Project HX - The flip side

[Vince-HX]

I'm totally addicted to mpg and i'm not afraid to admit it

My current ride is a worn in (180,000) mile 96 Honda Hx. When i first bought the car the best I could do was high 30's but that was before I discovered the world of hypermiling.

My Hx is setup mostly stock with a full suspension upgrade, 15's and grippy 205-50-15s, and a Full-Race traction bar. I compare it to riding a Ninja 250, small, nimble, but if you want to go fast around corners you have to go fast into corners. Anyway it rides and handles great but right now with my MPG kick I could sacrifice a little here and there.

I swapped a Ex tranny into it before i knew what the hell i was doing and now I'm guessing I'm loosing out on 5-7 mpg because of the shorter gearing. And the current wheel and tire combo is a little small (speedo reads a little off but odo is gps verified). A Cx tranny from a Eg chassis should put my rpms where they should be soon.

My latest mods have been side mirror deletes, upper grill block, vacuum gauge installed, front lip, tune-up. My last tank checked out @ my best yet - 48 mpg

In a few days I plan to have my hands on a set of Hx wheels and tires for a 28lb rotational weight drop and a SCII. Also if my job doesn't take over my life this weekend I plan to start fabrication of a full fiberglass belly pan and rear wheel side skirts.

I also plan to add extra instrumentation to better monitor the vtec-e and lean burn modes. Right now my vacuum gauge is providing me with some great info and it seems to be working. Its cool to feel and see how a vacuum gauge, throttle, vtec-e, and lean burn all work together but I still feel there is much to learn to maximize my mpg gains.

I also just want to say that Honda's are effin AMAZING

Oh, and I guess i should add that during the day I engineer and fabricate custom stainless steel turbo manifolds. If you guys are interested in that kinda stuff you can check out the site http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea....full-race.com.

So yeah, thats about it for now.

I would love to hear any ideas you guys have

And when I achieve my goals and finish all my planned mods I am going on to the next project. It will be a full custom chassis three wheeler, fully enclosed single seater with a ninja 250 engine with sprag clutch combined with a custom small hybrid brushless Dc Regen capable setup. I want, need, 150+ mpg **insert evil laugh**

The pic is pre mirror delete and grill block but gives you guys an idea of what i'm working with.

[Daox]

Welcome to the site. The HX is a great car to start with. Looking forward to hearing more.

[MetroMPG]

I would love to hear any ideas you guys have

Sounds like you have no shortage of ideas and are already headed in the right direction!

I hope you'll keep us updated on the ecomods as they unfold.

[Vince-HX]

So I guess i'll be putting the SCII on the backburner for now as my driver side motor mount completely failed. I will be replacing all the mount with new Hasport billet performace mounts, they retail @ $550

Oh well, still getting new wheels and some tint. I really need the tint because temps here are hovering around 115 and my mpg has dropped an estimated 15% with the Ac on

[brucepick]

I know how it is sometimes - planned mods stacked up in a holding pattern like aircraft while doing maintenance.

[ebacherville]

the scan gauge will help you out considerably, Its so worth the $150.. make it a priority on your list.. Wish my 87 CRX had ODB2

[sickpuppy318]

I've read about you FULLRACE guys. Your project cars are AWSOME!!! Crazy attention to detail with flawless execution. So you designed some of those BEAUTIFUL robot welded manifolds??? SWEET! If you can eco-mod as well as you can performance mod, i'd think 60 (or 150)MPG is no problem.

[Vince-HX]

Thanks for that props, its a really amazing job and i'm really grateful to have the opportunity to do what I do.

Man, all you guys that Crx's are making me sad. I had a cherry 91 Si as my daily 3 months ago but a truck turned left infront of me when I was driving and its beyond totaled and I should have died in the accident. Seatbelt didnt lock out and it was a 50 mph t-bone, crx vs Ford f-450. Wasn't my fault and my lawsuit is coming along just fine.

Here is a pic of my baby

[SVOboy]

Wait, you're one of the full-race guys? OMG that's cool.

[Vince-HX]

Heres a few pix of my mirror block off plates and upper grill block off plate.

They were made out of a nice aluminum diamond plate sheet I had laying around from a dune buggy project. I know its not a completely smooth surface but its what I had and it looks blingin

Also attached is a pic of my vacuum gauge and its custom mounting system Its also my very best half tank @ 300 miles and it calculated out to just about 48 mpg