Petros' comment about the damper/flywheel compared to the Civic is interesting; I'd never thought of it before until now.
My ex bought a new Civic wagon in 1980 (we were still married). Now, I've never owned an AT and also, having that sometimes-pesky Y chromosome, thought I knew my way around MTs (and drove all sorts of stuff in the Army); but that little Civic, as sweet as it was, gave me fits on smooth starts. I'll bet I managed a decent start perhaps 6 out of 10 tries. She, of course, had no trouble - even though I'd taught her how to drive a MT on my various Morrises.
That Gen II Civic was a sweet little car - I don't think she had a bit of trouble with it in the 4 or so years she owned it.
Tom M.
ENGINE DAMPER REPLACEMENT
- ARCHINSTL
- Goldie Forever
- Posts: 6369
- Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:52 pm
- My tercel:: Goldie is a 1986 SR5 attualmente con Weber/also owned the first T4WD in STL in late '82
- Location: Kirkwood, a 'burb of St. Louis
Re: ENGINE DAMPER REPLACEMENT
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
- Petros
- Highest Ranking Member
- Posts: 11941
- Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
- My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
- Location: Arlington WA USA
Re: ENGINE DAMPER REPLACEMENT
we bought a 1986 civic hatch back new, and now that you mention it I would too occasionally get a shutter out of it. we drove it 88,000 miles and all I put into it was one set of tires, a muffler, a battery, fuel, air and oil filter, one set of spark plugs, motor oil. It got 44 mpg on the hwy, about 34 in city (far better than the EPA rating). we sold it soon after our first daughter was born because because it was too difficult to get the baby seat into the back seat, one of the best cars I have owned, it was virtually no maintenance.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
- marlinh
- Highest Ranking Member
- Posts: 1586
- Joined: Sun Apr 08, 2012 9:15 am
- My tercel:: 'Everett' Blue 87 4WD Wagon (Rocky 86, recently retired)
- Location: Kootenays
Re: ENGINE DAMPER REPLACEMENT
Those old civics were great cars. I never owned one but many friends did and loved them. They were so reliable, economical and lasted them many problem free driving years.
- Gottolovem
- Highest Ranking Member
- Posts: 1637
- Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2012 4:28 pm
- My tercel:: 1985 SR5 with snow plow,1987 auto 1984 parts car,1987 FX-16 GTS
- Location: Reno
Re: ENGINE DAMPER REPLACEMENT
My sister has a civic with 325 thousand it still runs incredible 40 plus mpg.
The car company's should take a lesson out of there OWN PLAYBOOK the 1980's were simple,reliable and fuel efficient.
Now there is way to much tec to try to achieve the same goal. I don't want a car that gets 40 plus mpg that I can't work on and needs a 8,000 dollar battery at a hundred thousand miles
The car company's should take a lesson out of there OWN PLAYBOOK the 1980's were simple,reliable and fuel efficient.
Now there is way to much tec to try to achieve the same goal. I don't want a car that gets 40 plus mpg that I can't work on and needs a 8,000 dollar battery at a hundred thousand miles

- ARCHINSTL
- Goldie Forever
- Posts: 6369
- Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:52 pm
- My tercel:: Goldie is a 1986 SR5 attualmente con Weber/also owned the first T4WD in STL in late '82
- Location: Kirkwood, a 'burb of St. Louis
Re: ENGINE DAMPER REPLACEMENT
Petros' mention of the MPG on his '86 Civic brought back another memory.
My first full-time employee was also finishing an education master's at Mizzou (in Columbia, MO, about 120 miles from STL), so commuted back and forth twice a week. He bought a special edition of the hatchback Civic Gen II (I forget the model), but it was a real stripper and specially tuned for high MPG, esp. on the highway - maybe it also had a low numerical ratio - dunno. Anyway, in suburban driving around STL, he would regularly get 40+ and with careful Interstate driving, he was almost always in the high 50's(!). Once he even hit 61 MPG, but that was with a tailwind.
He very reluctantly sold it when he became a father, just like Petros.
Tom M.
My first full-time employee was also finishing an education master's at Mizzou (in Columbia, MO, about 120 miles from STL), so commuted back and forth twice a week. He bought a special edition of the hatchback Civic Gen II (I forget the model), but it was a real stripper and specially tuned for high MPG, esp. on the highway - maybe it also had a low numerical ratio - dunno. Anyway, in suburban driving around STL, he would regularly get 40+ and with careful Interstate driving, he was almost always in the high 50's(!). Once he even hit 61 MPG, but that was with a tailwind.
He very reluctantly sold it when he became a father, just like Petros.
Tom M.
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
- Petros
- Highest Ranking Member
- Posts: 11941
- Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
- My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
- Location: Arlington WA USA
Re: ENGINE DAMPER REPLACEMENT
I still see a lot of that model of civic around, still running! from the 1980's. they had three trim lines, the economy HF model with a 1300 cc engine (88 hp if I recall), a real el-strippo, about 200 lbs lighter than the next model up (like 1800 lbs), and it usually got around 50 mpg without EFI, computers or fancy federal BS. We had the DX which was the mid line one with a 1500 cc carb engine with about 100 hp, and than the Si fuel injected one that had much more power, nicer seats and different flashy paint job. It also got less fuel economy because of the higher hp. It was so much more costly, plus the lower economy the DX model we got was the best selling one.
Every so often I get an idea to buy one of the old first gen CRX HF models, with the 1200cc engine, strip all of the extra weight off of it and rebuild the engine with a few tweaks to see if I can get it to about 100 mpg with it. Just to show it can be done without hybred nor complex EFI systems. than I change my mind, too much work.
Every so often I get an idea to buy one of the old first gen CRX HF models, with the 1200cc engine, strip all of the extra weight off of it and rebuild the engine with a few tweaks to see if I can get it to about 100 mpg with it. Just to show it can be done without hybred nor complex EFI systems. than I change my mind, too much work.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
- dlb
- Highest Ranking Member
- Posts: 7448
- Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:03 pm
- My tercel:: '87 sr5, '83 dlx parts car
- Location: bc, canada
Re: ENGINE DAMPER REPLACEMENT
here's the list of top mileage achievers in the last 90 days from the ecomodder.com website. i think it's pretty rad that 5 of them are from '95 or before, and only 3 are post 2000.
1. 1993 Ford Festiva L 85.93 mpg
2. 1992 Honda Civic CX 71.2 mpg
3. 1998 Geo Metro 69.6 mpg
4. 1998 Honda Civic DX Coupe 64.29 mpg
5. 2009 Honda Fit Sport 63.28 mpg
6. 2012 Chevrolet Sonic LT Turbo Sedan 62.56 mpg
7. 1995 Honda Civic EX 62.37 mpg
8. 1991 Honda CRX HF <>< 62 mpg
9. 2012 Toyota Aygo T2 Air 61.9 mpg
10. 1993 Geo Metro G10 61.31 mpg
1. 1993 Ford Festiva L 85.93 mpg
2. 1992 Honda Civic CX 71.2 mpg
3. 1998 Geo Metro 69.6 mpg
4. 1998 Honda Civic DX Coupe 64.29 mpg
5. 2009 Honda Fit Sport 63.28 mpg
6. 2012 Chevrolet Sonic LT Turbo Sedan 62.56 mpg
7. 1995 Honda Civic EX 62.37 mpg
8. 1991 Honda CRX HF <>< 62 mpg
9. 2012 Toyota Aygo T2 Air 61.9 mpg
10. 1993 Geo Metro G10 61.31 mpg