i've gone and done both.
To cut a long story short, my lad has an Italian girlfriend, he's been to stay with her parents a couple of times in Rome/Sardinia and we've met them all a handful of times, including spending a week in Rome as a family last year.
Well they threatened to come and visit us and stay in Swindon for a week. Swindon. Yes, Swindon. So after we've done a few hours going round the railway museum, well... but the surrounding areas have a lot to offer.
Thoughts turned to hiring a 7 seater for the week and at near on £500 for a week thoughts turned again.
With my lad due to go off to uni and with my mother now needing a wheelchair to get around, i turned to eBay...
For those that know me, I like Hondas. So a few months back i put a bid in and won this (picture from the Ebay ad)...
It was only down the road in Chippenham, so i took the train, met this very lovely chap, he had owned the car for years (imported by his father) but it had been a bit of a country house workhorse. The dent in the rear i knew about, it drove really well other than a horrendous knocking from the rear, suspension related, so i took a chance and we did a deal.
Got it home and I was generally pleased with myself.
Even got the original JDM numberplate bolt
Country lanes have taken their toll, but i'm convinced i can get most of these out and make it look better. I need to remind myself that i bought this bus for a purpose and to not go silly and spend a fortune on it like I have a habbit of doing :lol:
CLEANING - PART 1...
Now i thought originally about a nice Showroom post, but it is more of a project than a detail, so opted for here instead. Either way, i'm pretty sure this is a DW first, there are a couple of Odyssey posts on DW, but none is section.
With the third seat row down, it's, um, yuk. That's not a show, they are stains.
So seats and mats out.
A collection of wheel well bits and pieces.
And out with the vac, the steamer, APC and lots of scrubbing, followed by more scrubbing and a bit more scrubbing...
The middle row carpet was also horrendous, although the pictures don't quite justify how bad it was.
It's funny how people perceive clean, as the previous owner had cleaned the car ready for sale! Anyway, more steaming and strubbing:
A 50/50 on the seats, again it doesn't show up to well on the photos, but the needed lots of work.
My search for mats unveiled my first problem of a JDM import with no UK equivalent. Nobody makes a set and there are no used ones for sale either! I bought a cheap universal set from Argos to tide me over. I think i'm going to need to template them and get someone like Ambassador car mats to make me up a set.
Not yet finished cleaning the front foot well at this stage, hence the dirty pedals and the carpet still a bit dirty.
The engine bay was dirty and its not something I like to do, so I called on one of my customers who does valeting for the trade market and he sorted me a nice clean bay for a few notes. He also sorted out my headlining, sadly no before & after pics but it was really minging! Rocker cover will need a refurb at some point, common Honda thing as it flakes off easy after a while.
That'll do for the moment, i'll upload some more when i get time :thumb:
1. An automatic
2. A 7 seater
Well i've gone and done both.
To cut a long story short, my lad has an Italian girlfriend, he's been to stay with her parents a couple of times in Rome/Sardinia and we've met them all a handful of times, including spending a week in Rome as a family last year.
Well they threatened to come and visit us and stay in Swindon for a week. Swindon. Yes, Swindon. So after we've done a few hours going round the railway museum, well... but the surrounding areas have a lot to offer.
Thoughts turned to hiring a 7 seater for the week and at near on £500 for a week thoughts turned again.
With my lad due to go off to uni and with my mother now needing a wheelchair to get around, i turned to eBay...
For those that know me, I like Hondas. So a few months back i put a bid in and won this (picture from the Ebay ad)...
It was only down the road in Chippenham, so i took the train, met this very lovely chap, he had owned the car for years (imported by his father) but it had been a bit of a country house workhorse. The dent in the rear i knew about, it drove really well other than a horrendous knocking from the rear, suspension related, so i took a chance and we did a deal.
Got it home and I was generally pleased with myself.
Even got the original JDM numberplate bolt
Country lanes have taken their toll, but i'm convinced i can get most of these out and make it look better. I need to remind myself that i bought this bus for a purpose and to not go silly and spend a fortune on it like I have a habbit of doing :lol:
CLEANING - PART 1...
Now i thought originally about a nice Showroom post, but it is more of a project than a detail, so opted for here instead. Either way, i'm pretty sure this is a DW first, there are a couple of Odyssey posts on DW, but none is section.
With the third seat row down, it's, um, yuk. That's not a show, they are stains.
So seats and mats out.
A collection of wheel well bits and pieces.
And out with the vac, the steamer, APC and lots of scrubbing, followed by more scrubbing and a bit more scrubbing...
The middle row carpet was also horrendous, although the pictures don't quite justify how bad it was.
It's funny how people perceive clean, as the previous owner had cleaned the car ready for sale! Anyway, more steaming and strubbing:
A 50/50 on the seats, again it doesn't show up to well on the photos, but the needed lots of work.
My search for mats unveiled my first problem of a JDM import with no UK equivalent. Nobody makes a set and there are no used ones for sale either! I bought a cheap universal set from Argos to tide me over. I think i'm going to need to template them and get someone like Ambassador car mats to make me up a set.
Not yet finished cleaning the front foot well at this stage, hence the dirty pedals and the carpet still a bit dirty.
The engine bay was dirty and its not something I like to do, so I called on one of my customers who does valeting for the trade market and he sorted me a nice clean bay for a few notes. He also sorted out my headlining, sadly no before & after pics but it was really minging! Rocker cover will need a refurb at some point, common Honda thing as it flakes off easy after a while.
That'll do for the moment, i'll upload some more when i get time :thumb: