Of course the the main reason I chose the 5th gen Civic VX is because of what I've been researched info on this and other forums. But now that I have one, I'm looking at the "next level of detail." Found very useful information that TomO gathered at the
GasSavers site regarding the VX specifically as well as useful information on the 5th gen Civic over at the
Civic-EG site and the
Honda-Tech site. Placing the links here for future reference.
Finally had a chance to drive the Mouse in a more or less "normal" manner yesterday (only other time I drove it was when I bought it several days ago, and that was primarily freeway). Definitely a unique experience compared to all the other manual transmission cars I've driven! I typically skip 2nd & 4th gears on my other 5spd cars; much harder to do on the VX as it has such tall gear ratios. Also, read that the Fed versions of the cars have a shift indicator light that goes on at somewhere around 1200 to 1800 rpm; tho' the CA version does not have that, I still try to shift in that range. On paper, it shows that the D15Z1 engine has a decent amount of torque vs HP, and it sure is noticeable when shifting at the low RPMs.
Tuesday I'll be getting the windshield replaced (there's a baseball-sized "bullseye" in it). I'll get a pic of the current windshield posted asap.
Having read about the diff in FE between CA and Fed versions, I'm also hunting down a Fed ECU and a 5-wire O2 sensor... based on my readings, it sounds like a collection of connectors from a wrecking yard is all I need to make a reversible CA / Fed setup. Will post the progress of the conversion.