Project daily commuter to start next week.

[RyanA]

Well, I needed something to beat around in for now so I decided to make a fuel economy car. I'm not a real fan of coupes but I do like the fuel economy of the Civic HX. Well, I am getting a 96 Civic DX 4 door either tomorrow or Friday. Plan is to pull the stock engine/trans/harness/ECU and replace them all with a full HX swap. I'm still kicking around doing a CX/VX trans as people are seeing 50-55 mpg on the highway at around 60 mph. Worst case, I'll just leave the HX trans in for now. I figure since the DX is lighter, I should be able to squeeze just a bit more mileage than what an HX gets. I'm hoping for well over 40 mpg's. We'll see how it turns out...

Car I'm picking up is not pretty as the paint is faded on hood and roof. No rust, no major dents or damage. I'll post up before and after pics as soon as I get the car.

[mr. brass]

good luck with the swap! My Prelude get about 30mpg and I feel like the king of the world, haha, 50 would be unreal

[x357rq]

that's awesome! I had a vx hatch that i could easily get 40-45mpg in...i used to piss my girlfriend off by driving 55mph on 44 coming back from rolla lol

[RyanA]

Well, got the car pretty much done a couple days ago. Drove it to get an alignment, to get it inspected, then to get it licensed. After those 20 miles, I filled it up with gas and drove about 350 miles last night to Nebraska. With me, my wife, her aunt, and the car full of stuff, I got 41 mpg on the first tank driving about 75 the whole time. I'm thinking with one or two people and no extra crap in the car, it will get 43-45 the way it sits. Next "mod" is tires for my HX wheels. After a couple tanks with them, I plan on changing the exhaust manifold (this one is cracked), making grille block offs, possibly shaving outside mirrors and putting peep mirrors inside (have to check legality of that one), and probably doing an undercar pan. Mileage will be with power steering and AC both still intact and the car has a full size spare tire, jack, lug wrench, etc. I may play around with ride height just a bit to see how big a difference it really makes, too.

Recap on what the car is and what I've done so far:

1996 Civic DX 4 door (96 IS the worst year ever for paint on these cars...)
1997 Civic HX engine/trans

Mantenance performed so far:

Engine:
Oil pan gasket
Valve cover gasket
Rear main seal
Timing belt/Water pump/Tensioner
Valve lash
Cleaned EGR passages
Oil change/fresh coolant
All new coolant/radiator hoses
Re routed stock intake tube and removed resonator box that goes outside frame rail in front of tire.
AC system installed and vacuumed down. Will charge this coming week once I have batteries for my scale.

Trans:
New ISB and ISB seal
New flywheel/clutch disc/pressure plate/pilot bearing/TOB
New axles
Fresh trans fluid (Pennzoil SynchroMesh since no Honda dealer close)


Other:
Civic Si front control arms, sway bar, and lower shock forks (just to make it go around curves a bit better)
New outer tie rod ends both sides
New front rotors, ceramic pads.
3 wheel bearings new, other one near new
Newer OEM Honda HX exhaust system
Fastline shifter
New shift linkage bushings
HX cluster (actually had within 300 miles of what the car actually had on it. LOL)
LX center console and armrest
Tinted windows all around 35%. They metered at 32% which is the minimum legal LT you can have without getting a ticket.
OEM mud flaps all around

Car looks pretty cruddy since the clear is coming off the hood/roof and clear and paint is faded completely off of the top of the passenger fender. I'm just going to leave it looking the way it does as I kind of like the "turd" look. Driver door has some worn out hinges so I plan on replacing those this coming week; I can't handle the door dropping when it's opened. I just happen to have 3 or 4 sets of driver door hinges laying around...

[Gunmetal Si]

good deal. im averaging about 35 in the si right now.