Aeromodded Civic VX 72mpg (image heavy)

[j12piprius]

Originally Posted by The donkey CRX

Here is the second version made from a lever and rod we bought from Speedway Motors, It is much simpler. It is installed in my brothers 94 VX.

TdonkeyCRX, did you install a seatbelt extension? If so, how long is it and do you have a source? My selt belt connector is below the edge of the seat, making reconnections while driving quite hazardous.

[The donkey CRX]

John, This new seat belt is more extended on the right than the original Honda seat belt. We bought it because the original belts were blue and we are changing the interior to all black. These belts were found on EBAY and do not connect to the original Honda seat belts, but did connect to the Honda mounting points with the Honda mounting bolts. You may be able to purchase a Honda compatible extended belt on EBAY.

[dirtydave]

We are STILL neck and neck on the Top 10 by %Percent Over EPA

7. 1992 civic VX - MULE VX 103.302%
8. 2000 Sephia 1.8I4 16VDOHC - Maechunbu 102.864%

A difference of 0.136
How the F*KK can the numbers be THAT CLOSE?!#!#

[The donkey CRX]

Hi Dave, Great job with maximizing your MPG's. My car, the Red Mule 92 VX has been in our shop since September 30th being upgraded with pre-heated water and oil and alternator delete with a 214 AH battery back-up. My goal is to try and maintain my current year to date MPG thru the winter months. I hope to be back on the road in about 2 weeks.

[bluesteel93]

Your car is undoubtedly one of the coolest cars on this site! I'm actually more interested in the White 94 VX though. Do you have a thread like this dedicated to that car? I'd love to see more pictures of it and of some of the mods done to it. That car represents more of the style that I'm looking to achieve in my VX build. Subtle, and very clean looking.

Keep up the good work!

[The donkey CRX]

Thanks Bluesteel, so far I have only posted about the white VX on this thread. Currently I am doing upgrades to the red 92 VX, but when they are finished we will get back to trying to see how close we can get the white VX to the MPG numbers of the red 92 VX and still keep it stealth.

I have been amazed at the MPG numbers we are already getting without much outward evidence of it being a full ecomodder.

[j12piprius]

Originally Posted by The donkey CRX

Thanks for your kind words.

Actually, both of the adjustable shutters were handmade from 1/16 inch flat aluminum sheet material. They are different because they are early prototypes. We are using the one on the passenger side as our current design .

But you are correct that a residential A/C register from Lowes can be used for this purpose as the picture below shows. Unfortunately this one was made from very thin steel and froze up from rust after only a few months.

Hi TdCRX,
Can you explain how you made the shutters, and how you get them to work from inside of the car? I'm interested to make a sliding shutter, if possible.

[The donkey CRX]

John, you are in luck, during the upgrade of the Red Mule 92 VX I had to remove the nose, so I took some pictures of the adjustable shutters. Since you said you are planning a sliding opening I will start with the "choke cable" that I used to open and close the shutters from inside the car.
Here is a picture of the cable. I got them from JEGS and they are about $9, the cheapest I could find. They are 72" long and this length has been working for every thing I have tried to control in the engine bay (WAI and shutters)




Here are some pictures of how I mounted the cable inside the car. They are under the gauges that show the water temp measured from the lower radiator hose.









There is a large HVAC vent in the top middle of the dash that when removed allows access to the bulkhead into the engine bay. Sorry I did not take a picture of this. I drilled several 1" holes thru the bulkhead into the engine bay to route the cable to the shutters. I will try and get a picture of this tomorrow.







More to come

[The donkey CRX]

Here are some pictures of the shutter on the right side of the air dam in front of the radiator. This is the best design so I will show details of it only.







I started by using a hack saw blade to remove all of the vertical dividers in the grill opening. This leaves a hole that is 5" by 23". The right shutter is 5" tall by 10" long. It is made from .090" aluminum sheet that was in the scrap pile at work.

In this picture we will be only looking at the shutter on the left. It shows the shutter in the open position. Note the cable pull at the top which is out the full 2" of its throw.

Here is a shot from the back







The frame of the shutter is held together with 6/32 button head bolts and nylock nuts. Each corner is reinforced with a 1"X1" by 5" 90 degree angle.

Note that the "hinges" are made from 1/4" round aluminum rod that is flattened on the end where it is attached to the shutter. The holes in the frame for the round part of the hinge are "oversized" to allow for slack so the hinge doses not bind when being opened and closed. This is because these cheap cables twist as they are opened and closed and will bind up the shutters if they are too tight. The shutters are also about 1/8" shorter than the opening on each side to allow them to move sideways when the cable twists.

Also note that the shutters are curved on their leading edge to make them stiffer.





More pictures

[j12piprius]

Originally Posted by ecoTex

When we added the belly pan we wanted it to be lower than any under body part, totally flat from the tip of the air dam back to where it met the rear*diffuser*and level with the ground. This was done by putting all 4 wheels on 14 inch high plywood boxes

The donkey CRX, can you tell me where you got the 14" boxes, or how you made them? I was planning to use jack stands, but having the wheels on boxes would be much better and easier to work with. Would I be able to lift the car to the boxes with a floor jack? Thanks much for your helpfulness.