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Old 07-22-2014, 11:19 AM   #1 (permalink)
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Amethyst - '98 Honda Civic DX
90 day: 38.52 mpg (US)
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Looking for 50+mpg from '02 Honda Accord Coupe

Hello,
I just recently graduated from high school and have been accepted to college. But I have differed from college so that I will be attending next fall semester as opposed to this fall. I am taking this year to go backpacking/survival camping across the country driving from wilderness area to wilderness area with the ultimate goal of reaching Alaska next summer. My hope is to make my current car as fuel efficient as possible to keep my fuel costs down to stretch my funding as far as possible. My father is a small business owner as a professional model maker with 30+ years of machining experience. He has any equipment we should need to aeromod my car including experience with carbon fiber and fiberglass. I'm looking to get the best mpg with minimal investment. Once I get to a point I'm certain I will have a diminishing return on investment and at that point I will conclude my aeromods. thanks for laboring through my first and very long post. any direction you could give would be much appreciated.

-Scott

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Old 07-22-2014, 01:12 PM   #2 (permalink)
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Smooth wheel covers, rear wheel skirts, underbelly pan, adjustable grill block, passengers side view mirror delete, and limit speed to 65mph tops should get you above 40, I don't know about getting 50 without some serious heavy modding (boat tail, reshaping nose, etc) but 40 is definitely doable.
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Old 07-22-2014, 01:45 PM   #3 (permalink)
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Amethyst - '98 Honda Civic DX
90 day: 38.52 mpg (US)
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Thanks for the input. Because of damage to the front bumper right now and the skillsets of my father I am currently planning to reshape the nose and make a boat tail from the back edge of the vehicle (starting at the rear of the trunk), not from the roof of the car itself. I bought 8 sheets of 4'X8' corroplast yesterday at a local sign store for $11.25 per sheet that I plan first to do rear wheel skirts, then reshape the nose of the car with adjustable radiator inlets, then under panel the car, then the boat tail. With smaller modifications as I get to them, such as wheel covers, passenger mirror delete or finding a more aerodynamic mirror to replace the existing ones with.
-Scott
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Old 07-22-2014, 03:42 PM   #4 (permalink)
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Valerie - '03 Honda Civic DX
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Sounds like you've got all the ambition you need to make this car quite the eco-friendly transportation you're looking for. I look forward to hearing more about what you end up doing to the car!


Quote:
Originally Posted by YolandaTheHonda View Post
I bought 8 sheets of 4'X8' corroplast yesterday at a local sign store for $11.25 per sheet

I always cringe when I hear that someone PAID $ for this stuff. I get 4X8 election signs for free just about anytime I'm looking for them. There aren't any local elections going on around where you are?
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Old 07-22-2014, 04:28 PM   #5 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by YolandaTheHonda View Post
... make a boat tail from the back edge of the vehicle (starting at the rear of the trunk), not from the roof of the car itself.
Unless airflow has reattached to the top of the trunk (you can tuft test this), a boat tail really isn't going to help nearly as much. You really want the boat tail to come down from the roof.
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Old 07-22-2014, 04:38 PM   #6 (permalink)
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Old 07-22-2014, 05:01 PM   #7 (permalink)
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Amethyst - '98 Honda Civic DX
90 day: 38.52 mpg (US)
Thanks: 2
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WhatMayCome14, thanks for the encouragement. I'll most likely start a build thread soon to run ideas for designs of the nose and boat tail (possibly?) by some more experienced eyes.

Daox, I am actually looking forward to tuft testing that area of the car because I do have concerns about the air separation where the rear window meets the trunk. It is a fairly shallow angle though, my hopes are that air separation is minimal because I would like to keep my cost to benefit ratio as much in my favor as possible. I am comfortable with modifications to the vehicle, but if I could get similar gains with a smaller boat tail with considerably less material and time invested in it that would be my preferred choice.

DirtyDave, I don't want to say what mileage I was getting before my current circumstances led to my hypermiling interests 0.0 But since I have installed an ultraguage in the car that is providing invaluable feedback about my driving.
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Old 07-28-2014, 04:33 PM   #8 (permalink)
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Amethyst - '98 Honda Civic DX
90 day: 38.52 mpg (US)
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Well, an unlucky turn of events has led to an interesting opportunity presenting itself. I took my car to a local shop this morning to get a wheel bearing issue taken care of, and it turns out that the frame of the car itself is cracked in at least 3 places and broken clean through in at least one. All parts and labor between that an an evap issue the grand total is almost 3k, what we originally paid for the car. So to craigslist I turn. I have a general idea of what I'm looking for, but any tricks/tips or things you have learned to look for in hypermiling vehicles would be much appreciated.

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