Hey everybody, the name is Mike. I've been lurking around on this site pretty much since it opened, but only now decided to create an account.
Why? I'm not really the gas saving type- I mostly see good gas mileage as a positive side effect of what I choose to drive and how I choose to drive it!
About me:
Mechanical Engineer (BSME UT Austin)
Job = build stuff to blow stuff up, if I told you more I'd have to kill you
Side job = build stuff to make cars faster, more below...
Plays on lots of performance motorhead forums (admin @ HondaSwap)
So I've basically been playing with cars as long as I can remember. My wife says I'm obsessed- I say I'm focused.
When I graduated college about 10 years ago, I didn't see anything I liked in the market to buy for a new car- so I decided to have a new engine built for my Civic and convert it to manual. Now before you get all crazy and think "oh it's another Fast and Furious lamer," I don't particularly care for what that series of movies has done to the image of the import industry. My modding style = fast without calling attention to myself, or basically, I like to build "sleepers."
Picture story:
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So I guess I wouldn't have known that I had to have 5 posts before I could link images in... and I had a huge long post with tons of inline images for everyone to peek at. Oops.
I started off playing with a 95 Civic sedan - 3 total engine builds, all of which died for various reasons, and had tons of fun- and loads of suspension work to make the car stick. Over 1G in the corners wasn't a problem, over 1G in braking with no fade was a piece of cake, car ran high 12s in the quarter mile with a full interior, got 32mpg on the highway, and would cruise topped out in 5th gear @ 150mph without breaking a sweat.
Now I drive an S2000 which has so far has racked a kill count of 3 armadillos, 1 cat and a raccoon.
The S2000 still gets around 24mpg just driving around town, which isn't too shabby considering I make the 17 mile drive to work in 12 minutes every now and then. The only mods are extra wide tires (which don't help) and a K&N FIPK intake system that gives a nice power bump in the 5000-7000rpm range.
I also beat on a 95 Nissan Hardbody pickup- standard cab, short bed. It used to get around 22mpg in the city and 25mpg on the highway, but then I had to go put some really wide heavy wheels and tires on it... and then proceed to drive it with my foot on the floor all the time. Now I get about 20mpg. Oops. It does get 18mpg while towing 4000lb car carriers at 85mph though! My heavy duty truck buddies at work still can't figure that one out. The Miata guys can't either when they can't lose me in the twisties.
The wife drives a 2006 xB. We love the car, but it's a rolling brick! Somehow my wife still manages to get 28-30mpg running around Dallas traffic, and 30-33mpg on the highway.
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So why am I here? I'm obviously not that picky about fuel mileage... sort of. I'm on a quest- hopefully to be able to build a car based on a Civic that will get 50mpg (60mpg highway would be nice) and still have at least 500whp at its disposal for playtime. I want to have my cake and eat it too. I won't reveal the whole plan here until the car is complete (which probably won't be for a few years), but the 50mpg part should happen fairly quickly.
While I appreciate all the driving techniques most of you on this site use to attain your high mileage figures, living and driving inside of the DFW metroplex doesn't really lend itself to good economy figures. The 50mpg that I want will have to come from a car that's quite a bit heavier than your typical miser Geo Metros and CRX VX swaps, and will have to be achievable by setting the cruise control at 70mph and sitting on it on the highway. If I can get city mileage consistently over 35mpg I'll be really happy.
The platform that the car will be built around will either be an 88 Civic LX sedan that I already own, or a 2nd generation CRX (88-91). Overall weight will be about 2500 pounds, maybe more- and there will be no battery assist hardware in the car.
Anyway. Hi.