Just bought a 1998 Honda Civic LX 4dr 1.6 Auto...What next?

[mwilliamshs]

Bought a gas saver today. Haven't even seen or driven yet. Found it about 60 miles away in my hometown and sent my dad over for the test drive and it checked out so I'll pick it up from my folks this weekend. I really enjoy the forums here but I've always browsed with my big giant van in mind and there are loads of Hondas and whatnot here so my mind swims when looking for relevant stuff.

I have a Scangauge II I'll install asap. I don't know what tires it has but they're new so it'll be awhile before I swap to LRR stuff. I've been shopping for a manual trans but this popped up at a good price so it'll do for now. Any good mods for this thing already proven? If somebody knows a write up for a warm air intake, etc I'm all ears.

EDIT: should include that my plan is to drive this through the summer then consider selling in favor of an awd something. I got it cheap enough a profit should be virtually guaranteed. this means mods will be subtle and reversible.

[Ecky]

65+ Vehicle modifications for better fuel economy - EcoModder.com

Most improvement will come from adjusting the nut behind the wheel. The difference between me and my wife driving our Insight is often in excess of 30mpg.

Some proven, easy, reversible mods for the car include a partial grille block (use election signs) and increase tire pressure (I run max sidewall). Several car manufacturers were recently caught "cheating" fuel economy tests by running slightly higher tire pressure.

[mwilliamshs]

Got the car, installed SG, liking the 34+ mpg (hand calculated) on the first tank of mostly surface-street commuting. Turns out the "new tires" are like 11 years old but have seen virtually no miles. All that tread-depth is wasted due to all the cracking in the rubber. They may last forever but given the prevalence of broken asphalt in my area and the fact that our summer air temps often break the 100* mark, I just don't trust these tires. I bought this car as a gas saving daily driver but also to take out of town when the cargo capacity of my van isn't needed and having multiple blowouts on a summer trip just isn't my idea of fun.

My initial plan was to replace the 185/65 tires with 175/70 to get a taller profile and less width, both good for fuel efficiency. The latter size is far, FAR less common than the former and pricing varies directly with that commonality, as does the chance of a modern, low rolling-resistance design being available. I just didn't have much luck finding anything I liked in 175/70 and the difference in height is less than .5" anyway and the difference in tread width varies from nothing to next-to-nothing. A good idea, just not one currently well supported by the market. In researching tires available in 175/70R14 I kept reading about the Cooper CS3 and CS5. I like Coopers, have run them exclusively on everything with 4 or more wheels (not my motorcycles and scooter) for most of my adult life. Ran the old-school Discoverer STT's on an old Jeep then ran at least 3 sets of them on my first DD, a 4wd Ranger followed by ST on a second Ranger, ATR's on an Isuzu Rodeo and Trooper, a staggered set of HT and ATR on a 2wd Ranger, etc. Only other brands of tires I can remember buying were Firestones for company-owned vehicles (service contract dictated), Douglas crap for a Sentra I hated, and Bridgestones for my old Neon but I got a deal on those from a buddy at the Firestone store (yes, a kickback for that service contract, sue me). Last year I bought 225/75R16 Discoverer HT3s for my van and LOVE them. I bought them at a great time to take advantage of Cooper's annual rebate and got a GREAT deal IMO. So this year there's a $50 rebate available on Cooper CS3 tires. Can't get them in 175/70 but they are available in 185/65 (OE size) and in the 5% taller 185/70. The best deal I could find on the taller size is $19.71 more than the OE size, an extended difference of $78.84. Yikes! Not sure that additional height would even prove beneficial since the larger tire is also heavier and would raise my ride-height and aero-drag...so, long story short, I ordered OE size Cooper CS3 tires for $63 each, minus a $40 discount, with free shipping, and will get a $50 rebate. $162 for 4 new tires delivered to my door? Yes please! That's $40.50 each. I'll weigh them before installation. I'll post details to my thread and link it here.

[hayden55]

Manual swap? :*

[mwilliamshs]

Originally Posted by hayden55

Manual swap? :*

not really in keeping with

Originally Posted by mwilliamshs

...my plan is to drive this through the summer then consider selling in favor of an awd something. I got it cheap enough a profit should be virtually guaranteed. this means mods will be subtle and reversible.

I should've also said budget minded. Only spending money here I can expect a good return on. A manual trans would be a big plus to some buyers but a big minus to even more, not to mention a lot of work and money. Same reason I haven't bought an OE cd player for $40. The 'college kid' market I'll probably sell this in is full of people who own fewer cds than snow skis.

[California98Civic]

For cheap, reversible, and subtle... pump the tires way up, key off in park everywhere it is safe where you will sit longer that 10 or 15 seconds, drive the speed limits. Alao, an airdam and a set of grill blocks can be made very stealthy, very cheaply, and reversible without a trace if you are thoughful. Check out grill block projects on this site.

[elhigh]

Hey, mwilliamshs, I dug around a bit.

I used to read the VW enthusiast magazines and I remember reading ads for Coker Tire, which specializes in niche market tires. They're good about carrying modern radial tires, but in the tall/skinny sizes that look right on classic VW Beetles.

Check it out: https://www.cokertire.com/tires/styl...f560-3440.html

165sr14. According to the spec sheet it's two inches greater in diameter than your stockers, so you drop about 5-10% on your engine revs. You would also pick up an inch of ride height, so that's something to be aware of. Coker has other skinny sizes available if you want to consider them, weird sizes that Tire Rack just doesn't, and their prices appear to be comparable.

A manny tranny swap would open the hypermiling doors very, very wide, but if you're seriously planning selling the car on at the end of the summer, forget it. You'd lose a lot of potential buyers without the auto.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by elhigh

Hey, mwilliamshs, I dug around a bit. ... Coker Tire, which specializes in niche market tires. They're good about carrying modern radial tires, but in the tall/skinny sizes that look right on classic VW Beetles.

Check it out: https://www.cokertire.com/tires/styl...f560-3440.html ...

Thanks, man. That site is cool. I am sure the tires are not LRR, but the narrow width! Wow. Tall and narrow. Pretty cool retailer.

[mwilliamshs]

Cooper CS3's in 185/65R14 weigh 16 lbs. I weighed all four on the certified scale at UPS and got readings of 16.4-16.7 and I think that narrow range (way, way under 1%) indicates excellent quality control. I ordered from Discount Tire Direct Wednesday morning (~10am) and got my tires at 1pm on Thursday. Pretty darn happy about that free shipping. All manufacture dates fall within February 2016; happy about that too.

I'm fully aware of Coker. I've purchased their tires in the past for specialty vehicles and their prices are quite high. For the limited mileage those vehicles (classics, etc) typically see and for the 'just right' look those tires offer, it's not unreasonable. For a daily-driver though, it's ridiculous IMO. $80/tire is Michelin territory even before shipping is considered. I have of set of Coker Firestone redline bias ply tires ($210+ each) I took off my dad's 64 SS that are VERY light and actually considered running them on the Honda just to see how that worked but didn't want to hassle with a short-term solution that probably wouldn't work well at all. Bias-ply tires are not good for fuel mileage.

P.S. the link posted is to a Firestone tire that's not even available in 165R14 and has only a P speed rating (93 mph) which in my experience means it will not handle interstate speeds @ 100° well. The temperature and traction ratings of Coker's vintage-style tires (like the Firestone F-560) are hard to find anywhere besides the tire sidewall but are usually sub-par as well. Again, they're great for aesthetics on a collector car but for a daily-driver are very poor options.

I hope this post doesn't come off as negative or rude, I just don't want eco-minded folks wasting resources on tires that are a poor option simply because of unique sizing.

[mwilliamshs]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

...key off in park everywhere it is safe where you will sit longer that 10 or 15 seconds (sic)...

Any Honda-specific reason to not use neutral instead? That's my go-to move. I think the extra wear on the pawl mechanism is incentive enough to avoid shifting to park unnecessarily much less the extra movements required to disengage the park-brake interlock, the shifter button, and shift through 3 ranges as compared to just going from D4 to N and back.