Project ?Daddy Wagon? 99 CRV daily driver build
I have copied my own thread from another forum, hopefully to receive some input from all of you.
UPDATE: 32.2 MPG average on 300 miles worth of gas!
Well guys and gals, Im new to the CRV world but definitely not the Honda world. Due to my wife and I having our first child/future Honda tuner, I was forced to give up my 06 RSX for a more practical workhorse of a vehicle. I love the first gen CRV?s so I bought this submarine blue pearl 5 speed with 140k on it for $5000 from the original owner.
All the scheduled maintenance had been done already but the car needed new front sway bar links and bushing. The rear diff is making a howling noise, so I changed the fluid but it still makes the noise just a bit quieter. I also changed the tranny oil just for good measures.
I am building this car to act as my DD and get the best fuel economy as possible.
Ive started by modifying the stock intake box to act as a warm air intake. I cut a large resonator portion off the side and capped it off with a piece of plastic. I then removed the large resonator chamber from behind the bumper and used part of the U tube to duct air from in front of the transmission by the exhaust mani. So far this has seemed to be helping the MPG?s. Im averaging about 3 to 4 mpg higher than when I first brought the crv home.
UPDATE:
Well i have been getting around 24 or 25 mpgs in town but lately I have been driving for work a lot more, upwards of 500 miles per week and have found that my mpgs on the highway have been around 20-22 mpg.
I work with a former honda engineer who coincidently did a ton of development work and even worked as a test drive engineer for the 1st gen crv's. we worked out that the issue was my air intake system. The warm air intake i made worked great for short trips and for cold start fuel efficiency. However, it adversely affected my fuel economy when the motor reached normal operating temps.
He said, that no matter what, basic efficiency relates back to carnot efficiency, where you want the maximum difference in temps between your intake and exhaust. The warm air intake worked great to do just as i originally hoped, which was to lean out the air/fuel mixture but it only worked towards my favor when the motor was cold.
Since then, i have removed the warm air intake and modified it to pull air in from in front of the radiator.
If you followed my previous posts, i completely removed all of the intake piping from behind the bumper including the large white resonating chamber. This chamber, confirmed by the friend the ex honda engineer, is only used to eliminate different low tone sound frequencies that honda calls "engine booming" Since i really dont care what the car sounds like, in the trash it went. I then bought a flexible tube intake from the auto parts store and ducted it from the inlet of the oem air box (which i previously modified, see the posts above) and routed it down around the core support and mounted it right at the front edge of the radiator, behind the grill of the bumper.
SO far, i have seen a difference when the engine is completely warmed up, visible on my vacuum gauge. It seems as though i have reduced the amount of load on the engine by about 5% just by pulling in the coldest air i can. Now i have only driven the car about 20 miles so far but next week i will be driving another 600 miles to Indiana so i will update you guys about my fuel efficiency gain, or loss.
I'm hoping to see a gain in mpgs on the highway. I would really like to see 30 mpgs average per tank
Late this summer I will probably be trying out low rolling resistance tires mounted on my new rims. For now i have just pumped 40 psi into each tire to see how that works out for me
Next I wanted to build a catch can but I wanted to keep it very simple. I ended up buying an air/moister separator for an air compressor from home depot. I bought two barbed fittings and installed it between my pcv and the intake mani. The install was very easy, just remove the plenum off the top of the mani, cut the hose and install the air/moister separator in between. I added about a foot of extra hose so that I could hang it off to the side. When installing, I had to make sure I was putting the air/moister separator flowing in the right direction. It is clearly marked on it which way is in and out. I also removed the filter from the air/moister separator prior to installing it since I really don?t want to filter anything, just catch the oil and crud.
Filter elements removed
I have about 300 miles on it so far and it is definitely working. Its catching a lot of crud. The air/moister separator came in two sizes. I opted for the larger one. Cost about $25 at home depot.
I also bought and installed a vacuum gauge to help me work on my driving style to improve the MPG?s. I splice it into the vacuum line going to the fuel pressure regulator and mounted the gauge on the steering column. It sits right by the tach and allows me to easily see both gauges. Im not happy with the look of the gauge cup I bought to mount it so I will eventually make a fiberglass mount in the same location.
I used turtle wax?s headlight restore kit on my lights and swapped in some silverstars. It?s a big improvement and I can finally see on my way to work in the mornings.
Just for kicks I bought a JDM front bumper and some cheapo fogs. I bought the bumper from my local Honda dealer. Cost me $190 out the door. They shipped it up from Georgia. I tried to buy it from Majestic Honda, which would have been $35 cheaper, but they wouldn?t ship it to me because of the size.
Future upgrades will include EBC brakes and eventually lowing the car about 2 inches and putting on some new rims.
When I bought the crv, I was getting around 22 to 23 mpg average per tank. Without the bypass filter system installed yet, I am getting around 22 to 26 mpg so far with a mix of in town and highway driving. Im still learning how to drive more efficiently using my vacuum gauge but the snow and Appalachian Mountains don?t really help me out much.
Ill keep this updated as much as I can, feel free to check out my CRX build in my sig too.
I have recently rebuilt my rear drums and installed EBC brake pads. I am happy with the performance of the pad but they are so dusty and cake my front rims in black brake dust so fast Im already considering replacing them with less than 3000 miles on them.
I also replaced my water pump, oil pump, timing belt, AC and power steering belts as well as O2 sensor and adjusted my valve clearances.
I have been very carefully monitoring my MPG's
I drive a consistent route to work everyday 70 miles one way, 140 total per day. Its a mix of highway and in town driving where I have been averaging 25-26 MPG's. My worst has been 22 MPG's and my best has been 27 MPG's on this particular route. This testing has been done driving with a vacuum gauge to assist me.
I recently purchased an UltraGauge, Similar to a Scangauge 2 but its 1/3 the cost. After installing the UltraGauge I have actually bettered my MPG's significantly. My average has been 32.2 MPG's and my best has been 34 MPG's Over a full tank of gas.
I have achieved my goal of reaching 30 MPG's in my CRV and will continue to keep everyone updated.
32 MPG 1999 Honda CRV Project Daddy Wagon
Linear Mode
