13x03 - 1977 Honda CVCC

[bunniefuu]

Were any of the cars in the 1970s
actually environmentally friendly?

The 1977 Honda CBCC was.

This little car is talking to me.

During its heyday, this car
achieved over 40 miles to the gallon.

How many miles has it done?

Don't worry about that, you'll soon
dig around in the engine and fix it.

The best thing to do
to have this thing rebuilt.

This car will go on and
live for another 10, 20 years.

It's the ultimate in recycling.

Can we turn back the
clock and get a 40 year old

car to be green again,
while still turning a profit?

It does look suspiciously
like a lemon to me.

I'm on my way to go and see the
environmentally friendly car of the 1970s.

It's the Honda CVCC.

It's for people who today don't
want to drive a modern hybrid.

Now believe it or not, the
market for them is so strong,

I've seen them go in price between
a thousand and ten thousand dollars.

Yeah, you heard me, ten thousand dollars.

The one that I'm on my way
to go and see is advertised at

three thousand dollars, which
is around two thousand pounds.

So that's not too bad.

The lady who owns it is called Mandy.

She's a barmaid and she works in a
British pub out here in Los Angeles.

Now the car does seem
like a bit of a bargain,

but bargains are bargains
for a reason, usually.

Now Mandy works in the
pub, but she's having a day off,

and she said go and help myself
to the car, it's in the car park,

or parking lot as they call it here.

And it's a really tall
order to find the right

car with the right
environmental credentials.

You see Californians, they like their
cars big with a lot of road presence.

Don't worry, I haven't come to see this.

No, I've come to see this.

That is a Honda CV-CT, named
before it was even a Honda Civic.

And on first impressions, it looks
like a little rotten lemon, doesn't it, eh?

It's horrible, I hate yellow cars.

And this one has gone a
bit frayed around the edges.

Not bad on the headliner,
the seats are good.

Dashboard is nice, carpets are all intact.

It's got a nice period steering wheel.

Very good.

Now I can guarantee
one thing about this car.

Being it's a Honda, I know that as
soon as I put these keys in the ignition,

this car will fire into life.

Hold on.

Uber reliability, and
that's what sells these cars.

Let's have a look at this
massive, great big V8 engine.

No, it hasn't got one.

It's got, oh, it's stiff,
a little four cylinder.

And look at that.

I honestly don't think this
bonnet has ever been opened.

It's probably the last time
they see the light of day.

John Travolta was strutting
his stuff down the sidewalk.

It's got a little bit of
rust and it's frayed

around the edges, but
you would expect that.

A little bit of an oil leak,
and that's coming from the

head gasket, and that's a
standard problem with these.

It's got a cast iron block
and an aluminium head,

and you get a bit of thermic contraction,
and that squeezes the head gasket.

It frays, and then a little
bit of oil starts dribbling out.

Ed will be happy to do
that, I've got to tell you.

But other than that, you know,
there's not much to speak about.

It's all there, everything's original.

It just needs a really good tidy up,
or a bit of a strip down and tidy up.

But it's not too bad.

Paintwork-wise, it's
not the brightest, is it?

I mean, there's bubbles almost
on every single panel I'm looking at.

That front wing's okay.

Mark on this door.

Bottom of the door's good,
but the rear wing's gone.

You know, look at that, I can
always put my hand through.

That body needs some work
and a full respray, not cheap.

I think it's time I
took it for a test drive.

This car, when it come out, was a big hit.

That's because it could take unleaded fuel,

but it could also take
the cheaper, leaded fuel.

And the fact that this car is roomy inside,

you can get four Barry
White's inside this car.

And believe it or not, it's sporty.

Yeah, you heard me right, sporty.

I know, wait for it, hear me out.



Doesn't sound like a lot, does it?

But when you couple that little engine

to this little lightweight body
that's only 1,700 pounds,

you end up with a car
that really is quite peppy.

See what I mean? Peppy.

Another one of the
really cool things about

these little Hondas
is their turning circle.

It's better than a London taxi.



That means you can turn
this car round on a dime,

just like this.

That's absolutely brilliant.

It's better than a modern Mini Cooper,

which is great, isn't it?

And when you think this car's
got independent suspension

all the way round,
you couldn't find a more

suitable and perfect
econobot for city driving.

This is a good little car, but there's
some issues that all need sorting.

I don't reckon that this little engine

is getting those headline
figures of 42 miles to the gallon.

It's being a little bit tired.

But this little car is talking to
me, and it needs us in its life.

So I'm going to go back, get on the phone,

see if I can do a deal.

Mandy wants $3,000.

Let's see what we can get.

Mandy, it's Mike.

It is what it is.

You know, it's 40 years old.

The best I could make it would be $2,000.

What'd you say?

Yes?

Fantastic.

All right.

Well, we got a deal.

Wicked.

I just bought myself a little Honda CV CC.

Oh, I'm happy with that.

What a cracking little deal.

I've actually seen these change hands.

Five figure sums.

I don't expect we're going
to get our car near to that,

but I do have a couple
of tricks up my sleeve.

And I do believe that when
Ed and I are finished with it,

we'll be able to get
better miles per gallon

than when it rolled
off the forecourt in 77.

That should translate into more profit.

Ed!

Eddy!

Ed!

Ed!

Ed!

Ed!

Ed!

Ed, Ed, Ed, Ed, Ed, Ed, Ed, Ed!

Ed!

Ed!

There you go.

Look at that.

How is that eco-friendly?

You bought us a lemon.

I haven't bought us a lemon.

This is the car that
saved the fortunes of

Honda at the time when
there was a fuel crisis.

This is exactly what the Americans needed.

So I went and got us this little CV CC.

If it does look suspiciously
like a lemon to me.

It's the same color as a lemon.

And it's a little bit
rotten around the edges.

How many miles has it done?



So it's completely worn out.

It's going to be chucking all kinds of
stuff out of the back into the environment.

Yeah, but don't worry about that.

You'll soon dig around
in the engine and fix it.

It needs re-energizing.

And that's where we come in.

So you've already
started what's bound to be

a considerable list
with an engine rebuild.

I mean, what else are you
expecting us to do on this?

Well, you know, it's a little
bit rusty around the edges.

So give it a lick of paint.

You want a full respray?

We're going to get it in the workshop.

I'm going to go off and find some
technology or some gadgets or whatever it is

to make sure that this
car will go on and live for

another 10, 20 years as
another economical car.

So you want to make this into a car
that's greener than a modern hybrid?

Yes, we are, sir.

Actually, I do quite like
the sound of this challenge.

And I quite like the idea of working on the
engine because it's got this really clever

kind of extra combustion chamber to
kind of make it even more economical.

Come on, let's just get on with it.

Let's get it on the ramp.

You do know this thing drives, right?

Yeah, but it's only got
to go from here to here.

Can I break?

Yeah.

Gear?

Yeah.

I know how it works.

Right then.

I'm ready to work.

Come on, give us a hand with the bonnet.

Right, what are we doing?

Lift the bit off.

You just hang on to
it gently to start with.

No, don't do that.

Just lift it up as if it was going
upwards like before you... Yeah, OK.

Lovely.

So what can I get stuck in with?

How can I help?

I think I'm actually OK, mate.

Thank you.

You can go do some shopping, maybe?

Yeah, but I don't mind
getting my hands dirty.

Help you rip the engine out.

I'm sure you do, it's fine.

You sure?

I'm quite happy to, you know, dig in there.

OK, I'm fine.

You sure?

Yeah, I think I'm OK.

Really sure?

Positive?

Good luck.

Now, Mike expects a
full rebuild of this engine,

which might be a bit
extreme at this stage.

It certainly needs to be
very thoroughly refurbished.

Also, he wants a full respray.

Now, I want to look inside here
and see actually what is going on,

because it was actually quite
a significant engine at the time.

A bit of a game changer.

In fact, it really took the world by storm.

This engine may have been a
revolutionary game changer in its day,

but just how good is
the one Mike has bought?

Not good.

We found an environmentally
friendly car that could rival

a monthly hybrid for fuel
economy, the Honda CVCC.

Our first job is to get that
unique CVCC engine out

and see how much work it will
take to restore it to original condition.

Now, Mike expects a
full rebuild of this engine,

which might be a bit
extreme at this stage.

It certainly needs to be
very thoroughly refurbished.

Also, he wants a full respray.

Now, I want to look inside here
and see actually what is going on,

because it was actually quite
a significant engine at the time.

A bit of a game changer.

In fact, it really took the world by storm.

So what we're actually
going to do is take the

engine out anyway to have
a really good look inside,

and that way we k*ll about
three birds with one stone.

I'm a little concerned that when I
actually start lifting with these chains,

they're actually going to foul
on the top of the cover here,

so I'm actually going to just take that
off and make sure it's nice and safe.

So we've now got our
CVCC engine out of the car,

and as we all know, that stands for
compound vortex controlled combustion.

It doesn't really mean anything,

but actually it was trying
to get people off the scent

while the Japanese was still
trying to sort out their patterns.

What we can see right now
is actually one of the features

which actually makes this
engine stand out from the

rest of the crowd at the time
it was being manufactured.

Now obviously normally
the carburetor would sit here,

and you can see the little port here,

the primary port is where the fuel
air mixture goes in on normal running.

Then when you really want
to accelerate, get loads more

fuel air mixture in, then the
secondary port is being used,

but then the one we're interested in is
actually this little tiny port at the back.

That gets the fuel air mixture
into the pre-combustion chamber,

and I want to see where that leads to.

The pre-combustion chamber is
what makes the engine so unique,

and it's all about the difference
between a lean and rich fuel air mixture.

Let me show you.

I'm going to use an oxyacetylene torch,

oxygen and acetylene,
highly expl*sive combination.

So acetylene is the fuel,

oxygen is obviously like
concentrated air if you like.

So what I'm going to
do is just turn that on.

You can see how quickly
and easily that ignites.

You can also see how dirty it is,

because obviously there's
very little oxygen in this mixture.

I now crank on oxygen and the
same as turning air into the carburetor,

as you lean down the mixture
and you can see straight away,

the flame gets nice and clean.

Look at that.

That's fantastic.

Now if I now put that out,

and then try and light it again,

it's actually very hard to ignite.

So it's exactly the same thing that's
going on inside our little Honda engine.

So our head is finally off.

Just spin it round.

So you can see you've got
normal combustion chamber there,

and a conventional engine, as we
know, air is drawn into the carburetor,

it's mixed with fuel, goes
through the inlet manifold,

ends up in the combustion chamber,
the spark plug ignites that mixture,

get a big bang and off you go.

Now this engine is actually
different, but in a subtle way.

Now if you look at the
carburetor, first of all,

this half is pretty conventional,
but it's the hole here,

this little port here, this is
actually so significantly different.

So air is still drawn into
the carburetor and fuel is

still mixed with it, but
it's a much richer mixture.

That rich mixture then goes
down through this little port here,

if you follow it round on the
manifold, it comes up through here,

it's actually preheated slightly, you
can see that it splits off down here,

and then goes off again into
these four holes in the manifold.

If I just turn this round, you can
see you've got these four holes here,

where this rich mixture is going into.

Now if I just get a
torch, have a look down

there, I can just about
see the stem of a valve.

If I just turn it round again,

so you've got a conventional
camshaft, conventional valve gear,

but you can see there's
four extra valves on this side.

Now what this little valve
does is actually open and close

to allow this rich fuel mixture
into the main combustion chamber.

But in fact, if I put a spark plug in,

you can see that it doesn't
quite make it all the way

into the main combustion chamber, it actually
resides in the pre-combustion chamber.

So that lovely, rich, easy
to ignite fuel air mixture

is actually set on fire, if
you like, by the spark plug.

You've got a little ball of flame in there,

is then drawn through a vortex
caused by the intake valve opening

and letting in a much
leaner fuel air mixture,

and of course that fireball
sets fire to that mixture,

and of course then you get
your bang and off you go again.

This engine uses less
fuel for each burn cycle,

so you get much better miles to the gallon,

but also the burn is much
cleaner, meaning lower emissions.

But back in 1975, when most
of the other manufacturers

were having to fit catalytic
converters to their cars,

this little car didn't need one.

But weirdly, our little car has
actually got an aftermarket cat fitted.

Now it might be
something to do with the fact

there's some damage
on this little manifold here,

but actually it's more likely
the fact that the carburetor.

is particularly hard to tune up
and actually set up correctly,

so maybe it's been badly
fitted or badly maintained,

and of course they fitted the
cat just to get over a problem.

You can see inside the
engine it's not looking

very healthy, there's
carbon all over the place,

and really the best
thing to do at this stage,

as Mike said in the end, is
actually to have this thing rebuilt.

Now obviously lapping a valve
is something you can do at home.

Recutting a valve seat
is a different matter,

so really the best thing
to do is send it away to

an expert and actually
get the whole thing rebuilt.

Wayne, how are you?

Mike, it's great to see you.

Good to see you too.

I've started practicing my... That's the
most efficient I've ever seen you drive.

Certainly is.

That's the way to practice my hypermiling
by coming here on an electric bike.

Well, you're going to
learn some more about

it today, but this time
with a real engine.

Can I drive?

You can drive, and let's go.



That's not the way we're going to start.

What a beautiful day out.

Should we turn the old air conditioning up?

No.

What? What are you doing?

Why do we need AC?

Just make it a bit more comfortable.

It burns a lot of fuel.

Does it?

Especially around town.

So are we ready to go?

Is your mirror set?

Yeah, but it's not too bad.

Comfortable?

Rear view mirror's ready?

Rear view mirror's ready?

We're ready to go.

But what I want you to do
when you press that button,

immediately drive, go.

And not fast, just gentle.

So what is a hypermiler?

I coined that term back in 2006,

and what it means is
simply beating the EPA.

in whatever you own and drive.

Let's think about this car is
rated at 35 miles per gallon.

You want to beat 35 miles per gallon every
time you turn the key or push the button.

And that makes you a hypermiler?

That makes you a hypermiler.

Remember, the speed limit is the law.

It is not a suggestion.

Yeah.

And once you put that in
your mind that, hey, if it's 50,



I get a little bit worried, Wayne,
when I'm on the road like this,

that I'm holding up traffic and
I'm just going to annoy people

like this guy who's coming up
behind me now in this red car.

What do I do?

Let's put our turn signal on
five seconds and let it click.

One, two, three, four, five.

Bring it over.

Yeah, bring it over.

Now the guy on the left side?

He's going to accelerate through.

What you're doing is
you're setting yourself up

five seconds ahead of
when you actually turn.

Right.

You know what's going
to happen five seconds

from now versus
everybody else that just goes.

Goes, yeah.

It's a chess game.

Everybody's out here
moving, and if you're

reverse passing, you
don't stop them at all.

That should be used to teach
every BMW driver in the world

that there is actual
turn signals in the car.

Yes.

I don't think they've ever found them.

We're going down a hill, and
we're just going to coast on down.

We're going to make a right turn.

Put your signal on now.

Glide now.

Glide now.

Glide now.

And we're going to take
this corner hard, OK?

OK.

And we're doing 80 miles
to the gallon currently.

No brakes.

No brakes.

No brakes.

Just go straight into the corner.

No brakes.

No brakes.

No brakes.

No brakes.

I've heard that some hyper milers actually

take their shoes off so
they can feel the pedal.

Is that true?

When you're in school and you're

writing a letter or whatever
for your school teacher,

did you ever wear gloves
and write that letter?

No.

Why not?

So you can feel.

So you feel a pencil, right?

Feel a pen?

It's the same thing with your feet.

Remember that this is
rated 35 city, 42 highway.

Yeah.

What did you get?



Really?

On that little journey?

Just on a little city hop.

So do I pass?

You pass, and you pass with flying colors.

Do the same thing in that Civic CVC.

It'll pay off forever.

And you're going to take
that for hundreds of thousands.

Well, you won't.

But somebody will.

Somebody will.

Hundreds of thousands of
miles, and they're going to get

that kind of fuel economy
out of that super little Civic.

I'm now a hypermiler.

You beat highway EPA in the city.

Fantastic.

Our suspension is in really good condition.

The only thing to worry about, really,
is this bit that Mike pointed out earlier.

This is his rusty bit here
at the back of the rear wing.

And that clearly needs attention.

Because of the contours of the body panel,

I'm using masking tape
to create a template.

Doing this allows me to make
a one-dimensional metal sheet

patch that will match the body.

Now I need to trim the metal sheet
to fit our masking tape template.

And we'll shape it to
replace our rusty hole.

Then sand off the paint and remove the rod.

Then open the hole to be
just a bit smaller than the patch.

Now we're definitely getting there.

A little bit more trimming here.

And then this panel is going to fit nicely.

I've also had to cut away all
the rot on the inner panel as well.

And basically, this is like a water trap.

So any moisture that
gets in here just sat there.

So really, it needs a drain hole,
which I think I will put in just to make

it last a little bit longer.

I'm using a series of tack
welds and moving around the

perimeter of the patch rather
than creating a continuous bead.

This assures the metal
doesn't overheat, and warp.

Now to grind down the bead of the weld.

Well, this is now looking pretty good.

Then to give some attention to those

last few problem areas
before we take it for paint.

I've come to the Universal
Technical Institute where our little

CVCC will receive a
state-of-the-art eco-friendly respray.

This place is like a student-run shop,

which means the students learn by doing.

Brilliant.

Hey.

Hi, Bill.

Good to see you.

This place is amazing.

It's just so big, and you seem to have
absolutely everything you ever need.

Yep, we have it all
right here under one roof.

When painting a car, there
are three separate applications.

The primer, the color, and the clear coat.

The difference today is not in the
application, but in the technology itself.

Water-based paint.

So what makes the water-based paint

so much more special, if you like, than
the conventional solvent-based paint?

It doesn't have as much solvents
going up in the atmosphere,

and it covers about 50% better.

So you're using less product.

Wow, okay.

It's also about the energy
you need to dry the paint.

That's correct.

They still use ovens
to bake the top clear

coat, but we don't need
them for the base coat.

We're using air movement to pull
the moisture out of the paint product.

The moisture evaporates out of the paint.

It lays very flat,

and it drips the surface
just like a sheet of

cellophane, so your
metallics actually look brighter,

less blotchy.

I guess there's less finishing
required as well, then?

Yes.

Now, as far as our car goes,
we've now got the color coat on.

It's got to dry, but
once it has dried,

I guess the next thing is
another solvent-based top coat.

Correct.

We're going to put a urethane clear coat
on it, and that gives it some durability,

and it protects it from the environmental
harshness of weather and sun.

Cool.

Keeps our color where it's supposed to be.

Yeah.

Fantastic.

Well, thank you very much, Bill.

Thank you.

Cheers.

Pleasure.

The car's looking great,

but Ed's still got the task of getting
our engine running efficiently again.

Couple that with my
new hyper-miling skills.

No brakes, no brakes, no brakes.

No, just go straight into the corner.

You pass, and you pass with fine colors.

Who knows how many miles
we'll get when it's finished.

Mike bought us a Honda CBCC,

the original Econobox,

getting around 40 miles to
the gallon in its glory days.

Let's get it on the ramp.

You do know this thing drives, right?

Our car has now had a new coat of
water-based paint and looks great.

I've popped the rebuilt engine back in,

no more nasty oil leaks,
and we're well on our way

to getting back those
headline fuel economy numbers.

Oi, what are you doing?

Why don't you do that
with a dustpan and brush?

You don't need to burn
energy using a vacuum cleaner.

We need to keep the
footprint of this project

as low as possible.

So what have you done to it so far?

Well, by hand, I actually took
the engine apart, had a look inside,

checked out those pre-combustion chambers,
and then had the whole thing rebuilt.

So it's now going to just
work as efficiently as possible.

I love the paint job as well and the color.

Was it green?

Uh, it's yellow.

It's very eco-friendly though,

because of course it's water-based,

which is about as good
as you can get right now.

So that's good too.

And I've gone and got us a box of bits
that you're going to love and play with.

You really are.

To help us eke out as much as possible,

well, now we can optimize
our tire pressures with this.

It's a little tire pressure Gauge,

works wirelessly from
the valve caps all the way

to this little monitor that
sits on the dashboard.

And we can make sure our
tires are always inflated correctly

to get the most we can
out of a gallon of fuel.

It's quite good, isn't it?

You are taking this properly
seriously, aren't you?

Oh yeah.

Oh yeah.

We need to make this
car as good as possible.

Talking of which, when
you put it back together,

because I can see
there's still quite a bit to do,

make sure you get the panel
gaps as tight as possible.

I've just remembered I've left
the engine running in me car.

I've got to go.

Really?

Because the engine has just been rebuilt,
we know that's in tip-top condition,

and yet the engine is
not running quite correctly.

So that'll be now down to the fuel system,

or more specifically,
the carburetor settings.

So what we need to do now,

take the air cleaner off and
actually start to tune it up properly.

Now, this carburetor is rather unique.

It has a primary and secondary
bore, just like many carburetors.

The primary will be used for things
like idling and low-speed driving.

The secondary will be used for when
the car's under load or high-speed driving.

But then there is a third bore,

and that's just a carburetor in itself.

That's what supplies that slightly rich
mixture we were talking about earlier on.

Now, another unique feature are these
two solenoid valves on the side here.

Now, these kind of flutter in and out

to control the fuel-air
mixture of the carburetor

for the primary and secondary bores, and
the idea is that they actually help account

for different temperatures
and changes in altitude.

It's all done automatically, which
makes this carburetor rather clever.

Now, the only thing I really have
any influence over is the idle mixture.

Now, there are two screws
I get to play around with.

I've got the idle mixture screw,
which is rather like a tap for the fuel,

and then there's an idle speed screw,
and that effectively adjusts a butterfly,

which controls the speed of the
air going through the carburetor.

Now, when I adjust those
two, it will kind of influence

each other, so there'll be
lots of to-ing and fro-ing.

So before I start, I need to
actually set up a baseline.

So to set up our base point,

what I'm gonna do is I'm just
gonna wind it all the way in,

and then I'm gonna go out.

One and a half,

and then just a quarter.

So first thing I wanna do.

is wind the screw all the way out.

And then I'm gonna wind it in.

about three quarters.

The air cleaner must be
replaced for accurate tuning.

To measure the fuel air mix,

I need to place a sensor into the exhaust.

I've welded a bung hole into the downpipe,

which is also where one of Mike's
EcoMods will be installed later.

Now, the sensor we're gonna
be putting into that bung hole

is actually 40 years
old, but even though it's

quite simple, it's
actually also quite clever.

So what's gonna happen is the exhaust gases

are gonna flow down
this pipe into the sensor.

The sensor actually
measures thermal conductivity

of those gases compared
to the ambient air.

And because of the way
this has been calibrated,

then it can tell whether that
mixture is too rich or too lean.

Well, having plugged
in our little analyzer,

I now need to calibrate it
because of course the temperature

and altitude of where
we are here is obviously

gonna be different to
where it was last used.

So I'm just gonna wind a little
screw in the back of the box here.

Right, so that is effectively zero.

So we can now measure our exhaust gases.

So let's turn her on.

Okay, well, first up,

actually it's revving a little high.

So just checking on the rev counter,

about 1400, 1500 RPM.

First thing I need to do.

is actually wind down the airspeed screw.

Now this is gonna be a lot harder to get
to, of course, because of the air filter.

And also because the engine
is now up to temperature,

it's also quite hot.

I'm just trying to wind it
down just a little bit more.

So we're about kind of right.

So what I'm now gonna
start to do is actually now try

and mess around with the
idle screw to adjust the fuel

because right now we're
running a little bit too lean.

So I'm now gonna richen it up.

Let's pop that over there.

This one's even harder to get to.

Just winding out the screw,

effectively opening the
tap to get more fuel in.

But the revs are still too high,

so I need to keep
playing with the air fuel mix

and idle screw until I get an air fuel
reading of just over 13.5 at 800 RPM.

But it is getting so hot in there,

I might try another little top tip.

Now the little brass
screw for the idle mixture

is actually sitting right
above the exhaust system.

So the longer I run the engine,
the hotter it's actually gonna get.

So rather than having my hand
in there with a little screwdriver bit,

might work if I have
a little tiny bit of hose

and you can push that
over that little screw.

And then by winding one end,

you can see that the other
end actually spins around.

rather like the speedo drive.

And then that way,

that means I don't have to
get my hands nice and boiling.

So now I'm gonna wind
in the idle mixture screw,

effectively turning off
the fuel tap, if you like,

and therefore leaning it mixture down.

I'm hoping for just a drop
in the revs of about 50 RPM.

So here it goes.

Definitely heard it drop there.

Just check the revs.

That's great.

We're now at about 800
RPM and we've now got

our idle mixture screw
exactly where we need it.

So the fuel air mixture is spot on and
the engine is running nice and smoothly.

So now this car's
emissions are gonna be just

as good as when they
came out of the factory.

Happy days.

Our Honda CVCC is running perfectly,

but to ensure we make the
most of every drop of fuel,

I'm gonna install some eco mods
that set me back around $450.

The only drawback being there's currently
only room for two dials in the dash.

Now I need four, but not to worry.

Yeah, I'm getting quite
happy with that now.

It's looking good.

This is gonna be the dash
pod for our little Honda CVCC.

I couldn't find a four pot
dash pod anywhere in

the world that would
fit the dashboard of that.

And I wanna retain
some of that originality.

So what I've ended up doing is keeping
the original dash pod, finding another one

and then joining them
together to make up one.

And I'm quite pleased with the results.

Little bit more work
just to finish it off,

then I'll paint it and
it should look good.

But the whole reason
for doing it is so I can

get all four of the gauges
inside the dash pod.

So what are the gauges?

Well, two of them are the original ones.

One's fuel and one's temperature.

The whole aim of this exercise is to
get that fuel one just sipping the fuel.

And the way to do that is
with these other two gauges.

This one is a vacuum Gauge.

This measures how much air
you're drawing at any one timing.

You want to try and keep
this one as low as possible

when you're pedaling the car.

Well, this one is the air fuel mixture.

This tells you how the
carburetor is working on the car.

I need to move on to
fit in this oxygen sensor.

Now what we got here, the
exhaust on the little CVCC

and I've got Ed to weld in
this little bung piece for me

because this O2 sensor
needs to go in there.

What it'll do is measure
the air fuel mixture.

All modern cars today
will have one of these,

but being this is an
older car, it doesn't.

It's a really easy thing to fit.

It just bolts straight in.

Now, what is important,

if you're ever going to tackle
something like this yourself,

make sure that you leave the plastic cap.

on the O2 sensor or any
sensor to the very last minute.

The reason is underneath,
that's the sensor.

And just the oil in your
skin will give a misreading.

But now it's uncovered, let's get it on.

Right, there you go.

That's nice and pinched up underneath.

Now this pigtail is going
to go behind the firewall

and connect to one of
those gauges in the pod.

So I need to just get this up there
for now and then pull it through.

I think that's the majority of the
work done for now underneath the car.

Let's get it off the ramp and start inside.

Right, I've just test fitted the
gauges into my nice little quad pod.

What I want to do is just a mock fit.

to see if this is going to work.

Yes, look at that.

I'm going to have to cut out the back of
the dashboard and make some space,

but you can see where I'm going with it.

I think it's going to look good.

Look at that.

That is absolutely
fantastic and very unique.

All I need to do now is to run
my lines to make sure it's live.

Right, just feeding through
the line for the O2 sensor.

Now this is convenient because
that's one end of it and this

is the other end that I
connected to the exhaust earlier.

All I need to do is to push those together.

Now I need to connect up a vacuum pipe.

There's a spare bit of vacuum hose here
that I use to connect to the vacuum Gauge.

There, there you go.

I can now feed this
through into the c*ck.

Right, finally, I've got all the cables.

from where they needed to
go under the bonnet all the way

up through the dashboard
and into their correct positions.

All I need to do now is to plug it
all up to make sure it all works.

I've got the lead there for the fuel

and for the temperature, a light bulb.

I've got my little vacuum pipe and the
two that I need for my little O2 sensor.

Right, here we go.

Moment of truth.

Yeah, we've got lights going on.

Vacuum's working and
the fuel Gauge is working.

Obviously we won't get the temperature
because the car's not warm there.

I'm pleased with that.

All I need to do now is to take it all out,

tidy up, make sure
it's all finished off nicely

and also fit the little tire pressure
monitor which is a really simple job.

Before this baby, it's the road.

A car built in 1977 that could rival a
modern-day hybrid for fuel economy.

We found it hanging
out the back of the pub.

That's the car, not me.

The Honda CVCC, a car that shook up the
car industry thanks to its unique engine.

That engine needed a rebuild and a tune-up
to get back all those miles per gallon.

And the bodywork needed
sorting and a full respray.

Together with my Eco Mods,

we might have a car that
runs even better than it looks.

And it does look amazing.

I paid just $2,000 for the car.

It was 1250 for the engine rebuild,



and General Maintenance, $300.

The Honda now owes
us a grand total of $6,200,

which is around 4,000 pounds,
and of course, 26 man-hours.

Now we need to put our
green credentials to a real test.

Can our CVCC not
only reach the original

number of 42 miles to
the gallon, but beat it?

I'm not convinced about that fuel Gauge.

I don't think it's looking so good.

Back off the throttle.

I know what I'm doing.

I'm the hypermiler.

No, well, you're not really
doing very good with it.

With all the hard work
completed on our CVCC,

we're keen to put it to a real test.

Mike said he's come up
with an ingenious plan,

but all he'll tell me
is where to meet him.

It's a little out of the way.

Much appreciated.

See you later.

You all right, Ed?

Well, she's looking pretty good,

but I cycled all the way
up here just to try and keep

my carbon footprint as low as
possible, and you turn up in that.

I did turn up on the old load loader
because I've drained all the fuel out of it,

and I've got exactly two
gallons in that can here.

Right.

That's because I've worked out.

There's a petrol station
exactly 90 miles away,

and if we've created the
perfect hypermiler machine,

we should be able to make it.

So you've done calculations with maths?

Yeah, I can do that,
and don't worry about it.

We should get there.

I've worked it all out.

Road conditions,
winds, all of the variables.

Well, I'm sure the car's
going to be up to the challenge

because we've got that reconditioned engine,
and we've tuned the car brushes as well.

It's now running at
least as good as it was

back in 1977 when it
came out of the factory.

I've got a funny feeling
you're not going to

fit behind the wheel,
so I'll do the driving.

Fair enough.

But first, we've got
to fill it up with fuel.

The optimal revs per minute to get the
most out of our Honda is around 1,800.

In the highest gear possible, of course.

It's all about balancing everything,

about throttle control.

It's about the gear changes.

It's about looking at the road conditions.

And you've also got this air fuel ratio.

We know that 14.7 is kind of
the number of the perfect burn,

but you want to be
running as lean as you can.

So all that work you've done on the engine,

which is fantastic,

I'm going to say it is
running really sweetly.

You can feel those four little
pistons banging away quite happily.

Of course, also, I've tuned the carburetor,

so it's getting just the right
amount of fuel into the engine,

so the burn is beautiful.

And of course, the pre-combustion chambers,

check them out, they're
working beautifully as well.

Well, you can say thanks to my wonderful
dashboard for giving us that information.

What do you think of it?

Yeah, it was pretty good, actually.

So you've got the original
temperature and fuel Gauge,

but now we've got a kind of a
vacuum Gauge and also an air fuel ratio.

So I guess the idea is
that the vacuum Gauge,

you want the vacuum to be as big as
possible because the more vacuum you've got,

the less fuel and air you've
got going into the engine,

therefore, the less
actual fuel you're using.

This is a tyre pressure monitor.

This tells us exactly what's
happening on each individual tyre.

Each one of the tyres on the valve,

it's got a little sender unit that sends
the tyre pressure up to this Gauge

so we can make sure we've got
maximum efficiency happening in the tyre,

therefore, maximum
efficiency in the tank, eh?

Right, well, yes, but then what
pressures did you set them to?

Well, I set them at the
correct pressure for this car,

and then I squeezed in
a couple more pounds.

Well, yeah, but you've got to be careful

because if you've
actually not set it quite right,

then, of course, as they get up to temperature,
they're actually going to get hotter.

When they get hotter, of course,
then they could just explode.

They could, but I'm a hypermiler.

I know what I'm doing, OK?

I've got it sussed, don't worry.

OK, the GPS says we've done 10 miles.

Everything's looking OK.

Yeah, everything's going well,

and we've been sipping
fuel that last 10 miles.

I've been taking care of it.

Now we're going down a hill.

See, watch what I do is hypermiler stuff.

Ease off the accelerator.

And also, you see bends?

Try not to break when
you go through a bend.

That way, you're getting
maximum efficiency.

Well, maybe if you've got your
tyres up too high on the pressure,

then, of course, you might
have... The irony, look at him.

What a surprise, you're
a menace to the road.

Why that?

But I'm saving fuel.

It just has to wait until
there's a passing wave.

What you're actually doing is
causing him to use more fuel.

Why don't they just realise that
I'm trying to save the planet here?

Well, the GPS says we've
been doing just over 20 miles.

How are we looking?
It's doing all right, isn't it?

Everything's good, all the gauges are good.

I'm performing, I think, very, very well.

I will say, I think the
paintwork is a triumph.

And I know it's an eco paint.

Yeah.

And I think it looks fantastic.

No, it does look good.

I mean, it's a lovely colour for the car.

There's no point changing it.

And of course, we've had
to use more paint to do so.

I'm going to take my eco-friendly shoe off.

What?

Yeah, I'm going to take my shoe off.

Take your shoe off.

These hypermilers, it's all
about feathering the throttle.

You can really feel what you're
doing under your right foot,

just to eke out the maximum
efficiency you can out of all the gauges.

This is good.

I don't, I'm not into it.

Yeah, it is, and it's quite
nice driving with barefoot.

It's really good.

Doesn't smell so good.

Just suck it in, just stay with it.

I'm not convinced about that fuel Gauge.

I don't think it's looking so good.

I think you should look out the
window and not look at the fuel Gauge.

It's just a distraction.

Don't, just ignore it.

I'm doing all right, I'll give you that.

Oh, why is there a big steep hill right
in front of the town we need to get to?

It's slowing down.

You mustn't still mess with
using eke out every last ounce.

Look, the fuel is looking very, very empty.

I'm not convinced about this.

Well, I'm going to tell you.

Oh, you're joking.

No, no.

What, are you giving us
eke out a little bit more?

No.

Oh, come on.

How many more miles is it to the back?

Well, it looks like just over one.

Come on, keep limping on, keep limping on.

Come on, come on, we can
do it, we can do it, we can do it.

I don't think this is very efficient.

It's actually running out of fuel.

Your maths is rubbish or
your calculations must be off.

No, my calculations were correct.

I thought of every single variable.

I don't know where it went wrong.

It's one mile.

We made it 89 miles.

I thought about the
road, the wind conditions.

I know what went wrong.

I never put us two in the car.

And you had a great big
breakfast this morning.

If you didn't have that big breakfast, I
reckon we would have made that extra mile.

Have you got any more gas?

No, I had waffles this morning.

Oh, petrol you mean?

No, I got petrol, but I got the can.

I can't believe it.

I worked that out to the letter,
but we did do bad, didn't we?

You know what?

I think if we pushed it to the edge,

we could probably actually roll it
all the way down to the gas station.

In the true spirit of hypermiling,
I don't think pushing it is a thing.

So I advertised our little Honda online,

and I got a call from a
very large organization.

You may have heard of them.

It's called Honda Motor Company.

They're interested in the car,

and asked me to come to their museum as
they're considering making it an exhibit.

The possibility of our car being shared
with other enthusiasts is a real honor.

Wow.

Oh, look at this.

I do get to see some sights,

and this is a private Honda collection.

Wicked.

Wow.

Dave, thank you very much for
inviting me down to this amazing place.

Wow.

You know what?

I never thought I'd be seeing
so many cars here today.

I cannot stress enough
what a privilege it

would be to have our
car join this collection.

Okay.

So then, Dave, what do
you think of our little CVCC?

Well, I love it.

First of all, it's the right color.

We love the yellow.

This one's a five-speed and a CVCC

with a nice interior and a wood
steering wheel and so forth.

It's the top of the line.

This car was found by us and
built by us because it has to be here.

Well, this car made
Honda, so I agree with you.

Okay.

Well, that's good.

Well, listen.

Price-wise, I asked actually
$15,000 for it, and you got in touch.

But now I've been
here and I've seen the

collection, I'm actually
going to beat myself down.

And if you want the car, it's $14,000.

$14,000?

I think that's great.

Super.

You just bought yourself a CVCC.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Now, the good news, the car's delivered
us a very healthy profit, around $8,000.

That's about five and
a half thousand pounds.

And the other good bit of news is this car

is going to be looked
after, maintained, and cared

by these wonderful people and
enjoyed for generations to come.

If you want to see more cars like this
being turned around by me and the tall man,

then join us again soon
on Wheel of Dealers.

Salah.