[Gandalph]

Figured to make a progress tracking thread here so that I can talk through motivations, mods, and results.

My car is a 2011 Honda Fit Sport M/T that my friends have called "The Orangemobile".

My job frequently requires long drives, as I give installation and training services for a company manufacturing industrial automation equipment. While I'm based in Boston, I will routinely drive to Montreal, Buffalo, or Baltimore.

I also run a small service with a buddy in which we take PC's and associated peripheral equipment to video gaming conventions across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, setting them up there for folks to entertain themselves (and earning ourselves a free ticket and hotel room while we're at it most times).

I have the following things to consider when choosing mods:

-More fuel efficiency is better, as I get paid a flat rate by the mile to drive on the company's dime. Not to mention the environmental benefits and reduced dependency on imported oil. But I don't need to tell anyone here about that!

-More cargo space is better, as the cargo space in my car determines the maximum amount of equipment that can be brought to shows.

-I will probably eventually sell this car, so any mods that I made should be reversible. If I have to drill or cut into the existing car, I should probably not be doing the mod in question, with the one exception of the front bumper, as it's already covered with paint chips and scrapes from rocks flying up off the road. It's not going to get significantly worse with a few small screw holes.

-I should definitely not do anything that will reduce safety on the road. I drive about 35,000 miles a year and that's dangerous enough as it is.

-I drive through terrible weather on a regular basis (thunderstorms, snowstorms, salt on the roads in the New England winter). Weather-resistance of mods needs to be considered, as anything on the outside of the car will be exposed to some serious weather conditions.

-I have to consider the legality of mods not only in my home state (Massachusetts), but in all the states/provinces that I drive to for work (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Quebec, Ontario).

-I have basically no mechanic skills beyond changing engine fluids, so mods that involve tinkering with things under the hood are probably not a good idea for me to do.

So with those in mind, here's a list of mods that I would consider from the main list, as well as one that isn't on the main list organized by general category of order I want to do them in:

Already Completed:

-Use Lowest Recommended Viscosity Oil.

-Synthetic Oil.

-Use Thinnest Recommended Transmission Oil.

-Increase Tire Pressure. And I like the handling better at higher pressures too.

-Weight Reduction:

Removed the rear seats, which saved about 70 pounds and got me about an extra 8 cubic feet of cargo space. I have never needed to carry more than 2 people at once, so this is some gain for no loss as far as I'm concerned.

-Radio Antenna Deletion. Can be done by unscrewing and removing the small antenna, which takes less than 10 seconds and is definitely reversible, just screw it back into the mount on the roof.

With these changes and liberal use of the cruise control and obeying the speed limit out on the highways I've been getting just over 40 MPG in summer, and around 37 in winter. EPA estimate is 32.

Short-Term:

-Weight Reduction:

Remove the passenger seat when I only need myself in the car.

Remove the plastic paneling in the cargo area. Negligible weight, but it gives me more space to cram equipment in the back, as there are a few inches on each side between the paneling and the inside of the body. This will make the fit look more like the beautiful miniature cargo van that it is.

Remove the spare tire and replace it with a can of fix-a-flat and an air pump, Tesla style! Not 100% sure if I want to do that though. That's a risk that I don't know if I should take.

-Seal Gaps. Should be pretty easy for some of the larger gaps at the doors and hood. Weatherstripping is removable too with a little adhesive remover.

-Grille Block (Top Grille). Should be easy enough to do with some clear tape. Not sure how well that will stay in place though. I'll have to experiment if that doesn't work well.

Middle-Term:

-Replace the Battery with a Supercap Bank. I'm an Electrical Engineer. If I can't get this to work, what did I spend all that time in college for?! The stock battery weighs about 23 pounds, and I think it can be replaced with a bank of Supercaps with similar max voltage rating to the alternator when in operation with some extra margin to be safe (I was thinking on 6x3V caps in series for a total of 18V rated maximum). That would weigh probably somewhere around 3-5 pounds and cost somewhere on the order of $30-$50 to make. Caps have superior properties in terms of maximum amperage and in terms of short-term storage efficiency when compared to batteries. Not such good max capacity when it comes to total electrical energy stored, so no leaving the lights or radio on when the engine is off. And the caps will self-discharge after a few days, so I can't allow the car to sit without being started for more than that amount of time. Apparently this has been tried in the past with some success, and I'd like to try it as well. What I'm using now is still the stock battery and it's bound to go bad sometime soon, it's been four years and 75,000 miles since I got the car. This needs to have pretty careful environmental management considerations, as most caps are not meant for outdoor use or use under temperature extremes.

-Smooth Wheel Covers. I think that moon covers look awesome. I think I've got a way to mount them as well with the stock wheels without drilling any holes in the wheels and using only some bolts and washers. If I combine with a proper method of reducing vibration like epoxying plastic tubing onto the rim of the disk as was done by other folks in these parts, then I think we've got a pretty solid solution. Would require stainless steel mounting hardware and aluminum covers for weather resistance though. Don't want this thing to rust with the salt on the road during the wintertime.

-Lexan Covers Over Recessed Lights. "But the Fit's headlights aren't buckets!" you might say. Well, you'd be right. But the fog-lights are in recesses at the bottom of the bumper on the Sport version. They are super vulnerable to being hit by small rocks coming up from the road too, and this is the third time that both of them have been broken when I checked. Lexan covers should protect the $30/piece lights with some $5/piece plastic covers as well as improving aerodynamic performance a bit. This is probably the only mod I would be willing to use a drill on the car for, as the front bumper is already such a mess that a few screw holes aren't going to make it any worse.

-Replace Lights With LED's. Want to replace as many of the lights as it's feasible to do with LED's to reduce load on the electrical system.

Far Future/Research Needed:

-Side Mirror Deletion. I can delete the mirrors and set up cameras to replace them, but I need to do research to see if it's legal in all the states/provinces that I drive in.

-Radio Antenna Relocation. Removing the antenna leaves a bulb about the size of an egg in the middle of the roof. Getting rid of that would probably not be reversible, but I'll need to get my hands on a copy of a service manual or take the thing apart and look at how it's connected up to be sure.

-Belly Pan. Not sure how to affix this to the bottom of the car wthout drilling on it, more research is needed.

-Boat-tail. The Fit Sport has mounting bolts already for the stock rear wing and the bumper. If I can use those to mount a boat-tail, I can remove the tail and put all the stock stuff back when required to sell the car. Needs more research to determine if that's going to be possible or not.

-Solar 12V Assist. Would be a neat EE project and definitely a talking point when folks notice it up on the roof. My roof is already all scuffed up after a mishap with a roof carrier some years ago, so I'm not too worried about installing things that may scuff the roof up. Have to figure a clever way to mount the panel without causing a lot of drag.