1998 Honda Civic DX Hatchback
105k miles on the Odometer
Full tune up is finished.
Bought the car in July and just finished fixing everything to get it back up to factory specifications.
My car is a project to show that we can all achieve much better fuel economy while not sacrificing power or aesthetics (the latter may eventually lose the battle but I'm going to try to keep it pretty as long as I can.)
Keep in mind when reading the Planned Ecomods that this is a project that will take place on this car probably for the next 4 summers or so. I'm in college so don't have a lot of free time. (except to plan all this stuff when I should be doing homework)
Build Thread:
Current Mods:
Removed backseat and . Read somewhere that this amounts to a little over 50lbs. Everything helps eh?
K&N Air intake filter. Funny thought process here but some of you may appreciate it. Cold Air intakes and other performance enhancing bolt-ons for cars claim they add more power. This is true sometimes but usually only for the peak horsepower. If you know anything about cars you know that peak horsepower only occurs in the higher RPMs. When in the lower RPMs these modifications usually slightly hurt horsepower. To me it seems like this is perfect for fuel economy. If you stay out of the high-RPM range, (as ecomodder drivers tend to) then you will have less power available to you for normal commuter driving. This sounds like a benefit to gas mileage to me... If you disagree feel free to PM me because I would love to know where my thought process went wrong. Thanks.
Planned Mods:
First order of business:
Find Coroplast so I can start prototyping my fiberglass projects.
Test all mods with Scan Gauge II against base line data I record.
Buy and Install ScanGauge II
Full Synthetic Oil Change
Side View Mirror move to inside (delete outside)
Full List:::::::::::::::::::Brace Yourself
From Front to back:
New Nose. It will not slam into the air as much as begin the lift to it over the car.
Maybe Make a Carbon fiber hood if I feel up to it.
Full under-body paneling. Easy(ish) removal for fluid replacements and such. This will be of lightweight plastic everywhere except near exhaust. this will either be Aluminum plates, Al with holes drilled, plastic with holes drilled, chicken wire or just left open.
Front wheel air deflector.
Front wheel wells like the Insight. (curved at the back to reintroduce the trapped air into the laminar flow on the side of the car)
Maybe front wheel skirts eventually.
Front wheel air re-fuser. (I'll explain eventually)
I want to add a deflector in front of my wipers that is the half angle between my hood and windshield. Maybe it covers all the way up to the window when nice weather and remove a part of it when rain is expected so that wipers are usable.
Side-view mirror delete.
Possible Antenna delete.
Possible Side skirts.
Rear wheel air deflector
Fiberglass or Carbon fiber rear wheel skirts that look good. I don't want people to be scared of modifying their car thinking it will look ugly if they are inspired by our work and catch the ecomodding bug.
LED Brake Lights.
And as for the back of the hatchback... I'm still undecided. I have been thinking and would like to try a "half boat-tail." Maybe if I got that far it would eventually turn into a full one.
Interior:
Weight removal like replacing the two front seats with the lighter weigh racing seats, etc...
Also I am going to get the windows tinted. Aesthetics? Nope. The way I see it, in the summer when you are cranking the AC, if the sun is overhead and beating down through your windows everything still gets quite hot necessitating the need for the AC to be on longer than it needs to be. TADA!!
New suspension:
Lower the car. Would like to get as close as I can to the almighty 2.7". (Includes the air dam and under-body work). That's not very practical though so probably not that low.
Also some strut braces and sway bars so that corners do not require as much braking and/or accelerating upon reentering a straightaway.
Also lightweight wheels. I think these may have a larger impact that the smooth wheel covers that are ever so popular on this forum. Remember I am trying to make ecomodding look good and practical (for now).
Engine:
AMSoil Full synthetic Oil. (Makes your engine so much more efficient you wont even be able to see straight).
Try the Power steering belt removal and if it doesn't make a difference then remove the whole unit.
Possibly Automatic to Manual Transmission swap but that is only if by some series of events I become a certified mechanic with time and money on my hands. Not really worth it otherwise.
I know what you will say... but I think I will do tests with HHO. You see the idea I have is different than anyone elses... You may like it.
No Warm Air intake (WAI). No sacrificing power. I say the engine is small enough and yes I don't need all that power, but eliminating will only make people have it in their minds that they can only have power or good fuel economy which I believe is simply not the case.
Now the fun part that I have been hoping to expose publically...
If I do a full boat-tail it is going to be reinforced enough to be able to hold an electric motor and batteries.
Function you ask?
In town (<40mph) use the electric motor to power the back wheels forward or reverse and on the highway I can use the gas engine. I know this is not as easy as it seems but I have thought about it for a long time and I think it can be done.
Once again, I am not a mechanic but I love cars and learn absolutely everything I can about them when time allows.
I know that is a long read but this is a multi-year plan so I can do that with a good conscience. Thanks for reading this far. PM me with your thoughts/support/(criticism if warranted) if you make it this far. Thanks.
And yes a ScanGauge II will be bought before anything else.
