My new econobox! (2000 Kia Sephia 1.8I4 16V DOHC 5 Speed)

[dirtydave]

I just bought a 2000 Kia Sephia 1.8I4 16V DOHC 5 Speed.





I just bought the car for $500. I plan to use this car to commute to work and drive coworkers home. Maximum MPG with minimal cost. I am going to be using a OBDII Bluetooth dongle + Torque on my phone.

This car has all the **fancy** options Kia offered in 2000 such as Air conditioning and power steering / windows / locks.


So far I took off the factory spoiler


Dissembled and cleaned the interior.




I found a plastic salad bowl under the passenger seat with $68 in change so I bought Seat covers an oil filter oil and new spark plugs. Still in the mail no pictures yet.

The carpet and many trim pieces didn't make it back in.


Now the radio is hooked up to have power regardless of key position for EOC.


New over-sized battery. No pic sorry. I will eventually do an alternator delete and just put it on a trickle charger overnight.


Some future Ideas:
The Passenger side mirror is going to come off.

I want to make some kind of grill block for the lower bumper thing. That is where the air goes into the AC condenser and then into the radiator but summer is coming and I don't want to overheat. But I did get a new radiator because the old one was leaking.


HAI with the grill block might be too hot for winter. but for sure in the to-do list to try.


Underbody block because the rear bumper is a wind catcher for sure.


All in all its a decent car for the price paid just needs a tune up and a few cheap/ easy mods and hopefully I can pull 40MPG out of this car.

[Fat Charlie]

Nice find, great work, and I love the $68 rebate!

[elhigh]

...and your $68 rebate also saved you about five pounds.

[MetroMPG]

Beater econoboxes are fun.

Get a kill switch in that thing too.

Looking forward to your mileage reports!

EDIT: I'm not entirely sure I would have ditched that rear spoiler (for MPG). It may have been helping... but it would be pretty difficult to prove either way.

[dirtydave]

Yeah a kill switch is a must.

The spoiler was cracked and broken so my first instinct was to ditch it.
Would you think it would help or hurt MPG?

Are you able to tell from pictures? Here's a few.

[dirtydave]

It was pretty cool finding that money in the car. free seat covers / oil change and spark plugs.

[MetroMPG]

If you forced me to bet, I'd say it that spoiler is a help.

The car has a pretty short rear decklid. The spoiler's added height may help with flow reattachment.

Also, from what I've read & seen, a rounded trailing edge at the back of the decklid isn't good for aero. The spoiler fixes that problem too.

That said, the difficulty is in proving it (may not be a big enough change to detect in on-road testing). But if it were my car, I think I would leave it on.

It's a tough call for an amateur like myself!

[dirtydave]

Maybe I can find another one in a junkyard. The one that came with the car is messed up bad. After I get the radiator oil and spark plugs in the mail I will be able to put it on the road and get some real MPG numbers .
its rated for
Combined: 22 MPG
City: 20 MPG
Highway: 26 MPG.

Maybe a few mods and a easy driving style with EOC will get me to hopefully 40MPG.
Now im off to read up about a kill switch.

[Miller88]

Howcome such poor mileage from EPA?

[dirtydave]

I have no idea. Torque shows about 33mpg on my first half tank. No real hyper-miller techniques. no EOC or timing lights just following traffic. I think because the A/C takes much power to run. Fuelly says 29.9 MPG with 8 Cars 121 Fuel-Ups over 34,774 Miles