Hey guys, just bought a 1996 Civic HX :)
 

Hello all!

I been lurking for a bit, finally made the plunge and picked up a 1996 Civic HX 5spd. I'm hoping to find a way to get instant mpg if the cheapest/best way to do that is scangauge, then that's what I will do. My other car is a 2005 S2000 it gets decent mpg on long freeway drives (as much as 38-39mpg) since I removed softop and put a carbon fiber hardtop and removed antenna and tools in trunk, but I get terrible city mpg 20ish. (because I drive it that way)

Also, trying to find other mods to bump things up a little. The front tire's the car came with look terrible for mpg...really soft sidewall and really chunky tread design. The problem is that they are damn near new.

I also have a set of Koni shocks and groundcontrols from my CRX, do you guys think lowering will significantly improve mpg?

What I have done so far:

remove AC belt - ac didnt work anyway, but do you guys think it's worth the trouble to remove AC componets?

I removed powersteering belt...but i been reading that I cant do that...I can def live without power steering, but how much will I really save by swapping in a manual rack?

Also, wanted to mention the ECU in the car shows A21 at the end, so it's a 49 state ECU (I think)

How do I know for certain that the previous owners didn't just put this in a CA car?

Lowering it will improve the MPG by ~5% depending on how far you lower it.

5% is significant considering I have the parts already :)

can anyone weigh in on my other thought? pun intended :P

I just read that scangauge does not give readings for lean burn, can anyone confirm or deny?

The SG does not handle lean burn. A more accurate device for you would be an mpguino.

Thanks Daox, really impressive numbers on the paseo,

Thanks.

I should clarify my statement too. The SG always assumes your car is in closed loop mode running at stoichiometric air/fuel ratios. It has no way of measuring lean burn conditions OR open loop mode, so it just assumes you're in closed loop all the time. So, the more time you spend in open loop & lean burn, the farther off it will tend to be. Using the adjustment in the SG, you can get it to read closer, but it'll never be dead on.

I doubt you'll see anything close to 5% from lowering. My guess is maybe 1%, maybe less.

I suggest working on driving techniques.

When I lowered my civic VX I saw no change in gas mileage but I did notice a change in how rough the car rode and notice an increase in suspension bushing wear, but if you already have the parts and you have the time to do the work your self test it for your self, just don't toss the old parts.
As for your tires, your cheapest option might be to get a 2nd set of HX rims, or Honda Insight rims and put your tires of choice on them, removing good tires from rims can damage them, so you might as well use them if you need chunky tread for winter driving or something, otherwise I would say keep the almost new tires and use them till the wear out.

When I removed the power steering and AC from my Tempo, it got me a solid 2 MPG gain in tank averages.

For the AC, my question is whether I go through the hassle of removing the components, I already removed the belt.

As for the question of whether to remove the AC components, ask yourself why did you get a carbon fiber hardtop?

OK, maybe it was given to you free, so you didn't have to buy the fiberglass version :).

But the short answer of course is of course less weight is better. Will you notice any effect of taking out 20-30 lbs? Likely not. So is it wasted effort? I'd say no. Colin Chapman had it right.

I also think a 5% gain from lowering is overstating things a bit. But lowering is a tactic automakers commonly use on "eco" versions of cars (Chevy Cruze the latest example). Results will vary from vehicle to vehicle.

Hi Metro,
Since I have been lurking, I have read many of your threads and contributions. I have to say, thank you for many high quality posts. It's contributors such as yourself that make forums a worthwhile source of info.

I actually didn't spend the extra $1,000 for the carbon fiber hardtop for the at most 20lb net savings. I had my oem hardtop stolen off my car and had already removed the soft top. At the time I was living at an apartment so no garage. Honda was about to come out with the CR version S2000 which came with a hardtop. This meant that there was backlog and long wait for another oem aluminum. I wanted to get a top as quickly as possible, as I enjoy my s2k to have such amenities as a stereo and seats :) So I had to go used, or aftermarket. Used picking were slim. Just when I was about to pick up a aftermarket fiberglass top, a carbon fiber one came up used for about $200 more but unlike the new one, already had the rear window installed.

Another benefit of the aftermarket top, is that at least my limited aero knowledge, it appears to be a better shape. (with the downside that I have to be careful when opening my trunk, as now when it's fully open it rests on the top) And also it likely wont do anything in a rollover, is quite a bit more noisy and does not fit as well as the aluminum oem top.

Wow, lengthy explanation :)

Weight savings in the civic:
The benefit here is obviously, that it's dead weight I don't use and costs me nothing but time. It's just that I read AC components are a pain to remove. With the S2000, despite it's lack of torque, I could probably add 1,000lb and still never struggle to make it up steep hills (outside of this combined with high altitude) or strain to get to speed around town. The civic will be used as my around town, daily commute with very short highway trips. Lots of stop and go and short trips. I guess part of my question is, how much weight is needed to be removed to make a noticeable impact? As a side note, I would like to keep functionality such as seats, since this is my first car with a backseat in the last 7-8 cars I've owned and even the only 2 other cars have had a backseat.

Suspension:
I do already have the Koni Yellows and GroundControls with less than 1,000 miles. As long as this likely won't harm MPG, and improve handling or road feel, it is a net-benefit to me. I spent near $1k for this set, and despite having little use, I wont even get close to recovering a large portion of my investment.

Haven't seen the S2000 tops to compare, but that's definitely possible. I've seen an aftermarket Miata hardtop that is definitely a lower drag shape than the OEM hardtop.

For reference, the EPA offers this unqualified tidbit:

Tips to improve your Gas Mileage

http://www.handa-accessories.com/S2000/s2k-top.jpg
OEM

http://www.risingsunperformance.nl/m...ile_307_11.jpg
Aftermarket like mine