part time paper route driver 88 civic.

[blindsidecustoms]

i drive a nightly paper route, 76 miles if i remember correctly. just got the job and figured id get another car to do the route and not kill the tires on my other cars and also one that i could easily repair when "not if" i hit a deer, half of the route is all mountain roads either uphill or downhill. i was wanting to see some ways of getting better gas mileage out of it. ill start by introducing the car, 88 civic hatchback with a 1.6 d16a6 out of a newer civic so i would think this would help mpg due to a engine with more power than torque and also got better mpg in its original civic home than the original engine did in the 300 lb lighter hatchback. it is sitting on 15" aluminum wheels but i was going to swap them for the 9.6 lb civic vx 13" wheels i have laying around and air up the tires a bit high, opt for a upgraded filter. i will be upgrading the suspension, lowering it and stiffening everything up so i can make the mountain trips a bit quicker.

if anyone has any tips i would appriciate it, not wanting to go crazy with aerodynamics on this since ill probably drive it to pick up parts for my custom shop im opening up.

also ill introduce my other cars.
99 xtreme s10 on 20" wheels, dropped 4/5" ...18 mpg
88 crx with h22a out of a prelude 20-25 mpg mix of track and street driving
98 accord 2.3l manual-28 mpg
02 337 edition gti 1.8t, 22 lbs of boost, 300 ft lbs of torque and around 22 mpg

[SVOboy]

Pretty nice collection of cars you got there, I'm guessing you're on HT, eh?

Anyway, welcome to the site! Killer commuter, but you can always improve that MPG a bit, sounds like you're off to a good start though!

[blindsidecustoms]

haha yeah man i browse ht but not a member. dont want to give up any secrets lmao. but yeah i picked up this job to have something on the taxes and keep money to pay bills and use my money from doing paint and custom work for my collection. actually picked up a 95 240sx and 73 datsun 1200 im going to do sr20det swaps on both in the next year and paint them to match, get into some drift/show action with them.

as far as the civic goes would a belly pan help any? id like to try it and see. ive read a little here on it and am curious. also thought of trying the hydro booster lol.

[SVOboy]

The belly pan should help, however how much, I don't know. I would be very wary of things claiming to use water to increase FE,

[Arminius]

If you're using the car for delivery only, you have the potential of taking out a lot of weight. You don't need most of the parts outside the dash, other than your own seat.

[Nden]

if u can get the rear LCAs from an 88-91 Si, or 90-93 Teg, u can use their rear sway bar to help your handling. Or splurge for the Ars(?) rear sway kit $289? thumbs up 4 entrepeneurship ! what city u in? maybe a vacuum gauge help keep your eye on things.