hi guys, new here,first thanks for the information on this site,and I would like to share my experience right back, I just pick up a used 2003 honda civic hybrid here in honolulu. dealer wanted 9,500 deal it down to 8,300, out the door,dealer threw on 2 new tire and two new cv boots ,( a tip here is always park your car leaving your steering straight,older boots hot parked would cool down conforming to a angle,turning the other way when cold will break the boot.) I know the trouble area on the civic,but we just make the best of it. Iam very happy with the car. as used hybrid are hard to come by here. they hold on to it. reason he dropped it was because I was going and did put in a aftermarket dealer sunroof (elsewhere) in it ,that added 1,900 to the car. well first thing that need to change. is the 1.3 really need more oats, so you don't push the peddles much. power comes two ways r.pm.that free flow but that eats gas. and torque ,but you talking about mouse size pistons/flywheel so their no mass size for torque, cant fool around with timing or intake spacers ,both biggie ,but their others ways to cheats cause torque is what we need ,power off 1,000 to 2,000 where we spent most of the time ,its a trade off we lose some at full throttle,if it was a 4 valves head you lose nothing. a side benefit of improving torque is you get more vacuum and that means your brakes get more stronger touchier, similar like advancing your timing what we cant do on this engine. car peddle get more responsive, been trying different combination together , find out what combination works best. I had the car for 2 months and I have come up with results my honda hybrid is way stronger than stock. increasing torque or usable power off 1,000 rpm. there more power just before asst ,and a side benefit is its strong as a regular 1.5 civic without asst what I wanted .. very fun to drive, so when the battery does goes. its still be a regular civic , best its easy mods that can also be removed . feel free to add your tricks, a car stock is same as a camcorder, no one will be totally happy..almost but its never made just right for you. but if you can tayor its weak points it can become a fun driving machine, as the civic handles well and is a fun car to drive,just almost their. stay tune.

 

a thing I used to run on my former altima and mustang was duel battery. you notice the hotter spark in a more responsive none gas wasting. feel it best in lower speed and gears climbing as its cleaner burning. the .the honda civic hybrid has a 475 cca a under size battery.the civic has the same size battery. but its has a larger engine so its forgiving, by using the civic body the civic battery placement set ,it might have redeem it just ok or unnecessary to redesign a bigger battery placement would need to redesign the air filter/etc .no room . well I have put in a secound battery and the honda civic hybrid loves it. work wonderful ,more usable torque down low,in getting up to speed , another thing is better mpg . the dc. to dc down converter has no problem charging the second battery as I have a large marine dc volt meter 8 volt to 16 volt to monitor my batterys.and I also charge a sears ac battery pack some time together and can see the battery charge level of all batterys. I usually hook up the second battery directly to the under hood battery using 12 gage wire,and fused ,but to be safe I tried this time useing the remote dc socket its fused 10 amp ,its safe worse you can do is blow a fuse , how? buy a male plug w/a visible +and - radio shack, and if you want a voltmeter you can screw cap that wire on and attach that on the male plug useing walmart glue mold-able glue. the good thing about where to put the 2th battery is in front of the passenger feet or under the glove box.its out of the way as a very thin small battery, you needed a 1 '' block of wood to tilt the battery straight up ,for a perfect solid fit. I use ac extension wire from the m.plug branch off to a meter then peal back 3 inches of insulation ,brush off the battery post then wrap around the post. then using thick solid wire wrap around the wire on the post then twist the wire w/ pliers for a strong positive connection flush it against the post then electric tape completely. car battery wore out faster in hot weather and if its gets discharge often.the funny thing is you cant take the battery back for warranty as they put in on a battery tester and tell you the battery work ok but you are wasting unburned gas . bad mpg ? on a on the way out battery that so so but drop off the curve earlier,the other end, best buy a new battery every 2 years (walmart 500 cca )then used your old 2th battery under the dash. in doing so the 2th fuse box is under the steering wheel cover look at your manual for dc remote socket .dont leave your car disconnected from the battery for minutes to long as you computer can reset. and your radio will reset disconnecting your battery so you will need to get you car radio code number from the dealer.your two radio serial number can be found by pushing 1 and 6 together.think i you miss first try you need to hold both and turned on.
also when you disconnect the battery your battery charge bars first will be lost, as you drive it will build up again,that normal. in the manual.

 

if you feel the hhc isn't giving you the mileage it should, that a yes and a no,for starter try this,keep trip A counter for a full tank, but used trip b as a real time mpg readout ,as you drive around different speed keep resetting it,you will find out that your are truly getting 48 to 58 mpg at certain speeds,when you let off the gas one cylinder is firing that you notice if the slider mpg as it goes to 100 mpg, and with the better trip b readout,,now you see its fairly accurate.
now add a few stops and watch it go it anywhere from 28 to 47 depend how you drive and the state of your car,
now the bad part, try this stop in a parking lot and watch for a minute or two how with 1 to 3 miles on trip B meter your mpg keep slowing dropping going nowhere, now drive around a few times in that parking lot,you might be surprise to find out you had 18 mpg.all of this is taking away from your trip A mpg

logic says , idling length of time unnecessary subtract from your average tankful,(beside warming up your car good) also if your car spend more time at these stop and crawl vs someone who right now is gliding at freeway speed unless you take a freeway will likely see a 35 to 40 average tankful. because their is a engine stop at stop on hybrids,we can surmise.its no fault of the car,its knowed idling stop and go is in first gear and first gear means high rpms over and over not a efficient gear that means eating more gas,
logic... also the toyota hybrid is all electric in stop and go that is why its has a consistent mpg average with any driver. no complaints ,
so if you commute daily freeways honda should give you good 47 to 50+ numbers,but if you do stop and go anywhere, traffic , get the toyota for 5 grands more,

but was stop and go included in the mpg rating? likely not, does honda does the rating? no,
does improving low end grunt torque gives better stop and go ? yes ,how? when you let off the brake the car slowly moves forward w/out touching it ,and a torquely engine doesnt make a big deal about getting up to speed. effortlessly

 

So how exactly did you improve your torque ?

 

I be posting bit,so people can try it.and give feed backyou could try buying a new battery and using the old as a duel battery described,
then you could be testimony that a third of torque what Ive got , helps right off idling too ,that the most expensive mod, the next free,then next one 4.99. next one free,total less that 150.00. too good too be true? right .all were doing is changing the power curve to suite what the honda hybred need is more torque ,
it a fun car now ,its can zip around and own road and gets up to speed easily ,before its get out of the way your holding up traffic but like I said their one no big improvements 4 steps would be 5 to 10 lb of torque or feel anywhere between a 30 to 40 % better drive ability improvement

 

just got back to town, and did some testing being sunday a road call lagoon drive is perfect w/no cars almost flat slight incline ,both taken same way.the goal is lowering the torque so in 4 gear ( auto 4sp?) just idling off 1,000 or more at 20 mph we should have almost the same best mpg as hwy and more oaks too.
every gear should get stronger, or in this case we bring the bigger fat torque curve more to where the viable trans works .

we should get less better results going lower speeds ,but not to idling your car as its subtracting from your
tankful average ,
that my problem as I
do idling my car about almost 30 minute a day too much tech mobile stuffs recharging ,and cant run huge real battery.
the car in town also runs perfect, no need to adjust anything, some times when I design something and if its hit it right on the mark or almost their , I see it as it was meant to be, design wise .room to be even better
power curve is responsive ,even has that slight jump forward a regular torque car has cruising taking off,instead of waiting for it to build.
not bad for a peanut 1.3 motor ,
steady speed ,no cruze very slight incline (other way gave too good numbers)
20 mph =54 mpg 25mph= 55.8 mpg 30 mph =59 mpg

air conditioner on 72d.

20mph =47 25mph =51 mpg 30 mph=54 mpg

I have never tried this as a no mod test .

a side benefit you get is stronger brakes by stronger vacuum, car can be run regular without asst. if ever a dead main battery? its seem to got rid of that slow tran engaging at stop lite,first I taught it was lite clutch slippage
so I always wait till it engage then I slowly add more gas ,so cars behind has to wait
that has gone away ,when i push the gas its can takes it now, and I can leave slight hard leaving other behind,but you dont want to gas an way harder from stop torque really break parts, or slip your tran belt , use half.
when I put in the duel battery that Tran hook up delay disappear.

 

Where did you mount your second battery ?
Do you have pics of your mods ?

 

hi, Iam at the mall. its a slim battery and it fits with a 1 inch block of wood under the side the facing you. (widest side left to right)
that tilt it straight upright as back their the floor tilt its,hide under the glove compartment neatly,its leaves a foot of space left or right ,only takes half away room from passenger who need straight their legs. most would not miss it ,lots of room and its a clean fit even with out a battery box,turn the battery post inward so its not visible ,its just a black box that say honda, keep your positive to positive and negative to negative , cap screw them together,you can use regular 14 gage ac 5 ft extension cords .get a 12 volt male plug to plug into your 12 socket (radio shack) make sure you can see which is positive and negative ,also make sure you follow that wire to match it to the pos and neg on the battery,tap wire to post to be sure ,start by wire brush post and splice wire 3'' and wrap around battery post then, strong bendable solid wire wrap that wire and plier it very tight (important) then electric tape so its a clean compact job . its fused so connected wrong it just blow that 10 amp fuse.

might try tommow to see if I remember how to load pictures
just remember somehow Iam having a hard time with this site ,it takes many try just to load or post a post its need a reconnect , I try but don't think the connection will stay on long enough to up load.

 

http://www.ziddu.com/view1.php?file=...tid=1277691570
fit tight, it touches on top then you can push it in.
see if this link it
http://www.ziddu.com/albumview.php?k...=280147&page=1

 

here a free mod ,all of these mod can be change back to stock when ever needed. first after doing the duel battery you will find that its has a side benefit ( and bad the radio need to be Manually turned off ) the ac fan or ac still worked using economy mode and auto stop too but best to do one thing at a time.our mods first , then later you can slowly monitor useing that feature slowly like homeward bound you can turn off the economy setting , no auto stop so the external battery can charge fully again too many auto stop will leave all battery low, and it will start taking from your back main battery bars would be suddenly low.best to used keeping the fan speed very low.a volt gage on that external battery can give you a idea. ok engine mod free, what were going to do is a simple intake mod ,the already intake seem to be a sort of ram air intake (leaner) from the front opening and a heating the air chamber and silencer chamber all roll together we do a simple change (can also put back on easily ) that bypass that intake. and take off a part (likely, less clean ,not more noisier and more rich ,and using the same gas) we next were going to change Exhaust side.burn it cleaner slowly, the opposite. on the exit we want high Resistance, for torque, were taking about a 1.3 motor what it doing with 2'' pipes I know it has viable lifter for torque but still volume wise it should be 1'' pipes for some back pressure , we change that its likely the civic Exhaust system and were going keep the price of the car affordable. I have a picture post it later