[TDFbound]

Hello guys, just joined up after reading through several awesome build threads. I had never thought much of what mileage my car got except to calculate gas costs for any long trips. After reading about guys getting 50+ mpg out of some relatively cheap cars, I started floating the idea of buying one myself to drive to and from work. A quick Excel spreadsheet showed a 50 mpg car could have a potential minimum savings of $25 a week compared to our family van, and $48 a week compared to my truck (I really only drive it if absolutely necessary). I live deep in the Appalachian mountains (not toooooo deep, I know of a couple places even more remote than I am), so most of my driving is on winding roads and usually with a lots of hills. One of my local roads gains 1000 feet in a mile, which is quite fun coming down on a bicycle. I'm sure I won't see gas numbers as good as people in flat areas, but surely I can beat my Astro van!.

The hunt for a car was on, and I have finally found one, though it's not home yet- won't have it for another couple weeks. I ended up finding a 1992 Honda Civic VX in decent condition. I live in NC, and the car is in CA, so I'll be flying out there in a couple weeks to drive it home. Sort of a gamble, but no red flags popped up and at $1700 I was tempted enough to bite. No pics of the car right now, as the ad has been taken down, but the outside looks pretty good- one small rust bubble under the paint on a rear fender and some faded red paint, and the interior looks great save for one tear in the driver seat. I'll definitely post a ton of pics once the car is home. Big reason for him selling it is when he towed the car there from Ohio, it wouldn't pass CA emissions tests without a big headache, so he's just been driving it around the neighborhood to keep it running, so I guess it's just time for it to go.

I don't plan on getting too crazy with hypermiling or anything, but would love to average 50+ mpg. I will definitely do some work on the car, mainly removing all rust and preventing future rust, replacing any worn or faded trim pieces with new ones, and giving the car a good mechanical makeover in terms of bushings, bearings, etc. I want the car to look mostly stock and like it just came off the showroom floor. Main concern is he said the motor uses almost a quart of oil every 3000 miles, so I may need to have the cylinders honed or whatever for new rings. I'm not a car guy (yet) so I don't really know what all goes into these things, but I'm hoping to learn! Hoping the lower cost of driving this car will make it easier for us to take longer weekend trips, and for me to drive to far-away running events and things (just recently got into ultra running).

I'm currently taking classes in 3D modeling, and will later take classes in machining and CNC milling, so I'm hoping I can build a workshop where I can fab up basically anything I would need for whichever project I've dreamed up for the moment. I work as a welder, but I only learned how to weld a few months ago for this job and I basically only weld thin steel sheet metal with a MIG welder. I'd love to learn other welding types as well. Not sure what else to say at the moment, but I'd love to hear from any members in my area. There is so much to learn, it's almost hard to grasp it all, but I'll do my best. Stay safe out there, folks!