Quote:
Originally Posted by BongoBennie
OK here's my 2 cents
1G insight with bad motor and battery $500-$1000
08 Fit engine $2-300
04 Honda Civic manual gear box with 08 Fit inner case/bellhousing $5-700
04 Civic knuckles and brakes (makes axles easy)$100
Hondata Flashpro $600 or Kpro $1000 (need to adapt a cable throttle body)
you will need to cut the hood or build a new Intake manifold (longer!)
with the programable ECU you can program open loop and run lean and mean and datalogging everything on the way to work
Kpro uses the 04 RSX ECU as a base and a wiring harness will make everything but the engine harness plug and play, Flashpro is cheaper but requires loads of wiring and is less feature packed than Kpro (which has bluetooth!)
Finally, throw everything IMA related in the trash and your car is now 100 pounds lighter give or take.
finally a custom header and you're golden (long tri Y)
I'm doing this exact swap but adding a huge stereo, dynomatt, summer sticky tires and a turbo but without all of that I don't see why you cant beat the originals highway MPG and do pretty good elsewhere and once its running not only will it run forever but now parts are dime a dozen.
the attached pic is #1 Fit M/T gearing with 195-55-15s VS #2 HCH M/T gearing with 165-65-14s @65 mph
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There’s a lot more to it than that and you know it. Adapting the harness, replumbing A/C, building mounts from scratch, and any tranny case other than the Insight’s might not clear the frame, so you might have to transplant the guts from a Civic into the Insight’s case. I expect a K20 swap is easier since mounts and axles actually exist for it. Base K20’s are cheap as dirt, and there are 6 speed transmissions available. Some even had lean burn from the factory, if I’m not mistaken. No doubt the L15 is a more thrifty motor than K20, but we’re talking major fabrication.
And no, I don’t see getting 100mpg out of a stock L15, regardless of gearing.
But, I’m looking forward to seeing your finished product. Keep track of your total expenses please.