New VX to the site!
 

So in 2004 I bought a 94 civic VX as a daily driver, it only had 114K miles on it, and despite some minor dents and dings, and the need for tires I was very pleased with the purchase and felt I got a great deal. I had to do quite a bit of looking as everybody wants a hatchback, usually to "rice" up and race (which I don't fully understand since I have a 98 Formula Firebird with over 400hp running 12.3@116mph :D, and yes I know there are Honda’s faster out there. . .). I was happy to find an unmolested one. I chose the hatch for function and gas mileage, I do a good bit of scuba diving as well as needing to haul photography equipment around. So I had my reliable daily driver.

So the kicker is that for the last 6yrs and 100K miles I had no idea what I really had!!! :eek: Besides the low maintenance and cargo space, I was happy to be getting 35mpg almost no matter where or how I drove it, and occasionally pushed 40mpg.

How I discovered what I really had:
I live in GA, but was living in Southern CA for the last 7 months. So I drove out there in August, I had about 350lbs of cargo and was going about 80mph with the a/c running on the way out there, I only got 32mpg :( So in January I was planning to take the extremely scenic route on the way back to GA totaling almost 2,800 miles. So I started considering what I could do to eek out a few extra mpg's. So of course Google was the first place I went . . . guess what I found!? I think my search probably read something like this: "civic vx improve mileage" the next thing I know I'm on EcoModders reading the stories of basjoos and his aerocivic as well as AndrewJ and others. I couldn’t believe what I was reading, lean burn!!?? Was that why my engine starting screaming above 65mph!!?? Was my car really the most sought after by hypermilers!?

So I thought hey, why not give the old butt-o-meter a shot until I can get an mpguino. Unfortunately I did not discover all this until a few days before my trip. So I did the few things I could, inflated the tires to 40psi, disconnected my a/c belt (just zip tied it out of the way until the weather warms up), and duct taped cardboard across the front grill leaving a generous opening for the radiator. The only thing left was driving like this :turtle: So I cruised almost the whole way home around 60mph, which I didn't mind since I was doing a lot of site seeing.

The results:
So the trip totaled 2,785 miles with my final average being 49.01mpg! Keep in mind I weighed all my cargo when I got home totaling 350lbs! Plus my best tank was 53.27mpg, not to mention my first tank to hit 500 miles! :D

I can't believe I have been driving this car so long and never knew what it was capable of!!! Thanks EcoModders!!! :thumbup:

So now begins my real journey, let the mods begin! I have ordered an mpguino and it should be here early this week, once I have it in working order the fun begins. I will probably start a project thread to update as I progress, not sure where best to post it but I will figure it out.

P.S. Anybody have an mpguino on their vx that might be willing to send me a couple pics of where they tapped into their VSS and injector wires? Thanks

Welcome!

Have you looked through the EM wiki of mods? It has lots of build tips, user data and links to build threads:
Car MPG Efficiency Modifications Main - EcoModder

Where should I start a thread to post my project progress/mods?

Ecomodding central is a good place.

Nice work.

Great intro story too!

EPA mileage on your car is 52mpg so you might just check things over and make sure that it's still all working correctly, engine speed at 65mph should be around 2,000 RPM if you have the correct transmission.
The civic VX engine is also fussy enough about tuning that after market exhaust and intake and so on only hurts mileage, I'm on my 2nd civic vx with over 210,000 miles now and have been the most impressed with stock OEM parts.

Really? Considering it was mid winter, cold temps, 350lbs of cargo, and my first real attempt at hypermiling you think my results were bad enough to think something is wrong? I have considered trying to clean my pcv, new plugs, and few few little things, but I always take pretty good care of maintenance. Any suggested things to look for?

Hmmm, I've been confused on this one :confused: @2,000rpm I'm probably more in the 55mph range . . . I bought the car with 114K miles and I can't imagine someone swapped the tranny for fun! Nor do I think Honda messed up (CX has same tranny, and LX, DX, HX only have different 2, 3, & 4th gears, so 5th would'nt change anyways)

I got an intake a long time ago, hoping it might help mpg a little. You think it's really worth getting stock parts, or maybe just convert it to warm air intake?

4mula,

Don't fret! The revised EPA numbers have your car at 39mpg city, 50mpg highway, with 43mpg combined. I'd say you're doing ok. :)

I can't post links yet, but those numbers are from the fueleconomy . gov website that EcoModder recommends to find current adjusted EPA estimates.

Hope this helps,
JMac