...just bought a VX
 

My company is moving from downtown Washington DC to Northern VA. Since the commuter bus I ride into DC will no longer be viable option, I started looking for a pre-owned Civic to be my commuter. I like the styling of the 92-95 Civic hatchback and specifically sought that model. Thinking I wanted the SI, I proceeded to find a bunch of well used, high-millage cars with rear wheel arch rust that were selling for top dollar. Yesterday, I purchased a bone stock '92 Tahitian Blue Pearl VX hatchback that had spent most of its life in WA. It is clean and rust-free. In my search I drove an Integra LS, Integra GS-R, 95 Civic SI hatch and the 92 VX. With the VX, I was amazed at the fuel efficiency, in a car that was reasonably quick and fun to drive.

With an 80-mile/day round-trip commute, I am tickled to have ended up with a VX rather than an SI. I'll be spending time poking thru this forum to learn how to optimize FE on my VX. The previous owner warned that he typically saw (only) about 38 MPG from the VX. I know it could and should do much better...

Doug

Congrats. 5th generation Civics are my favorite too. Kind of sad that it's getting harder to find a clean and unmolested one. You'll find a lot of VX owners on this forum and lots of information.

Welcome to the growing army of VX owners here! A good place to start reading up on VX issues/items/mods would be found in the VX info link in my signature.

I must say, I'm a bit jealous that there is another Tahitian Blue Pearl VX on here. Most of them are teal green, red or white. The blue ones, I thought, were rare, but everyone here seems to find them easily.

Great find on the clean VX!

They are becoming difficult to find without being overpriced, modified, and beat in general.

Welcome to the forum!

Since you just bought the car, I would do some basic maintenance such as the timing belt/water pump/tensioner replacement, replace the spark plugs/wires/distributer cap/rotor/fuel filter/air filter, do a Seafoam treatment on the car, and do an oil change. After you do that, see what kind of MPG you can get out of the car with your driving style. It does take a little while to get used to the odd gearing and powerband of the VX, but once you get used to it, you should be getting around 50 MPG.

Any questions, just ask! Lots of VX owners here to give advice.

Thx all for the warm welcome & tips, the car has just over 100k and the original timing belt. The distributor failed on the previous owner, who replaced it in his driveway. He did all his own maintenance, in fact.

I dropped the car off for MD state inspection (which can be expensive to get thru) this morning. Once the car is tagged and titled, I'll start w/ pumping up the tires to max. rated, oil/filter change, air filter if needed and timing belt/water pump. The car has original wheels, but oversize tires 175/70/15, not sure of the brand. The only other significant non-stock aspect is that the car has additional metal foil backed sound insulation added to reduce cabin noise. I'm sure it added weight, but seems to work, and I'm gonna leave it alone.

Any significant FE benefit of synthetic motor oil and/or gear lube?

Doug

It would cut down on friction, but I don't know if I would use it in the tranny. Honda D-series transmissions are notorious for having issues with the input shaft bearing, so it might not be the best idea for a 100k mile tranny (though I know some people on this forum use it). I would go with Honda MTF (which i believe is now a synthetic blend) which you can only get from the dealer. For the engine oil, I see no issue using synthetic as long as the motor doesn't burn or leak any oil.

Another VX owner added to the site. This is great. I just got mine and have to do all the things Danronian spoke about to get better mpgs.

My input shaft bearing went at 229k. Replace all the bearings (except the two on the shaft) and put regular engine oil in the tranny per the haynes manual.
Runs great.

I just got 59mpg on my VX, but noticed the car was tilted (passenger side was about two inches higher than the driver's side) at this gas station. I won't count this as one of my all time highs unless I get another reading like this when filling on a completely flat surface.

Anyways, I'm offtopic: welcome to the board!
I'm a satisified VX owner. I save about $300 month commuting in this car.
Gary

vxhatch -

Welcome to GS! As you can see, lots of VX-ers to help you max out your MPG!

CarloSW2

Thanks everyone. The car is now inspected, tagged and titled. It's sitting on 155/80/15 Kumho tires on stock rims. Started on some slightly overdue PMS last night and pumped the tires up to max rated (42psi). Lean burn seems to be working as I when I push on the gas, I can feel a slight pause before the power comes on. I will start to track FE once I start to drive the car regularly.

Doug

How do you have that size tire on a VX rim thats only 13 inches? or do you mean 155/80/13?

Yes 155/80/13. Tires are fine for now, but will definitely look to go w/ stock size once they need replacing.

Doug

I'm about to get some from Walmart. If I remember right, they were 30 bucks a piece for the 175/70/13.

I believe the stock size is 165/70/13, $30/per sounds appealing tho.

By the way, I just found some posts from my car's previous owner, NickF829. Looks like he was unable to get close to the FE, other VXers have reported. I hope to improve on his results...

Doug

You and me both. If i can crack 50, that would be great.

I hav broke 50 but thats if I drive under 70...I drive around 75 on the interstate most of the time and get between 44-47 mpg.
Welcome to the site! Wondering how much you paid for your VX?

PM sent

Congrats on your VX vxhatch and thanks for car info.

The slower you go the better your mileage. If I go around 75mpg, I get about 47mpg. I get mid 50's if I stay at 60mph and draft trucks. And this is on a California VX with no lean burn mode.

Hey garyhgaryh, I have a red Cal Fed VX too. TomO has explained a way to convert ours to achieve Lean Burn. Do you plan on making this change as well? What all have you done to yours to get mid 50's?

I've done nothing to my car. I bought it off a teacher and it was well taken care of.

I did replace all the bearings in my tranny. The only thing I did differently is driving with Fuel Efficency in mind. Drafting helps alot!

Yes, I am going to do the CA to FED VX conversion. I got the 49-state ECU. I'm looking for the O2 sensor connector and I'll be purchasing a Bosch 13246 sensor.

You going to do the conversion? One guy has already done it. Next will either be me or you :).
Gary

Yeah I'm thinking about buying an 49-state ECU from TomO and then I'm going to the junkyard today to grab a 5 wire connector off a Honda there along with a bunch of other parts I need. All Ill need then is the 5 wire O2 sensor. Hey what size is your spare tire? Mine didn't come with one. I was going to grab one from any 92-95 civic hatch I found but I thought there might be a specific size.

Buy the ECU from Tom - he's a good guy. If you have time, can you pull me a 5 wire connector if you can find more than one? I'll pay you for the cost+shipping if that's ok with you.

I'll check my tire size this week for you.
Gary

ok, I'll look for one for you. The junkyard I went to different have any so I will check two more on Friday. I'll let you know.

cool. thanks sam.

From my experience there are a few ways to get the most fe from a vx. The first thing that takes some getting used to is the engine that can run at very low rpms. It will actually accelerate smoothly from 1k rpm if you are very light on the gas. If you have the shift indicator light it will tell you to shift into 3rd at 19mph, 4th at 25, and 5th at 29. If you need to seriously accelerate this will not happen at 1100rpm, but under many conditions, even in traffic, you can pull of gentle acceleration from 1,100 or 1,200 rpm. Once you have the lean burn, you can try to keep it in lean burn by letting off the gas a bit and losing some speed on hills. also, since it is not super aerodynamic, going above 55 drastically reduces your economy. I would guess the mpg would be impressive if you could drive a tank at 33mph in 5th, but i am not patient enough. The low rolling resistance tires should help quite a bit on a car so small and sensative as the vx. I cant wait for mine to wear out! enjoy!
I run synthetic amsoil syncromesh manual tranny fluid in mine, 8k since i put it in with no problems, but cant vouch for its long term compatability. Also have mobil 1 synthetic in the engine. I would say maybe 1-2 mpg for both, but with the vx fuel tank it is really hard to tell.

Welcome VXHatch! Man, I'm jealous at all you vx owners. Maybe next year I'll be lucky enough to find a diamond in the ruff. Or maybe I'll make one myself.:D It hurts to see people ask for so much more for the si models, eventhough they have the rear 1/4 panel rust. Nice to have you here and look forward to your future posts about your VX. (nice color too :thumbup: )

Thanks!

In regards to the 1/4 panel rust that is prevalent on both 5G Civics and 3G Integras, a contributing factor is the inner wheel arch molding installed by Honda at the factory. This molding traps dirt and moisture, breeding rust. The VX I purchased still had the molding, and when removed, there was lots of trapped dirt, but no rust. If your car has these moldings remove them, clean out the inner wheel wells with a pressure washer and throw the moldings away!

Doug

Oh yes I agree! That rubber strip on the rear wheelwell of most Hondas rusts them apart terribly. I had an 89 Accord a while back, and the rust was so bad underneath the strip, that I never took it off since it was all the held the entire wheelwell lip together.... I can't believe that car still had it installed though it was over 20 years old and had around 170k miles on it.

Good advice Doug

Dan, is your car lowered? It looks that way in your pic.

Yup it is. It's on some old-school Maxspeed adjustable coilovers and AGX struts. Rides great and somewhat stiff and is around 3.25 inches lower than stock.

maxspeed hmmmm... I'm about to replace my entire suspension and was looking at my choices of parts to go with. I was thinking with going Skunk2 coilovers with Dropzone struts because I had that set on my Integra and it rode great. I just dont want to spend as much as I did before.

I'm pretty sure maxspeeds aren't around anymore though, at least the coilovers I have. I had Dropzone coilovers a while back, and I liked them. I'm not sure about how long the Dropzone struts will last though. My one friend had them blow-out on his car, and I just saw a car int he junkyard with most of them blown. Skunk2 just came out with a high performance strut which you can find for only $250 a set. Amazing deal compared to other struts with the same features. I've heard they ride nice, and the look to be built pretty well.

Danronian,

Does the front lip hit/rub when parking...say on a curb or parking spot divider?

Thanks and your car looks great!

Yeah I might just go with with Skunk2 for the struts and coilovers. Actually I might just go cheaper and get the Skunk2 struts and lowering springs. i dont plan on changing heights of the drop and they are considerably cheaper than the coilovers.