Team Honda Thread

[sheepdog 44]

How do i join? Going off my FCD it's 65 over three "half" tanks. Getting better cause i had it at 62.7 and i've been bumping it up .2 mpg every few days. Thats on top of 600+ miles being averaged so i must be getting 68-70mpg 40 mile commutes.

My goal is 70-75mpg average. working on my first mods now.

[pletby]

Originally Posted by BackBlast

This happened to me in my '91 DX hatchback. Sometimes it wouldn't bump start (and I believe I'm reasonably skilled at doing this, it's simply not... starting...), and when that happened I also couldn't start it with the starter either. Crank and crank and I got nothing. If I Waited about a minute and let it rest without an attempted start, that would fix it and then I could get it started (bump or crank). Sometimes if I could coast that long it would start, other times I'd have to just let it sit (pulling over, or sitting at a light with angry people behind me). This was common enough for me that I stopped turning the engine off unless I knew I could coast a *long* time - so I seldom did so. I got the hang of when I could usually get away with it, but it was always a risk.

I never did figure out *why* this happened and none of the repairs I ever dumped into the vehicle made any difference.

That's exactly what happened. It also used to happen in a 89 DX hatchback I owned. I'm wondering if it's the fuel system? I never did find out about the DX either. Just intermittent silliness.

I'm still looking for a good civic so I can give the boss back his . There's some good choices showing up on the local Kijiji. Any thoughts as to the top 3 used civic models and years to aim for?

[sheepdog 44]

Are we going by old epa or new epa mpg? Cause the new numbers are way off for a 2001 cvt Insight. 47mpg combined? They rate a 2012 Prius as 50mpg combined, and a manual Insight at 53 combined.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by sheepdog 44

Are we going by old epa or new epa mpg? Cause the new numbers are way off for a 2001 cvt Insight. 47mpg combined? They rate a 2012 Prius as 50mpg combined, and a manual Insight at 53 combined.

New EPA is how this site works, though the old EPA was always more accurate as to the fuel economy I got in the early years of owning this car.

Originally Posted by sheepdog 44

How do i join? Going off my FCD it's 65 over three "half" tanks.

Click on "team honda" link in my details to the left of this post: find the "join" button on the right of that screen. Done!

[brucepick]

You might already know - when you look up an old car's mpg estimate on the EPA site, the numbers you get have been converted to attempt to be what the car would get if it had been tested under today's protocol. So by using what the EPA site gives you now, we all SHOULD be on an even playing field. Theoretically of course.

[brucepick]

Glad to have you with us, sheepdog 44. I think it's safe to say we can always benefit from a member getting nice mpg and planning to improve. I think you know which group will help when you have questions.

I'm "only" about 3 hrs drive from you in Mystic.

Originally Posted by sheepdog 44

How do i join? Going off my FCD it's 65 over three "half" tanks. Getting better cause i had it at 62.7 and i've been bumping it up .2 mpg every few days. Thats on top of 600+ miles being averaged so i must be getting 68-70mpg 40 mile commutes.

My goal is 70-75mpg average. working on my first mods now.

[sheepdog 44]

Hey Bruce, i'm going to a first gen Insight and hybrid green energy fair meetup at Mike Dabrowski's house in 250 pompeo road North Grosvenordale (north east) CT Tommorow and the day after. Sat and Sun. There will be a good deal of hybrids, but it's really about getting good mpg and nonhybrids are welcome (especially Hondas!). There will even be an MPG run contest.

You should come! It'd be great if you could teach us some hypermiling tips, and walk us through any mods you have done. There will be a solar dish cookout and a bunch of other stuff too.

I'm extending an invitation to anyone else who may live nearby, Join in the party! It should be a fun meetup.

http://99mpg.com/events/nehybridcarandgree/

[brucepick]

Mike,
Thanks! Tempting but... I don't know if I can get away.

I remember reading about Mike D's fifth wheel mod. I'm pretty sure he was the guy who did it. Can't remember though what car it was on, very possibly a Gen 1 Insight.

A small electric motor driving a wheel that (hydraulically?) dropped down somewhere in the center of the car, powered off a deep cycle battery pack. Put the regular drive train in neutral and it would run on straight electric on the highway, if I recall correctly. The benefit vs. powering the hybrid drive train off a large pack was the reduced mechanical and electrical losses due to (I think) a direct drive motor, so no losses from mechanical gearing and flexible shafts etc. etc.

[sheepdog 44]

Same guy, http://99mpg.com/Projectcars/ewheelforanyvehicl/
Drop on by if you can.

[brucepick]

Team Standings, 7/7/12 vs. 7/14/12:

Last weekend I saved a "snap" of the standings for future comparison. Team Metro, Team Honda, and Team Audi Group have been scoring very close in the competition recently. Metro would be way out ahead but one of their three cars is an automatic, so is getting about 38 mpg instead of 60-ish. He's planning some mods though...

Just looking at these three teams, here's how the standings shifted over the week.

7/7/12
Team Metro: 52.26 mpg, 41.43% over EPA, 3 members
Team Honda:50.65 mpg, 50.64 % over EPA, 25 members
Team VW Group: 50.62, 48.44 % over EPA, 10 members

7/14/12
Team Metro: 52.80 mpg, 42.76% over EPA, 3 members
Team VW Group: 52.02, 41.44 % over EPA, 12 members
Team Honda: 51.93 mpg, 50.49 % over EPA, 26 members

All three teams improved their scores over the week, but Team Honda didn't improve as much as the other two, so dropped behind VW Group in the standings.

Team Honda welcomed some new members this week, including 1carnut and sheepdog 44. If we have other new members that I didn't find in my search, we're glad to have you too! I plan to get a snap of team Honda's individual team member standings regularly to track additions and dropoffs. We did lose one (low-mpg) member this week, due to no fillups in the past 90 days.