Ecomodding an automatic '04 Civic Sedan

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Originally Posted by elhigh

I know Honda engines are usually pretty happy to spin along at higher revs than many other engines, but still...I want to see 110mph in 1st gear. I want to see how far the pistons go before they land.

Lol, exactly. I got 1st gear to stay engaged to 11 mph and then just followed the curve to see where it would lead.

Originally Posted by elhigh

A grid charger is just for hybrids. Not a problem for you.

And considering that, if you had a hybrid, you would only need it maybe once or twice per year and you only use about 7-10kW-h per grid charging session (depending on the efficiency of your charger, how much charge you give, etc), it wouldn't make a noticeable mark on your bill. My rates are about 12.5 cents/kilowatt-hour, so with a bad charger all the way from empty I add about $1.25 to my bill once or twice a year.

And my battery isn't that big and my charger isn't that bad, so my bill goes up less than that. It doesn't make a noticeable signal against the noise of everything else.

Things you could consider plugging your car in for: an engine block heater and oil pan heater, so the car starts up closer to operating temperature. You could also consider installing a small - very small - space heater inside the car. Put the whole thing on a timer-controlled outlet in the garage (if you have a garage) so it turns on an hour before you head out in the morning. You start out with a car that's rarin' to go and a cabin that's warm, so you don't need to run the car heater at all, further accelerating the car's warmup process.

The two engine heaters together probably won't pull an entire kilowatt, and one kilowatt-hour adds what, 10, 15 cents to your bill? And if it turns out the car warms up well enough in less time, all the better.

Summertime, don't plug in the space heater. No problem.

Where are you getting these numbers? Everywhere else I've read says you need a several hundred watt charger that barely gets your temps up to 110 F (~43 C) and that's with having it plugged in for 4 hours.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Ok so honestly a Kammback isn't practical enough for met yet as of now. I want to maintain visibility out of my rear window, and the only way to accomplish that is to spend big bucks on clear coroplast or something like lexan. But I still want to improve rear airflow behind my vehicle, since that is where the most aero gains can be made.

I took a look at the rear lip spoiler on the hybrid version of my car, and was considering fabricating one of those...or one that was even better.

Here are some ideas I have:
1. Simple replica of the hybrid's lip spoiler
2. Hybrid lip spoiler with ridges to act like an upper diffuser
3. Spoiler similar to the LSR civics:




The second one seems to have raised lines all the way down the rear window?

Thoughts, comments, and/or critiques on which one would be best, or if I should leave it all alone altogether?

[Xist]

We try to make cars more aerodynamic, but race cars regularly sacrifice CD for downforce and other concerns that are not ours. Honestly, I do not know what good either of those spoilers would do, but I found a picture of the front of that second Civic, The World's Fastest Civic:



They fastened those bands across the roof?

Have you ever used the aerodynamic template tool for your car? My spoiler is a couple of inches high, but still several inches under the template, so it probably does not affect airflow at all. If you made a rear wing that extended past your bumper, you should be able to reattach airflow. Good luck!

There have been some discussions of the double spoilers of the Merkur Xr4ti, but that still does not approach the template.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

What about the Civic hybrid's spoiler? If it had no effect why would they have added it, and to the hybrid version only?

And yes, I've used the streamlining templace. I'm just trying to find excuses to procrastinate on that kammback..

On another note, got my air dam installed today! Took longer than expected - about 3-4 hours of work, but it's done!

Materials:
- 4"x20' roll of lawn edging I picked up for $4.97 from the local hardware store
- Box of 30 self tapping screws, $6.49 (used about 22)
- Drill with an appropriate bit (a LOT faster than trying to screw it all in by hand..)
- Flathead screwdriver (for removing factory air dam)
- A LOT of patience

Step 1: Removing the factory air dam.

The Civic came with a pathetic factory air dam that was about half an inch in length and didn't really cover anything. It was held on with several plastic push plugs that we removed using a flathead screwdriver.

Step 2: Prepare the lawn edging.

We unrolled the lawn edging after having it sit in the sun for some time for the heat to make the material more flexible for installation.We then measured it up against the car, and cut it to length.

The edge of the lawn edging looked something like this:



To install it, we split the upper circle in half to create two mounting points, as follows:



Step 3: Installing the air dam

Use the push plugs from the stock air dam to mount the lawn edging. Use self tapping screws elsewhere for added security:



Those Paint drawings are rather crude, but hopefully they make sense.

And here's the final product:




It comes all the way around in front of each front wheel to act sort of as hopeful wheel spats too. No testing yet until tomorrow; hopefully it doesn't scrape anything too bad so that I have to trim it. Scraping won't bother me as long as scraping doesn't stop me from coasting. I might have to reinforce the ends due to them being too flexible, not sure how to do it yet though.

[Xist]

I took off my air dam because the self-tapping screws would not stay in.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Originally Posted by Xist

I took off my air dam because the self-tapping screws would not stay in.

Sshhh, don't say that lol. If they don't hold then I'll go with different screws. I'm not going to let a minor issue keep me from maximizing MPGs.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by mpg_numbers_guy

Sshhh, don't say that lol. If they don't hold then I'll go with different screws. I'm not going to let a minor issue keep me from maximizing MPGs.

On mine, large diameter washers help keep the lawn edging in place long term. Over time the plastic will stretch a little and slip over the screws. I am sure scraping is a culprit sometimes, but I suspect it is really the more routine and normal stress of highway speeds and the pressure n the dam. Washers fix that repeated problem for me.

BTW, your mounting method is more robust than mine. I wanted fewer bolts and all behind for a stealthier look. Great solid work, hey.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

On mine, large diameter washers help keep the lawn edging in place long term. Over time the plastic will stretch a little and slip over the screws. I am sure scraping is a culprit sometimes, but I suspect it is really the more routine and normal stress of highway speeds and the pressure n the dam. Washers fix that repeated problem for me.

BTW, your mounting method is more robust than mine. I wanted fewer bolts and all behind for a stealthier look. Great solid work, hey.

I'm hoping the number of screws I have in it as well as the plastic push clip thingys from the factory air dam will prevent it from failing, but I guess only time will tell. From the pictures on your build thread it looks like your lawn edging is a little different from mine.

Sheesh, you guys are scaring me now in regards to its durability lol.

Credit for most of the work goes to my dad. Originally I was just going to use the plastic things and zip ties for attaching.

Eventually this summer I might go and redo all my mods to make them look "better", per se, but we'll see.

BTW, how did you attach your side skirts? I saw the picture in your build thread, but didn't see any how-to, unless I'm just that blind and missed it..

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by mpg_numbers_guy

... how did you attach your side skirts? ...

They are just screwed into the bottom of the OEM plastic runner with about 8 or 10 screws. It is one of the mods I sometimes wanna redo. Overtime, I have learned a bit and can see the obvious warts of older mods more easily and understand better how to do it cleaner and more solid. From a distance, say across a parkinglot, one can sometimes see daylight between my OEM runners and my DIY side skirt. That looks not good to me.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

They are just screwed into the bottom of the OEM plastic runner with about 8 or 10 screws. It is one of the mods I sometimes wanna redo. Overtime, I have learned a bit and can see the obvious warts of older mods more easily and understand better how to do it cleaner and more solid. From a distance, say across a parkinglot, one can sometimes see daylight between my OEM runners and my DIY side skirt. That looks not good to me.

Ugh, more screwing. That's the reason why I haven't done side skirts yet. The air dam was doable because it's underneath.

Have you tried using black caulk to seal the gap?