Aerocivic - Restoration and further modding

[Ecky]

Aerocivic got its alignment. Apparently my measuring tape and eyeball alignment was dead within spec on two wheels, around five thousandths off on one, and one was maybe 3 degrees out.

Today I filled up the tires to ~50 PSI, put a last coat of paint on the new hood in the garage, added a rear camera above the license plate for a grand total of three exterior cameras, pulled off the brake light cover and cleaned the area of grime, cleaned out the reverse light area, swapped out the small steel spare with an Insight lightweight alloy donut. Tuesday Aerocivic gets a new windshield - the current one is pitted and streaked - and the hood should be cured enough to go on the car.

Next Saturday we're moving to Michigan. It's possible Aerocivic might get towed behind the moving van, as I need my Insight to pull the cargo trailer. My SO's Fit will be left behind in Vermont as the getaway vehicle for when we fly back for closing.

[freebeard]

Makes my fingers itch for the hammer and dolly. it looks like with a little fettling, those rear corners are reusable. what material are they?

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Makes my fingers itch for the hammer and dolly. it looks like with a little fettling, those rear corners are reusable. what material are they?

It's all sheet aluminum, aluminum strap, and what appears to be polycarbonate.

[Ecky]

I realize people have asked what it's like to drive, and I don't think I gave a satisfactory answer to that. Here's a short video that might help:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYPALGTdxfs

There's a fair bit of road noise that comes in through the boat tail, but virtually no wind noise. The car has basically no sound damping and the panels act a little bit like a drum over rough pavement. The handling is superb, and with the new suspension it's as precise and sharp as anything I've ever driven. It practically dives into corners, and is very sure-footed. There is, however, more chassis flex than in the Insight or Fit, but not as much as in my old Del Sol. Stuff rattles over bumps. I believe there's a small exhaust leak and the car generally smells vaguely like fumes (a lot less when you're moving). The D15 engine is surprisingly torquey, even with the tall gearing. It doesn't feel down on power at all despite being geared similarly to the Insight, and power feels very linear both throughout the pedal travel and across the entire rev range. Right now, missing the underbody panels and a few other aero elements, I'd say it doesn't coast quiet as well as the Insight does, but it isn't far off. Press the pedal to the floor in 5th and the car feels like it wants to accelerate faster, the faster it goes.

I've noticed the lean burn engine in this car idles insanely low and frugally. I suspect the MPGuino is reading pessimistically, but I'm seeing idle fuel consumption somewhere around 0.11 gallons per hour. Idle speed is ~500rpm.

[Ecky]

Measured the calibration of the odometer and MPGuino using highway markers - they read ~1.1% low on distance, but perfectly agree with each other. The speedometer itself (original to the car) I judge has a tired spring, as it's pretty much dead on at low speeds, but reads more and more high the faster you go. At 65mph it shows ~4.5mph high, while it's closer to ~2mph high at 35. I might pull the needle off and split the difference.

[basjoos]

Before installing new underbody paneling, you could consider improving on the fuel line repair that was done by the Honda dealership. The fuel line leak was a crack in the brass elbow fitting where the fuel line makes a 90 degree bend to go up the side of the fuel tank. The dealership repair shop replaced the fitting with rubber tubing to make the bend rather than doing a proper repair with a Swagelock brass elbow, which would make a longer lasting repair than the rubber tube.

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by basjoos

Before installing new underbody paneling, you could consider improving on the fuel line repair that was done by the Honda dealership. The fuel line leak was a crack in the brass elbow fitting where the fuel line makes a 90 degree bend to go up the side of the fuel tank. The dealership repair shop replaced the fitting with rubber tubing to make the bend rather than doing a proper repair with a Swagelock brass elbow, which would make a longer lasting repair than the rubber tube.

I appreciate the tip! I'll definitely address that before I close it up. I'd like to ask about the front end damage, if you don't mind.

When I was test fitting the new hood, I had a hell of a time lining it up. When placed on the hinges squarely like the old one was, the hood latch was misaligned by... maybe as much as an inch and a half. I'm still fiddling with it, trying to get the panel gaps even and the latch to line up well.

After looking closely at things, it looks like the driver frame rail is bent outward and possibly a little down, and the passenger bent inward slightly - I'd guess it was pulled that way by the radiator support from whatever pushed the driver rail out. I expect this is repairable or even something I can leave well enough alone, and in the mean time the car drives straight and takes an alignment perfectly, but it has some implications when it comes to replacing body panels. Was there a single event or multiple smaller ones you can think of which caused this? I don't see any evidence of the airbags going off so it couldn't have been too hard a strike.

[freebeard]

Measure the diagonals.

Having basjoos is like having a guardian angel looking over your shoulder.

[basjoos]

It was a couple of smaller events. One was where I hit ice in the shade under a bridge on a sharp curve which caused me to bump/slide into a concrete lane divider, the second was when a pickup truck and I touched briefly while passing slowly in opposite directions on the narrow part of a loose gravel road. Had to repair the left front wheel well cover after both incidents. Also had 2 deer impacts on the front end.

[Ecky]

Aerocivic ended up taking the easy route to its new home, riding behind a U-Haul. It's going to sit under a car cover while we search for a house with a nice, big garage it can live in and get fixed up!