94 VX 1000 mile tank @ 80 MPG
 

We just got the White 94 VX back on the road this month and I wanted to let you see it's new look. Most of the aero and hyper mile work is done, but we still need to finish up the new black interior. I was anxious to see what kind of MPG numbers I could lay down with the good hot summer weather we have been having here in TN, The first tank was 1050 miles with a fill up of 13.10 gallons or 80.15 MPG.

Our goal with this car is to see how high we can get the MPG's while not making the car look like an all out, no compromise, aeromodded machine like the 92 red VX MULE.

Here are a few pictures and I will add more later.

Thanks

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13.5 gallon SI gas tank
 

I need to add that getting over 1000 miles per tank with this car was really not that hard since we added a 13.5 gallon SI tank to it last year. On this tank I was not yet to the red empty mark and it still took 13.1 gallons. I would bet I still had over 1.5 gallons in it.

Wow I'm impressed. What's the fastest you go? 55?

Yes, on my regular commute I drive 55 MPH on the 24 mile freeway portion and around 40 to 45 MPH on the 30 mile country road part

The white VX has been lowered about 2 inches. Here is a pic of it compared to the red 92 VX. I think the white one has a smaller frontal area.



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Very impressive Donkey! Simply incredible how you are able to get the mileage out of your VXs.

Thanks Baby diesel. Driving below 55 MPH and a lot of EOC really doses help those MPGs:)

Too cool, Pop! That car is super clean!

Thanks ecoTex, we are having fun trying to build a nice looking car that almost anyone would be willing to be seen driving, but with all the ecomodding goodies for great MPGs

I'll trade you my Focus for the white one lol

Great looking VX. :thumbup:

Thanks Daox !

reply to Spaceman
 

Thanks for the offer, but we have not even finished it yet:)

So much prettier than the red car! That rear spoiler is sexy! This is more my kind of car.

Thanks RPM, think of the red VX as a prototype and science project and the white VX as decent looking car that has 90% of the MPG potential of the red one. That's what we are going for with the white one.

Adding the alternator delete to the white VX
 

I know from the red VX that installing an alternator delete would give us somewhere around 5 or 6 extra MPG by taking the electrical load and drag from the engine.

The downside was where to install the large 13X9X7 inch 100ah deep cycle battery. I was thinking of putting it behind the passenger seat, but my brother, who owns this car wanted to maintain the functionality of the back seat. He also did not want to see it in the passenger compartment at all.

After I removed the current battery tray under the hood, I noticed there was a deep void under the old battery tray and maybe by using an Odyssey AGM model number 31-PC 2150 battery laid on its end it would fit. Sure enough, you can fit it in that position.



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I was also able to fit the battery charger right next to the battery so it can be pulled out and left in cool air while charging the battery. It is a CTEC 25000 25 amp charger and seems to be large enough to keep the battery charged up

Here is a view of the whole engine compartment



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I did need to move around some of the large wire connectors that were in front of the old battery try, but only had to modify and lengthen the battery main ground wire for the installation.

The orange box you see that surrounds the battery is supplied from the factory as an armor to prevent the battery from expanding under high heat conditions. I just used it to attach all of the new battery mounts.

WOW i wish my white vx was as clean as this one. nice build. Is that the mugen style front lip on there?

Here are a couple more details of the Alt delete. The small switch is to turn off all the control wires from the ECM. The large red switch is to cut the alternator 12 volt power to the battery. We found that these old alternators can "self excite" and turn on even when you don't want them to.


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That's amazing. It makes having a hybrid look like the less-smart choice.

reply to 92civicVX
 

Thanks, I'm not sure which one it is, my brother got it on E-bay for about $30. It added about one inch to the bottom of the front bumper and was the exact size we needed to bring the belly pan up to the bumper and keep it flat. This made a much more finished look up front.

Here is the front end of the belly pan before it meets the spoiler lip.

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Here are the three pieces of the front belly pan with the black spoiler attached.


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This is the material we made the belly pan from. It is 1/8 inch polycarbonate with a thin layer of aluminum on each side. It is very easy to work with and can be cut with a jig saw and edges sanded smooth. It cost about $50 per 4X8 foot sheet. We got it at Piedmont Plastics in Memphis. It took 2 sheets to do the complete 3/4 belly pan front and back on this car.

http://i855.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps5zqv4h4g.jpg



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How are you attaching the belly pan to the car? Using existing holes? drilling into the chassis? creating custom brackets?

Hi Jedi, The frame work for the belly pan is made of 1/8 inch by 2 inch aluminum. It is attached on the sides between the wheels to a 1/8 thick 1"X1" square rod that is screwed into the bottom of the rocker panels.

Across the car the 2 inch aluminum is screwed into the "frame rails" with self drilling 1/4x20 stainless steel screws. They are also attached by 4 1/4x20 bolts installed through the floor pans 2 in front and 2 behind the front seats.

The side skirts between the wheels are also attached to the outside of the 1x1 square tubing.

I could only find one picture of the frame on the white VX, but included some from the red VX which was installed the same except because the white VX is lowered 2 inches, the belly pan is tucked right up to the frame rails.

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Thanks for your input! Since my car is newer, I am trying to avoid drilling into the chassis of the car.

However, your use of aluminum tubing on the sides of the car has given me a new idea on how to make my underbelly pan sit more flat/even.

Looks awesome! Great work, as always, and this one is very sleek!

Your driving is phenomenal. That is obvious. Unfortunately, we can't see that in the pics, ha!

Hi The donkey CRX,

Do you happen to have the dimensions of the belly pan?

reply to OGVX
 

Thanks OG, you are our inspiration to try and make something sleek but also functional MPG wise.

I really like the way yours is progressing. I thought long and hard about doing the curved radii behind the front wheels, but never got the nerve to pull the trigger. You are fearless :eek:

Thanks for sharing your journey with all of us here at Ecomodder!

reply to Derpthegod
 

Hi Derp, If I remember correctly the width of the belly pan between the wheels is about 57 inches, but this number is dependent on where you put the frame for the sides and the side skirts.

The white car has a more narrow belly pan width because we left the black rubber trim on the sides and came in 2 inches from the edge in order to help hide the skirts.

On the red VX the belly pan is more like 61 inches wide because we came out to the full width even with the doors to install the skirts. This is much more aerodynamic, but not as appealing to the eye.

The widest part of the belly pan is on the nose right in front of the front wheel openings, about another 2 inches wider on each side.

Hope that helps

That does help out, I will be attempting to make that belly pan.

Thank you

Rear belly pan and diffuser
 

Here are some pictures of the rear belly pan with attached diffuser.

The diffuser was designed for a Honda S2000 and was bought some years ago to be put on a Mazda Miata. We had to make it quite a bit smaller in order to get the front part to be parallel to the ground. The transition to the back is curved and probably not too close to the template. But maybe it will get some style points.;)



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Wow, that is a nice looking car! Very very nice.

Thanks, more pics coming soon

Here are some more pictures of the belly pan based on some of the questions from pervious posts.

Here is some detail where the front spoiler attaches to the belly pan



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Here is how the belly pan is attached to the rocker panels between the wheels with the 1X1 inch square rod and also where the side skirts attach to the outside edge of the 1X1



http://i855.photobucket.com/albums/a...pszmcodjka.jpg

This is the access panel to change the oil without removing the belly pan



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I added a 2X2 inch angle to each of the side jacking points to make sure we can jack the car up safely



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Newbie question: why is the bigger fuel tank added?
I have a white 93 Vx with 116k miles that I want to be as efficient and stock looking as yours. Are you going to post a list and how tos of all the mods you did?

how much would you say does EOC improve your mpg by?

Curious to this one too, but from my experience with my own VX, here's what I BELIEVE to be the answer:

The VX runs better on the "top side" of the tank, I've noticed. Like, RIDICULOUSLY better. Prior to putting it in the garage port, I had just (finally) really began to discover and experiment with this.

For instance, I could run about 450 miles (tops) with my current driving tech/mods/routes on the full 8 gallon tank, netting around 55mpg or so. BUT, if I just ran 4 gallons worth of full and filled up, I was easily toping 60mpg.

Only run one gallon? Expect close to 70mpg! NO mods to tech, just running on the higher side of the tank, I believe, increases fuel pressure from the (always sorry) OEM Honda fuel pump, and I believe leads to more efficient fuel atomization.

Donkey, can you confirm my logic here?

Thanks for the underside pics! SICK set up !!!!

That explains why my tank seems to empty out faster after the halfway mark.

I have another question. Is this a good front lip for the lazy ecomodder?

92 95 93 94 Honda Civic 2DOOR 3DOOR CS Type Front Bumper Lip Unpainted PU Black | eBay

reply to crz650
 

The only reason the white car has the larger SI tank is that my brother thought if he made a long trip, that the 10 gal would need filling too often. That was before we started doing 80 MPG tanks :D Personally, I would prefer not hauling 25 extra pounds of gas around.;) Especially since at my advanced age, I need a bathroom break about every 150 miles:o

reoly to crz650
 

I do plan to discuss and show pictures of every modification we made. You can see a list of them on the gas log for the white VX. If you have one you are interested in right now, let me know and I will discuss it next.

Thanks

reply to Eddie25
 

Hi Eddie. I'm not to good with math, but here is a simple way to estimate the benefit of EOC. On my regular commute, I try and EOC at least 20% of the miles traveled or 1 mile out of every 5 is an EOC.

So, If you had a car that could average 60 MPG on a flat road, you would use 1 gal. of gas to go the 60 miles. If on the same road, you were able to EOC 20% of the 60 miles, you would be able to coast without using any gas for 12 miles. At the end of the 60 miles with 12 EOC miles(20% of the 60 miles), you would only have used 8/10ths of a gal. and saved 2/10ths of a gal while coasting.

So 60 miles using .8 gals of gas would give you 75 MPG for that same 60 mile trip.

.8gals./60miles=75MPG

That's how I visualize the value of engine off coasting (EOC)

Of course, most trips would not be that simple, but we know that coasting without burning gas can improve your MPG.

Hope that made some sense.

I "think" that EOC adds a least 10 to 12 MPG to my total MPG per tank