Ecomodding an automatic '04 Civic Sedan

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Originally Posted by Ecky

Just to be sure, you're taking into account the slightly different distance traveled because of tire size?

The tires are the same height pretty much. It's an overcount of 0.6 miles per 400 miles traveled I think. But yes, I am taking that into account.

Originally Posted by 19bonestock88

Great work so far! Got any pics of new setup?

Pics and details coming soon!

[mpg_numbers_guy]

So I don't have pictures of my HX rims themselves yet since I immediately covered them with coroplast before heading into work that day. But I finally was able to make wheel skirts! Okay, partial wheel skirts, since full ones still rub ().

I made each of them out of two pieces of coroplast zip ties together, and held onto the wheel well of my car using clamp-bracket thingies made out of plumbers tape:

View facing inward:



View facing outward:



Mounted on the car:



Made flush with painters tape (painters tape sticks better to coroplast than duct tape, and is better for my car's paint job! Win win here!):



Painting:



And after drying:



Since putting them on, that along with the HX rims has had me only get under 60 MPG for personal driving once (heavy traffic). Getting over 40 MPG during pizza delivery consistently now (hopefully this lasts!).

Drove the car to New York a couple days ago. Torque indicated 49.0 MPG for the trip, however Torque does not take into consideration driving in neutral above 30 MPH. I filled up the tank with 373.9 miles before switching drivers, with 6.485 gallons and got 57.66 MPG - a new TANK record, since all my other tanks are mostly pizza delivery. That tank consisted of 13.2 miles of personal driving at ~68.6 MPG, 44.9 miles of pizza delivery at ~43.6 MPG, which means that for that highway trip I managed 60 MPG!!!!!

The next tank was driven by my mom, and the fill up there was accurate, so there's no doubt about my 60 MPG! As a side note - my mom averaged 41.4 MPG @ 75 MPH with no hypermiling - not bad for a Civic rated at 35 highway during the slower EPA tests.

On the way back it was very hot outside - almost 100 degrees. My car started getting hot about an hour and a half away from home, so I pulled over and removed all grille blocking. Noticed that one of my tires was flat! This was because one of the HX rim valve seals was broken - it was broken when I bought them but had seemed to hold pressure fine. I guess not over 900+ miles! Put the spare on and finished driving home. Wheel is being repaired today. THAT SPARE TIRE IS SO FREAKING HEAVY. It's only like a 125/70R15 or something like that, but it's literally heavier than my original alloys! Sidewall on it is 60 PSI so I inflated it to 68 PSI. Still managed ~54 MPG for the part that I drove, 49 MPG highway and 60 MPG city. Shows how much of an effect those lightweight HX rims have.

Aaanndd....here's my current setup (before removing the grille blocking). I'm switching to foam pipe insulation grille blocking here for easy removal and addition of pieces based on weather. Will be considering expandable foam insulation to block fog light areas - the insulation applied over painters tape to prevent permanency.

Here she is!:

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Finished redoing my grille blocking using foam insulation. Now it can easily be adjusted based on weather and driving style. Modified my lower grille block to just cover the fog light area, and returned to the silver/gray color since the black looked too tacky in person.

Front smooth wheel covers are also off from my highway trip, and I haven't put them back on for two reasons: 1st, I haven't noticed any MPG drop, and second, I kinda like showing off my HX rims.

Pics:






Hmm...are these HX rims?



Also re-gutted the interior after my New York trip:



As she is now:



As you can see, the grille blocking is easily removable.

Next step, rear wheel spats, and maybe experiment with partial front wheel skirts!

[Vman455]

Looking good!

[19bonestock88]

Looking good man! You’re killing it! (And officially ahead of me lol)

[mpg_numbers_guy]

You Know You're An Ecomodder When....you start screaming when you get out of your car after BEATING 70 MPG FOR THE FIRST TIME. I have been trying for weeks now to hit just one 70 mpg trip. Today I pumped up my tires to 60 PSI, and somehow with perfect timing of lights, turns, and accelerations (and surprisingly no traffic....don't ask me my average speed for that trip ) I managed 70.9 MPG . I literally got out of my car and screamed when I got home! Now I know I'll never get to a 70 mpg average, or even a 60 mpg average without a boattail, tranny or engine swap (which are far too impractical and expensive), but still!! 70.9 MPG!!!

Have had talks with a lot of people about my car, it's quite the celebrity at gatherings and such, and it doesn't even have a boattail.

I only have 15 more days before I leave for college and park the car until December. Time to make the most of this time!

[California98Civic]

Excellent. I like the look of the car now too. The grill block color is better and the small rear wheel well skirt is cool. I did something close tonthat look with mynfist skirts. I also endorse showing off the HX rims. They're cool, ultra light, and getting rare. Says... not your average honda beater (instead: "slightly above average".) One of my co-workers calls mine the batmobile. Haha

[mpg_numbers_guy]

I wanted to do full skirts, but after failing 3 times due to them either rubbing or sticking out too far, I "settled" for these. Still provide benefit, and with the smooth wheel covers adding a full skirt probably wouldn't make that much of a difference.

Honda beater...it only looks like a beater because of all the "stuff" on it it used to be a very nice looking car....and I still think it is, but "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" etc...best part is that my mods are 100% reversible in case I sell it - only if 1) used Mirages come into my price range, 2) they consistently prove to be reliable over 200K+ miles, and 3) I learn how to drive a manual (blushes...).

Questions of my car have changed from "what happened to your car??" to "what's that stuff all over your car?" so I think that's an improvement.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Pulled a new trip record today! With a slight tailwind and a longer 10.1 mile drive instead of 6.6 miles, I managed to pull 73.2 MPG out of Silver Aero on back country roads with zero traffic, using combined DWL and P&G of speeds varying between 17 and 49 MPH.

Drive back home from work tonight over 6.6 miles, same technique, no traffic, 71.9 MPG.

Personal driving for this tank is only at 45-46 MPG so far due to over 100 miles of no hypermiley driving while out on a date. A lil' bit'a, ahem, speeding, revving, and 2 or 3 redline accelerations, a drive-thru stop, and several miles of stop-n-go traffic...yet still pulled somewhere between 37 & 41 MPG.

Girls are so expensive, they even kill my MPG.

Last day driving Silver Aero for 3 1/2 months is August 20.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Made another highway trip today, about 140 miles each way. Inflated tires to 68 PSI for the trip and pulled ~56 MPG both ways at 55-60 MPH. Lower than the 60 MPG from my New York trip, despite having only me in the car and the increased tire pressure. However I didn't have a tailwind like I did for my NY trip, and this road trip had more steep hills. Car coasted better on the highway with 68 PSI in the tires compared to 53 PSI from my NY trip; can't really compare with 60 PSI since I never did a highway trip with them at 60 PSI. On the highway with I did feel slight airplane-like turbulence on concrete if the wind blew just right, which I am attributing to having 68 PSI in the tires. Was going to let them back down to 60 PSI after my trip, but tomorrow--well today since it's after midnight--is my last day driving Silver Aero for 3 1/2 months, so heck, I'll save myself the trouble and leave them at 68 PSI.