Newbie
 

Hey there, I inadvertantly stumbled across this website from Treehugger.com, and I saw some neat ideas and theories (as well as some incorrect theories), so I thought I'd sign up and learn something new.

I have a 92 Civic Hatchback Si that I've built from the ground up. It started it's life as a track car, but has since become my main form of transportation (my 98 Prelude is a gas hog, and way too pretty for day to day use). Since my main reason for driving it now is mpg, I've done a few things to increase this. On a good day I get 34+ mpg (on good days I drive like a maniac). On slower days when my driving skills change, I think I could easily achieve over 40mpg.

I think it's funny how easy it is to convert a track car to an awesome mpg daily driver. Everything not necessary was already thrown out for weight saving purposes (AC, power steering, cruise control, radio, speakers, back seat, etc.). I pushed the little 1.5L that's in it a little more to the mpg friendly side (adjusted cam timing, distributor timing to match). Car was lowered for lower center of gravity, but aerodynamics definately helps on the highway (not to mention the aftermarket suspension weighed about 15lbs less). I have aftermarket upper and lower control arms in the rear that helped me shave about 7-8lbs of weight. Car still scoots too!

Future plans include a lexan kit to replace the back hatch glass and the two quarter panel glasses. I've heard this saves about 30-40lbs. Carbon fiber hood and hatch should save me about another 10lbs. Aluminum upper lower control arms should save me about 2lbs.

As you can see, I'm a big power to weight ratio guy. My car probably hovers around the 2050lb mark as is. I think I can squeeze more mpg without sacrificing driveability. That's my goal anyway. I want my car to scoot and still get good gas mileage. Car does 14.5 in the quarter mile. Not fast by any means, but definately not Prius slow. I want to keep the quick but squeeze more mpg.

Very cool. Welcome to EM.