2000 Insight - TLC and ecomodding build

[cowmeat]

Glad to see you have it back on the road!

Did the weaherstripping help with the noise? I know the belly pan I put on Turtle back in the day helped a lot with road noise.

[Ecky]

I haven't had it above 50mph yet but even at low speeds, it makes a difference. I was surprised at how much turbulent are noise there is at the seams of the doors, and how much sealing it at the edge helped.

I'll report back Sunday with 60mph+ results, after I've driven to Montreal.

EDIT: The thickest weather stripping my local hardware sold is 5/16" tall, which wasn't quite tall enough to fill the gap in the doors, hence I used a strip on both sides. I would imagine 1/2" or 7/16" would be perfect.

5/16 is great for the hatch though.

[Ecky]

First time I tried to drive at night, I discovered my driver headlight was pointed at the ground. Turns out, the impact combined with the weight of the projector stripped the plastic "nut" that allows adjustment of the light up and down, so I had to pull it apart. I decided to change the look of the lights a little while I had them open:












No picture of the whole front of the car yet, as it got dark before I had the other headlight in.

EDIT: In other news, I fried my grid charger after rebuilding my wiring harness to be discharge-capable, by reversing the polarity of the wires. I'd have thought having a diode on each line would have protected it from that, but apparently not.

[Ecky]

[pgfpro]

I Love the look of the head lights!!! I'm going to do this mod also

[Ecky]

First long road trip in the Insight since getting it back on the road:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWxbfYapf_k

Friday, Vermont -> Montreal, ~70F, ~85 miles including 20 miles of driving in mild traffic in the city, I arrived at my destination with the FCD reading 93.7mpg, or 2.5L/100km.

On the return trip, I averaged 87.4mpg. It was slightly cooler, and there was a small crosswind.


My strategy was little more than to stay in lean burn 100% of the time (except for NOx purges). On flat ground, I set the cruise control @ 50mph. Where hills were steep enough that I could coast down the other side without losing speed, I would climb at no less than 70mpg (lower limit for lean burn), even if I lost a little speed, then coast down the other side with the engine on, because my kill switch isn't presently hooked up.

I had some chance to play with getting assist while in lean burn. It's possible, it seems, but you have to really feather the pedal right at the point where lean burn exits and assist begins.



Right now I'm creeping up on my first 80mpg tank, but it's very possible that my morning commute might lower that a bit.

[Ecky]

Got the car thoroughly washed for the first time this year, and cleaned up the last rusty piece under the hood:








Next on my list is rebuilding or replacing the passenger wheel air deflector.

[Ecky]

79.6mpg tank, a new record.

Probably the first in the car's history that my wife didn't put a single mile on. I've pretty much limited her to driving the Civic.

[100MPGUS]

Originally Posted by Ecky

79.6mpg tank, a new record.

Probably the first in the car's history that my wife didn't put a single mile on. I've pretty much limited her to driving the Civic.

hide the keys!

[Ecky]

So, recently I fried my old grid charger, so I decided to upgrade it.

Old design, using a pair of eBay no-name 90v LED drivers, a generic 12v driver, fused AC input, voltmeter, DC-DC converter (for isolation), old server power supply + fan. Harness had diodes in it, to prevent accidental death or (more importantly) damage to the charger.




Design changes:

Reused case + fan, 12v driver, DC-DC converter, multimeter, fused AC input.

Now discharge capable!

-Diodes moved from charging harness to just in front of the HV LED driver.

-Placed fast-blow fuses in harness instead, which allow discharge but still provide some protection, and more fuses where power enters/exits the grid charger.

-Unit now has a switch and a standard AC power outlet, for plugging in a lamp or shop light for discharge, and a switch to select either charge or discharge. Voltmeter works for both.

-Replaced 2x 90v LED drivers with 100-200v 500ma constant current Mean Well LED driver, which is about 8x heavier than the old eBay no-names.








EDIT: I'd like to change the 4-pin molex connectors I've been using to something a bit... safer? eventually, but haven't been able to find a set I like for the right price yet.