Thrifty McGassaver this is your life!
Just posting up a "How-do" thread to introduce myself.
The name is Tom, the game is ecomodding, the ride is a 1994 Civic VX with over 336K miles on it now. Some of you know me from another forum that deals with saving on gas consumption. My plans are to help y'all setup and test your new forum as well as guide the hand of new members as the site grows into a world dominating power! Just kidding, I promise to use my powers for the good of the world! This forum shall be the tool to further the knowledgement of mankind. |
Nice job noticing the two smilies I added myself today. :turtle: ftw. Look forward to have you around.
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Hey Tom - welcome, welcome.
It's nice to have a VX guru around. I still kick myself every time I read yet another person has joined your fleet. But there's just no way I have time or room for 3 cars! |
Thanks for the welcome.
My army of VX's grows stronger everyday, muahahahah! |
How's development on the site going?
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lol, between work, having a drink after work, making dinner for the family, having an issue with my Photoshop 7 program, and a pregnant wife.......it's going well. I might actually be able to resize all of my How-to pictures today so I can upload them and start posting them to the site.
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TomO -
Welcome to EM! I think that with time, "Thrifty McGassaver" can make it's way into English slang. CarloSW2 |
Thanks, but I doubt Thrifty McGassaver will become synonymous with VX ecomodding. The name TomO though is a different story, lol.
I can't wait until I get the rebuilt motor in this spring. I might try out a few tricks like cryo-treating the pistons, just for fun since it's cheap enough. But the only thing on the docket for the near future is the Lean burn monitor kits and replacing the front wheel bearings that howl like a banshee as I cruise down the highway. They sing a song of decreased FE for me. :( |
Lean burn kit? Sounds interesting.
The ForkenSwift and Thrifty should get together for a wheel bearing duet. |
Just thought I'd throw together a brief, all encompassing post about the cosmetic and mechanical changes that I've done to my car over the three years I've had it...
When I first bought the car for $1500: http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/1156/img2858m.jpg Dirty Winter Mode http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/2663/img2857h.jpg Dented Driver's Door (hard to see but it's there) http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/7590/img2856y.jpg Driver's side Rear http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/5857/img2855m.jpg Dinged up tailgate http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/9045/img2854d.jpg Passenger Rear http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/371/img2851u.jpg Passenger Front fender http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/2038/img2852g.jpg Whole Passenger side http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/9895/img2853i.jpg Closeup of the passenger door I then swapped over parts from the 95 Si that I owned for just one week before I got this car. I swapped the tailgate, passenger door, passenger fender, and hood. I later had rear quarter patch panels installed and painted the entire car Dark blue. Then I went through a few phases with the exterior: Denji Projectors, clear side lights and a modified grill insert from a 03-05 Eclipse: http://thelic.org/users/tomo/frontgrill.jpg Installed a block heater: http://thelic.org/users/tomo/blockheater.jpg http://thelic.org/users/tomo/blockheater1.jpg Installed WeatherTech Window Visors and Spoon style mirrors: http://thelic.org/users/tomo/209608776325.jpg Experimented and made a Kammback for the car: http://thelic.org/users/tomo/KammProfile.jpg http://thelic.org/users/tomo/KammRear.jpg It later came off for some redesigning. Picked up some rare optional CRX HF wheels to rock for winter use (painted them bronze because the OEM white was covered with rust from the brake system) http://thelic.org/users/tomo/OEMoptHFWheel.jpg Made some side skirts and picked up some Enkei Conpe-8 rims for summer: http://thelic.org/users/tomo/SideSkirt.jpg http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/749...ftyside.th.jpg Picked up some OEM fog lights, and OEM front lip, made a belly pan, and found some TYC one piece headlights: http://thelic.org/users/tomo/VXFront.jpg http://thelic.org/users/tomo/VXFront2.jpg Put a Spoon style front lip on and polished the paint and re-cleared the hood: http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/1...tyfront.th.jpg http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/6...yfront1.th.jpg Swapped in a freshly rebuilt D15Z1 (stock VX) motor at 380,000miles: http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/7816/thriftyengine.jpg Then I made a more aerodynamic front bumper for winter with a couple different versions of front air dams: http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/9318/aerofront.jpg http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/4207/aeroleft.jpg http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/6583/aeroright.jpg http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/5150/vxairdamday.jpg http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/7356/winterlip1.jpg So after three years, this is as it sits. I'm making one more version of a front air dam when the material arrives this week. Then it's just driving it through the winter and counting the days until spring when I can work on it again. Now you know a little more about the work I've put into my VX. Any questions and comments are welcomed as long as they're positive. :) |
Just a little update:
I installed my HID lights into those TYC one piece projector headlights and have been super happy with the results. Light output has almost doubled (1500 lumens with halogen, 3200 lumens HID) and light coverage is way better. I've gotten high beamed a couple times with the halogens even though they were aimed right. They did have a horrible hot spot in them. Now with the HIDs in there, I have not gotten beamed once. The light is much more evenly spread on the road. I also have the final version of my rubber lip on my car (will get pics today). It looks just like the green one posted above but is black, lol. The next project that I'm tackling is a full exterior LED conversion. I am in the process of making the boards to place inside the rear tail lights. The running/brake lights will consist of 240 red/orange Lumiled LEDs and the turn signals will consist of ~160 Amber Lumiled LEDs. Total wattage for this setup will draw only 48Watts while braking, that's less than half of what the stock incandescent light system draws. Along with the 40W reduction from the HID system I'm dropping just over 120W from my electrical system, for a whopping .16HP increase, lol. I'll be taking pictures of the whole process this time around so others can see and hopefully be inspired. |
Thanks to some inspiration from Daox, I installed my external plug for my block heater last night so I don't have to pop open the hood on my car anymore.
You can also see the black rubber version of the front air dam that I am currently using. http://www.thelic.org/users/tomo/Heaterplug.jpg |
you got a great write up going
hopefully you got those visors cheap (i looked into them for my ride and they were pricey) spoon mirrors are always bad ass too i think i like the plug for the block heater the most tho (i want one even tho i have nothing to plug in) |
What kind of plug did you use there? I was going to use a 12V cigarette lighter socket and lighter plug on the exterior for a battery maintainer on one of my old cars, but I ended up just putting a 110 socket inside the fuel door.
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Christ, he used the same type of plug I use on Zap Xebras. Its a recessed male socket in a weatherproof housing with a rubber gasket around the wires. Ours are made by Helga Electric or something like that.
Make sure the contacts stay dry! After 3 years of use, the plug on a customer's delivery truck corroded and the rust dribbled across the contacts. The car still worked, but plugging it in unbalanced the electrical system in half our building. ~Jimbo |
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I did get the visors cheap, in fact for free...they were a birthday gift ;) But yes the weathertech stuff is not cheap, but the quality is worth the price as well as the customer service. I had the passenger side fall off on a trip by some freak act of nature. Sent them an email the next day asking if there was anything that could be done or if I could purchase just the passenger side. One hour after I sent the email I recieved and email stating that the passenger side was being shipped out today and had a tracking number already at no cost to me. the part arrived just 16 hours after me sending the initial email! :eek: So Weathertech gets two thumbs up from me. Quote:
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HEY MAN! Sick eco project!!!
I gotta question: What headers are you using with your d15z1? Is it getting good fuel mileage? Is it a 4-2-1? The reason why I ask is because my VX exhaust manifold is cracked and I need a new one. I'm not made of money so I'm looking for something comparable and pretty thrifty. THANKS |
I'm just using the Ebay special Stainless Steel 4-2-1 with two O2 bungs (one on runner #4 and one at the collector).
If you can, sometimes you can find OEM VX manifolds for sale for about $40 too. That way it's a simple bolt on affair (if your catalytic converter is still good) and you don't have to go changing your whole exhaust system. |
Thanks for these pics. That aero front bumper you made is perfectly cool. How did you make it? Must have required quite a shop, or are there techniques that bring it closer to the reach of those of us with fewer skills?
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vx manifolds are near impossible to find. will a 96-00 dx/lx manifold work? |
Welcome!
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I used an OEM bumper and filled the fog light areas with "Great Stuff" expanding foam, then shaved them down with a hacksaw blade and used Fiberglass Resin to build it up and feather the edges. then lots and lots of sanding, then painting. Same thing happened for the middle grill. No shop involved, just sweat and tools. I eyeballed everything so it wasn't perfect by any means. Quote:
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Also, the CX manifold has the same design just with a single wire 02 sensor. |
I have a manifold that's either a cx/vx, or hf... The difference is the bolt pattern for the cat, but dimensionally, the manifold are identical. If anyone needs it, pay shippingand I'll send it out. Shipping via usps will be close to $16.
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The second version was doing really well until a Stupid SUV Driver backed right into me, splitting the entire bumper and causing multiple cracksin the fiberglass jelly. The bumper will be rebuilt once again, but this time I'm going to plastic weld panels in place. |
This was a great build! Wish there were more updates since last post in 2011. Bumping for any current VX owners who haven't seen this gem of a build/thread.
Love the block heater plug. Was thinking about looking for something similar for next winter. Any updates? Still own? FG bumper was awesome! Any process pics you can share of how you built that? |
Thanks for the kudos!
I sold the car a few years ago to a member on here. The External plug that I used is a Marinco plug that can be found on Amazon for under $20 still. you can see all my bumper iterations and some progress pictures here: AeroBumper for Thrifty |
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