lito99

My Civic is an '01 Ex Coupe, 15 spoke alloys, Full synthetic Mobil1, and as stock as you can get! ---125xxx miles

Ok SOOO...i am not as knowledged as MANY ppl on here, so dont put me down or call me an idiot for what i am about to ask, they are SINCERE questions:

1) What exactly does the VTEC do? I read about it but, barely understood lol

2) What should my mpg be at?

3)I used to use premium gas, but few months ago switched to reg because researched and saw premium really doesnt do all that much since my car isnt made for specific premium gas, plus can add knock or whatnot. is Regular fine????

4) Ive had the car for exactly a year, got it at 111,000 miles, and ive read alot that 7th gens have had bad tranny problems. MY tranny feels great and typically i have a soft foot, drive the limit and rarely have quick take-offs. Could it happen to me?

5)Speaking of RPM, i have never gone over 5, thus never red-zoned. could you say my car is in good condition? When i bought it, it had factory everything as in Honda Blue, Honda oil filter, everything done by dealer.

6) I hate that my camber in back is negative x( but i see its advantage when cornering, anyone installed a camber kit on theirs jus to zero out?

Thanks for any replies guys! remember, im no einstein on this! =p

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

posted less than an hour ago...
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/1...on-inside.html

That just means... See the blue menu in the top of the page?

There is an option, in white letters, that says: "search"...
all your questions are readily available and plenty for searching.
you found the site by searching, right? same thinking.

iSharix

^ +1

At least you know what you're looking for and not asking us to spoon feed you ...

lito99

Just saw the video! I get it now, but i guess what im asking is how does it improve the car? like better mileage? economy? power? torque? again, idk much honestly, and yes i did search, but since i had a few questions i figured id post a thread

lito99

btw, whats it mean by like d17a1 and all that? i never got that lol

Brian1037

D17A1 is your engine name. Honda uses letters to denote engine series's, for example, the B series, D series, and K series. They have others though.

Here's a full list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Honda_engines

The "17" denotes the engine displacement.

17 = 1.7 litres.
20 = 2.0 litres.
18 = 1.8 litres
and so on.

The "A" in our engine means that there's no VTEC. The D17A2 has VTEC.

A K20A2 is a K-series engine with a displacement of 2.0 liters. Someone else will have to chip in and explain the "A2", because I don't know what it means in that engine, but I'm just making an educated guess that it's just there to differientate between different K20's.
Refer to the Wikipedia article I just linked to, to find where the engines come from. The K20A2 comes from an American RSX type S

In a nut shell, an engine not meant for premium needs to work harder to ignite and combust it. Use regular gas, you'll be fine. If you're still curious, do some Googling on "should I use premium gas".

Automatic transmissions in our Civic's were bad during 01-03. They were known to die quickly. Manuals are fine throughout 01-05. Automatics were improved for 04 and 05.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

or take a look in my sig

iSharix

Yup, you're right...the "A#" is only there to tell apart the engines since they had different specs.
02-06 Acura RSX = K20A3
02-04 Acura RSX Type S = K20A2

Then there is the K20Z..
06 - 11 Honda Civic Si and Acura CSX Type S shares the same engine (K20Z3) whereas the non Type S CSX had the K20Z2, and the 05-06 Acura RSX Type S had the K20Z1.


Hope that helps, LOL

MindBomber

There should be no reason for a stock civic to have negative camber, if it does then that means that your rear struts are likely blown and you need to replace them and have an alignment done.

Negative camber is advantageous on a car with a modified suspension, because at the increased cornering entrance speed the "stiffness" created by components like after-market springs and sway bars compensate for the increased amount of body roll. That compensation keeps the tires firmly planted on the ground to maximise speed through the turn, giving an overall benefit.

On a "soft" stock suspension the low OEM spring rates and small or absent sway bar are unable to compensate for the increased body roll created at high entrance speeds, as a result the inside tires will lift off the ground to varying degrees. When a tire lifts, whether it be slight or completely clear of the ground, the result is a lose in contact patch. A lower contact patch will cause you to lose speed through the turn, resulting in a lower overall turning speed and exit speed. Negative camber on a stock suspension actually harms performance.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

OK, now that intros are done, and you are looking around, here goes.
The vague answers are because the answers are supposed to be vague anyway - too many factors involved.
Also, i took out what MB already replied.
In easy terms, in a EX (US) or Si (Canada), basically allows for (a little) more torque in the lower revs, and (a little) more power in the higher revs. A small dual personality case. Jekill&Hyde version is on the Si (US) or SiR (Canada) models.

Could range anything from (some 20), 23 to 45 (some reported 50) MPG depending on driving, maintenance, season, planes or hills, highway or city, etc, etc).

Regular is fine (use some additives - search on fuel/oil/maintenance sections). I use high octane because it gives better mileage and have cleaning additives in it.

It happens mainly in autos - are yours an auto?
I am one of the few that have to rebuild a manual, but i do drive more aggressively than most, since i am 39-years-young

I screw the engine at the redline in the road track and autoX, never had any troubles with the engine related to revving it. REV limiter at its full use sometimes.

It's not an advantage - that was what killed my trans - But mind you, i am lowered, so much more rear camber.

Key point is that the fronts do not have camber, but the rears will hold. So the fronts does hold less and will skid earlier than the rear.
What is the problem? well, the fronts handle steering/braking/tractions, the rears will just follow the fronts... (in stock suspension)
with stock it should not be a problem, though, if in good condition.
But the concept was not right, so had to correct.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

Uuunnhh...
Actually, a softer suspension keeps the wheels longer in contact with the ground.
I mean, if you weld a solid axle in the rear, it will be like stiffer springs or Sway.

Which is easier to lift one tire during body roll?
- the stock suspension which elongates and try to get back to ground?
- a solid axle welded to the chassis?

A: the welded one will lift much easier because it will follow the chassis. That means stiffer will lift the wheel easier - 100% weight transfer.
One less tire on the ground? Less grip (some of the load/grip non-linear tire behavious might apply, though...)

reading it back, I might have gone too far... sorry too complex...

MindBomber

When entering a turn the "soft" suspension on the side of the car opposite the turning direction compresses as force is applied to it, allowing tires the entire chassis of the car to lift with it. Even if the soft suspension on the side of the car on the inside of the turn is reaching down to try to maintain contact with the road the effectiveness would be minimal, because the reduced amount of load on the tires would decrease traction.

A "stiff suspension, that never allows those tires to lift keeps both the tire and weight planted on the inside of the turn maximizing traction.

I'm at somewhat of a disadvantage in my understanding of suspension performance, seeing as that your an engineer and I'm a medieval lit major lol.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

I think the missing key word would be: "whithin its working range".
See a car that seems well setup (thanks, civicexracer, always nice to see another pissing dog action)



That shows a car with still 100% of the weight at the front distributed in both front tires - more front traction to turn, brake, steer (tires can only do so much...).
The rears? well, the left rear is doing everything by itself. Right side? It's taking its vacation in the air . Is that bad? well, not for a FWD, front engine...
Why? The rears do not do much at all anyways... (see above posts )

Don't believe?
Well, rear drive cars does the opposite. this BMW usually keeps the front wheels off a feet or two...

and it's fast as hell...
This one shows more where the BMW is, but much slower...


A stiff suspension end will tend to lift its wheeel earlier than a soft suspension given same body roll. Naturally a stiffer suspension will have less body roll at same speed through a corner.

If considering same body roll, a stiffer sway bar will have less suspension dynamic droop, since the wheel in the outside will force the sway bar in its end to keep up, thus forcing the other end of the sway up as well.. That lifts the wheel up easisier given same body roll. Off course, the speed at that the body roll achieves same angle than a softer setup is much higher depending on the spring/sway rates.
Anyway, suspension is a thing that needs a lot of factors involved in... I did not even go thorough the dyanmic camber changes

lito99

Thanks!!! i now understand the letters lol and yea i just use regular then and use chevron techron cleaner ever 3k. and yea my tranny is auto =/ thus the reason i am worried

lito99

Hmm yea i was thinking along those lines. a year ago when i first got it i had the alignment done but they told me there was no factory bolt/setting to adjust the camber, id have to buy an aftermarket kit and install it.

So ive got a bit more torque n power at low n high rpm respectively, got it!
Yes my tranny is auto, thus the reason i am worried x/ i take care of her tho, but from what ive read, it goes at any point.



The thing i see from the camber is that with it, the inside of the tire gets eaten more (obviously) and from the cornering the outside does too, so thats mainly why i havent fixed anything because i figured it works that way.