Another eco-addict here.
 

Hello, I came across this site after searching for aerodynamic ideas for a land speed car I am building. I found the aerocivic site and ventured this way. Now I am addicted.

I have had a company truck for the last 5 years so I haven't had to worry about gas. I just got a new job with a 26 mile per day commute. I started out with my 84 GMC 1500 that was getting 12 mpg. By just changing my driving style I was able to get it up to 13.7 mpg. This was just not cutting it so I started to look for a Honda Civic. I came across this 1990 Honda Accord for $1000 and it only has $112,000 miles so I picked it up. Baseline was at 26 mpg so it was a big jump right off the back. The two down sides to this accord are that 1. it has a 2.2l engine and uses a little more fuel then the 1.5 & 1.6l engines, and 2. it is an automatic. Still I will see what it can do.

Just by changing my driving style I was able to get the MPG up a bit to 27.3 mpg. The first mod I wanted to try was the warm air intake. I drilled a hole in the bottom of the stock air box and ran some aluminum heater hose to the exhaust heat shield. I wasn't sure if this would work on an OBD1 vehicle. To my surprise the first fill up was 29.3 mpg, up 2 mpg.

Now, I am addicted this whole ecomodder lifestyle. I drive 63mph in a 65mph zone, I always back into the driveway and use pull thru parking spots. I will try to get 30+ mpg out of this automatic Accord. I am trying to buy a friends VW diesel Jetta. Then the real ecomodding will begin.

Thanks for all of the great ideas.

Haha, sounds like you've been sucked into the EM void. Congrats, it sounds like you're having fun with it.

the accord is a nice car
but a jetta tdi is better!

Welcome, and sorry for your new addiction ;)

Reducing drag works on both ends of the car spectrum.

Welcome! Drop the highway speed to 55 mph to experience some more gains. I know it really is hard to get used to at first, but after a week or so it feels normal to go that slow. I would also advise you to drop some weight off the car if you want to go even further down the mods path. Who needs backseats, trunk carpet, or rear door panels on a commuter car (unless you carpool which would be more effective)?

Sell the Accord and get a Civic when you get a chance. You can do all kinds of things to the Accord, but just going from the Accord to a regular Civic will get you an 8 to 10 mpg difference, and we haven't talked about the VX and other lean burn Civics that will do double what you are doing now without using the techniques outlined on the site.

The TDIs are great when they are sorted, older cars, but when they get wonky it's big aggro. And this coming from a diesel addict. A lean burn Civic will do what a TDI does with less cost and hassle.

The Jetta is not a TDI, it is an older diesel w/ very low miles.

I am thinking a Civic is probably going to be my best platform. Lots of available modding to do. The lean burn models are hard to find in my area.

They are hard to find in any area, and if you do find them they are usually:

1. 250,000 miles
2. Riced out
3. Engine/tranny swapped out
4. $$$$

I was lucky to find mine in pretty good shape for less than most are selling around here. But don't get down if you can't find a HX or VX. Depending on how you plan to hypermile the car, lean-burn won't really matter. For example, if you pulse and glide for your trips, lean-burn is not in use. So any 90's Civic will work as a great platform and you can work on techniques to get great numbers.

I plan on running Megasquirt fuel injection so I can control the fuel and timing completely. I will probably get a Civic dx or so. This way I can run in my own lean burn all the time and be able to cut full fuel under deceleration etc.

Well I picked up the Jetta. 1985 Jetta 1.6 Diesel w/ 113,000 miles. That should get me a jump in mpg.

I did get a full 30MPG with the Accord on my last fill up. It was my goal and now it is time to move on.