Loserkidwac

I have also dubbed it "Project Sol Cleansing"

So a little background, I was the owner of a 1995 Civic VX which was an amazing Daily driver I was driving about 70miles round trip for work and it was a huge help to be getting 40+ mpg! Well because of a teenage drive probably not paying attention to what she was doing my VX was totaled I walked away with only a broken rib...anyways...

I bought the VX back from the insurance company, which never pays you what a car is truly worth so i started to look for a new VX with very little luck even a clena hatch or coupe was hard to come by without over paying out the *** (hey I'm cheap ) So I finally stumbled across 94 Del Sol for a reasonable price! Of course it had a blown head gasket and was auto but I couldn't pass it up for the price since I had a motor and everything for a 5 speed swap sitting in the driveway!!
Well I finally had it out for its first test drive since the project began (6/14/08) and have been keeping a thread of the progress on another site:
http://www.gassavers.org/showt...12878

Unlike most projects the goal for this isn't power, its a DD and I am trying to get 50mpg consistanly on my daily commute! figured some people here might appreciate this:

Tired old D15b7 in a dirty engine bay


The new D15z1 at home in a clean bay!!


Here is one sitting in the driveway before the tear down


I need to finish up the rear suspension then reinstall the interior, planning to get the alignment and some tint done next week!

List of work and mods:
D15z1 complete Vtec-e Swap
Auto to manual conversion (wired correctly with clutch relay and clutch sensor to ECU)
New Exedy Stage 1 clutch
Various gaskets replaced in the motor
New water pump and timing belt
New OEM Cool and Rad hoses
New Torque and rear motor mounts from Honda
Innovative Auto to Manual Mount
New Balljoints
New UCAs and LCAs all around (camber adjustable rears)
New Trailing arm bushings
Koni Yellows all around
Ground controls up front and just eibach pros in the rear
Manual Steering rack swap from VX (new inner and outer end links)
AC system completely removed(previous own removered 1/2 already, getting tint to help, hopefully :-P)
Bronze HX wheels and Gun Metal VX wheels w/snow tires for the winter
Amber Corner lights
OEM 92-95 Si/Ex/Vx front spoiler/lip
OEM VX Grill block
OEM VX rear bumper diffuser(still needs mounted fingers crossed)
Vortekz Generator Delta Wings
OEM 92-95 Civic Hatch custom mounted (working on this right now for aerodynamic improvements )

I'm sure I missed listing something but feel free to leave comments or questions!

Thanks...Matt

randomnineh2b

wow man that del sol is really clean, nice black

Loserkidwac

funny thing is i the pic it is filthy lol I am waiting till I am done with all the mechanical stuff and then it is getting a good bath, a little clay bar action, and then a nice wax...I'm excited to see how it turns out it seems promising!

Looks like I just need to weld the whole in the floor where the auto cables came threw and weld up the exhaust...then it should be road ready!

Just had my friend who also has a VX hatch take it for a spin and said it seems a little quicker then his hatch...the motor I swapped seems pretty healthy!

randomnineh2b

the picture is decietful then cause it dont look dirty at all well except for the donks, but good luck with it so you mind me asking how much you swooped it up for?

Loserkidwac

Nah Im not selling it anytime soon or probably ever, snagged it up for $1100, had a blown head gasket but I was only really looking for a shell for my VX swap...and I haven't seen any Del Sols around here listed for less then $2K, ones even in worse shape then this was...oh it has 250K on it but I've replaced the entire suspension and everything under the hood I'm hoping it will be good for another 200K more now!

UfoTofU

Looks good on here too

Gotta update this thread with all the pics off of GS.

It's always good to see projects to give me motivation to work on mine.

94EG8

Very nice, looks clean

randomnineh2b

so wats the updates hahaha

Loserkidwac

Well I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel!!!

All of the wiring is complete and done properly, no hack job here!! Got an up shift light too!!

Just finished putting the rear suspension on, including some camber adjustable UCAs, New Trailing arm bushing (extremely needed!), Light weight Alum LCAs, Koni Yellows, and Eibach Springs...




I patched up the whole where the auto cables originally came threw, welded and the some JB Weld to seal it up nice!


I also took the exhaust of the VX and chopped it to fit the Del Sol...it was very simple just cut out about a 6" section and welded it back together! The Del Sol exhaust came off in 3 sections that rusted apart :-P


Gonna work on making the VX rear diffuser fit the del sol...its close but needs some massaging...might opt for a custom peice too rather then hacking up a good OEM piece worth $40 new :-P



Ah I also took some more recent pictures of my VX



Dumped :-P


Thats all for now, gonna get some more work done tonight...

mattcivic

have u gotten any mpg#s yet?

Loserkidwac

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mattcivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">have u gotten any mpg#s yet?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I've actually just finished putting the car back together last night, took it for a spin just to make sure everything is cool and its fun to drive! I need to get an alignment before I will have any mpg #, but I am trying to do that today or tomorrow! I'm hoping to be low 40's right now before I add the aero mods I have...so my fingers are crossed

Loserkidwac

Well she is road ready!!

Put the hood back on and cleaned all the door jams, trunk sill etc



Resealed and installed the rear window...


Installed the Dash...


and then the rest of the interior, the carpet and seats still need a good cleaning but thats the next on the list



Installed the up shift light in the dummy plate next to the aux light switch, its perfect location!

Loserkidwac

Well drove around in the VX Sol a little today and its a blast to drive..filled up with a full tank of gas, can't wait to see what mpg I am getting, we'll see, my hatch could go about 115 miles on a 1/4 tank but that was also a 10 gallon and the sol has a 12...so i'm just gonna cross my fingers and hope for at least that..i only have 17miles on this tank so far :-P

Drove threw a car was just to get some of the dirt off...today I am going to give a good scrub down or 2 its still really dirty, then clay bar, some scratch remover and then some wax...looks like a long day...plus I might start prepping the wheels and VC for paint...ugh

Also seems like I have a brake leak too which I will have to address..the pedal starts to sink and the pass caliper looked a little wet...hopefully i just forgot to remove the old washer gasket and its a simple fix...well here are some pics from this morning....

NW Classic Honda

In for the gas economy!

Loserkidwac

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mattcivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">have u gotten any mpg#s yet?</TD></TR></TABLE>


Finally got some numbers to post up,

First tank I just did 118 miles or so and couldn't wait to run the tank down so I topped it of...it was 35.5mpg, not as impressive as i was hoping for but this was with some hard driving, the roof off and hadn't had the the wheel alignment yet...

next trip was mostly all highway with some mpg conscious driving techniques in practice, all windows down for the whole trip and roof on, managed to squeeze 48mpg out of her!! about 360 miles and and only used about 7.5 gallons?!?! on a 12 gallon tank!

The return trip I decided to leave the side windows up and just use the rear to vent with the roof on, a little warmer but not unbearable and she put down 50mpg! These were all before the grill block, front lip, rear diffuser, VG's, and light weight HX wheels have been installed, so I am hoping to see some decent increases with those mods...oh this trip used about 5 gallons and was 250 miles so theoretically I should be able to squeeze about 600 highway miles out of a tank!

I'm getting close to fill up again, i temporarily put the HX wheels on, they still need paint and 2 new tires my steelies were to unbalanced and the 195 were rubbing, the HX 175 made a big difference since the car is very low

This weekend if I can get some time I will paint the wheels and install some of the areo stuff, I have some good numbers to use as a baseline after this next "city" tank...I'm thinking high 30's-40mpg for city and high 40's-50mpg for highway, not to shabby and I can hopefully improve that!

Thanks for the comments guys!

mattcivic

awsome

Loserkidwac

OK well its been a little since I've updated this thread...not to much different...I've had a few CEL's one for the O2 and one for the VSS...no real signs of a Bad O2 so i think it is wiring related, and the VSS has been swapped so that is def wire related...so as I get some time I am going to try and trace those issues down but I'm still getting mid to high 30mpgs with my daily commute and 50mpg on the highway...

I installed my OEM VX grill block...Needed a little trimming in the center but fits well...I think I am however going to make a new one out of coroplast and have it sit in front of the grill flush with the front of the bumper...



Then over the weekend I made my rear diffuser...I think it came out great, made it in a few separate pieces and used some zipties and tape...it seems to be fine after 200+ miles in the rain

Here is a few pics as I made it, let me know what you guys think:

projectTeG

this might sound like a retarded question, im not too familiar with the VX, but whats the grill block for?

Loserkidwac

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by projectTeG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">this might sound like a retarded question, im not too familiar with the VX, but whats the grill block for?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Don't worry you aren't the only one...Ecomoders aren't to prevalent, since this is my DD its goal is good gas mileage so I can save money to spend on performance for my CRX

The grill block can have a few functions, I am actually going to be making another one that will sit flush with the front of the bumper and cover the entire grill...this will keep air from entering into the engine bay and improve aerodynamics...

It is also used to keep under hood temperatures up, unlike performance a warmer intake temp is ideal, but there is a point that is too hot of course...the goal is to not have the fan turn on more then normal but, I used a full grill block on my VX and i didn't have any over heating issues or the fan kicking on... also if you get the temps to high you will be requiring more throttle which isn't the goal either...you will lose some power but you will gain some fuel economy...I also have the stock intake "horn" reversed and turned towards the motor instead of towards the fender...this is an easy way to make a WAI...another goal is to get the engine up to temp quicker so you can get into closed loop where it is using the wideband O2 and not the rich mixture of open loop, once it is warmed up i can take advantage of lean burn...HTH

Thanks...Matt

thehatchninja

lean burn is cool. I wish i had done a y5 headswap instead of y8.

Nice project.