Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com - View Single Post - What would you do to all-out modify (ecomod) a Honda Insight (gen 1)?

theunchosen · 04-27-2009, 12:21 PM

Basic within reason mods. . .I would dump the AC, refrigerant cooling fins, all the piping for it, swap the belt for a shorter belt(probably from a different car thats the exact length I need(length of old minus running to the AC.)) Boosts a little.

I would consider running a turbo with very non-aggressive back-pressure build up and running the alternator off of that instead. The total power ouput of an array would need to be about half a KW to effectively delete the alt.

Buy a battery pack of another wrecked insight(or prius) drop some solar panels in the front dash and rear window to charge the batteries passively all day to run the head-lights if you end up needing them or wipers if it starts raining. I think you could get 500 watts out of 2 very steep bladed turbines, but its hard to say as I've never seen anyone mention the power output of one(although if you used a saw to get the same RPMs with a speed increase gear its consuming a ton of electricity(1KW)).

I would dupe the engine into constant lean burn(variable resistance between MAF and ECU and O2(and any other sensors that throw CELs and change the AFR sneakily on me)), toss the old cat and inject a tiny amount of water at the intake(to shut down most NOx and SOx) and run the other 500w with a centrifugal turbo to keep the engine above 25:1 AFR(NOx and SOx virtually disappear at or above 25:1) using IMA to heavily assist to speed so I don't dip to 14.7 AFR(hydrocarbons that water injection won't fix). In the process I would definitely yank the throttle body to drop pumping losses.

With the alt running off the turbine, if the car is not drawing load it will automatically free-wheel(until it goes under load) and increase the AFR to increase FE. So once you get to speed and your packs are(80-90% charge let the PV handle the rest) set and you are up to speed you can coast in ultra-lean burn territory(throttle partially open creates pumping losses and holds AFR in lower range, while WOT ultra-lean avoids that and delivers cooler charge(water injection and pre-cooling(misnomer=intercooler))).

04-27-2009, 12:21 PM	#24 (permalink)
theunchosen Master EcoModder Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Cookeville, TN Posts: 850 Thanks: 1 Thanked 5 Times in 5 Posts	Basic within reason mods. . .I would dump the AC, refrigerant cooling fins, all the piping for it, swap the belt for a shorter belt(probably from a different car thats the exact length I need(length of old minus running to the AC.)) Boosts a little. I would consider running a turbo with very non-aggressive back-pressure build up and running the alternator off of that instead. The total power ouput of an array would need to be about half a KW to effectively delete the alt. Buy a battery pack of another wrecked insight(or prius) drop some solar panels in the front dash and rear window to charge the batteries passively all day to run the head-lights if you end up needing them or wipers if it starts raining. I think you could get 500 watts out of 2 very steep bladed turbines, but its hard to say as I've never seen anyone mention the power output of one(although if you used a saw to get the same RPMs with a speed increase gear its consuming a ton of electricity(1KW)). I would dupe the engine into constant lean burn(variable resistance between MAF and ECU and O2(and any other sensors that throw CELs and change the AFR sneakily on me)), toss the old cat and inject a tiny amount of water at the intake(to shut down most NOx and SOx) and run the other 500w with a centrifugal turbo to keep the engine above 25:1 AFR(NOx and SOx virtually disappear at or above 25:1) using IMA to heavily assist to speed so I don't dip to 14.7 AFR(hydrocarbons that water injection won't fix). In the process I would definitely yank the throttle body to drop pumping losses. With the alt running off the turbine, if the car is not drawing load it will automatically free-wheel(until it goes under load) and increase the AFR to increase FE. So once you get to speed and your packs are(80-90% charge let the PV handle the rest) set and you are up to speed you can coast in ultra-lean burn territory(throttle partially open creates pumping losses and holds AFR in lower range, while WOT ultra-lean avoids that and delivers cooler charge(water injection and pre-cooling(misnomer=intercooler))).