Project "Save the Flea!" Winter beater: 2007 Civic 1.8L, 5-speed

[pletby]

Like those hubcaps! Very impressed with the way you mounted them. I think I might implement that. Come on election! Just a few more weeks!

[MetroMPG]

Can we hope to see a cardboard tail like you made for your Insight?

If the Civic had a trailer hitch / receiver, I'd be definitely making something for it. Alas, it does not.

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I posted a dedicated thread to let people who weren't following this thread know about the 15 mods A-B test:



Dedicated thread: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...7-a-30111.html

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by pletby

Like those hubcaps! Very impressed with the way you mounted them. I think I might implement that. Come on election! Just a few more weeks!

I think I'd do it with something a little more substantial than the folded/accoridoned "bundles" of coroplast as the mounting base next time. I have a feeling the zip ties may keep compressing them, so it they may loosen up. I snugged them up twice after initially putting them on (before mounting the discs).

Ask me in 6 months how well they held up.

[Xist]

I bought the zip caps from Vekke and they finally arrived on Friday. Hopefully I will finally make some smooth wheel covers soon.

[PaleMelanesian]

What about wood blocks instead of coroplast for the backing? That won't compress.

[MetroMPG]

Yup, that could work. Softwood so it doesn't split when the screw is put in. (Or drilled).

Xist - yup, also seems like a perfect application for Vekke's zip connectors.

[MetroMPG]

I've decided to put a light trailer hitch on the Civic.

This opens up other possibilities:



No immediate plans. Will report back if anything newsworthy happens.

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Also, I finished cleaning up the plastic headlight lenses.

I hit them a couple of times with standard paint rubbing compound (Turtle wax... the red stuff) using a small buffer, followed by some lighter polishing compound I had laying around for "light oxidation removal" of boat fiberglass. They're not quite as good as new (that would require wet sanding to take off the damage from stone chips). But it's a big improvement. I'll post pics when it quits raining.

[MetroMPG]

HAPPY to report the first fill in the Civic (admittedly a smallish fill at ~5 gal) came in at 49.7 mpg US = 4.7 L/100 km = 60 mpg Imp.

This was about 25% sub/urban driving and 75% back roads highway ( I killed the engine approaching most stops & many turns). 50% of the highway portion was a trip made this weekend where I just set the cruise control at the scenic route speed limit (max. of 80 km/h = 50 mph) or a hair under if nobody was behind me.

Using cruise at that max speed, in those conditions (cool @ 8C / 46F, little to no wind, light drizzle half the time), the car seems capable of delivering ~50-53 mpg US, round trip.

More where that came from: And the thing is, I rarely use cruise control in my usual driving. That means there's a bit more efficiency to be had from DWL/target driving (my usual approach).

ScanGauge update: looks like the uncalibrated gauge was optimistic by ~10%. I'm going to wait for corroboration from Phil's Civic this week before adjusting the numbers in the graphs I've already posted.

Next up: adding an engine kill switch, reproducing the rear deck lid spoiler in coroplast, and fitting the trailer hitch/receiver.

I'm really pleased with this car. It's going to be waaay harder to get great city mileage than the Firefly -- you can't easily defeat mass, but it will do quite nicely on the open road at moderate speeds.

[Daox]

50 mpg with cruise at 50 mph? Wow... I never would have expected those kind of numbers.

[MetroMPG]

Just talked to Phil - he did a short fill today (13.4 L / 3.5 US gal.), revealing the gauge needs a +10% fuel use adjustment to bring it in line with reality.

This is the same offset my own calcs revealed (though mine was also a small fill). One more fill-up before I adjust the numbers in the graphs.