Swapping a TDI engine into a 1st gen Insight

[arcosine]

You could hold out for a cheap once in a lifetime deal on an insight, by that time you could be driving a diesel CRX around. I don't know about AZ, but Illinois emission tests OBD2 cars. The CRX HF is close in weigh to the insight, 100 lbs difference. With the TDI installed, it may weigh less, d15b6 engine weighs 195 lbs.

[rmay635703]

No offense but if he wants to avoid the emissions 100% (completely exempt) there are still thousands of downright antique lightweight car shells around that are probably possible to buy for a song, from yugos, Subaru 360's (900lbs), really any Honda made prior to 1986, 2cv's, Toyotas/Mazdas/Datsuns prior to 1980, Chevy Chevettes, Lincoln Linx and clones, Fiestas prior to 89, Various Chevy Sprints, Metros, Suzikis, etc ,etc not all are very aero but all are quite light. Subaru 360 shells can literally be had under $1k and they are the lightest, mod drivetrain and rearend and they would likely beat anything on the road.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Sometimes the emissions regulations seem too dumb to be true. EPA witch-hunting against Diesels is one of those pointless aspects of the current "environmental" laws.

In Europe current thinking and study is beyond this point.
Diesels are bad to everyone's health - regardless of their MPG achievements.
And speaking of MPG achievements : in real world use, diesels lag far more behind their official ratings than petrol cars.

Current emission standards are causing the "cure" (particulate filters) for the fine diesel particulates to be worse than the problem itself - replacing fine dust with even finer and more harmful but uncontrolled dust particles.

Don't import another problem to cure the US's addiction to fuel ...

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by gtmotor

I've decided to swap a 1.9 liter VW TDI engine into a Honda Insight.

Sounds like a fun project !

Just promise you won't mess up a good repairable Insight
These cars are few and far between.
I found 1 - yes, one - on a pan-european car sales site !

To my knowledge, the TDI swap has only been attempted once before and it was with a 1.2 liter Lupo engine that can't easily be found where I live (America).

About the only options are cars brought over by military personel stationed in Europe - and they didn't bring over Lupo/A2 TDis

[Diesel_Dave]

Interesting project.

Just to clarify...is your intention to keep the Insight's hybrid fuctionality? Sounds like you're not. So I assume the appeal of the Insight is aerodynamics and relatively light vehicle weight. Is that correct?

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by euromodder

Current emission standards are causing the "cure" (particulate filters) for the fine diesel particulates to be worse than the problem itself - replacing fine dust with even finer and more harmful but uncontrolled dust particles.

Quality standards for the Diesel fuel also influence this issue.

[gtmotor]

Yes, the appeal is the lightweight chassis and the increased power of the TDI engine. There will be no hybrid functionality when I'm done with it.

I decided to hold out and wait for the right car Thanks to everyone for PMing me leads to Insights for sale!

[gtmotor]

I found the right car and have been daily driving it/performance testing it

The Honda TDI Project

I have all the data I want from the stock Insight now. Disassembly begins tomorrow!

[Flakbadger]

Maybe I'm missing something, but you said on your website that the Insight was returning 60something MPG as it stands now, with no hypermiling.
Why destroy it to put in a diesel engine? Is it really going to be that much more efficient? With driving style alone you could put a manual-trans Insight into the 70MPG range without much difficulty. Is the hassle of installing a TDI engine really going to return that much more impressive MPG?

[gtmotor]

Because this is an ecomodder and not ecostock forum?

Just kidding... mpg isn't the only metric by which I measure a car. I'm a speed demon so 0-60 in 14.4 seconds isn't going to cut it for me. Having a fast car that gets 60+ mpg is kind of the best of all worlds, no?

My Insight also has a salvage title and the previous owner has a want/need for the entire drive train. The battery pack/engine/transmission will live in another Insight that needs them right now.