Project modding 96 Civic sedan

[jay-c]

Putting up a project thread for my Civic, maybe i can get some good feedback and share my ideas..

Car is a green 1996 Honda Civic 1,4is Sedan (body: ej95, engine d14a4)

Before ecomodding my car has got some luxuary items such as hard wood trunk floor, some soundproofing (silicon sealed doors, some bitumen sheets etc, to take it down to decent noise level) and added somr Rota summer wheels with yokohama s-drive

Servo steering removal, 30 sec job (belt liftoff)
car meter is 212500miles (340.000km)

Best MPG so far is 42.0 (march/april 2012, don´t remember)
Worst MPG 31.4
Average ca 36MPG

idea is to make some minor mods for better MPG without making the car look like an garbage bag and perhaps better comfort, AC would be nice :P

first bought the car
http://www1.garaget.org/archive/40/3...84-2533788.jpg


bought the new wheels
http://www1.garaget.org/archive/40/3...84-2533808.jpg

[jay-c]

in these wintery times here in sweden what is better to start with then a grille block?
first off made a template with some cardboard then cut it out in styrofoam (ground insulation) and finally sprayed it with matte black paint. covered 67 miles right now and seems to be holding up so far.

engine heat is coming up a bit sooner i think but it´s only been around -3c deg so far but hoping to get some better test this week with promised -22c

[PaleMelanesian]

Stick shift or automatic? The potential efficiency is very different depending on which it is.

Read up on the 100+ Hypermiling / ecodriving tips list. My list of mods consists of grille block (you've done that), a Scangauge, high tire pressure, and driving style.

[jay-c]

It´s a stick shift of course, only Mercedes and Cadillac use automatic in Europe
running 36psi in the winter tires and 39 in summer tires, how high is reasonable to go without sacrificing saftey, i don´t have ABS so winter braking can be exiting.

driving to work is smooth road 56 to 69Mph, as my car is OBD1 (i think) scanguage won´t work?

[christofoo]

Originally Posted by jay-c

...

driving to work is smooth road 56 to 69Mph, as my car is OBD1 (i think) scanguage won´t work?

Scangauge and Ultragauge won't work with OBD1... but are you sure? I thought 96 and newer always have OBD2. I use a SGII with a 97 Civic.

MPGuino works with all fuel-injected cars (I think) even without OBDII, although it takes a little more effort to install.

Side note: I'm suspicious that the MPGuino is more accurate, even in cars that don't have lean-burn, since the OBD2 devices rely on the MAF sensor and I can think of a few sources of error for MAF as a basis for MPG. There may be a more detailed discussion on this subject somewhere...

[PaleMelanesian]

I won't make any guesses about tire pressure and winter traction. We *sometimes* see snow here, but some years there is none. In summer, you can use even higher pressure. (we've had some heated discussions on the subject, but I'm firmly in the high pressure camp on that one)

Try some neutral coasting and p&g. They help a lot in these cars.

Here in the USA the 96 model got OBD-II.

[Sven7]

Good start. Put some pizza pans over those wheels- they look like they have bad aero.

I pump my tires up to 50psi. Haven't experimented in the winter though, mainly because I have yet to buy snow tires. No ABS just keeps your eyes on the road!

You would do well to start a fuel log on here to keep track of MPG over time.

[jay-c]

last night we got 25cm snow and this morning the plowman decided so sleep extra long so i had to use the civic as snow plow ca 1km, increased fuel consumption? grille block held up fine and the snow gave me a new aerodynamic front end and hood, wich i removed, bad decision?