Hello modders! Long time lurker, first time poster. I figure I would jump right in and start a build thread. I never really thought I would be going into this kind of modding but I guess we all evolve. I’ve been modding vehicles for horsepower for the last 12 years or so but never for gas mileage. I had a 1997 Civic HX growing up but the boy racer thought it would be a good idea to make it fast. Hindsight being what it is, I should have started there with ecomodding. Either way, here’s the story behind this car.
It was my brother-in-law’s car before I got ahold of it and it was in rough shape. There was a front triangle window missing, the hole covered in duct tape. There was duct tape holding the front right headlight on. The drivers inside door handle was missing. The exhaust had rusted the cat pipe completely apart. The blower motor squealed from all the water intrusion common in these cars. Rough stuff.
I first saw it when I did a tune up for him including plugs, wires, cap, rotor, oil. His parents bought him a new set of tires around the same time. Less than 500 miles later, he buys a new car and I buy the Del Sol off him for $500. Knowing that I just did $200 worth of work and there was $300 of new tire on the thing, I couldn’t pass it up.
I got to work right away fixing the big things; buying new headlights, covering the hole with kydex instead of duct tape, etc. Soon it was running like a champ. Mechanically she was sound. Having only 97k miles was nice to see on the odo. I started driving her long distances and I found if I didn’t have my A/C on and drove through the back roads instead of the highway, I could get around 38 MPG. I think this was the beginning of me falling for her. I’ve always thought the Del Sol was hideous but she grew on me. A few months after I bought her, she got a set of Ground Control coilovers (Koni adjustables, Eibach springs, GC upper mounts and bump stops). This lowered her a few inches and I think I caught some MPGs just from that!
Since then, I’ve replaced some suspension parts as they wear, some brake parts as they go.
I’ve gone up to the max sidewall pressure (no noticeable difference in gas mileage) as well. I’ve tracked the gas mileage since I’ve owned through aCar. Is Torque Pro and a Bluetooth OBDII dongle good enough to do ABA’s?
Current car specs/mods:
The motor is the factory ’97 Del Sol Si D16Y8 pushing an advertised 127hp and 107tq. I have no plans on adding power. I do have the 4AT unfortunately. She has been decent, getting a max 41MPG and min 26MPG since I’ve owned her. She is lowered quite a bit, I haven’t measured. It has NOT been aligned yet. I’m waiting to get some wheels and tires before that happens.
Goals:
As far as future mods go, the next one will be a power to manual steering conversion, saving me 22 lbs in the front and some engine load. After that, 15” Enkei RPF1’s and LRR tires to replace the 13” steelies with the “new” tires that 2 have lost their balance and one possibly having a snapped steel belt. Following that, a new front bumper that’s not trashed out.
This will immediately get blocked and what appears to be brake cooling inlets will be ducted to the radiator instead. I was thinking about the auto louvers that the other Del Sol owner had done but this would be much simpler. After that, I’ll build a frame and belly pan the whole thing with aluminum for the hot parts and .125 kydex for the cold parts. The road noise is horrific so I’ll take a break from MPG parts and add 20lbs of sound deadener from SDS. Along the way, the fenders will be replaced and wrapped.
What's your opinion on *properly aligned* LED headlights? Worth any MPG?