New here! '93 Honda Del sol, 1st "mods"

[jedi_sol]

Hello everybody. I've been working on the "performance" side of things with my car. Some quick specs:

-1993 Honda Del So Si
-JDM Integra GSR (B18C1) engine swap
-Comptech Ice-box Intake
-Comptech 4-2-1 exhaust manifold
-Custom 2.25" exhaust
-Eibach Prokit Lowering Springs
-Tokico Blues shocks/struts
-Current mpg 27-29

The car is a quick and comfortable daily driver, but as I get older, and expenses start to pile up, I realized the "performance" aspect of car culture is a big money pit. So I decided to find other ways to play with my car (and help the environment as well).

Currently I am toying around with this thing called Water4gas or Hydrogen-on-demand (if it turns out to be a scam, don't worry, I didn't pay for the manual, I was lucky enough to find it posted on the internet where I downloaded it for free). So far, it is giving me positive results with 1,000 miles used and averaging about 32mpg.

Then I stumbled upon this site with all of the amazing information provided by that "Firefly" Geo Metro. After spending days reading everything on this forum, I decided to make a quick "trial" aero mods on my car (made out of cardboard, packing tape, and 10min of my time =P).

[Daox]

Welcome to the site. Nice grill block.

[jedi_sol]

Thanks! I realized that installing it might tamper with the tests I currently am doing with the water4gas setup, so i removed it. But I will make a better version using coroplast in the future.

[cfg83]

jedi_sol -

Welcome to EM! Your handle makes me think you know of the famous Star Wars Del Sol that putters along around here in SoCal. It's not a good template for aero-mods (because it's designed for the vacuum of space, ).

For hydrogen stuff, you'll get a lot of skepticism on this forum. It's best to join a forum that is devoted to hydrogen like this one :

HHOINFO - The OPEN SOURCE Builders Network.

But for the majority of other mods, this is the place to be. I think the Del Sol is a great platform for MPG.

CarloSW2

[MetroMPG]

Welcome!

The Yoda of efficiency-minded del Sol owners was/is krousdb. He was pulling ridiculous numbers from his before he sold it - in the 50's mpg (US) if I recall. (Sorry if I'm selling you short there, Dan.)

His mods were:

- 0W-20 synth in the engine & transmission
- LRR tires, same as Honda Insight (Bridgestone RE 92?)
- grille block
- warm air intake
- block heater

And most importantly:

- SuperMID fuel economy instrumentation (similar to MPGuino) so he could fine tune his driving. Dan's a master behind the wheel.

And probably more stuff I'm forgetting. (Belly pan on that one? Hmmm...)

But he doesn't post much any more. Graduated to a VX when we were still hanging around GasSavers, then took over his wife's Prius. Modded the Prius as far as he's going to, then dropped off the face of the earth! (I guess once you achieve efficiency satori, it's OK to disappear. )

[jedi_sol]

Thanks MetroMPG, believe me, I have read and saved every post krousdb did in this forum. He is my inspiration for the things I'm planning on doing with my car (coroplast, here i come!).

However, I doubt I will ever reach his 50mpg goals as I have a performance-tuned (Acura Integra GSR motor) engine swapped into my car and I dont plan on swapping it out for the puny VX motor (sorry guys =P)

[MetroMPG]

I think we were pretty close to getting Dan to add a Kammback to his del Sol, hint hint! It's an ideal car to do it to: given where the roof ends, you've got more room for taper. I think it'd look cool too.

Don't forget to start a fuel log! You can't manage what you don't measure.

[jedi_sol]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

I think we were pretty close to getting Dan to add a Kammback to his del Sol,

I remember reading a blurb about that on one of his threads. Somebody also mentioned something about an 11* taper would be the most efficient, but that it would end at aprox 3" above the end of the trunk.

I made a quick MS Paint mockup, does this look about right?

I also installed a new vacuum gauge over the weekend. What a difference it makes! I always thought I had a pretty sensitive right foot, until NOW.

[SVOboy]

Do you have any plans to sell the b18? That would really do the most, and save the most money.

[jedi_sol]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

Do you have any plans to sell the b18?

Why, are you looking to acquire one?

Anywho, I plan on keeping the motor because eventually I want to keep the car balanced as fun-to-drive-when-i-want-to and yet still economical.

Before when I was modding the car for performance, I wanted it to be fun-to-drive yet comfortable. So i installed a set of TEIN coilover's, sure the car was quick through the corners and freeway interchanges, but on crappy So Cal roads, boy let me tell you, those stiff springs/shocks were KILLER on my lower back. Hence, that's why I replaced them with a softer Eibach/tokico setup.