Aerocivic - Restoration and further modding

[California98Civic]

Definitely the warmer white looks better to me, but I am sure some people prefer that blueish hue from the cool white. Oh, who did you get the LEDs from?

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

Definitely the warmer white looks better to me, but I am sure some people prefer that blueish hue from the cool white. Oh, who did you get the LEDs from?

eBay special. My experience has been that LEDs with a plastic or rubberized dome seem to last better, possibly because it acts as a heat sink, and the only place I could find those was eBay.

I went ahead and ordered a pack of 10 warm white ones from Amazon. They're more expensive (still inexpensive) and hopefully they won't burn out. My search term was "74 LED warm", which brought up a grand total of one option.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by AeroMcAeroFace

ah yes the new 200% gasoline, 200% more energy per litre. If anything, worse mpg is expected now due to the higher ethanol content they put in fuel.

You forgot Aerodynamics 2.0 , as the laws of physics too have progressed quite a lot since


That said, many (early) EVs could benefit from an Aero... upgrade
Say, an AeroLeaf
Beyond Tesla, many aren't that aerodynamic, greatly reducing range at speed
So they sure could use the reduced drag from being Aero'd

[freebeard]

[citation needed]

I didn't remember the post so I went to AMcA's Profile and looked at all the posts for the last month. None in this thread.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by euromodder

You forgot Aerodynamics 2.0 , as the laws of physics too have progressed quite a lot since


That said, many (early) EVs could benefit from an Aero... upgrade
Say, an AeroLeaf
Beyond Tesla, many aren't that aerodynamic, greatly reducing range at speed
So they sure could use the reduced drag from being Aero'd

Everyone seems to want a 500 mile range SUV EV. Not that it isn't possible, but that requires a lot more battery, better charging and a whole host of other very expensive things.

But because of the general public's emphatuation with SUV's and CUV's that's the kind of vehicle most car companies are going for, for the most part. But there have been some who are complaining. I even heard a Tesla owner complain how he traded his Model S for a Model X with a bigger battery, but got less range.

Sandy Munro believes that success in the EV market will depend, not on who has the biggest battery, or who has the best battery tech, but who can make their vehicle the most efficient. I would add there (I'm sure he meant too), the most efficient and still be a practical vehicle that people would buy.

And it makes perfect sense to me.

• Batteries are expensive, and packing more in a vehicle to get more range only makes it more expensive. A more effecient EV could kill two birds with one stone making it go farther with a cheaper & smaller battery.
• A vehicle that's more efficient takes less time to charge. It's like you make all chargers faster.
• If you can make the EV efficient enough then even charging off of a regular 120V outlet becomes feasible and practical. People who would need a major electrical upgrade or who rent their home would find it much easier to just run a 120V cord to their car than to pay a ton of money on just the "charger" or go through the ordeal of getting permission to install an expensive "charger" when it could end up not even being theirs.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by freebeard

[citation needed]

I didn't remember the post so I went to AMcA's Profile and looked at all the posts for the last month. None in this thread.

He actually linked it in his quote, but with an unusual button, not a link... here is the link: https://ecomodder.com/forum/showthre...tml#post648185

[freebeard]

Thanks

Permalink #21

I only went back thirty days.

[Ecky]

Started working on Aerocivic again today. This time I ... well, tried, to pull the rear passenger suspension apart. Even with heat and penetrating oil, there were multiple disasters:

-The bolt holding the shock fork to the lower control arm appears to have cold-welded to the bushing, and actually bent the fork apart rather than break loose from the bushing when I unscrewed it, so Aerocivic is getting new rear shocks.

-The bolt holding the rear toe link just spun in the frame. I might try to get my welder in to put a bead on the threaded insert that's spinning. and see if I can get the bolt out.

-The bolt holding the upper control arm to the trailing arm had its head snap off, rather than unscrew, so Aerocivic might be getting new trailing arms.

-Worst of all, the bolt holding the center trailing arm bushing to the frame (the main pair of bolts holding it to the car) came halfway out then broke off in the frame of the car. I'm baffled as to what to do about this one. Drill it out and re-tap? Go up a bolt size? Weld the new bushing right to the frame, and forget about bolting it in place? That's certainly not the right way to do it, but might be what I resort to.

Yeesh. I'd leave it all alone, except the bushings are all shot.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by Ecky

Started working on Aerocivic again today. This time I ... well, tried, to pull the rear passenger suspension apart. Even with heat and penetrating oil, there were multiple disasters:

-The bolt holding the shock fork to the lower control arm appears to have cold-welded to the bushing, and actually bent the fork apart rather than break loose from the bushing when I unscrewed it, so Aerocivic is getting new rear shocks.

-The bolt holding the rear toe link just spun in the frame. I might try to get my welder in to put a bead on the threaded insert that's spinning. and see if I can get the bolt out.

-The bolt holding the upper control arm to the trailing arm had its head snap off, rather than unscrew, so Aerocivic might be getting new trailing arms.

-Worst of all, the bolt holding the center trailing arm bushing to the frame (the main pair of bolts holding it to the car) came halfway out then broke off in the frame of the car. I'm baffled as to what to do about this one. Drill it out and re-tap? Go up a bolt size? Weld the new bushing right to the frame, and forget about bolting it in place? That's certainly not the right way to do it, but might be what I resort to.

Yeesh. I'd leave it all alone, except the bushings are all shot.

Oh man! Hang in there! I know what it's like to have those kinds of things happen!

You can do it!

*\O/*

[Ecky]

I went ahead and ordered new rear shocks for both sides, and new bolts. I'm going to try drilling the one bolt out, as half the threads (the upper half) are probably still ok. I also need to figure out how to disconnect the parking brake cable from the drum.

I *might* just leave the shot main bushings in the rear trailing arms until I get the car to Michigan, maybe put some fill in them to reinforce them a bit, and replace them once there.