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Old 11-16-2013, 03:20 PM   #111 (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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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mad Adder View Post
Is the Honda Civic VX the best platform to start with? ... Other than reading as much as I can, where should I get the best start?
For driving that has lots of steady-state freeway miles in the mix, a VX is a great platform. But a 1996-2000 HX is nearly as good, and if you swap in a 1992-1995 VX or CX transmission to the 1996-2000 HX (and it is a direct and simple bolt-on) you'll have about the same performance at a VX on the freeway. The advantages of the HX are that they are a little newer (lower miles), they are OBD2 (which is better for instrumentation), and have 14" wheels (for a few more high-FE tire choices).

Reading? ... always the 65+ mods list and the 100+ tips list at the top of the EM pages. After that... the coolest "mod" is an UltraGauge or a ScnGauge for your OBD2 port... because it helps adjust the nut behind the wheel best, which is where some of the biggest, quickest, free FE gains will be.

Welcome!

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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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