Good point. I'm in Va, near D.C. We're always above 0, but 20 can feel bitter and seems to really play havoc with your mileage.

 

Honestly, I think they put too cold of a thermostat in the car, even here in southern California I can hardly get my cooling system to reach 175+ where the system goes into closed loop(which saves tons of gas), I wonder how many people are also running into this seemingly mismatched part? And would help to drop a 5-10 degree higher stat in it, provided there is one?

 

I wondered about the same thing when I read about people blocking part/all of the grill in the winter. I guess they dance a fine line choosing a thermostat that will keep it cool in the summer yet still let that little motor keep warm enough in the winter. Since the engine spends so (relatively) little time actually combusting fuel when it is running, I can see where keeping it warm would be a challenge.

 

Well As a 2 week update, I got a pretty great deal on this car as it has passed every inspection now and my new plates are in the mail. I did have to replace the A/C condenser, but that was only 160 including PaG and R134a. Now she blows cold and the rest of the system was still perfect since the previous owner was sensible enough to close off the system and not let water/dirt get into it.

Next thing I want to do is find a rear-end crashed civic si mugen and swap in the front suspension and subframe then this car would be perfect as far as any previous damage goes plus it would gain another performance boost. I just love these cars I have so many ideas down the road when the hybrid system goes out in the average 100-120k miles, at 14500 I have quite a ways to go there though hopefully =)

 

Jamchel, take good care of those wheels, meanwhile, and let me know when you're ready to sell them.

 

haha will do, But I plan on totally refitting the suspension with SI parts so they might stay on the car for a lil while =) Plus since I live in Carlsbad too, you might see me driving it around off and on.

 

hot looking car, congrats, love the tinting on it.

 

Just to add info I seem to have lost the initial boost to fuel economy I got from the bigger battery, I will keep it in there however, since I just added a 500w amp and a couple subs in a box =) I just don't think the tiny original battery would quite be able to handle that if I wanted to just park and crank it for nearby people to listen to etc…..