lca13's 93 California VX Thread

[lca13]

Questions. Questions. I decided to just start my own thread for questions and any feedback I can give on things... I am a complete novice so far so I expect more of the former at first (although my shop vac thread idea wasn't too bad... :-)

So, first two:

Idle gallons per hour... I have seen figures for cars from 0.1 to 0.5 gph... anyone have an idea on a VX? FYI, mine idles very low... 300-400 RPM's... nice. Context is coasting engine off versus engine on in neutral... the latter seems much easier.

Mirror... how do I remove the driver's outside mirror? It looks to me like the plastic bolt cover on the inside of the car s removable, but it is not obvious how to do it (at least to me).

Thanks all..... this is the best site. Lance in the Bay Area

[Matt Timion]

Hey Lance... for the GPH I have no idea. It's probably in the shop manual somewhere.

I'm pretty certain that removing the drivers mirror is illegal. IMHO it wouldn't provide statistically significant gains. You'd be better off with a grill block, partial underbelly tray, or wheel well covers.

Glad to have you here

[lca13]

I have installed a side mirror in the inside and have been using that... the area of the mirror is nearly 5% of the total frontal area so I am interested in at least trying things with it off (some of the other stuff I alread have installed)

[GasSavers_TomO]

The door panel should come off for ease of removal for the side mirror. there is a screw in the upper/forward part of the door card that is covered when the door is closed by the dashboard. There is a screw in the bottom of the door cup/handle you use to pull the door closed. There also may be a screw or two (can't remember at the moment) inside the speaker grill area. The last screw is under the interior door handle, pull open the interior handle to access the screw. Then just pop off (pull from the upper most part) the small triangle of plastic covering the nuts that are holding on the side view mirror.

[GasSavers_James]

I was thinking about doing this with my vx, except just for the passenger side mirror. Is there a special block off plate that these cars have when they didnt come with the passenger side mirror from the factory?

[lca13]

Front Brakes Sticking.... finally jacked the car up and tested all the wheels. The front's were quite bad... maybe five pounds of force to break the friction then of course they would stop in a quarter turn.

I pulled the wheel and eventually pulled back the caliber. After a couple of times on manually trying to retract the piston an additional distance, I opted to pop the piston out to see what was going on. Sure enough some crud and an ridge in the back of the caliper cylinder. I cleaned it up as best I could (although didn't try to shave the ridge down) and put it back together.
After the bleed and all, it is quite a bit better, but still sticking some...

Question is: take it apart and sand the ridge down? or just get some remanufactured loaded calipers... or of course, go to the mechanic :-)

[GasSavers_TomO]

James: There is a factory block off for the passenger mirror-

#13
76221-SR3-000 COVER, R. DOOR MIRROR (FENDER MIRROR) $3.45 At [San Leandro Honda Parts

There may be a Japanese counterpart for teh driver's side as well, but I haven't searched for it yet.

lca13: Best to bite the bullet and get a replacement (rebuilt) caliper.

[lca13]

Thanks to TomO, I now have a non-CA VX ecu and o2 sensor. Trouble is that I am now scared to death to touch any 15 year old engine compartment wiring.... :-)

Oh well... since I have no clue as to doing this conversion, I want to work this out on paper before opening the hood.

1st question... can I just swap ecu's and nothing else and be OK? Or will it act weird w/o the 5 wire O2 (and I've seen comments about an EGR on the 49 state model as well).

Help, before I break something :-)

[GasSavers_TomO]

Can you get a hold of a digital camera and take a snapshot of the firewall? I ask because you make it sound like you don't have an EGR on your CA VX, is this true?

Don't plug in the 49 state ECU into the harness just yet. there is a thread on here by Matt or somebody on the pinouts of the O2 for the 49 states model. you'll want to get those wired up first.

I would be more helpful right now, but I'm in the middle of proctoring a state issued test to the kids.

Glad doing business with you to.

[lca13]

Kids come 1st. Hats off to all you teachers.

I am gonna go real slow on this swap out. Like I said, 15 yr old wiring scares me. Plus I am in the middle of this totally fun aero experiment (getting the back end ready to support a high pressure fan blower.... hee hee!