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Old 12-08-2012, 10:46 AM   #9 (permalink)
California98Civic
Cyborg ECU
 
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Coastal Southern California
Posts: 6,299

Black and Green - '98 Honda Civic DX Coupe
Team Honda
90 day: 66.42 mpg (US)

Black and Red - '00 Nashbar Custom built eBike
90 day: 3671.43 mpg (US)
Thanks: 2,373
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Don't look for one solution; look for several. It could be the exhaust, or it could be a bad O2 sensor (if it's really bad), or several other things contributing. When my 1998 DX upstream o2 sensor failed, the results were really bad for FE. But it's also worth thinking about the car shape. The sixth gen coupes have a coefficient of drag of 0.32 and the hatch (yours) has a 0.36 because the back creates so much turbulence. That difference is costing MPG for certain. Beyond that, in general, performance mods like the CAT and the headers and the exhaust you have will result in decreased FE, or at least that's the consensus wisdom here. It makes sense too when you realize that their purpose is to increase flow to increase power by increasing fuel burned, right? Or wrong? Could also be tires. Are you running sticky performance tires or new tires? Low rolling resistance, or even good solid used tires with a modest amount of tread wear would be better on the fuel.
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See my car's mod & maintenance thread and my electric bicycle's thread for ongoing projects. I will rebuild Black and Green over decades as parts die, until it becomes a different car of roughly the same shape and color. My minimum fuel economy goal is 55 mpg while averaging posted speed limits. I generally top 60 mpg. See also my Honda manual transmission specs thread.



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