New member 1992 civic vx hatchback
 

Hi All,

Been here a few times visiting over the years, but just joined up. Proud owner of 92 Civic VX since 2002. Bougth this gem for a mere $489.00 and didn't know what I bought until I calculated my first tank mpg... I thought it had to be incorrectly calculated or something... then the next few tanks gave the same results roughly 44mpg with normal driving habits... I then looked the car up online and discovered I purchased one of the most fuel-efficient cars on the road and a marvel of it's time when manufactured.
Been using P&G and EOC... and typically getting 52-54mpg in warm weather.
Toying with the idea of adding a switch to removed alternator drag and use a solar panel to recharge the battery when parked. Most of my trips don't involve long distance and seems like it would work. I have a degree in electronics, so the wiring and all shouldn't be much of a challenge. I haven't seen any recent forums on this... most recent I've seen is around 2012... I want to get a scan gauge, but not sure what type will work on my 92 VX Civic.

A scan gauge will not work on your VX. You will have to go the MPGuino route and install it in your car. Not too difficult though.

You could probably breach 60mpg if you upgraded to Honda civic HX rims and Bridgestone potenza R92's.

A partial grill block in the cooler months, and a block heater would probably help tremendously if you do mainly short trips (<20mi).

Interesting. I will try the partial grill block. I always thought hx and vx wheels were the same or really close. The vx wheels are super light. I won't change out tires until they are worn.

HX rims are 14", while VX are only 13.

I paid half as much as you for my second Honda and get half of the fuel economy! Also, you definitely have better wheels! :)

Welcome! I hope you enjoy your time here!

put a grill block on. Certainly sped up the warm up time some. Also kept the heat on the cold setting while warming up... that helps quite a bit. Seems the grill block helps more to keep the engine warm once warmed up and that's good too.

Just purchased MPGuino, but I have a feeling it won't give me too much of a boost as i've done my research over the years and done some trial and error on different driving strategies, but maybe I'll be surprised. I'm hopeful I'll get a few mpg's boost using it. Been getting 54 mpg's in warm weather and around 45 mpg's in this winter weather. Been running 40 psi on the tires. I may bump them up to 45 or 50 psi. I just don't want to get tire bulges with the current tires. Once they are worn, I'll look into low rolling resistance tires. I also trimmed the only outside mirror...the driver side to a tiny little mirror. It literally is around 20% of the size it was before and hugs the car...it only protrudes out about 2.5 inches. No more worrying about some clumsy person walking by and knocking it off... had that happen before!

Knowledge is power. The MPGuino will let you know how to tune yourself on the fly to make the most of your car.

+1 on greater pressure in tires. I'm running about 45 in mine and it makes a huge difference. Going back to standard pressure feels like you're driving a boat, you gotta keep the pressure on all the time in order to maintain speed. Higher pressure is a little more rattly, but oooh, the glides.

Welcome! Great story about discovering the car. I bought my current Civic in 2001.

I did not notice a mention anywhere of a vacuum gauge as a way to improve P&G. You really want your pulse to be in a quite narrow range of roughgly 75% engine load. Some sort of gauge is utterly necessary to doing that with precision. Also, with your super tall gearing and lean burn capability, P&G in freeway conditions will not benefit much. In fact, you likely do worse with P&G on the freeway if you do not have a vacuum gauge to help set the most efficient pulse.

Where do I get one of these vacuum gauges? I've heard of them being used...

They can be had almost anywhere, but I just checked ebay and see a bunch for $20 or more. Dudes here can tutor you on how to use one for monitoring engine load. Here is my favorite model for our dash look: SG-VAC258B: SAAS - 2 5/8 inch Vacuum Gauge (Black face):

http://shopsaas.com/images/gauges_25...cuum_large.jpg

Here is a video of a guy installing one on a 1992 Civic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_V18fN3Oqo

Still waiting on my mpguino to arrive... going to insulate the tubing on my WAI this weekend.

Insulated my engine bay to help with warm ups and to retain heat between stops. Hopefully it helps mpg's. Also insulated my warm air intake the entire path to the head.


IMG 0658

I installed a vacuum gauge, but only have used it one day. I see how it may help a little bit, but I'm already driving fairly efficiently, but I do see a few changes I can make to help improve a little bit.

A very noticeable improvement was made when I insulated my engine bay. I will insulate it a bit more as I think it will help in gains even more since it's winter her in Omaha, NE. I got 46.65 mpg and only had the engine bay insulated for the 2nd half of this tank of gas. I think I may be near 49 mpg thru a full tank using this insulated engine bay. Very noticeable difference. I used some insulation made for wrapping around water heaters in homes that is rated at 250 degrees. I made sure to keep it away from the exhaust manifold. However, I did wrap it around my intake manifold, the throttle body, tubing, housing for the air filter and the rest of the tubing including the tubing that goes up to my exhaust manifold for the warm air intake. This seems to be helping keep that air warm as it runs thru these plastic tubes. I basically insulated the entire path for the intake, so I know that air is entering the engine quite warm. I'll let you know how I do the next few tanks as I keep a log on it.

FWIW, here are some of the discussions of vacuum gauge use I have seen here over the years...

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post392779

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post240984

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post416275

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post297747

I hope that helps... keep experimenting!

james

Got my MPGuino today! I can't wait to hook that up... I haven't looked at the instructions yet, but looks simple. Positive and negative wires and the two wires for communicating with the ECU... Serial bus or whatever they call it. I elected to get the extra set of buttons and glad I did. Lucky me has a degree in electronics, so easy peasy.

Where will you mount it?

Got my mpguino installed now. Did initial calibration based on wiki suggestions, but will refine over the next month or so.

Ok.. I have the vacuum gauge in and MPGuino hooked up a few days ago. Holy Moly the MPGuino is cool! I'm getting 52-54 mpg in cold weather... My warm air intake is also helping a lot. I will likely get close to 60 mpg this Summer :)

:)

nice build... I haven't done any aero mods yet, but it's been warmer than usual for February and I've averaging over 56mpg's. I noticed I can easily get over 60 mpg if driving 55mph on the highway using my vacuum gauge and my MPGuino. I'm going to seriously look at putting underbody panels this Spring and maybe wheel skirts.

Impressive build. I drove another 100 miles today... except I was maintaining around 60mph on a day that was 20 degrees this morning and 38 on the way back. I averaged 55.1mpg. I can't wait for warmer temps so I can break the 60mpg barrier for a full tank.