EKo Civic Hatch Build Thread!

[RLochard]

For the Mirror Delete I didn’t just want to take the mirrors off the car and have a really stupid looking hole in the car where the Mirror once was. I roughly traced out the empty area to make a cardboard template to make a “Mirror Cap”. This is continuing the theme of Function and Form. I want to increase fuel economy but also keep a sleek look doing it. I cut the Mirror Caps From Lexan just like the Grill Blocks. Now I’m using Lexan to hide the Modifications to keep this looking stealthy. At first glance you should only see a Lowered civic rice burner but under further examination you see this is actually a budget built fuel saving machine. I painted the back side of the Lexan cutouts with gloss black paint so from the direct side view of the car you only notice a tinted window. You don’t even realize the Mirror isn’t there!

[hayden55]

Definitely do a full grill block. You'll be impressed/unimpressed at how much these cars don't heat up. I had a beater I bought and I idled so little at stop signs and coasted to lights so much I didn't realize until a year later when I bought my scan gauge that my radiator fans were never turning on. Even through the Summer in 90F weather!!!
And the grill blocks help against the two main things:
1. Winter air is more dense and harder to cut through therefore improving mpg more when you do the block.
2. The blocks should help to keep the engine warmer better. Especially if you have a problem getting enough heat built up for eff. and using the heater.

[RLochard]

Originally Posted by hayden55

Definitely do a full grill block. You'll be impressed/unimpressed at how much these cars don't heat up. I had a beater I bought and I idled so little at stop signs and coasted to lights so much I didn't realize until a year later when I bought my scan gauge that my radiator fans were never turning on. Even through the Summer in 90F weather!!!
And the grill blocks help against the two main things:
1. Winter air is more dense and harder to cut through therefore improving mpg more when you do the block.
2. The blocks should help to keep the engine warmer better. Especially if you have a problem getting enough heat built up for eff. and using the heater.

Because I used Lexan it's really hard to see my Grill Blocks in the Pictures. Like I said I'm trying to make the car look as cool as possible so I'm taking a stealthy approach with my EcoModifications. If you look at the Direct Front Picture where I'm talking about the Mirror Removal you can see the outline of the Lower Grill Block. It covers everything but about 4.5" where the Radiator is at. Now that I've been driving the car like this for a few months you are certainly right. I should have covered the entire grill. My Coolant Temps rarely ever got over 200F with Outside Air Temp ranging from 65-75F. This morning it was -4F and on my drive to work the Coolant Temp only got up to approximately 175F. I even let the car warm up for a while to defrost the windshield. I'm thinking I may make a small Lexan Piece to put over the small Radiator Opening that way it's easy to remove if for any reason higher summer temps start creating an overheating issue.

[hayden55]

Originally Posted by RLochard

Because I used Lexan it's really hard to see my Grill Blocks in the Pictures. Like I said I'm trying to make the car look as cool as possible so I'm taking a stealthy approach with my EcoModifications. If you look at the Direct Front Picture where I'm talking about the Mirror Removal you can see the outline of the Lower Grill Block. It covers everything but about 4.5" where the Radiator is at. Now that I've been driving the car like this for a few months you are certainly right. I should have covered the entire grill. My Coolant Temps rarely ever got over 200F with Outside Air Temp ranging from 65-75F. This morning it was -4F and on my drive to work the Coolant Temp only got up to approximately 175F. I even let the car warm up for a while to defrost the windshield. I'm thinking I may make a small Lexan Piece to put over the small Radiator Opening that way it's easy to remove if for any reason higher summer temps start creating an overheating issue.

Now that I look more closely I'm glad i stopped in. Thats the perfect material to use for my lower grill block on my Prius. I love that material for mirror caps. I've used it on my Prius and civic and it gives a fantastic finish.

[RLochard]

Originally Posted by hayden55

Now that I look more closely I'm glad i stopped in. Thats the perfect material to use for my lower grill block on my Prius. I love that material for mirror caps. I've used it on my Prius and civic and it gives a fantastic finish.

Yeah my brother actually used to work in NASCAR and gave me the idea of using Lexan. I originally thought plexiglass but that **** is as brittle as a cracked egg lol but seriously I’ve had the Lexan on my car for about 2 months and no one has noticed it until a mention this car being my EcoModder Build. It’s very durable and strong material. If you buy it I highly recommend buying it online. I bought my sheet on eBay for about a quarter of what any local store wanted.

[RLochard]

Because I did the Mirror Delete I needed some way to see behind me. Indiana State Law states that a vehicle must have A mirror that can see 200 feet behind the vehicle. Obviously any rear view mirror will get the job done but I like to put safety as a top priority especially in a car that’s not very safe to begin with. I bought a 5 Panel Wink Mirror to replace the factory rear view mirror. The Wink Mirror is awesome. This is also something that came from racing because this is what we used in our asphalt late model. The Five Panel Wink Mirror shows everything behind you and next to you. In the Civics you can see out both rear side windows and of course the rear window. You can even see most out of the front windows. To help me with seeing out of my side windows I bought 2 Convex Mirrors which I mounted on the door part of the A-Pilar. The Convex Mirrors Do take a while to get used to. You can see everything next to you and even out of the rear of the car. The downfall of these Mirrors is when parallel parking or backing into a parking spot because they don’t hang out over the side of the car to see the lines painted on the road.

[arcosine]

I had a 1977 and 1978 Honda Accord CVCC. The only difference between the two is the 78 had a coolant warmed intake manifold and the 77 was exhaust heated. The 77 constantly got got 5 mpg better, 40 vs 35 mpg, though it would knock after a few seconds at full throttle as the manifold heated. On my sc1, it gets hot too, 220F, @ 60 mph, scan gauge shows negative timing, atdc at low engine speed and full throttle. It takes a long time to warm up the whole air intake, box, filter ect with the limited flow into the engine. It has a vacuum controlled flapper valve that opens to cool air at WOT, but intake has too much thermal mass and the intake temperature doesn't drop. I've insulated them and the WAI tube with fiberglass cloth. A muffin fan exhausting near the throttle body could pull in more hot air and warm it up faster.

How is the wink mirror at night, with an SUV behind?

[RLochard]

Originally Posted by arcosine

I had a 1977 and 1978 Honda Accord CVCC. The only difference between the two is the 78 had a coolant warmed intake manifold and the 77 was exhaust heated. The 77 constantly got got 5 mpg better, 40 vs 35 mpg, though it would knock after a few seconds at full throttle as the manifold heated. On my sc1, it gets hot too, 220F, @ 60 mph, scan gauge shows negative timing, atdc at low engine speed and full throttle. It takes a long time to warm up the whole air intake, box, filter ect with the limited flow into the engine. It has a vacuum controlled flapper valve that opens to cool air at WOT, but intake has too much thermal mass and the intake temperature doesn't drop. I've insulated them and the WAI tube with fiberglass cloth. A muffin fan exhausting near the throttle body could pull in more hot air and warm it up faster.

How is the wink mirror at night, with an SUV behind?

My WAI will get up to about 80F within just a few minutes. It really just depends how fast I drive and how cold it is for it to get over 160F. It’s -9F today and the IAT won’t get over 143F @ 55 MPH. If I pull into town the IAT is staying at about 101F with waiting in traffic and going about 45 MPH. I’ve been monitoring the Timing on the SCII but the Readout is pretty weird. There hasn’t been any drastic change in the SCII Timing Readout at all. I’ve read on here that the Timing Retardation won’t start happening unless you get over 300-350F. I don’t know how true that is but I did read in a thread that some people out in Arizona (If I remember correctly) states that in the summer with a stock air box IATs would be around 180F.

As for the Wink Mirror I thinks it’s an awesome piece. The only drawback is at night with an SUV or Truck behind me. I do have it aimed so I have to glance upwards to see so at night it’s not that bad. Originally I had it aimed down and it could be blinding but it’s not too bad. Keep in mind that my windows are tinted so it definitely helps. I’d say if you want to remove your mirrors I’d highly recommend the Wink Mirror.

[RLochard]

Like I’ve stated multiple times I’m definitely going Form over Function with this Car. After lowering the car I was thinking of something else I could do to try and improve my aerodynamics. I would like to make a kammback at some point but I figured Side skirt extensions would be much easier.

For my side skirts I actually went to Lowe’s and bought 2 10FT 4.5” Vinyl Rain Gutters. I considered using Aluminium Gutters but the Aluminium is really flexible and doesn’t SnapBack into its original shape. I was able to bend the Aluminium by hand. I could flex the Vinyl Gutters as well but they would immediately return to the original shape. I went with Vinyl because if I hit a speed bump or something I don’t have to worry about it messing up the function and form of the extension. I cut the gutters to approximately 75” in Length and cut off the forward facing part of the Gutter. This left me with and “L” Shape that could be screwed into the factory side skirt. I angled the rear section to match the contour of the wheel arch. After mocking them up on the car I removed them and sprayed them in semi-gloss Black. I’ve been driving the car Daily in snow and the Vinyl Side Skirts look and Function Great! I even had my brother follow me on the interstate at 80MPH to verify no Skirt Slap or Flapping of the skirt.

This has to be one of the cheapest mods I’ve done. The Gutters, Screws, & Paint only cost me $19 plus a few hours of my time. Also, fitting 10FT Gutters in a Honda Civic Hatchback wasn’t the easiest thing to do but totally worth it lol people at Lowe’s we’re looking like “wth is this guy up to” when I was making them fit into the Hatch.

[California98Civic]

Missed this thread somehow. Guess this guy is long gone, eh?