Thrifty McGassaver, This is your Life!

[GasSavers_TomO]

Just thought I'd throw together a brief, all encompasing post about the cosmetic and mechanical changes that I'd done to my car over the three years I've had it...

When I first bought the car for $1500:

Dirty Winter Mode

Dented Driver's Door (hard to see but it's there)

Driver's side Rear

Dinged up tailgate

Passenger Rear

Passenger Front fender

Whole Passenger side

Closeup of the passenger door

I then swapped over parts from the 95 Si that I owned for just one week before I got this car. I swapped the tailgate, passenger door, passenger fender, and hood.

I later had rear quarter patch panels installed and painted the entire car Dark blue.

Then I went through a few phases with the exterior:
Denji Projectors, clear side lights and a modified grill insert from a 03-05 Eclipse:


Installed a block heater:


Installed WeatherTech Window Visors and Spoon style mirrors:

Experimented and made a Kammback for the car:


It later came off for some redesigning.

Picked up some rare optional CRX HF wheels to rock for winter use (painted them bronze because the OEM white was covered with rust from the brake system)


Made some side skirts and picked up some Enkei Conpe-8 rims for summer:



Picked up some OEM fog lights, and OEM front lip, made a belly pan, and found some TYC one piece headlights:



Put a Spoon style front lip on and polished the paint and re-cleared the hood:



Swapped in a freshly rebuilt D15Z1 (stock VX) motor at 380,000miles:


Then I made a more aerodynamic front bumper for winter with a couple different versions of front air dams:






So after three years, this is as it sits. I'm making one more version of a front air dam when the material arrives this week. Then it's just driving it through the winter and counting the days until spring when I can work on it again.

Now you know a little more about the work I've put into my VX. Any questions and comments are welcomed as long as they're positive.

[GasSavers_Scott]

First off, love the car, it looks like when you found it, that it was on the verge of going away forever. How did it run with the header? I have been debating on putting one on my Focus, it has a factory tube shorty header, but the collector is a left-right design and has a squish area, I worry about loosing my squish area and loosing my torque since its an automatic.

Its great that you put 55 MPG on the back.

Also, how do you put such big pictures on your thread, I only managed to get a small picture on one of my articles on vegetable oil candles and I had to use a link to attach it, something I'm missing.

Computer literacy test: Is the computer on? O.K. I got that part.

[GasSavers_TomO]

Originally Posted by Scott

First off, love the car, it looks like when you found it, that it was on the verge of going away forever.

It was close to getting a swap done to it and a restoration from the guy that I bought it from. (like most VXs, it would've been swapped out to a non-VTEC-E motor) I actually even talk to the guy that I bought it from and he wishes that he had kept it after he'd seen what I had done to it.

Originally Posted by Scott

How did it run with the header? I have been debating on putting one on my Focus, it has a factory tube shorty header, but the collector is a left-right design and has a squish area, I worry about loosing my squish area and loosing my torque since its an automatic.

I replaced my manifold due to the Catalytic Converter was going out. Couldn't find a viable replacement at the time (was over $200 for just the converter) and was able to get a full exhaust system made, by me, for just over $125.
I wouldn't recommend swapping out the header on your Focus unless it's a cost issue to repair something. The factory system would be best for it.

Originally Posted by Scott

Its great that you put 55 MPG on the back.

Thanks, it gives me something to strive for and reminds me every time I look in the rear view mirror. Plus it shows other drivers wht can be done with a little effort and the right car.

Originally Posted by Scott

Also, how do you put such big pictures on your thread, I only managed to get a small picture on one of my articles on vegetable oil candles and I had to use a link to attach it, something I'm missing.

Computer literacy test: Is the computer on? O.K. I got that part.

I use ImagsShack for most of my hosting. I also resize most of my pictures to 600x480. but imageshack allows you to have a thumbnail picture that is a click able link if you want the image to be larger. Like some of my pictures that are 1200+ pixels in size in this post. you can click on them and see the full size.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by Scott

Also, how do you put such big pictures on your thread, I only managed to get a small picture on one of my articles on vegetable oil candles and I had to use a link to attach it, something I'm missing.

I wrote up a very detailed manual for posting pictures on forums.
http://allofftopic.com/showthread.php?t=269

[jmf]

what has helped thrifty the most for gas mileage?

[GasSavers_TomO]

Adjusting my driving habit has helped the most actually

[GasSavers_TomO]

Just a little update:
I installed my HID lights into those TYC one piece projector headlights and have been super happy with the results.

Light output has almost doubled (1500 lumens with halogen, 3200 lumens HID) and light coverage is way better.

I've gotten high beamed a couple times with the halogens even though they were aimed right. They did have a horrible hot spot in them. Now with the HIDs in there, I have not gotten beamed once. The light is much more evenly spread on the road.

I also have the final version of my rubber lip on my car (will get pics today). It looks just like the green one posted above but is black, lol.

The next project that I'm tackling is a full exterior LED conversion. I am in the process of making the boards to place inside the rear tail lights. The running/brake lights will consist of 240 red/orange Lumiled LEDs and the turn signals will consist of ~160 Amber Lumiled LEDs. Total wattage for this setup will draw only 48Watts while braking, that's less than half of what the stock incandescent light system draws. Along with the 40W reduction from the HID system I'm dropping just over 120W from my electrical system, for a whopping .16HP increase, lol.

I'll be taking pictures of the whole process this time around so others can see and hopefully be inspired.

[Archangelxxll]

thats is beautifull. i wish i can get mine to look that nice and clean one day

[mochabuzz]

I would love to have a car like this!

[GasSavers_TomO]

Thanks to some inspiration from Daox, I installed my external plug for my block heater last night so I don't have to pop open the hood on my car anymore.
You can also see the black rubber version of the front air dam that I am currently using.