Hey Guys,

Just bought myself a 1994 Civic DX Hatchback today with 110,000 miles from a member here on Honda Tech:

http://hondamarketplace.com/zerothread/1765242

Chase was great to deal with and honest about the few significant (still small) problems that the car had. Already took care of the pinhole leak in the coolant return hose and now all that I really need to to is make the horn work and it's ready to roll as a good daily driver.

So far so good. Car is slightly lowered and an older model so, to me, it rides much like a covered wagon. But, I should qualify that in that my other car is a 2002 BMW 325I with brand new shocks, struts, bushings, control arms, etc. So, all things considered the Civic actually rides pretty well.

So, I'll probably be around here a bit more now that I have a Honda even though I seem to have been registered for 695 days *laughs*

- Jacob


Modified by sundownz at 5:34 PM 10/8/2006

 

i just recently got myself a 93 hatch.

welcome to both of us

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by the_militant &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i just recently got myself a 93 hatch.

welcome to both of us </TD></TR></TABLE>

what color?

 

Good stuff, I'm pretty excited about the idea. It's a bit of fun to have a cheaper, easier to work on car around to drive day to day. Not to mention the crazy good gas mileage these DX models get!

Just changed my oil with some of that new full sythetic Valvoline Maxlife 5w30 oil. I am not sure if this car would take so kindly to the 0w30 Amsoil that I run in my BMW as I do believe it burns a *smidge* of oil. Chase tells me the oil change was due (~3,000 on the oil), and it was at most 1/2 quart low from the top dot on the stick.

So far I ordered an inexpensive short ram air intake from e-bay tonight. As of now my cone style filter is sticking directly out of the intake of the car. I've had good enough luck with the e-bay intakes in the past to feel good about this one -- I only really want it for appearance and to attach the emissions hose back to the pipe anyway

The real purpose of this car, down the line, will be for all out street pouding style sound. Not for actual street usage, mind you, but for car and stereo shows to bring people to my booth (I was at NOPI Nationals if anyone saw Sundown Audio there, we had a truck with 8 x 12" subs along with Stereo Integrity).

- Jacob


Modified by sundownz at 5:35 PM 10/8/2006

 

welcome to the family man, the more you drive a honda the more you like them. you'll miss it more than your other cars if you sell it. if your gonna do audio stuff look into getting the optional audio console. https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=635025

 

That looks interesting, I may have to look into that if my install requires more than the DIN CD player unit.

I just re-fueled for the first time today since my initial fill up. I got 36.9 MPG with my typical commute to work driving, with a fair amount of spirited driving in there.

On that note... I'm running 93 octane by reflex since I needed 91+ in the BMW and it was either 89 or 93 here. Is the 1.5L engine in my car high enough compression to warrant higher octane fuel or not? I'm used to the bit of extra cost (only 10 cents over 87 octane at my regular station anyway)... so if it benefits I'll just keep on using it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sundownz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">That looks interesting, I may have to look into that if my install requires more than the DIN CD player unit.

I just re-fueled for the first time today since my initial fill up. I got 36.9 MPG with my typical commute to work driving, with a fair amount of spirited driving in there.

On that note... I'm running 93 octane by reflex since I needed 91+ in the BMW and it was either 89 or 93 here. Is the 1.5L engine in my car high enough compression to warrant higher octane fuel or not? I'm used to the bit of extra cost (only 10 cents over 87 octane at my regular station anyway)... so if it benefits I'll just keep on using it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

using the higher octane won't hurt, but the motor you have doesn't really have that much of a high compression for it. 87 will work fine too.

 

the higher octane is usually cleaner as well(shell v-power actually has cleaner in it and is good stuff.) and higher octane will give you slightly better gas miledge, and if you always use 93 you could advance your timing alittle for a slight performance increase.

 

primered it because it had a crap primer job before
so its flat black right now, but noone has seen it because my distributor is shot (hopfully thats what it is) and im not gettin one till tomorrow

 

how much did you for it? i saw that one in the marketplace forum, great looking car. good luck to you... you have a nice canvas to start from

 

i've owned all of my hondas less than a one year span. yeah...

i miss them...

now i'm growing nostalgia for my volkswagen.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 4g4drb17 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">and higher octane will give you slightly better gas miledge, and if you always use 93 you could advance your timing alittle for a slight performance increase.</TD></TR></TABLE>

EH? Explain.

How can you change your engine's compression by advancing the timing? And I really don't think the difference in power or mileage between different octane percentages is even noticeable.

But anyways, congrats to the OP on the new Honda.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by thahuhstunna &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">how much did you for it? i saw that one in the marketplace forum, great looking car. good luck to you... you have a nice canvas to start from </TD></TR></TABLE>

I gave him the $4k asking price for it, didn't seem too outlandish to me since the car is in great overall condition. The engine runs VERY well and the tranmission is very solid. Just a few electrical bugs here and there (horn, and some tail lights) -- but nothing I can't fix in a few days.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by philosofy1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">using the higher octane won't hurt, but the motor you have doesn't really have that much of a high compression for it. 87 will work fine too.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Indeed. I'll give it a shot with the lower octane fuels to see how it does. Do you know the compression ratio on the engine by chance? I have the D15B8 motor.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TorquelessB16 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
But anyways, congrats to the OP on the new Honda. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks I'm really enjoying the car so far. I'll probably end up selling the BMW even though I don't want to. It's simply too expensive to be practical for me at this time. By the time I get my power steering system fixed I'll be $1,000 in the hole on parts since I do the work myself. Fortunatly, I owe less than it's worth so I won't lose my butt too bad when I go to sell it.

 

That car is absolutely beautiful.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TorquelessB16 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">EH? Explain.

How can you change your engine's compression by advancing the timing? And I really don't think the difference in power or mileage between different octane percentages is even noticeable.

But anyways, congrats to the OP on the new Honda. </TD></TR></TABLE>

ah i never said anything about compression. and higher octane feul burns slower, and more consistantly. it leads to better gas miledge, if you dont believe record your mpg using both types of fuel

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 4g4drb17 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ah i never said anything about compression. and higher octane feul burns slower, and more consistantly. it leads to better gas miledge, if you dont believe record your mpg using both types of fuel</TD></TR></TABLE>

Actually that's a pure myth.

Higher octane gas does not lead to better gas mileage. It simply means you can run higher compression before it preignites. All octane ratings mean is the higher the octane, the more it can be compressed before preiginition. If you're running a high compression motor then you may need to bump up the octane if it's mis-firing.

<u>If it is not mis-firing due to preignition:</u> Putting higher octane gas in there will not help you in any way, shape, or form.

EDIT:
PS: This does not apply for FI builds which nominally run low compression. This is for naturally aspired builds (or any stock honda build for that matter). Stock = naturally aspired - therefore this falls under that category.

 

Very nice looking EG.

 

I just picked up a 99 SI.
Congrats to the three of us.................

 

Congradulations man!

 

i recently got my car too kinda... good luck with your automobiles

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Syndacate &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">That car is absolutely beautiful. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks! I really fell in love with it when I saw it. It's not perfect but I consider it about as good as you can get from a 1994 with 100k+ miles. I feel very good about my purchase when I see it in the driveway.

I'll miss my BMW and it's comfort... but it is a 2002 model and did cost WAY more, so that sort of thing is to be expected. For the cash the Civic is just a great daily car.

PS: I got 40.75 mpg on my second tank, still running 93 octane for the time being. I'll probably try 89 on my next tank to see how it runs.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 4g4drb17 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ah i never said anything about compression. and higher octane feul burns slower, and more consistantly. it leads to better gas miledge, if you dont believe record your mpg using both types of fuel</TD></TR></TABLE>

I am very OCD about gas mileage... I have 80,000 miles of data for my old 1995 Firebird and 25,000 miles of data for my BMW. I always always track mileage on every tank of gas on my cars... is that so bad?

I even plotted the 95' Firebird data out in Excel to look for the effects of AC on gas mileage -- which, btw, on that car was less than 1 MPG and is statistically insignificant and could just as easily be attributed to driving behavior.

So... when I try out different grades of fuel, if no consensus is made here, I'll make a post in around 6 months with loads of data points. My commute driving is fairly consistant so the data should be relatively reliable.


Modified by sundownz at 5:35 PM 10/8/2006

 

I looked up some stuff on octane vs. compression ratio on Google. My research indicates that 87 octane is fine for compression ratios of 9.3:1 or lower. The engine in my DX hatch has 9.2:1 compression according to MSN Autos.

So... I will be switching over to 87 octane starting on my next tank. If for some reason my mileage goes down or the engine knocks I'll report back :-)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sundownz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I looked up some stuff on octane vs. compression ratio on Google. My research indicates that 87 octane is fine for compression ratios of 9.3:1 or lower. The engine in my DX hatch has 9.2:1 compression according to MSN Autos.

So... I will be switching over to 87 octane starting on my next tank. If for some reason my mileage goes down or the engine knocks I'll report back :-)</TD></TR></TABLE>


Don't worry, your gas mileage wont change nor will your engine ping from changing to the octane recommended for the car anyway. Checked out the thread, nice hatch, good luck with it and welcome to the wonderful world of Hondas. I love my hatch as well as the other couple of hondas I've owned and will never not own a honda again.