White Lightning - 2004 Civic HX

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

This bodystyle was never available in my country for the 7th-gen Civic. BTW how does its rear seat room compare to the 4-door model?

[Donahue]

the seat room is about the same, the flat floor is nice too. my passenger seat slides forward automatically to help people get in that side. i can climb in to get a kid into a car seat that is behind the drivers seat without much trouble.

[user removed]

If my wife doesn't like how low my car is, she can chauffeur me around. Not jacking my Mirage up as high as her Sorento, but hey she's about 9 inches shorter than me, LOL.

Remember the old song about short people?

regards
mech

[Donahue]

theres an old saying I find to be quite true. "if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy".

[darcane]

Originally Posted by Donahue

My plans:
New tires at 50 psi
Torque for monitoring
Killswitch for EOC

Potential mods:
Grill block
Front lip and side skirts
Full belly pan
Electric power steering

I can't go too crazy with this thing even if I wanted too, my wife has been pretty unsupportive of my ideas calling them just my latest fad I'm into. Only time will tell if she's right.

My wife is not at all fond of my Civic. That has less to do with mods than the fact that it is a little car.

She doesn't like that I lowered it, but I think that is the only change from stock that she has noticed. She has driven it a few times since I disabled power steering, and made no comment on it. I would say that trying to convert to electric power steering is unnecessary, even if your wife occasionally drives it. If she drives it regularly, I would just leave the power steering alone.

Originally Posted by Donahue

And just for fun, here was my last project:

That's a funny looking Jeep.

[Donahue]

Originally Posted by darcane

That's a funny looking Jeep.

funny, I dont see Jeep written anywhere on that

[Donahue]

Well, I've got my baseline. You can tell you are an ecomodder when you can't wait to fill up to see how well you did. This was my first full to empty tank and also the first since I cleared the sensor issue. I think it's a good baseline to start from. I was thinking my tank was bigger, but it must be around 11 gallons. My trip was at 437.6 and it clicked off at 10.7 gallons for a new record of 40.8 mpg.


Next up on the agenda is new tires, which have already been delivered to my buddies house. I'm going to skip the tire store this time around and mount and balance them myself. I'm the tires I got were General Altimax RT43's. I'm pretty sure they are rated to 44 psi. I can't decide if I will want to higher than that, but they are well rated for rain, which we get a lot of here in the valley. They are also going to end up being around $60 each after rebates.
Next I think I'm going to try and scrounge up an android so I can run torque for a gauge. I like torque because it can show air/fuel ratio among other things. Or is that falls through, I'll have my friend design a circuit that will be the equivalent of a lean burn indicator.
After that, I think I'm going to try and get a EOC switch wired up. I'm still not sure if it's better to continually bump start it, or use the starter more. It's a matter or wear on the starter or wear on the clutch. Anyone want to chime in on that one?

[iamnotahippee]

I have not given in to the concept of eoc yet, but it is interesting. My 03 hybrid has auto stop, which sometimes kills the motor. I always want to parts that are easiest/cheapest to replace. Bump starting is going to def cause more wear on clutch. I don't see how it doesn't shorten clutch life some.
That really is a sharp civic you have there! In lieu of lowering i have been looking at cheap "chin spoilers"on ebay. Put an dam in front and skirts on the side.

[Donahue]

Originally Posted by iamnotahippee

In lieu of lowering i have been looking at cheap "chin spoilers"on ebay. Put an dam in front and skirts on the side.

I've been thinking about the same thing.

[Donahue]

I wonder, do the HCH have electric steering racks? 7th gen SI hatchbacks do. If the hybrids do too, it might be another route for me to consider down the road.