Black & Green modding thread (1998 Civic DX Coupe base)

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by 19bonestock88

It looks good to me! It’s worth noting that you’ll need to add some reinforcements underneath the spoiler to keep it up...

A box cavity around the trunk area maybe ?
Could give support for the spoiler and some aero benefit


PS: Pretty Strong magnets to hold the car upside down, I'm truly impressed !

[California98Civic]

Just got in from testing the spoiler in two configurations at El Mirage. First was just the decklid spoiler and then more of a box cavity type extension of the spoiler down the sides of the body from the trunklid. The spoiler seems to work. Doing coast-down testing the car rolled furthest with the spoiler box cavity, second furthest with the spoiler, and third furthest with the OEM configuration. The box cavity produced a gain of about 7.23% and with just the spoiler I saw a gain of 6.27% rolling distance. A more conservative reading of the results would half those gains. So it seems it could produce between a 1.5% or 3.5% fuel economy increase.

I have pictures and more results... later. It was 110*F on the dry lakebed.

EDIT: POSTED RESULTS: https://ecomodder.com/forum/showthre...tml#post602571

[hayden55]

IF all else fails you can buy one of those fishing magnets. You slap two of those babies together and good luck getting them apart.

[California98Civic]

In my effort to get another 70 mpg tank this summer I repaired some mods, did a couple more, and tested a still incomplete one. I wanna try and complete and refine a bit more this fall. Gonna post the lists in this thread soon.

[California98Civic]

It was about 8 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning. I was out for coffee with some friends in my "Black and Green" ecomodded Honda. As I left the coffee spot to go to the markets and do more holiday preparation, the rain was coming down fast--flash flood threateningly fast. I left anyway.

Driving along a major artery my first warning was catching out of the corner of my eye what seemed to be water shooting straight up out of the asphalt. I did a double-take, not being able to believe my eyes, but I was too late to get a better look. I kept going and the rain kept coming.

The first puddle was a pool blocking the entire four lane road. A pickup paused and went through. I did too. It got deep, but not dangerous. I saw water shooting into the air through manholes that had been pushed aside by the pressure. I kept going.

At the next red light a few yards further down there were multiple residential waste containers in the intersection. They had apparently been washed down a hill from neighborhoods above. I kept going.

Near the creek, on still lower ground, I and 20 cars met a massive puddle. Cars and trucks were going through. I thought to stop, but there were lots of cars behind me on this divided road (no place to turn around). I should have pulled over anyway, but a Prius seemed to make it fine, so I went.

I barely made it through and struggled to keep traction. I got through, but I immediately got hit with multiple misfire codes. With a tree now blocking the road, I pulled into a hotel lot with a badly smoking car. Soon, it would not start when I shut it off. So I got permission to park until I could start or tow the car the next day and went on with Thanksgiving. Had a great time.



It would not start the next day. The air filter was wet. But the engine would try to fire and would almost start sometimes, so I knew it was not hydro-locked.

Testing began. Swapping out the air filter, spark plugs, and spark wires with known good parts improved nothing. The distributor turned out to be shot. A few weeks after getting it running, my 10 month old starter motor died. Both parts were warranty replacements.

Actually, I kinda made money. Because I bought the distributor in 2012, I got 30 bucks from the chain store because the price has since come down. And because of clerk errors both times, I got both the new distributor and the new starter with renewed lifetime warranties.

That water is always deeper than it looks.

[Xist]

All of the misfire codes?! Congratulations! That is quite the achievement!

I am surprised they reimbursed you to the price difference. Would they charge you if the part increased in price. How much time did you spend diagnosing everything? Was my misfire saga worse because I needed to replace the original distributor, which had not been under warranty for over a decade?

[hayden55]

I also got all of the misfire codes! Definitely glad yours weren't as serious lol

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by hayden55

I also got all of the misfire codes! Definitely glad yours weren't as serious lol

Thanks! It seemed kinda worisome at first. But with luck and patience and adequate testing, it came together.

Originally Posted by Xist

All of the misfire codes?! Congratulations! That is quite the achievement!

Thanks. But it was really just luck, with diligence to help it along. This car! Been with me since June 2001 when it had 27,000 miles. Now has 273,000.

Originally Posted by Xist

I am surprised they reimbursed you to the price difference. Would they charge you if the part increased in price. How much time did you spend diagnosing everything? Was my misfire saga worse because I needed to replace the original distributor, which had not been under warranty for over a decade?

I had work and family stuff intervening so the car sat in my driveway for a few days after AAA towed it in. I suppose it was 5 hours applied time working on it. I already had some of the "known good" parts to swap. I bought a test light for the spark tests and distributor test, too. I was kinda joking in saying I got paid. It was not worth it. But I don't think they could up the price given their guarantee of a replacement. When the dude offered me cash, I expressed my shock. He explained. I thanked him. Xmas came early!

[California98Civic]

Been quite a whilesince I updated this thread. Stuck at home, working days and off days, I am doing some repairs and minor mods.

Needed to replace leaking valve cover gasket, a spark plug hole casket, and a gasket for the cover's bolts. So, I am checking valve lash and cleaning the lifters a little.

But also, I am modding the cover itself slightly. First I cleaned it thoroughly of dirt, grease, and stains. Then I filed off burrs left from the casting of the aluminum back in 1998. Then I sanded the "Honda" name thoroughly so it will stand out. I'm letting mild stains and the oxidized, darker color of the cover remain the way it is...

The "mod" is going to be a coating of the cover to raise its emisivity to 0.95 if possible. The raw aluminum is probably 0.40 or a little better. Paint is a possibility, but I am leaning toward a thin layer of boiled linseed oil becuase I have the stuff and it is easily reversible. It could be just as effective as even black paint. And it retains the reflectance of the aluminum, which is better than black paint.

This is a tiny cooling gain through thermal radiation. TINY!

What think you? Pretty clean, huh? It was really grimy.

[raylit20]

Been following this for a while. Am stuck at home too. Thought I might chime in a bit since I have some experience to share. We exclusively used wrinkle coat paint on our air cooled motorcycle engines because it increases surface area and improves cooling enough to be noticeable. I've heard similar things mentioned on the boards here as well. Might be something to keep in mind.



Aside from that, love the build and it's one of the things that keeps me coming back here. Thanks!