Xeryon Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Timeline of events: Monday: Wife says, I think I want to sell my car and get a Sol. I reply, we'll wash and wax the accord and get some pretty shots on Tuesday, you can then list it and sell it when you are ready to. Tuesday: Wash and Wax, glamor shots, she tells me to list it that night. I list it on craigslist at 10pm Wednesday am: 6 calls about the car before lunch Wednesday pm: 8pm first people to show up and look at it drop a $500 deposit on the car, remainder to be paid the next day we we drop it off to them. 98 accord sedan sells for $3750, no haggling, cash, car had 172,000 miles on it, takes less then 24 hours Wednesday midnight: scour every honda website I can find, as well as ebay, autotrader, msn auto, yahoo auto, craigslist, and several others. find ~200 sols for sale nationwide. all of them with high milage or crazy high prices. find 5 candidates nationwide, two in socal, one in chicago, one in sc and one in miami. Thursday am: receive 12 more high res pics of car from dealer in miami Thursday Afternoon: send Sol to mechanics shop for evaluation, car checks out well. receive rest of cash for accord. Thursday night: book two plane tickets to Ft Lauderdale. Friday am: 5:45 on plane to florida, 12 noon sign paper work, pay in cash and drive away. Sunday 10pm, arrived home, 1250 miles by air, 1250 miles by car, two grandparents houses visited, one Tropical Storm making highway driving have 100ft visibility for 8 hours straight, realized that full downpours + 50mph sustained winds and old Florida sun-baked roof moldings do not make for a dry ride, and an avg of 43mpg through the mountains and at an avg speed of just under 80mph makes for one happy wife. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe W Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Congratulations.. Its nice when things go your way. Glad to see everything worked out for you and your wife. #1 Priority get that leak fixed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamLach Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 What a story haha. That's a clean car man. Are you going to do anything to it, or just keep it stock since it's your wife's? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xeryon Posted June 4, 2007 Author Share Posted June 4, 2007 It should remain largely stock mechanically as this is a long-distance commuter car. She runs an 80+ mile commute every day to get to work. This is a 5spd S model The modifications we are looking at for the sol will all be changes to try and maximize fuel economy without sacrificing general comfort. (the sport mods go on my civic ). The things I am trying to figure out now is what alterations can be made that will either lighten the car or increase efficiency. So far the things I have come up with, but will not actually do them all: cost vs gain and comfort vs gain have to be taken into account. replace hood and fenders with fiberglass strip interior to various extents strip trunk, spare tire and gear replace stock tires and steelies with lighter weight after market rims remove ac from car completely, save weight and drag on motor researching if underdrive pulley's would have a positive effect on gas milage my assumption is that a lighter weight flywheel may improve mileage my initial thought is that lowering height may improve mileage due to cutting airflow from under the car (purely conjecture on my end for this) I have read of removing alternator and operating car on deep cycle batteries. then using external source to recharge batteries. external sources are usually more efficient at recharging the batteries vs the parasitic drag setup most cars utilize. weight of the batteries is offset by removing the drag on the motor from the alt. Feel free to add whatever you think. this was the most i could think of so far. Some are possibilities, others are just crazy talk... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TS John Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Looks like a great car. I dunno how much you can improve on 43 mpgs. That's what I got in my sol when I did all highway on my way to Ohio to sell it. Then I got 43 on the way back in my crx that didn't even have the oxygen sensor wired properly so it was constantly throwing a CEL. I stripped the trunk of my sol like you said and never carried extra stuff with me. Also tried driving it really light for a full tank. Didn't make much difference. So, basically, if you really improve the mileage much I'd be surprised, but it'll be an interesting experiment. Not sure the gas savings will outweight the expenses but go ahead and good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xeryon Posted June 4, 2007 Author Share Posted June 4, 2007 One thing I found, and now I can't find the article, is that keeping your fuel tank as full as possible provides better gas mileage. When the tank gets more and more empty the amount of fuel that turns to vapors increases, when you open the gas cap and refuel the vapors escape. The more empty your tank the more gas that has evaporated and escapes. Simple concept, interesting that no one realized (or wrote about) this fact earlier. The vapor loss outweighs the lighter tank gains, net result is that over a period of time running your tank from full to almost empty vs full to 1/2 tank is about 1mpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamLach Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 remove ac from car completely, save weight and drag on motor your wife is going to kick your ass when you tell her that lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xeryon Posted June 4, 2007 Author Share Posted June 4, 2007 it was her suggestion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TS John Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Keep in mind that the AC stuff in the sol is pretty light. At most you'll free up 50 lbs. Not trying to discourage you -- I'm curious to see how this plays out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamLach Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 it was her suggestion Wish my girlfriend was like that....She about sh!t a brick when I told her I was going to remove the AC once I do my swap....Said she wouldn't ride in it without AC haha. I guess thats a win win though...the AC is about 50 lbs and my girlfriend is about 140....So my car will not be 190lbs lighter!!! win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xeryon Posted June 4, 2007 Author Share Posted June 4, 2007 Keep in mind that the AC stuff in the sol is pretty light. At most you'll free up 50 lbs. Not trying to discourage you -- I'm curious to see how this plays out. Me too, the Del Sol was what I had to convince her to get in place of buying a new prius. Shes hoping to push 50mpg in it before too long, without having to ruin the cars appearance and comfort too much to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kegger Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Nix the underdrive pulleys, they put more strain on the accessories and shorten the life of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xeryon Posted June 4, 2007 Author Share Posted June 4, 2007 Nix the underdrive pulleys, they put more strain on the accessories and shorten the life of them. The only accessory left would be the alternator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TS John Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 I thought that the alternator was the only thing that they strained. But if you get rid of that entirely.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamLach Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 Are del sols lighter that the EG/EH hatches? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xeryon Posted June 5, 2007 Author Share Posted June 5, 2007 don't think so, best i could find was 2306 on a 93 sol s. I think a 93 hatch was 2050 or so stock. The sol has a huge fat ass, which is no doubt where some of the extra weight comes in. The trunk lid must weigh 50lbs by itself Add to the fact that its a targa so the lower frame would have to be beefed up and I can see where the extra 300 lbs comes from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamLach Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 It's an interesting project man. Fiber glass hood and trunk, where are you going to find those? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xeryon Posted June 5, 2007 Author Share Posted June 5, 2007 all cf hoods and trunks are fiberglass with a cf overlay on them. Most places sell the hood for a little less without the cf overlay on it, you just have to call them and request one that way, or buy someone else's scratch and dent cf hood/trunk and just paint it body color anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TS John Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 I know you can get fiberglass stuff if it's a kit. Finding stock pieces in fiberglass might be tough. You can get CF hood/trunk lid and all that too. Doing that, stripping the trunk and traveling without a spare, and removing AC completely might lighten it by 200 lbs if you're lucky. I dunno. Maybe you'll be looking at 45 mpg highway. But if you're wife complains about those extra 5 mpgs she could be getting from the Prius point out how much more expensive those are. But, on the other hand, you can get a used Insight for about 5-7 grand, nowadays. Those get 66 highway miles to the gallon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xeryon Posted June 5, 2007 Author Share Posted June 5, 2007 the idea wasn't to match a prius or insight mpg to mpg, but to get into something cheaper and more fun and still get good mileage. now that we have it, the fun is kind of the opposite of the fun i am having with my civic, to try and de-tune it and mod it to get better milaege, which is almost the antithesis of what most people do aftermarket to their hondas. trouble with the prius and the insight is the batteries they use only have around a 7 year lifespan (as quoted by the manufacturers), so you can have a hefty expense when the batteries wear out too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humphries Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 all cf hoods and trunks are fiberglass with a cf overlay on them. Most places sell the hood for a little less without the cf overlay on it, you just have to call them and request one that way, or buy someone else's scratch and dent cf hood/trunk and just paint it body color anyway. no they arent. CF hoods are molded pieces of CF. no fiberglass at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xeryon Posted June 5, 2007 Author Share Posted June 5, 2007 What set VIS Carbon Fiber hoods apart from other hoods in the market? Our grade "A" carbon fiber hoods are the best in the industry. Each hood is built with a strong carbon fiber skeleton. The outer layer is hand-laid with carbon fiber along with several layers of clear coating that provides the Hi-gloss show-quality finish that other hoods just cannot imitate. The outermost layer of clear coats is a UV coating that protects it from the harmful rays of the sun. Unlike other hoods in the market, our hoods do not fade and turn yellow in a few months. The underside of each OEM hood is reinforced fiberglass with a one-piece fiberglass covering the underling skeleton to provide a clean factory look. We also have double-sided carbon fiber hoods whose skeletons are covered with carbon fiber for more refined look. right from VIS website to make a pure CF hood with no fiberglass would cost a fortune, and there is no additional weight loss from doing so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humphries Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 well even so.. it says the underside of the CF hood is molded fiberglass. not just skin of CF.. they're molded together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xeryon Posted June 6, 2007 Author Share Posted June 6, 2007 Well, we are both partially right: e-fight avoided Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TS John Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 Deffo keep us updated on this project, by the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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