Picking up my VX on Sunday! Pics!
 

Hi Gassavers! My name is robbie. Just signed up today.

so my story begins with me moving. I live in a place called Port Hueneme, Ca and work in Oxnard, Ca as a Mechcanical Engineer for a forged wheel factory. I graduated from UCSB with my ME degree in 2005 and have been working ever since. I moved to Port Hueneme about 8 months ago and figured it would be a good place because i could get all the room i needed to work on all my cars, 94 supra TT and my track/drift car a 95 240sx. It has been ok living here, but im only 23, and ive just been way to bored living umongst familys and whatnot, so i decided i need a change and will be moving down to Marina Del Rey, Ca on Dec 1. ----so heres were gassavers comes in. Ive always been a car nut, but never one to really look into mpg, i was more all about performance. I have two cars i rarely drive, and then my daily driver, which is a 92 nissan 240sx that i picked up for $1000. it only gets about 20mpg around town, but didnt matter much until now since im going from a 7mi commute to a 50mi to/from commute. Ive always admired hybrids, but could never justify spending 20-30k on a commuter and that will someday need big $ for batteries. I then became facinated with VW TDIs and quickly started searching for a 99+ Golf tdi. My only problem was that i still wasnt able to find one for under 9k, so i would most likely have to finance one if i found it, they are also almost impossible to find in CA. I started reading a lot on tdiclub.com, and quickly noticed their monthly mileage competitions. I was reading the Nov mileage thread and was astonished that these people were getting 60+ mpg out of their TDIs, but then i noticed the top two MPGers weren't even tdis, they were Civic VX's. ("The VX" was a huge inspiration btw) I was like what is a VX? so after about a week of research, i found that the VX would be a perfect canidate for my new commute, 50+ mpg with the right maintainance and i could pay for one with cash and not worry about financing it. now i just had to find one, and that i did.

A 1994 (non-CA) VX from AZ. orig owner (mechanic). all service, including o2 sensor and timing belt. 170k miles and clean as hell. So i bought a plane ticket and will be picking it up this sunday. here it is:

https://i15.tinypic.com/48rp02c.jpg

Welcome to the site. You've chosen very wisely with your vehicle purchase. Obviously the first thing to do is to get a baseline MPG figure and troubleshoot from there. You might want to get a new oxygen sensor, which is going to be more expensive for the Civic VX. I recommend ebay, which will help you find one for around $170.

Very nice! Hope that you can get some good figures out of your little green machine.

Looks like a great starting point. Those are nice looking cars, ours looks super clean.

Your Supra TT and 240 sound pretty sweet too. :thumbup:

Very nice pick. Would you tell us what it cost ya? That only looks mint! Welcome and enjoy.

RobbieVX

Welcome to GasSavers. I'm kinda new myself in the last couple weeks. You made the right choice. If you need help with anything, you will get it here.

Sure is pretty.

Welcome, you'll love the fact that you are getting a NON-CA emissions VX. That means there's one more chalk mark on teh board for teh VX team, lol.

Welcome. You certainly picked THE low-budget MPG king for highway commuting. Looks really nice too!

Hopefully it's in good operating condition and you can get lean-burn without any trouble. Please keep us posted...

thanks for the warm welcome.

im picking it up for $3250. i know its probably more than what people on here got their VXs for, but they are so hard to find in stock form, and considering the condition of this one, i think its a fair price. Im also moving in two weeks, so i needed something fairly quickly. with my old dd (92 240sx) i would end up spending about $300/month on gas at 25mpg and 100mi/day. by getting the VX i can hopefully get close to cutting that cost in half and save $100-$150 a month.

anyone have any suggestions on what maintanance i should perform right off the bat? there are things i could think of:

-over-inflate tires (50-60psi) possibly get some new LRR tires
-replace motor/tranny oil with 0w-20 synth or conventional?
-replace spark plugs, wires, cap/rotor
-replace o2 sensor (ouch)
-check/replace brakes and wheel bearings

does anyone know what the timing should be set at while idling? i only ask because im going to need to smog it once i bring it into CA and every car ive ever tried to smog has initially failed because of the timing.

Welcome to Gassavers. Now we can have a meet in Ventura County! (I'm in Ventura)

Congratulations on your VX, they are a great deal. I wouldn't worry about changing out the Oxygen sensor, until you get the car and see what sort of mileage you get. Additionally, I'd hook a voltmeter up to the O2 sensor output and monitor it, before you change it out. Generally, they either work or they don't, although they also can get into a state of poor responsiveness.

On your change of address, I can appreciate that Marina Del Rey might seem like it will have more life, for someone your age, but what a drag in terms of mileage. On the other hand, you can take PCH from Santa Monica to Port Hueneme, which is a nice drive, most of the time.

I dont think that price is bad either considering the condition it is in. That one looks great and as an added bonus it isn't that ugliest color Teal!

You are right finding a stock one is like finding a vigin at a faternity party.

-tires I am unaware of any LRR tires that will fit the 13inch VH rims. There may be some out there but I have not yet seen them.
- Oil I think that 0-20 only comes synthetic. I havent seen any conventional dyno- 0-20.
- plugs make sure they have the right VX plug in there (ZFR4F-11) even when I orded them from a honda dealer I got the wrong ones.
-o2 ebay is the best place I found for one.
-Brakes always check god knows what someone had done in there. Bearings I didnt replace mine just gave the tires the "wiggle" test when it was on the lift.

Good luck with it

^ jack - thanks for the useful info. its funny how i always end up with red cars, i dont think the teal is THAT bad.

is that how you guys are monitoring when the engine goes into "lean burn"? by hooking up a voltmeter to the o2 sensor?

yeah the commute is definatly 10 times worse, literally, but it wont be too bad once i get the vx. i was actually living in west hollywood while i worked in oxnard for a few months, and that was a bad commute, about 60mi each way on the most traveled section of the 101. it would take about an hour to get to work and 1.5-2hrs to get home. I think PCH will be a lot more relaxing and might actually yeild some good mpg's since the speed limit is 55 and chp loves the PHC. i am definatly down for a ventura county get together.

Check out Krousdb's posts on his VX. I believe he's got the voltage's listed in one of his posts, but that's how he is able to tell he's in lean burn. He say's he can get it to stay in lean burn, and maintain 55, with no drafting. He's posting significantly above average mileage, so he's got to be doing something right.

On PCH, you best well presume you've got LA Sheriff, up to the county line and CHP in Ventura. LA Sheriff on PCH can be a real pain, especially around holiday's. They love to stake out certain sections. The only speeding tickets I've had in the last 20 years are all courtesy the LA side of PCH. On the up side, they don't seem to patrol so much during rush hour's.

Michelin Harmony and Vredestein Quatrac2 are LRR tires that you can get in 13" sizes. I am currently running Michelin Harmony at 60psi on my CX.

Thanks for that tidbit!

Hi, Robbie! Welcome to a nest of fellow car nutz!
FE is my game ; I've found a way to have your torque and sip it, too! LOL!
Find your way to the "GasSavers Marketplace" on this site...look under the "For Sale"section, find my ad "Another gas additive?" ...and I will be only too glad to send you 6 pages of more info (in exchange for your mailing address...that's what the SASE is for). Fair? -Ted Hart (a fellow ME, used to live in Fullerton!)

When you pick up your car, you should try to find out how recently the timing belt and the water pump were replaced. The timing belt's are supposed to be replaced every 50,000 miles, although they can go a lot further. However, a broken timing belt is a major annoyance, at best and may potentially ruing the valve train, also. If you do need to get replace the belt, it would be prudent to do your water pump also, since you have to remove the belt to get to the water pump. The water pump's tend to go out around 200,000.

Good Luck, nice looking car!

thanks for the info gary. supposedly the timing belt and water pump were replaced at 14x,000 miles. i will probably replace them both when i get the chance, just for the piece of mind.

If the pump was replaced at 14x,000 then I wouldn't worry about it. You should be able to pull the cover to the timing belt and see what sort of condition the belt is in. If it's looking dry, old and stringy, then it's past time to get a new belt. If it look's good, no tiny crack's, fairly fresh, then it's probably good for awhile.

just got back last night and was very impressed with the car. picked it up at about noon, filled up the tank, and drove back from pheonix to la, stopped in palms springs at my moms. the thing is so clean, the guy garaged it all its life and had all the paperwork including the original window stricker. i drove anywhere between 65-75 mph the whole way (i know not the most efficient speed, but with a speed limit of 75, its hard to go much slower). got all the way pack to port hueneme (448mi) and the tank seemed to be pretty low, so i filled it up (8.3gal) aproxx 53mpg, which was very impressive considering i didnt do anything to the car execpt fill it up and drive.

53 mpg @ 65-75 is very promising. I'd even say: "holy lean burn, Batman!"

You're going to enjoy it.

(I'm nursing a simmering case of VX envy, if you haven't noticed yet.)

Very Nice! By those stats that was money well spent!

Congrats Robbie! 53 MPG at 75MPH without drafting sounds about right. I get 60-65 at 60MPH and 70 MPG at 55 MPH without drafting.

Hook up a DMM to D16 and D18. When the O2 is cold, you will see -.0.77V. If you see +0.77 then switch the leads. You will see +0.40 during lean burn cruising. 0.20 at idle. You also might consider buying a SuperMID.

thanks. the DMM will be one of the first things i do. i had the A/C on for about 250 of the 450 miles as well. im sure i could get some good numbers with the a/c off and going a little slower.

anyone have any useful tips for smogging this thing? i know the out-of-ca cars put out more Nox, do i have to make sure i tell the smog tech its out of state? any info would be great, i cant stand going all the way over the to smog check place and then going home with a FAILED cert.

What's amazing about the VX is not only the fuel economy it can manage but also 0-60 mph in ~10 seconds. Definately a good platform to build a fuel miser from. Give it some aeromods, LRR tires and all the rest, and youll be well on your way.

It's not even that aerodynamic of a car. Imagine a small, aerodynamic sports car that used that engine. Say, ~1,200 pounds, a .20 Cd, and 15 square foot frontal area...

I want a VX so bad. In my car I can only manage low 40's if I try.

I could find a 92 to 95 CX with an ICE on its last legs and install an used DX ICE from Japan (mine cost less than $2000 installed). That will give you a car that will do 0-60 in 10 sec and still get over 50mpg in the highway in the summer in normal driving (up to low 60's using hypermiling techniques, 70's with aero mods). That's been my route to good FE.

My car gets over 50 on the freeway easily. The probably is I have a guilty conscience and I speed up for other drivers.

sorry to resurect an old post, but when checking the o2 via d16 and d18, should both read the same number? the d16 goes directly to the o2 but the d18 goes to the shift indicator light according to the haynes. am i supposed to be check any of the other 5 wires coming from the o2? i have a hope that my o2 sensor is bad but i just want to be sure before i spend 300$ on a new one

Just to correct the pinout, it's positive to D14 and negative to D16

D14 is the IP+ signal from the LAF and D16 is the IP-, VS- signal from the LAF. Krousdb has it stated properly in another post. You're correct in stating that D18 is the output for the SIL (shift indicator light) I think I'm going to make a new post about the VX wiring.

yay!

finally got it smogged, its only been 6 months.

turned out, it needed a new cat.

hopefully ill have a lean burn monitor hooked up soon and increase my milage.

where can i buy a new Vx cat assembly besides the Honda stealership?

EBAY one from a 96-00 should still bolt up. You would just need to plug the lower O2 sensor bung (which any performance shop would have the plug)

Very sweet! Looking forward to watching your MPG skyrocket!

M