Daox's 1997 Paseo Build Thread

[alohaspirit]

Youve got a great thread here. 60mpg is killer!

Im curious why you havent done the typical mods

Wheel Skirts, Covers, Bellypan, Smaller Mirrors

(as you can still keep things aestetic with those)

[Daox]

Wheel skirts are not incredibly effective from the testing I've seen (1-3% max), so there not a huge incentive there (yet). Plus, I'm not good at body work, and I do like a semi-decent looking car. This is my own hang up that I'll eventually have to get over as the car slowly transforms. The wheel covers I have right now are somewhat okay as far as aero goes. I have been thinking about glassing over them to smooth them out though. A bellypan is definitely on the list, I just haven't gotten that far. MetroMPG keeps bugging me about my mirrors too. I also haven't gotten to that yet either.

There is a list of things I want to do with the car, and some of it requires testing first. I'm not sure what is happening with the rear end as far as aero goes, so I have tuft testing on my list of things to do in the short term.

[Daox]

Oh yeah, the kill a watt rang up .42 kWh used yesterday, and I drove ~10 miles further yesterday than I did on Monday. So, the battery does seem to be recovering somewhat. However, the voltage doesn't seem to like to get all the way up to 12.7V. Both mornings so far I have come out to a resting voltage of 12.4V.

[alohaspirit]

From what Ive seen your fab skills are pretty good.

Skirts/Covers/Bellypan should come out clean.



So why did you choose the paseo?

I noticed it has a good cd (.32) which is practically like a civic

And you do have another one in the garage.

[Daox]

Thats a little bit of a story. My first car was a 93 Tercel. The Paseo is based on the same chassis, just different body panels. At the time I was more into performance, and the Paseo was a sportier vehicle. I still liked the Tercel so I didn't wander far. I found a very good deal on this Paseo and took it (the car still only has 80k miles on it). I did a bunch of horsepower modifications to it that resulted in a bunch of small increases. Then, I got a job that was a ~35 mile commute one way and things had to change. I started to search online how to increase mileage and that inevitably brought me to a few sites and this is one of them. I'd say half of my work has been reversing the original horsepower mods made to the car. If I had known what I know now when I bought the Paseo, I'd definitely have a different car. I probably would have gotten a Civic VX.

Thanks for the compliments on my fab skills. I can do the work, but I like the mechanical stuff more than the body work. If I were to do skirts, they'd have to look good, and that means a lot of work haha.

The other Paseo has a siezed engine. I'm still not sure what I"m doing with it. Too many projects!

[alohaspirit]

i hear yah

i took a similiar route when i was younger.
custom fabbing a bodykit (cutting a bumper 6-8 times), rims, paint, sound

i kinda wish i just got a civic/crx in the first place too

but you cant replace those memories



if I had a garage like you, id probably have double the projects!

[orange4boy]

Hey Daox,

Is that a maintenance free battery or a flooded? To really check the health of your battery and the actual state of charge you need to check the electrolyte. Get a good bulb tester. This way you can see of the battery needs equalizing. Most chargers can't do this but some do.

How many amps does your charger put out? You may need a higher amp one to fully charge your deep cycle after a long trip. If it's too small (low amp) the battery may never be fully charged and will slowly lose capacity.

To equalize, you apply 14.5-15.5 V for a few hours, then check the electrolyte to see how the cells are responding. When they stop rising you are done.

[Daox]

Thanks for the tips. The battery is flooded. The charger is a 10A charger and it definitely gets the job done every night. Maybe I'll stick my 2A trickle charger on it after the big charger is done. I think that would keep it at 13.5V all night long. Would that be enough?

[orange4boy]

If I didn't say it before... Nice work on the mpg numbers. I'm bowing to your 107%.

13.5V won't mix the electrolyte enough or equalize the battery but it can't hurt to give it a try. Exercise should get it going again if your charger is doing it's job.

Is your charger automatic or manual? Not all chargers are created equal. If it's automatic it should bring the voltage up to 14.5 or higher at the end of the cycle which causes the electrolyte to bubble and circulate to reduce stratification and fully charge. If this does not happen then you could end up with a stratified battery which won't charge fully. As a battery discharges it goes from strong to weak electrolyte and the weaker stuff floats up because of the specific gravity difference. You can tip the battery a few times, closed, if you have it out and do a before/after gravity measurement to see how stratified it is.

If your charger is manual then you can equalize it yourself by bringing up the voltage to 14.5V and let it bubble a bit for a couple hours. Not boil, just a good fine bubble. if you pop the covers you should be able to hear it fizz like a ginger ale. Don't get too close though because of the bubble mist. You can see the little acid droplets with a flashlight in the dark.

Many car batteries fail prematurely because the alternator has not had enough time to fully charge the battery during short trips. They become stratified and become hard sulfated.

Or a low voltage reading could be a symptom of a bad cell. Is the battery still under warranty?

Bottom line is if it has enough juice to get you there it's good enough.

[Daox]

Thanks! That 107% should actually be going up even further. My 90 day average currently has two fill ups that are in the low 50s, and I don't see myself dropping down below 60 until winter rolls around.

I did leave it on the charger all last night. When I went to start the car, the voltage quickly dropped down to 12.5V and then 12.4V after a short period. I had just left it on the 10A charger all night. It lowers the voltage down to 13.2V after it is done with its charging cycle.

This is the charger I'm using. I know when it is charging it gets up in the mid to high 14V range, sometimes higher. I think I've seen into the 16V range when charging batteries with it. But, the battery is far from new. I got it used from a guy who had it sitting in his garage for 1-2 years. I'm kind of surprised it holds the charge as as well as it does. I guess I'll try sticking the desulfator on it when the car is going to sit for an extended period of time.

The battery does have enough juice to get me to work and back. Yesterday was a little rainy, so I ran with running lights and wipers on. I don't think the battery voltage dropped below 11.9V, so I'm good in that department. I am just wondering if I can do anything to restore the battery.