so I'm not the only freak?

[GasSavers_Ryland]

Hello, my name is Ryland and I'm an alcoholic... no wait, wrong forum, I like going great distances on very little gas, my current most used vehicle is a 1992 civic vx with 219,100 miles, I've been slowly putting it back to stock, and catching it up on matence befor I start tweeking it, it seems to be in good mecanical shape but is still only getting 40mpg.
I started out with bicycles, then saw this sweet local competition where highschool kids made single person cars and tryed to get the best mileage, so the next year I entered with a friend of mine, got 72mpg, 2nd to last, the next year we got 245mpg, 4th place, now I'm to old to enter, and my vehicle is half finished, and I'm moving on to other things waiting for someone to pass it on to.
at some point I got a Honda cl160 motorcycle that was sized and beatup, learned how engines work, and got it working pretty good without spending any money, used it as my only motorized transit for a few years, averaged 74mpg.
a few years latter I aquired a sweet 1984 civic hatchback, after close to a year of useing it as a work vehicle (tools, coworker, camping junk, it was never empty) I averaged 42.2mpg over the entire time I owned it (15,000 miles) it was totaled just around the time I was going to start tweeking it, around that same time I realized that Honda had been making cars for the last 20+ years that got 50mpg or better, so a few months latter I found my CRX HF on Ebay... pretty rough, no compression, took alot of work to get it useable, and a good engine still sits in the shed waiting to be droped in (people for some reason think it;'s a good idea to rip perfectly good HF engines out, and swap in bigger engiens... so good stock engines are free for the picking!) I needed something that didn't use as much oil, and could handle a 3rd passenger, so I found this civic VX, and well... here I am.

things that are on my civic vx todo list:
get 55+mpg... of course but to do that I need to:
block off the unused part of my grill.
install new vaccum lines (VW cloth covered rubber lines)
install new PCV lines, and valve. (tomarow)
find out if honda insight drums will fit (someone has them on their crx, and the civic takes the same size, yes??)
finish removing A/C.
replace all running lights with LED's
clean/replace all grounding straps.
replace lead acid battery with something more... modern.
and I'm sure alot of other things.

--Ryland

[Matt Timion]

Welcome Ryland.

Looks like you've been MPG minded for a long time. All of your observations about the CRX HF are correct. those engines are free for the picking, which makes a stock CRX HF very difficult to find.

Something you might want to think about with your VX is the possibility that it is a California model. I know that the odds of a California VX ending up in Wisconsin are rather small, but it could explain the mileage difference. The easiest way to see is to check if it has a four or five wire oxygen sensor. Four wires = CA model, five wires = not CA.

I'm not sure if the aluminum drums will fit the VX or not. I've been told that they only fit the EE (1984-1987) and EF (1988-1991) models without modification, and there are even exceptions to that.

If I were you I'd seriously consider constructing a belly pan on your car. The VX is already 2000lbs, which is lighter than most other cars. It's very aerodynamic, but has room for improvement.

Lastly, maybe you can clean the inside of the engine using auto-rx. You might have a bunch of gunk in there that is hurting the bottom line.

Anyway, hope to see more of you in the future!

[krousdb]

Awesome Ryland. Your car is capable of much better than 55 MPG. Don't sell yourself short. I see 70 MPG in your future with the VX.

[SVOboy]

install new vaccum lines (VW cloth covered rubber lines)

Welcome welcome sir! How'd you find the site? I love my CRX, so we're friends already,

What's that about in the thing I quoted though?

[GasSavers_Ryland]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

What's that about in the thing I quoted though?

I grew up with VW's in the family, and they don't use normal rubber for their vaccum lines (the small rubber hoses that controle some of the engine functions) they use a cloth covered black rubber that as best as I can tell holds up a bit better then the other black rubber that is used, it seems to be harder to kink, less likely to crack or wear, and seems to fit better (thus seal better) then most of the stuff I can find in town, not sure if it will really make a differnce, but I figure if I'm going to replace a part, or do something, I might as well not take to many short cuts.

I found this site by doing a google search for "honda insight brake drum swap" I had never heard of this site befor, I am a memeber on a few honda racing forums, in hopes that I could gain some knolage in to lowering drag, lowering weight, and keeping an old car running, and it sounds like people on here have found simaler things frustrating on simaler sites, that being people who just want to go faster, but I did learn some cool stuff from those people who race, and they are doing some good stuff, like making light weight carbon fiber hoods, and fenders for the older CRX's that don't have many aftermarkt parts avalible.

[GasSavers_Ryland]

Originally Posted by Matt Timion

Something you might want to think about with your VX is the possibility that it is a California model. I know that the odds of a California VX ending up in Wisconsin are rather small, but it could explain the mileage difference. The easiest way to see is to check if it has a four or five wire oxygen sensor. Four wires = CA model, five wires = not CA.

It has a 5 wire o2 sensor, I replaced it twice already! first time was because was causeing jumpy driving, and the sensor once removed rattled like something was loss inside, 4 months latter the jumpy driving started to return, so I had the sensor replaced under warnety (5 year 50,000 miles) I didn't have the recept, but I keep good records and was able to tell them the exact day that I bought it and they accepted that, I was very releaved as it's a $309 part!

Originally Posted by Matt Timion

I'm not sure if the aluminum drums will fit the VX or not. I've been told that they only fit the EE (1984-1987) and EF (1988-1991) models without modification, and there are even exceptions to that.

the iron drums I have on my vx came as spares with my crx-hf (they didn't start alumimum drums on hf's till 86 and I have an 85... according to the dealers parts list) I'll do some more checking befor I buy anything, but I can get a set of Insight drums from a junkyard for $35 each from a car that must have fell off the truck (7 miles), I'm glad that I found this site, and I hope to get a good chance to look around more, I don't have alot of time around a computer, but it seems like there is alot of cool, real life research and testing, and practical information being passed around on here, I like it!

[Matt Timion]

Ryland,

I just emailed you about an insight part I'm looking for.

If anyone wants them, I also have a set of aluminum drums from a 87 CRX HF for $80 shipped. PM me for pictures.