Lean burn Honda Civic sedan: 93 Civic d15z1 swap into LX 4 door (VLX)

[slownugly]

next fillup was 43.9 not too terrible. this morning was pretty cold at 22 degrees. and that pesky code 7 has returned twice this tank i took the throttle body off of the red one and threw it on to see what happens. it seems the aftermarket tps is messing with me.

block heater should be in tomorrow and im getting an outdoor timer tonight with an extension cord

[slownugly]

this mornings fillup was 43.7 which is ok. that pesky code 7 returned twice on this tank and this mornings temperature was 22 degrees. i replaced the whole throttle body with the one from the red vx i got for parts. lets see what happens.

block heater should be here tomorrow and im getting an outdoor timer tonight. cant wait to see what i can do with that.

[slownugly]

Block heater is in pics to follow. I wrapped heat resistant hose around the cord. It's the same stuff NASCAR uses. I'm not going to use it yet though. I just filled up this morning and I'm installing a new 02 sensor today. I want to see what it does with the new sensor.

With the new sensor it will show what an average driver with some knowledge of lean burn and economy oriented driving styles can accomplish with no instrumentation, eoc, pulse and glide, or aero mods.

[California98Civic]

In that second pic, the heater wire sure seems close to the CAT. It seems like the wire at the bend will still be exposed to the CAT, despite the insulator you added, no? In the third pic, that maybe 14mm bolt is where you attached the heater element?

[slownugly]

In the 3rd pic that is a spare z1 I have. The one I installed the heater into is the lower bolt. It is 18mm and you have to have a breaker bar to remove it. The block heater uses a 24mm hex and gets torqued to 45 nm.

As for the wire it's not fully installed yet since I won't be running it for a couple tanks. It's not as close as it looks. I'll post a pic when I get the cable mounted

[slownugly]

Also the heater number is bk605-3231 and I got it from my local napa. They had to ship it in and cost 53.81 it's 400 watt

I got the oxygen sensor and I'm going to shed some light on the cheap ones versus the right ones. The one on the left was in my Vx hatch. As soon as I picked the car up I noticed the stumble. It only stumbled when it reached operating temp and when I unplugged the sensor the stumble went away. It had a new sensor installed when I got it so I figured hey it can't be that. Eventually I tried the sensor from another one and It fixed the stumble. So I started investigating what the difference was between these 2 sensors with the same part numbers.

First thing you notice is the length is different and the second thing is that the left one doesn't have a rubber grommet to mount into the bracket onto the water outlet in the front. These are merely physical differences that will not affect operation but they are a clue that somthing isnt right. Take a closer look at the numbers and you can see what's different. The lzA09 is the correct one for the federal vx. The lzA08 is the one that was causing stumbling on both the vx hatch I bought and on the vlx until I could afford a new one. There are other numbers out there too I believe (lzA06,07) somevx owners have stated the cheap ones work great some say not so good. From personal experience I'll pay for the good sensor.

[slownugly]

Also the wrong 02 was giving me 45 mpg in the summer. ( with the hatch)After changing the 02 it jumped to 48 on the first tank. I'm not expecting such a big increase in the 4 door but we see on the next tank

[user removed]

"Although this part appears to be different from the original one, rest assured it will function properly".
I can't use the words, on this forum, to describe my response to the above statement and on many occasions I have paid dearly when I made the mistake of installing the "quality" replacement part.
I would definitely shop some of the major internet dealerships that give strong discounts on their parts, believing quantity sales at a lower profit margin is a better business philosophy.

regards
Mech

[Xist]

Originally Posted by slownugly

somevx owners have stated the cheap ones work great some say not so good. From personal experience I'll pay for the good sensor.

When I replaced the alternator in my Accord I asked my friend if the alternator made a difference and he said "Not really."

"So, get the recycled cheese and cardboard one?"

"Sure."

Then I drove into an elk.

However, with my Prelude, I needed to replace the clutch almost immediately after puchasing it, along with brakes, etc. My mechanic said that the Autozone clutch was just as good as OEM.

The third time that I replaced it I bought the real one.

Then the transmission went out.

I guess that the moral of the story is that as long as I purchase poorly-crafted replacements, I get to keep the car...

[slownugly]

haha dont get me started on wrong parts. there is such an inconsistency in the auto parts market today its ridiculous. even somthing as simple as an outer tie rod end our supplier will send 2 tie rods up with the same part number on both boxes. both boxes will be exactly the same yet both tie rods look nothing alike and one has a grease fitting the other one doesnt. what can ya do. the stupidest one i have seen so far is i did a flexplate in a late 90s chrysler van. very common problem. i got the trans back in had almost everything hooked back up and i was installing the torque converter bolts and the morons drilled the holes wrong for the torque converter bolts.