Quote:
Originally Posted by mpg_numbers_guy
How hard would it be to swap in a 6 speed?
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Mmm tough to say. It *seems* most early L series engines share the same bolt pattern when connecting engine to transmission, so there's a lot of evidence you could take a Civic Hybrid or Fit transmission and attach it without issue, ***However*** the location and shape of the mount that attaches the transmission to the framerails of the car may vary from transmission to transmission. I want to say the 1st gen Civic Hybrid's was identical, but no promises on any of the others.
Off the top of my head, I believe the CR-Z, the 2015+ Fit and the 2016+ Civic (1.5 turbo trim) all had L series engines with 6-speed transmissions which have a good chance of bolting to the Insight's engine without modification.
There's also a matter of axles. I highly doubt the ~3000lb Civic is using the same axle splines as the 2500lb Fit so chances are good that an axle which would fit into the Civic's transmission on one side would not fit into your car's knuckles at the other side. You could maybe make a custom axle which has Insight splines on one side and the correct ones on the other for whatever transmission you're selecting (assuming they're actually different). I believe the 1st gen Civic Hybrid's transmission does in fact take Insight axles so it's a perfect drop-in, but it's a 5 speed. The Fit, Civic and CR-Z, unknown but I'd give the CR-Z's benefit of the doubt.
In my car I'm actually using the knuckles (what the axle fits into at the wheels) from a 2002-2005 Civic Si to work around this problem. They fit K series axle splines but also have 4 wheel lugs and will fit the Insight's rims. So I'm just going to be using off-the-shelf axles for a Civic in my car.
This might be a project to take to IC, lots of good minds there.