Ecomodding an automatic '04 Civic Sedan

[California98Civic]

When you own a car for twenty years and do all the work on it, you know every flaw. You can eventually ID and repair any failure. If I sold for a grand (assuming I could), a replacement vehicle would be a mystery. Surprise failures would start appearing. When it comes to the go-box, I don't like surprises! Lol.

[19bonestock88]

I second the above opinion... if you’re gonna sell/trade, obviously do it before too much irreversible modding... otherwise, I’d do whatever you feel necessary... realistically if I were spending $1k next a car, I’d not expect it to look pristine... however, using tape shouldn’t hurt the finish at all... most residue comes off with some goof-off...

Most of the mods of the aerodynamic variety also help speed, just some food for thought... not only cheaper to operate than the garden variety 04 Civic but also faster on the freeway and maybe with less lift, translating to better high speed stability...

It sounds like you’re gonna keep it a while though, so the more cheap kids you have, the cheaper your operating costs will be in the long run

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

When you own a car for twenty years and do all the work on it, you know every flaw. You can eventually ID and repair any failure. If I sold for a grand (assuming I could), a replacement vehicle would be a mystery. Surprise failures would start appearing. When it comes to the go-box, I don't like surprises! Lol.

Think of how much better MPG I could get down the road in several years with an eocmodded '15 Fit rated 36 MPG combined as opposed to an ecomodded '04 Civic rated 30 MPG combined!

But true, owning the same car for as long as the vehicle lasts does have its advantages. Prior to buying this car I literally knew absolutely nothing about a car's engine--and I still don't know much--but I'm hoping to learn for myself instead of just relying on mechanics to do everything.

Originally Posted by 19bonestock88

I second the above opinion... if you’re gonna sell/trade, obviously do it before too much irreversible modding... otherwise, I’d do whatever you feel necessary... realistically if I were spending $1k next a car, I’d not expect it to look pristine... however, using tape shouldn’t hurt the finish at all... most residue comes off with some goof-off...

Most of the mods of the aerodynamic variety also help speed, just some food for thought... not only cheaper to operate than the garden variety 04 Civic but also faster on the freeway and maybe with less lift, translating to better high speed stability...

It sounds like you’re gonna keep it a while though, so the more cheap kids you have, the cheaper your operating costs will be in the long run

Not planning on doing any irreversible mods.

If my tranny dies but the rest of the car is in good shape I'll see if I can replace it with a taller one for even better FE.

But the car is in excellent shape and should run for a long time yet.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by mpg_numbers_guy

Think of how much better MPG I could get down the road in several years with an eocmodded '15 Fit rated 36 MPG combined as opposed to an ecomodded '04 Civic rated 30 MPG combined!

Yes. But remember that the '15 Fit will have greater market value. Depreciation on your cash outlay will be greater than the 04 Civic. And in most place I know, the greater market value also means higher insurance and registration/taxes. My car has almost no "maket value" (thank god), so I only pay for liability insurance. No collision. I do this kinda extreme, I know, but less extreme applications of the same logic will also save lots of cash in the long run. We ALWAYS lose money on our cars. When we can reduce the losses we call it savings! Haha!

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

Yes. But remember that the '15 Fit will have greater market value. Depreciation on your cash outlay will be greater than the 04 Civic. And in most place I know, the greater market value also means higher insurance and registration/taxes. My car has almost no "maket value" (thank god), so I only pay for liability insurance. No collision. I do this kinda extreme, I know, but less extreme applications of the same logic will also save lots of cash in the long run. We ALWAYS lose money on our cars. When we can reduce the losses we call it savings! Haha!

Oh, I was planning on keeping my Civic until the '15 Fit values go down to below $5K...who knows, maybe I'll keep my Civic and have a Fit too...or maybe I'll be too happy with my Civic and just decide to keep it forever.

[19bonestock88]

That’s how I ended up feeling about the Malibu I had... initially I didn’t like it and the more I drove it the fonder of it I became... 36-38mpg from a midsize car wasn’t too bad in my opinion...

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Even though it's an automatic?

But yes, I'm not at all dissatisfied with my Civic; I'll just be even more satisfied with it once I reach 50 MPG.

[19bonestock88]

Originally Posted by mpg_numbers_guy

Even though it's an automatic?

Well, at the time I owned the car I had a badly herniated disc in my back and had genuine trouble working a clutch pedal, sometimes my leg would glitch out and lose the strength to hold down the pedal... and it was big and comfortable and handled well enough for such a bigger car than I was used to...

I didn’t like it at first but after I started caring about fuel and ecomodding it/hypermiling it, I became quite fond of it...

I bought my fiancé a 2006 Saturn Ion coupe with the 4T45 automatic and it isn’t too bad to drive... after my operation I can drive stick well enough again that I don’t wanna go back to two pedals unless something happens to my car and I can’t find something in manual...

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Back again after a brief hiatus...just got a working OBDII Bluetooth adapter to work with the Torque app - in all about a cost of $23 instead of $90+ for a Scangauge that doesn't have as many features or as clean of a display.

Does it work? It sure does! My last tank was 37 MPG with a lot of short trips that prevented me from getting over 40. Well today was my first drive using Torque, and I managed to get 42 MPG despite a slight breeze blowing against me most of the time.

I have to places I go to on a daily basis, one of them is a more fuel efficient longer drive with fewer stops, while the other is a shorter drive with more stops, and it was on this shorter drive that I got 42 MPG. Hoping for over than tomorrow on my "longer" drive; should hopefully have no problems beating 40 MPG in this tank with the only mods being tires @ 41 PSI, torque app, and of course adjusting the nut behind the wheel.

Only waiting for my scheduled timing belt change before starting actual ecomodding.

50 MPG looks more promising than it did yesterday!

[19bonestock88]

Honestly instrumentation is just as important, if not more than, as the other mods