'01 Civic EX Gears.....

I have an '01 Civic EX coupe 5-speed that may need a clutch
replacement soon. 90% of my driving is Interstae commute. At 70 mph in
5th gear, my RPM's are at 3400. I was thinking that if I could have
taller gears in 4th and 5th, reducing that RPM point to around
2800-3000, I might be able to get even better fuel economy.

Has anyone out there done such a modification to their car, or know if
optional gear rations are available ?

 

wrote in 19g2000hsx.googlegroups.com:

I wish Mista B0ne was still posting here. He knew this sort of stuff.

My Integra suffers from the same problem. What I wouldn't give for a taller
5th...

A taller 5th would also help highway-mile piston ring life, which is
distressingly short on Honda's lower-geared models.

 

"distressingly short"??? and when was the last time you owned a buick?

 

hmm, I have a 01 Civic LX, and at 70 mph I'm barely over 3000 rpm.
Guess the EX is geared quite differently.

 

A larger diameter tire would also work to lower rpm's if you have the
clearance but would also affect your speedo reading. If your OEM tires are
worn that would also increase your rpm's a bit for a given speed. Remember
you need more power at higher speeds to off set drag which increases
dramatically at higher speeds. A higer gear ratio would result in lower
engine speed and possibly worse gas milage if your out of the correct
torque and horsepower range.
And Honda's like to spin. Honda engines powered all of the Indy racers
this year and none had an engine failure.