White Lightning - 2004 Civic HX

[Xist]

I think that I followed the same guide to delete my power steering, but something came up when I was trying to find Aeroquip fittings, and I never got back to it.

I did that over a year ago and it has worked fine.

Mechanics do not understand it, though.

[iamnotahippee]

Something to consider on engine off braking...look at the salvage yard for '02-06ish Chevy/GMC full size products. Alot of the half tons with vacuum brakes used an auxiliary vacuum pump mounted at the brake booster. I never have figured out exactly why they were needed, but it is just an electric vacuum pump. You could use that to maintain full power assisted braking with the engine off. You could wire it up to either come on any time the brake pedal is depressed, or get fancy and wire it up thru a vacuum switch so it would only power up when there is low vacuum in the reservoir. Another (and probably easier) option is to install an extra vacuum canister on the kin feeding the resevoir. Hot rodgers has been doing this for years with motors that make poor vacuum at idle in order to maintain good brake performance at low speeds.
It really does concern me to think that my wife and children could be sharing the road with people deliberately incorporating habits into their driving that hinder the steering and braking performance of their vehicle.

[Donahue]

Originally Posted by whatmaycome14

I have a 7th Gen also (2003) and I've been running the stock power steering rack with the reservoir and pump completely removed. I don't really notice any situation where I have problems arise as a result. You may want to try this first and save yourself the cost of buying an all new rack!

yeah, i should probably just try it first. i can always put it back in. how much is removing PS good for?

[Donahue]

Im not concerned particularly about the brakes. I always downshift by habit when braking, and just turn the car on way before I use up the booster. There is a funny story, about 8 years ago I was driving my S10 blazer (the one picture above, but before I went crazy with it) down a gravel road in the mountains. It didnt have any rear brakes to speak of becuase they were worn out and I wasnt going to change them because this was right before I did the axle swaps on it. I ended up sliding off the side of the road, 140 feet down a steep embankment. On the way down, I actually had enough thought to not only downshift as i was "driving" down the cliff, but I actually threw it into low range so that my engine braking was more effective. It came to a stop under control about 10 feet from a large tree. I then drove it forward those 10 more feet and parked it against that tree since there was no good parking brake. The front of the hood got a small dent that I never bothered to do anything with.




the last shot also shows my patented technique of getting out while in gear (low range) and rocking the truck to get better traction and get it unstuck.

[Donahue]

Well, I mounted up new tires yesterday at my buddies house. I aired them up to 50, and they seem to drive nice. I didn't want to spend the money on mounting and balancing so I did it myself. It took a couple of hours, but once we got the system down, we were able to work in a mini assembly line. These tires were fairly light and pliable. With 50 psi I can still push them in with my thumb a little at the sidewalls. FYI, in case anyone is wondering about balancing, I used 1.75 oz of copper plated BB's in each tire to dynamically balance them. They are very smooth above about 5-10 mph and it makes a cool maracas sound when you come to a stop. I bought a pack of 6000 BB's, and it used so few that I could probably do another 20 sets of tires this small before I ran out. My memory had been playing tricks on my from the last time is used this method, and put about 16 oz in each tire of that blazer on 38's. I was basing the number off the rule of thumb, 1 oz per 10 lbs of tire weight. These tires were 16 lbs, and I rounded up to 1.75 oz each. It was basically a single layer deep on a typical 1 cup measuring cup, though we did use a scale to actually measure them. So far I am liking the tires.

Next is some electrical stuff, but I might put that off for a few months, we just had the offer for our first house accepted, and I might wait until we move in a few months.

[Joggernot]

I used the beads in my m/c tires and they worked just fine. Should work well in your tires, too.

[Donahue]

Well, after my last fill up, the tank took more than usual, and I was hoping that the machine just clicked off later, and that it would average out with the next tank. I'm halfway through that tank, and either that's the case or this will be my best tank by far. My previous few have been around 440 miles, and this one is just hitting half tank at almost 300 miles.

[MPGomatic]

Fills in my 99 HX can vary significantly, depending on the level of 'tilt' at the pump. If the car is pitched forward, more gas flows into the tank. I've learned to position the car with all four tires on the concrete pad.

Originally Posted by Donahue

Well, after my last fill up, the tank took more than usual, and I was hoping that the machine just clicked off later, and that it would average out with the next tank. I'm halfway through that tank, and either that's the case or this will be my best tank by far. My previous few have been around 440 miles, and this one is just hitting half tank at almost 300 miles.