Sounds like you need to keep leaflets in the car to hand out if you're in a hurry and can't stay around to explain :-)
If I'm in a hurry, I just point out the website name on the back of the boattail and tell them to go there for more info.
I don't know why people think my car looks so strange. If you go to the Bonneville Salt Flats during Speed Week, you'll see lots of cars with features similar to mine. Performance cars come in more flavors than the more commonly imitated NASCAR and World Rally cars.
Selling the similarity to racing might be key to getting more people involved. You can't use 200 mph on the road, but anyone can use 90 mpg. I've always been interested in speed record streamliners and aircraft. Would love to have a belly tank car! Kids are definitely more open-minded since they haven't been told what is cool yet by marketing and convinced themselves the opinion sold to the many is theirs as well in interest of fitting in.
do you have any recent pics of that monster mpg machine?
Here's some pics taken with my cell phone at Hybridfest 2009.
and some shots taken at home.
If all goes well, there should be a D15Z1 (civic VX) engine installed in the beast in the next week or two. According to SVOboy, it should be good for another 10-15mpg above what I am currently getting.
I'd like to think that people might open their eyes at some point... instead, I find it more and more likely that I'll just close mine. -- Author kept secret.
Je ne veux pas d'une meilleure vie. Je veux 黎re heureux avec celle que j'ai maintenant.
(I do not want a better life. I want to be happy with the one I have now.)
Hey basjoos, when are you going to plop an EV drivetrain in there? With your aero, I bet you could do a single-reduction motor and Lithium pack and get 200 miles on a charge.
I just plopped a B15Z1 (VX) lean burn engine in my car, so it'll be a while before I would consider converting it to an EV. I've thought about it and researched numerous times, but have to travel too great of distances for an EV to work, especially in the winter when driving up into the NC mountains. The EV conversion will probably wait until either gas goes up to $8/gal, I purchase another car for my daily driver (whenever they finally come out with one that gets better highway mileage than the aerocivic), or I retire and don't have to travel those distances any more.
The lean burn Aerocivic was made possible thanks to Greasemonkee for engine components, garage space, and many hours of labor spent in doing the swap, Tom-O for engine parts, flydude 1221 for engine components, and Vtec-e for the ECU. So far it is running fine and I am learning how to incorporate lean burn into my driving routine. It takes about 10 secs for lean burn to come back online following a FAS and so far I have had it up to 75mph on a flat road without it dropping out of lean burn (I'll need to find a flat road witha higher speed limit to find its maximum lean burn speed). This morning I got 68mpg on the route where I normally get 63mpg (assuming the SuperMID doesn't need any recalibration for the new engine). I'm sure this mileage will improve as I learn the characteristics of the new engine.
I was driving my dad's 2004 Prius during the time that my car was down doing the swap and driving the same routes and routines I normally do in the aerocivic. It averaged 62mpg (compared to the 72mpg I normally get with the aerocivic this time of year). While the Prius coasted better than most cars, it was nowhere near a match for the aerocivic in coasting ability and had more wind noise. At low speeds around town it could beat the aerocivic's mileage, but on the highway it was not even close (it would be interesting to see how much a complete aeromod makeover would improve the highway mileage).
Mike, this is fantastic news. I'm really looking forward to reports on how the lean burn changes the game for you. Glad you got it in with some warm weather left in the year to see its max potential.
We should update the Aerocivic's web page with the relevant info when you have some more miles under its belt(s).
What's this forum worth, if we can't network a little?
Quote:
Originally Posted by basjoos
I just plopped a B15Z1 (VX) lean burn engine in my car...The lean burn Aerocivic was made possible thanks to Greasemonkee for engine components, garage space, and many hours of labor spent in doing the swap, Tom-O for engine parts, flydude 1221 for engine components, and Vtec-e for the ECU..
Yes!
I love it when a plan comes together! Ha ha!
What percentage of your driving will you be able to take advantage of lean burn? I'm also looking forward to further updates.
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