MN '92 civic vx owner

[hondaguy72]

Hello all!

I'm here to learn as well as contribute.

Just bought my broken down vx a few weeks ago. It needed a muffler, brakes, transmission, battery, hood, three quarter panels, and a windshield. Needless to say I hope to save at the pump. I plan on doing a passenger mirror delete, drop springs, rear wheel covers and some minor front aero improvements.

[SVOboy]

Welcome to ecomodder! Got a good engine there, sir,

[MetroMPG]

Hi hondaguy -

Please keep us updated as you make progress on your VX. They're a mean MPG machine when they're in good running order. Very good fuel economy awaits...

[Ryland]

I would not bother lowering a civic vx, I lowered mine around 1.25" and am thinking about going back to stock hight because the ride is harsh and bumps not being absorbed by the suspension slows you down/lowers mpg, it also makes it so you can get stuck in the winter, as snow can get packed under the car and leave the wheels spinning.
swapping a tranny is easy, took about 6 hours when I did mine and I had never done that before, I did the axle seals at the same time, a new clutch, scoured out the clutch cylinder, resurfaced the fly wheel, power washed the new/used tranny so I didn't have gunk falling in my eyes and installed synthetic MTF fluid, I did this all when my vx had 230,000 miles on it at a cost of around $300 in parts (tranny, axle seals, axle c-clips, clutch, fly wheel work, fluid, taking the tranny to a car wash) it could have been done cheaper but I wanted to make sure everything was going to last another 200,000 miles, a vx/cx tranny is the best way to go and the main shaft bearing seems to be what goes out on them, car-part.com is where I got my used tranny.

[RH77]

Welcome to EM...

(...and go Twins!) -- had to throw that in there

RH77

[TomO]

Welcome to MN! Lake Elmo isn't too far from me. If you need help, I could be availabe every other weekend during the school year to help out the revival.

[hondaguy72]

Wow, do I feel the love! Thanks for all the responses.

I'm a fairly seasoned Honda owner. I just sold my 98 lx not too long ago in which I replaced the clutch and trans, too. I'm going with a dx/lx transmission which will keep me geared just fine for what I feel the car can do. Input shaft bearings are the weak point on theses transmissions as stated earlier. I've got the trans and clutch set, but may send the trans to a very good builder I know to go through and replace any worn parts and replace the problematic bearings. My lx did very well for mileage with drop springs and no other aero mods....I could average 40.xxmpg at 70mph with a full load (5 persons and luggage) with a very short geared ex transmission. The key with dropping is to get the correct spring for the desired effect. Tein makes an "S" spring set.....soft or stock. That's what I'd be using. I never had problems getting through the snow and my other civic had much wider tires 195-50-14's. I'll try to get baseline measurements so before and after comparisons can be had for all to see.

Thanks again for the help offers and the warm welcome!

[cfg83]

hondaguy72 -

Welcome to EM! Another MPG Rock-Star-VX in the making.

Piggybacking on Ryland's suggestion, I think someone else was saying they didn't want to lower there car because of snow.

CarloSW2

[TomO]

My VX is lowered almost 3" and snow isn't really an issue. The only time it plays in account is crossing those side streets that have the snow plow pile running the width of them. Nothing a little momentum can't handle

And the belly pan makes for a cool looking trail behind my car in the deeper snow!

[TexasCotton]

Has any1 here tried to make rear wheel skirts for their Honda VX. The aero wheel covers can be made out pizza pans Anyway just curious

[MetroMPG]

OK, it used to be a VX - it's actually an advanced EV. But it's the skirts you're interested in...

Source: EV Prototypes - Vehicles by AC Propulsion

Also: check Andrew's thread. He's got good images of constructing the skirts on his CX:

5th generation civic hatchback - improving aerodynamics