Whats the secret behind the Civic HF's high fuel economy?

[OS]

Originally posted by: CFster

Originally posted by: OS

Originally posted by: CFster
The big drawback to the HX Civics was the fact that they all came with CVT transmissions.

Bad news.

If the transmission ever goes get ready to fork over some serious ching.

that was 7th gen civic only (01+).

besides if it's that expensive, you don't have to replace it with the original setup, you can swap to a regular civic powertrain.

Oh really? How easy is that.

I have one sitting on my lot that we don't know what to do with....

heh, so you have an 01+ civic coupe with a busted tranny just sitting around? Where are you located? That'd be a good project car.

I don't know how difficult, i've never actually done it, it's just an idea. I've seen honda guys swap all kinds of crazy stuff between cars, so changing the tranny/powertrain for another original setup seems like small beans to me.

You might be able to just buy a regular auto tranny and ECU from DX/LX/EX and hope it works with the original motor. If not, you'd have to swap the engine also. If the shifter is different you'd need that also.

I'd just go to hondaautomotiveparts.com and look at a service manual to see how much difference in parts there is.

 

[CFster]

Yeah, I've heard a lot of modules and harnesses have to be changed over, as well as some axles and suspension parts.

No thanks, the car isn't worth it to us.

It is after all...a Civic.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: CFster
Yeah, I've heard a lot of modules and harnesses have to be changed over, as well as some axles and suspension parts.

No thanks, the car isn't worth it to us.

It is after all...a Civic.

Suspension wise my casual glancing through shows it's all the same, the knuckles, suspension arm, struts/springs. The subframe is the same also.

As for the axles, It seems like the left axle is the same between 4AT LX/CVT HX but the right is different.



You must not know much about building hondas. You can probably buy a TSX powertrain from that trainwreck 2 years ago and make that civic run 13s with almost all factory parts with the retail 6K cost on the CVT unit only. Seems like an opportunity to me.

 

[CFster]

Originally posted by: OS
You must not know much about building hondas. You can probably buy a TSX powertrain from that trainwreck 2 years ago and make that civic run 13s with almost all factory parts with the retail 6K cost on the CVT unit only. Seems like an opportunity to me.

That is correct, I don't know much about building Hondas.

I prefer cars with horsepower if I want to go fast.

This was to be a daily driver - not worth the trouble. It can sit and rust.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: CFster

Originally posted by: OS
You must not know much about building hondas. You can probably buy a TSX powertrain from that trainwreck 2 years ago and make that civic run 13s with almost all factory parts with the retail 6K cost on the CVT unit only. Seems like an opportunity to me.

That is correct, I don't know much about building Hondas.

I prefer cars with horsepower if I want to go fast.

This was to be a daily driver - not worth the trouble.

If you're already swapping the busted tranny, the labor is halfway there already. It's just a matter of know how. If anything, more people have converted EM2 civics to K series powertrains (RSX, TSX), than converting CVT to an LX/EX setup, so the know how would be easier to find on honda forums.


Anyways, if you intend to stay with a watered down setup, I'd just buy a DX/LX/EX engine/tranny or front clip or whatever from a junkyard and start swapping. It looks like a piece of cake job as far as swaps go.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: CFster
This was to be a daily driver - not worth the trouble. It can sit and rust.

if you're in CA and you're just gonna let it sit, you can give it to me.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: SampSon
Are there any actual personally observed MPG numbers for these cars?
It seems magical that hybrids get lower actual fuel economy than existing non-hyrid cars.

I had a '91 CRX Si back in the day that got a consistent 45 mpg highway. I drove the car an average 4k/mo. highway miles for business, so I kept painstaking records.
I've mentioned this car before here. I could drive to Seattle and back (~400 mile round-trip) on less than $10 bucks in gas.

 

[clickynext]

Originally posted by: MS Dawn
Now THIS is a car I would own. :laugh:

The top gear crew could learn a thing or two from that! (referring to the latest episode)

 

[ballmode]

Gearing, I had one and 2nd gear is so tall. I couldn't pass people at all.