89 civic wagovan 5spd (very slow build: power + ecomods & lots of pics!)

[vrmouseyd15b]

Originally Posted by OG VX

Amazing progress Victor! Keep it up!

Thank you thank you! Trying for a winter best on our long trip to Wisconsin in the minion today, we'll see how it goes fingers crossed. .



Thanks,
Victor

[Cobb]

I like smiley face on dash board. Cant wait to hear about the test drive.

[vrmouseyd15b]

Originally Posted by Cobb

I like smiley face on dash board. Cant wait to hear about the test drive.

That's my minion's lean burn indicator smiley light! I guess it will only work with the p2j ecu's (JDM), which is fine as long as you don't need to use the obd connector - it won't work (no emission test in my Po-dunk little town, so works for me!). To pull check engine light codes, I use the jumper at the passenger kick panel two wire connector.

I can't wait for that test drive either, buddy I promise and I'll come back here and let everybody know how it went

Thanks,
Victor

[vrmouseyd15b]

when I left, I was talking about being worried about clearance for the lower radiator hose where it crosses the shifter:



I ended up cutting the hose, and coupling it to a longer one, that got the hose closer to the radiator and further from the tranny (right next to the battery):


Then I bled it and went for my test-drive It was glorious! A great improvement in gearing for sure Now I can cruise out and enjoy!

This combination of cable clutch and hydro tranny feels very nice underfoot, quick and precise, like the cable, but with the added leverage of the hasport conversion thingie it's not anywhere near as heavy of a clutch pedal as I was preparing myself for! I like it!

60 MPH before:


60 MPH now:


Looking good, driving good, time to go out there and get some better mpg's

Thanks,
Victor

[Cobb]

So, how the power between the 2 trannys? You find you do more down shifting than before? VTEC engages before vs after your shift points?

Just wondering....

[vrmouseyd15b]

I love the vx tranny! Not much more power, shifting just a little less in town now, the big gains will be on the highway (most of my 50 mile commute is Highway) I can cruise around in third gear at 30 mph in town now, where it had to be 5th gear for the same engine speed.


Thanks,
Victor

[OG VX]

Great work! Very clean looking bay also. Man, lots of elbow wrenching going on here. Nice to see the lower cruising-RPMs for all of that hard work, huh? Even nice not to hear the extra "engine drone" at your cruising speed as well, I'm sure.

[elhigh]

That lower engine note will be a big plus at cruising velocity.

Nice, nice work, fun build thread. That PC tranny case is the bomb, almost too pretty to install.

[vrmouseyd15b]

Thanks guys, it's been a blast! Time to enjoy for a couple tanks and see how much better Skiddy can do!

I'm thinking hand throttle next weekend. ..

Thanks,
Victor

[vrmouseyd15b]

Happy new year everybody! Got thru my last "in-between" tank - no more '89 tranny holding Skiddy back!

The last tank was, as expected, crappy. There was plenty of idling and revving the engine while warming up / bleeding the cooling system after the adjustments to the radiator hose for clearance at the cable clutch conversion thingie .
And of course, there is always the learning curve for shift points and pedal pressure with this new motor / tranny combo. I think I'm learning the way this setup wants to be driven

Darn holidays have work too slow for me to go crazy modding Skiddy too much more right now ( guido is on hold for at least a few weeks now ) But I'm sure there's still a lot of room to adjust the " nut behind the wheel", and I'm trying to convince my wallet that the hand throttle is an affordable, money saving mod I'm probably just going to pull rank on that one and make it happen soon anyway....

More updates soon!
Thanks,
Victor