Regearing my Honda (1994 Del Sol VTEC) - Page 8 - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

Shortie771 · 05-22-2009, 01:26 PM

Yeah ive looked up info on vacuum gauges and i still dont understand them...

theunchosen · 05-23-2009, 12:13 AM

Just pretend your engine is a big vacuum. The throttle is just a butterfly valve that opens to allow more air through the big vacuum. If you close the valve you'll get more vacuum, if you open it you get alot less vacuum.

Your engine is sucking air in like a vacuum. The more air it gets means more fuel. Idealy you want to use as little fuel as possible. A quick way to measure it is how much air goes in is proportional to the fuel.

If the air flow is restricted, less air, we get a greater vacuum, but its its WOT, more air, we get very little vacuum. So in the first case you use less fuel and the second you use more.

How much vacuum you have means howmuch fuel your not using. More vacuum less fuel, less vacuum more fuel.

Shortie771 · 05-23-2009, 02:22 AM

ok cool thanks for clearing hat up for me so how would having a vacuum gauge improve my FE? would it just be a like reminder to drive more conservativly? lol, i mean seriously how is feedbck on that supposed to help me? are there driving techniques or something to increase vacuum?

hamsterpower · 05-23-2009, 05:56 AM

there are many occasions where a little throttle makes a big difference in MPG but not much difference in speed. Example easy accelerations and small hills... with visual feedback to what your "lead" foot is doing you can be reminded to ease up a bit, saving fuel but not really slowing TOO much.
This is really a better measure than the RPMs because you can be at high rpm but low load and get OK economy but you can also be at low RPM but very high load getting very bad economy. A Manifold pressure gauge (vacuum) represents load.

Shortie771 · 05-23-2009, 08:13 AM

Cool thanks for clearing that up, thats really helpful. I can see how one of those could come in handy

theunchosen · 05-23-2009, 09:35 AM

Its like an extremely cheap fuel economy gauge just to let you know what techniques and accelerations are good for FE and which aren't. They are like 5 bucks compared to scanguage which is 150?

bobcat · 06-02-2009, 10:11 AM

Hi, I regularly get mid 30s with 95 el sol vtec and have gotten 42 a few times with very careful,slow driving. You might want to check engine temp -should be mid rannge on guage- I had a thermostat that was not quite closing completely and temp was slow to come up and mileage really dropped. My ox sensor was original at 215,000 miles and mileage was still really good but I changed it just because of high miles-used bosch generic-mileage seemed unaffected. How about just going up in tire diameter to get gearing change? Could get 5% or more with an inch or so diameter increase.

MazdaMatt · 06-02-2009, 11:19 AM

Just a thought... 99% of people modding civics are looking to dump their tall gears for low gears. You could probably find a mechanically knowledgeable person with an HX who will come to you and help trade engines (or trannies) for free. Yours is more sought after in the public.

Heck, if you're not dead-set on the Del Sol, you could do a straight-up swap for an HX in a heartbeat... trade for one with lower mileage or something. "sell" your cars to eachother for a dollar so the tax man stays off your back.

Shortie771 · 06-05-2009, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MazdaMatt

Heck, if you're not dead-set on the Del Sol, you could do a straight-up swap for an HX in a heartbeat... trade for one with lower mileage or something. "sell" your cars to eachother for a dollar so the tax man stays off your back.

lol you havent looked at my car and read what ive written about it have you? No thanks, i dont think ill be trading/selling my car. The only way im getting rid of that car is if it gets totaled

MazdaMatt · 06-05-2009, 01:04 PM

Okay, i read the description and I understand where you're coming from. I love my Del Sol, too, but mine is UGLY.

Seriously consider posting on all of your local honda forums asking if someone with a VX/HX engine/tranny wants to come swap engines with you. The Honda crowd that I know (These are not ricers. They are racers) have been known to blow a motor on Saturday afternoon and be racing at dawn on Sunday. Or doing a motor swap on lunch hour, no joke. Your engine is sought after by ricers, and ricers would hate the VX/HX.