98 DX build / testing
 

recently picked up a 98 civic DX 5 speed 2 door coupe with 176k miles.

car had a few issues when I bought it two weeks ago but I'm just about squared away and ready for a baseline tank of fuel. I had fixed an exhaust leak and both 02 sensors were lazy, causing a p0170/p0171 CEL. I just installed an UltraGauge and love it! best $60 yet. I was able to scan and diagnose the lazy 02's using the UG features.
with the CEL on and car running pig rich I achieved an average of 34 mpg driving the speed limit, no hyper milling. next tank should be significantly better now that the engine is running efficiently.

here's the car as I bought it 11/12:
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...1354426201.jpg
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...1353369963.jpg
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...1353369960.jpg

full grill block for the winter; just finished tonight:
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...1354419753.jpg
PAINTED:
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...1354419758.jpg

temporary warm air intake:
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...1353821211.jpg

going to make a sheet metal box around the header and put the air inlet in or close to the box to keep intake temps up. at idle I'm around 92 degrees, at speed it drops to 64-68 degrees.

that's it for now

Looks good. Grill block can be permanent I think on top. You can block the sides of the bottom grill too and I think you'll never have a problem.

Something I been telling everyone, change the thermostat before it goes bad, it's cheap insurance, takes 15 minutes to do, and if it goes bad, can be very costly. Speaking from experience, my Tstat went out on my 04EX.

I did a full tune up, new t-stat and fresh coolant. will be doing amsoil extended life synthetic engine oil and amsoil synchromesh gear oil change tomorrow. :thumbup:

the other advantage to the UG is the alert option. I set a coolant temp alert if it goes above a set temp :cool:

Be careful with the tranny lube, I read a BUNCH of posts over at the Honda specific forums, the conclusion I came to was people willing to "Try other things" invariably were novices. Without exception, the forum guru ace mechanic people (Aeroheads) were all saying use the Honda factory stuff.

Funny thing though, when I went over the maint receipts that the previous owner of MagMetal kept and gave me, he had the 60K maint done at the dealer ......twice, at 58K & 62K. I'm needing to do it again though since I am getting on 120K miles and it will be Honda factory blue bottle slippery stuff for me.

fwiw.

I've read a lot of people saying the same about the Honda MTF. Amsoil claims their synchromesh synthetic meets and/or exceeds the Honda MTF.

I'm willing to give it a shot. :thumbup:

5w-30 dino oil won't hurt a thing. Change it every 15k. Synchromesh is fine but spendy for something that won't really do much in terms of economy.

landscaping bumper trim coming soon. possible rear seat delete the end of this week as well.

fill up
 

369 miles on 9.65 gallons, 38 mpg compared to baseline tank of 34 mpg.

50 psi, full grill block & warm air intake netted me 4 mpg.

this is all without cruise control so I'm sure that numbered can be improved on.

Rostra cruise control came in the mail today (: I'll have that installed this weekend.

lawn trimming bumper extension completed. took about a half hour, used about a dozen self tappers & electrical tape to smooth out the transition from trimming to bumper.

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...1355097145.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...1355097150.jpg

also installed a set of 13" VX rim's from a 92 VX. They currently have 175/70 tires on them, I will be installing 155/80's on them soon.

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...1354945248.jpg

Looks good. Does the air dam flex much? Does it need any support in the middle or is it okay with just the edging?

I will verify stability tomorrow. if need be I will add an aluminum L behind the trimming.

Thanks, I've been considering something similar, but just worried about the centre being flimsy. I don't see how you screwed it on, or are the screw heads taped over?

I guess my small attempt at hiding the screw heads worked. yes, black electrical tape over them for somewhat of a clean look.

Cool, it worked!

Blocking more of the lower grill, with temporary block zip tied on infront of the AC radiator and then ducting the remaining opening in front of the cooling radiator so that air goes only through that radiator... those mods will get your IAT up a little more by keeping blasts of cold air from hitting the exhaust manifold and your WAI right behind the gap between the AC rad and the cooling rad. In summer, when you want AC back, remove the lower block.

Also, did your DX come with power steering? Remove the belt. You won't miss it much (only a little during parallel parking) and it will save fuel.

lower grill block is next on the list, I ran out of time to make it this past weekend.

I'm seeing mid to upper 90* temps on my IAT as of now and ECT between 185-195 when cruising at 62-63mph.

Yes, factory power steering, contemplating removing the whole system or not. I'm mostly highway driving so I really don't need it. I will see what happens.

had my buddy watch the air dam while at speed today, he said no movement or flexing. :thumbup:

Good to hear, thanks.:thumbup:

update:

went to a 14" HX wheel to lower the rpm's a bit. 13's served well but time for change :p
next month the summer blend fuel should be back so hopefully some mid 40 mpg's in the near future :thumbup:

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...ps49684ad0.jpg

I'm late to this party but I concur about blocking half the lower grille. The radiator is only half-width, so you don't need all of that gaping mouth.

Also concur about the power steering. This is one of the cars that does just fine without it - i preferred the steering feel in EOC to the boosted engine-on feeling.

Oh, and give P&G a try. It does amazing things in these cars.

thanks for the reply. I haven't had the time to do the lower grill block but it's on my to-do list with the car for sure. I'm also tempted to remove the power steering belt and see what happens, 95% of my driving is highway anyway.

At highway speed I doubt you'll even notice the difference.

I took the belt off. Gained FE and did not notice any steering difference, except at 10 mph or less (basically during parking and that was not so bad). It is a small and lightweight car.

If you like the steering with the belt off, wait until you drain the fluid.

I removed the pump, hoses, fluid and plugged the holes where the hoses were with two hex plugs. Works great, and saved some weight and complexity. I don't remember the sizes for the plugs but it has been trouble free for over 6 years.

Waiting on warmer weather to make a new partial grill block & to make the lower valance block so I decided to try something else for the few remaining cold weeks.

I've read a few accounts of the IAT trick using resistors. One thing I have noticed over the past few winter months is that the car definitely get's better FE with higher intake temp's, optimal so far has been around 110 degree's Fahrenheit. It's very hard to get a consistent IAT this past winter when the temperature can fluctuate 15-20 degree's day to day, so I started playing around with resistors. I found that about 730 ohms of resistance at the IAT plug showed a 127 degree IAT on the Ultra Gauge. I was out of resisters but I'd like to add more resistance to try and get that IAT down in the teen's at least.

When I find the right combo i'll fill up & see what happens :thumbup:

I've got a good baseline to compare to so stayed tuned :cool:

testing starts tomorrow :cool:

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...ps80cea432.jpg

Ok, so I ended up picking up more resistors and came up with a combination of 970 ohms which gives me 115 degree's on the IAT. this has worked out great so far..

First tank went great. I had one trip of about 80 miles with the A/C on for the wife, but overall I went 410 miles on 9.5 gallons = 43.15. That is a 2.8 mpg increase over the best yet.

This will definitely be a winter time mod only & I'll have to move the WAI tube to receive some cold air. We reached a high of 80 two days ago so I plugged the IAT sensor back in and had 140+ degree IAT in traffic :eek: I'm not comfortable with that at all & the car was idling a little strange.

Shall see what happens in the coming months. As for now the 970 ohm resistor stays in during these 60 degree days :thumbup:

Thanks for the update. A quick question (not much time and I don't want to forget): Are you planning any ABA testing? This kind of easily reversed and reinstalled mod is ideal for such testing. Without it, I'm afraid you really can't know if the resistor is helping or hurting because there are just too many other factors, especially given the warming weather. You really need to control other factors to know the effect.

Respectfully,
james

Sorry for the late reply, but yes I do plan on ABA testing. I haven't driven the car the past week because I took a week off from work :D

I have two full tanks with the resistor in, 43.1 & 43.6 MPG. I will be removing the resistor for this week's commute since the weather will be consistent & the same as the last two tanks.

UPDATE:

looks like the oxygenated fuel is gone and we are officially back to the summer blend!

I took the resistor out the week that the fuel change happened and netted back to back 45 MPG averages, this is with 75 degree ambient & 90-110 degree intake temps ( no resistor )

my next two tanks will be with the resistor installed..

looks like I'm averaging 45MPG @ 65MPH this summer. I have seen a few 50MPG trips but have had to use the A/C a few days on the ride home (black car/black interior = oven). Even with tinted windows it's brutal.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/gallery/d...livemnks4G.jpg

since my last update I have achieved a best of 47.6 mpg for one tank of fuel. I have been averaging about 47 mpg for the past month.

65 mph max, I wonder what 60 mph would net me?