2006 Honda Insight MT Build Thread

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Thanks for the pic! Going to be installing an easily removable foam upper grille block for those short trips. Hopefully when Scott's belly pan arrives on the 27th that'll help with warm up, mpg, and the WAI.

Is the end of your WAI touching the cat? And how easy is it to attach the ducting directly to where you have it connected to? I have 3" and 4" ducting because 2" is impossible to find anywhere around here.

[Gasoline Fumes]

Originally Posted by mpg_numbers_guy

Gasoline Fumes, are you bypassing the IMA on your Insight?

It was bypassed when I got it, but done the easy way with the CEL and IMA lights on. Not ideal and not going to pass NY inspection.

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by Gasoline Fumes

It was bypassed when I got it, but done the easy way with the CEL and IMA lights on. Not ideal and not going to pass NY inspection.

Are you comfortable setting up an Arduino to turn the CEL off?

[Gasoline Fumes]

Originally Posted by Ecky

Are you comfortable setting up an Arduino to turn the CEL off?

I think I can handle it. I have no Arduino experience, but I'm pretty good with electronics.

[Cash68]

Saw this in my email from ecomodder. Welcome to the insight club.

Instead of ****ing with the engine, which is already the most efficient car on the planet (excluding that low production BS that VW produced), I would just optimize it.

Do this for best MPG:

- Iridium plugs (I don't believe indexed plugs make a measurable difference)
- New air filter
- Clean EGR plate (I reused my gaskets, they are aluminum just clean them without scratching and you'll be fine)
- Oil change with 0w20
- Belly pan, I made one with scrap coroplast that lasted 2 years, recently upgraded to scotts, definite 2mpg improvement over not having one
- LRR tires or narrow tires. I'm running VX wheels and narrow 155s to reduce front area

Optional:

- In the summer, you can remove your wipers and just rain-x the windshield for another couple mpg.

- Remove side mirrors, install cameras/screens or convex mirrors inside the car

I would not do any of the arduino stuff or WAI mods, I would just keep it stock, keep it clean, and do tasteful mods taht make it more enjoyable. The money savings from 60mpg to 70mpg is literally spare change, so it isn't worth it. But insights? They are starting to become collectible.

Focus on things that make the car more enjoyable.

I have upgraded the door speakers, installed a sub, installed under dash lighting (amber to match the gauges), HID for better illumination, etc.

The car is already great, stock. Just make it a nicer place to spend time and focus on your driving.

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by Cash68

I would not do any of the arduino stuff

In Vermont if you have a CEL your car is taken off the road unless or until it's fixed. The best fix for a dead IMA battery is of course not to bypass it, but to buy a new battery. However most aftermarket batteries don't last more than 3-4 years and $2,000 every 3-4 years isn't exactly cost effective. Aftermarket Chinese cells are garbage and the youngest OEM cells are more than 12 years old at this point.

Originally Posted by Cash68

or WAI mods

These are easily worth 10-20mpg on longer trips when it's -10 outside, they cut engine wear, and the cost to put one on is negligible. WAI is easily one of the most proven effective mods outside of increased tire pressure.

Originally Posted by Cash68

The money savings from 60mpg to 70mpg is literally spare change, so it isn't worth it. But insights? They are starting to become collectible.

Focus on things that make the car more enjoyable.

I'm actually quite in agreement here anymore.

Back when I was a poor college student I was all about the 80+mpg tanks, but now I'm content to just keep the car clean and comfortable, and spend 1/3 on gas that my coworkers spend. Fuel economy is more a hobby than for the actual savings, spending as little as I do on gas.

Originally Posted by Cash68

I have upgraded the door speakers, installed a sub, installed under dash lighting (amber to match the gauges), HID for better illumination, etc.

The car is already great, stock. Just make it a nicer place to spend time and focus on your driving.

Sounds like we've done most of the same things.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Originally Posted by Cash68

Saw this in my email from ecomodder. Welcome to the insight club.

Thanks! Glad to finally be in it!

Originally Posted by Cash68

Instead of ****ing with the engine, which is already the most efficient car on the planet (excluding that low production BS that VW produced), I would just optimize it.

Engine is stock.

Originally Posted by Cash68

Do this for best MPG:

- Iridium plugs (I don't believe indexed plugs make a measurable difference)
- New air filter
- Clean EGR plate (I reused my gaskets, they are aluminum just clean them without scratching and you'll be fine)
- Oil change with 0w20
- Belly pan, I made one with scrap coroplast that lasted 2 years, recently upgraded to scotts, definite 2mpg improvement over not having one
- LRR tires or narrow tires. I'm running VX wheels and narrow 155s to reduce front area

Air filter doesn't really affect fuel economy, but it's worth checking. Think the EGR plate is fairly clean atm since I haven't experienced any of the bucking to indicate otherwise. Oil is good, belly pan is on it's way. Already has the RE92s. Should check the spark plugs though.

Originally Posted by Cash68

Optional:

- In the summer, you can remove your wipers and just rain-x the windshield for another couple mpg.

- Remove side mirrors, install cameras/screens or convex mirrors inside the car

Front wipers are in a high or low pressure area (I forget which) and so removing them doesn't affect economy. Considering replacing the mirrors with the small circular mirrors that were stuck on the stock mirrors.

Originally Posted by Cash68

I would not do any of the arduino stuff or WAI mods, I would just keep it stock, keep it clean, and do tasteful mods taht make it more enjoyable. The money savings from 60mpg to 70mpg is literally spare change, so it isn't worth it. But insights? They are starting to become collectible.

Arduino mods such as FAS, regen button, and calpod clutch mod help maintain the IMA's life. WAI helps keep the engine warm and efficient. Collectible? Mine is just a few miles shy of 255K...

Originally Posted by Cash68

Focus on things that make the car more enjoyable.

I have upgraded the door speakers, installed a sub, installed under dash lighting (amber to match the gauges), HID for better illumination, etc.

The car is already great, stock. Just make it a nicer place to spend time and focus on your driving.

Fuel economy makes the car enjoyable. Love driving it.

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Psst...long-ish update coming in a few minutes.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Ground straps came in today. OEM Honda parts. About half the wire on each end of each ground strap was exposed, so we wrapped it with electrical tape to secure it from the elements.

Here's what the old ground straps looked like:



Installing the ground straps took longer than anticipated - about an hour rather than 10 minutes. Not due to lack of know-how, but rather the age of the bolts. The chassis-to-electric-motor ground strap ends (that was the broken one) unbolted fine, however the chassis bolt for the transmission ground strap snapped when we tried unbolting it. There is another threaded hole right beside the one where the transmission ground strap was attached to the chassis, so we ended up using that one instead. Due to how easily that bolt snapped, we didn't attempt to unbolt the ground strap from the transmission, for fear of breaking it. Instead, we removed the wire from the connector and used steel wool to remove the grime from the connector, and connected the wire from the new ground strap to it. After installing the lower one, the upper one went on fine. Replaced all bolts with newer, unrusted bolts.

New ground straps shown below. On the second picture, toward the upper right you can see where the old bolt broke off.





Results from ground strap replacement later in this post.

Removed the rear wiper and radio antenna today. Both were quick DIYs that can be undone in a matter of seconds. Both removed parts are in the car.





I quite like the flow over the top of the car now:



Sorry about the pictures being angled...

After that I took a look underneath the car. The Insight does not have a pretty underside without all its panels. Only the middle two panels are in place; there was nothing in the front (Scott's belly pan is on it's way!) or the rear. Noted that the rear bumper was being a little bit of a parachute as well:



Cut out a 3' x 2' piece of coroplast and zip tied it in to make a rear belly pan. Will try to post pics of the completed pan tomorrow. It fills in the messy rear aero in the picture below as well as the rear bumper parachuting:



Weird angle from taking the picture under the car, that's why it's upside down...

As you can probably tell, the car is dirty from the dirt road I live on. It doesn't help that it's been raining quite a bit lately as well.

Dreamsight did its first round of pizza delivery tonight, and I'll say it did quite well. On the way there on a cold engine I managed 64.6 MPG for the 6.7 mile trip. However, during pizza delivery trips, with almost zero hypermiling besides upshifting early and general smart driving, Dreamsight averaged 64.6 MPG again over almost 70 miles of stop-n-go delivery driving, with trips no more than 9 miles in length.

And...no IMA light!!!!! All the stop-n-go definitely worked the IMA hard; at one point the IMA did a negative calibration and went down to 1/4 full and force regenned back up to just under half, and then positively recalibrated to closer to full. When it went down I thought the IMA light would turn on, but it didn't! After the drive the IMA finished at 3/4 full. The ground strap fix is looking good; we'll see if it lasts!!!

Here's the weird thing though. The Civic averaged 35-40 MPG doing delivery, and I eeked ~60 MPG on the trip back home. The Insight averaged 64.6 MPG doing delivery, but I only got 70.2 MPG on the way back home!

How?? How did hypermiling only return less than 6 MPG better than non-extreme-hypermiling driving over inefficient routes? I was hoping for at least 80 MPG on the way back home....my record trip is still only 73.5 MPG over 28.8 miles...

Still love the Insight though...albeit maybe slightly frustrated that I can't break over even 75 MPG for a trip...75 MPG in a Gen 1 Insight should be easy.... thoughts on brake reduction clips? Insight seems to have a lot of rolling resistance, but RE92s are at 60 PSI and brakes aren't dragging any more than a typical car's..

Civic also sold today! Silver Aero was a good car, but it was time to move to more ethereal transportation....stuck with the Insight for life now!

[Ecky]

Percentage-wise, I can't beat EPA numbers nearly as much in the Insight as with other cars. You might look at it this way: the car is close to its most efficient much more of the time. You still unfortunately still have the physics of having to move a car-sized object rapidly through the air, which takes a certain amount of energy.

The Insight engine is nearly 40% peak thermally efficient (an astounding number - you can probably name off engines that just match that on one hand 18 years later), and is that over a very wide range of driving conditions. By comparison a Civic might peak around 35% but in most conditions will be way below that. For this reason you'll see a larger return in a Civic from things like pulse and glide and slowing down. On the other hand the Insight really needs to get warm before you start seeing that amazing efficiency.

Just wait until it warms back up. You'll gain 25mpg when summer hits.

/My 2 cents

[Daschicken]

Originally Posted by mpg_numbers_guy

Collectible? Mine is just a few miles shy of 255K...

Yes, there were a little over 17,000 made, ever. Less than that made it to America. These cars are downright rare, plus the fact that the manufacturer went all out with them instead of trying to make a family car, makes them collectible.