2006 Honda Insight MT Build Thread

[Gasoline Fumes]

Originally Posted by mpg_numbers_guy

Looks like I'm going to be driving a scarred Insight around for the next couple months until I return home for Thanksgiving break. Someone either hit me or backed out alongside the rear of my Insight in the parking lot last week, dented the lower plastic piece, and scratched the paint pretty bad on the rear bumper and side skirt. Looks to be around $100-$150 to refinish and repaint them both at the dealership my dad works at. I don't trust myself to do that kind of bodywork. A couple of the scratches are fairly deep, so they won't buff out, and a bit too wide to even consider touch up paint. And of course there's no security cameras, and of course whoever did it didn't leave any contact information.

Car's still getting 90+ mpg but she's scarred right now, and her rear corner doesn't look pretty anymore

That sucks! I'd try popping out the dent in the lower plastic piece as soon as possible. It might want to keep the dent if it's there for a couple of months.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

My roommate and I will go out there tomorrow and try to pop it back out. Not going to be easy without removing the whole bumper, and I'm not sure if we'd be allowed to do that kind of work in the parking lot lol. We'll see what we can do.

[Ecky]

Sorry to hear that. I don't think I've put a single scratch or dent on mine, but it has plenty. People are terrible.

[19bonestock88]

Agreed, people suck! And yeah, try getting that small dent out before it sits long enough to become semi permanent hot water may help you there...

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by mpg_numbers_guy

My roommate and I will go out there tomorrow and try to pop it back out. Not going to be easy without removing the whole bumper, and I'm not sure if we'd be allowed to do that kind of work in the parking lot lol. We'll see what we can do.

You'll need to pull the cover off... not enough room to work otherwise, unless the inflating a football technique can do it.

Otherwise, take the cover off and go somewhere else with it so security cannot figure out what's up.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Wasn't able to fix the dent the night that my roommate and I went out there to try to work on it. Need to find a day to take the bumper off and do it, but my schedule is pretty crammed busy today.

Found our one (literally, one) EV charger on campus. Free parking for the first 6 hours ($1/hr if parked for >6hrs), 7.2kw, $0.32 per kwh. Assuming that electric motors are twice as efficient as gasoline motors, my Insight as an EV would be looking at around 6 miles per kwh, which translates to over $5/gallon compared to the $2.19 that gas is here. In order for electricity to be cheaper, it would have to be <$0.13/kwh. The 6 miles/kwh is theoretical based on the conversion rate here on Ecomodder.

And that's not even considering the crazy high cost of lithium batteries for an EV conversion.

I'm sticking with gas only.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by mpg_numbers_guy

Wasn't able to fix the dent the night that my roommate and I went out there to try to work on it. Need to find a day to take the bumper off and do it, but my schedule is pretty crammed busy today. ...

Have you considered this method?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSMLRMU2kZA

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Got the dent slightly less dented the other day, but I likely won't be able to do much with it until Thanksgiving break when I return home.

On the other hand, had my first "run in with the law" from my car modifications. Over this past week one of the university officers put a note of "warning" on my car for having "illegal mirrors", or specifically "Missing passenger side mirror, and non-Virginia DOT approved driver's side mirror."

According to the law, this is complete BS:

Originally Posted by Virginia Law: § 46.2-1082. Mirrors.:

No person shall drive a motor vehicle on a highway in the Commonwealth if the vehicle is not equipped with a mirror which reflects to the driver a view of the highway for a distance of not less than 200 feet to the rear of such vehicle.

No motor vehicle registered in the Commonwealth, designed and licensed primarily for passenger vehicular transportation on the public highways and manufactured after 1968 shall be driven on the highways in the Commonwealth unless equipped with at least one outside and at least one inside rear view mirror meeting the requirements of this section.

Notwithstanding the other provisions of this section, no motor vehicle which either has no rear window, or which has a rear window so obstructed as to prevent rearward vision by means of an inside rear view mirror, shall be required to be equipped with an inside rear view mirror if such motor vehicle has horizontally and vertically adjustable outside rear view mirrors installed on both sides of such motor vehicle in such a manner as to provide the driver of such motor vehicle a rearward view along both sides of such motor vehicle for at least 200 feet.

Emphasis mine. My Insight has a deleted passenger mirror and a smaller, custom driver's side mirror that easily allows visibility for more than 200 ft.

So I went over to the police department on campus to get this resolved, but they are closed on the weekend. However, I was able to talk with a sheriff who happened to be passing by. After respectfully explaining the situation I was in, his statement was that all cars "have to be equipped with the original equipment that came with the car". Which really is more BS; if that were the case, then in all technicality replacing your tires with a non-OEM tire is illegal, or repainting your car in a non-OEM color is illegal! But I didn't go into that. After showing him the above statute, he agreed with me that I was in the right. He promised to call the officer who wrote me the warning and inform him of his mistake, and instructed me to return on Monday when they were open with the warning to get it erased from the record.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by mpg_numbers_guy

Got the dent slightly less dented the other day, but I likely won't be able to do much with it until Thanksgiving break when I return home.

On the other hand, had my first "run in with the law" from my car modifications. Over this past week one of the university officers put a note of "warning" on my car for having "illegal mirrors", or specifically "Missing passenger side mirror, and non-Virginia DOT approved driver's side mirror."

According to the law, this is complete BS:



Emphasis mine. My Insight has a deleted passenger mirror and a smaller, custom driver's side mirror that easily allows visibility for more than 200 ft.

So I went over to the police department on campus to get this resolved, but they are closed on the weekend. However, I was able to talk with a sheriff who happened to be passing by. After respectfully explaining the situation I was in, his statement was that all cars "have to be equipped with the original equipment that came with the car". Which really is more BS; if that were the case, then in all technicality replacing your tires with a non-OEM tire is illegal, or repainting your car in a non-OEM color is illegal! But I didn't go into that. After showing him the above statute, he agreed with me that I was in the right. He promised to call the officer who wrote me the warning and inform him of his mistake, and instructed me to return on Monday when they were open with the warning to get it erased from the record.

How did this work out in the end?

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

How did this work out in the end?

No issue at all, they just put a note on the record that I had spoken with an officer and that my mirror setup was within the specifications of the law. It's on my university record, not my actual driving record. No ticket or anything. So if this were to happen again, they would see the note on my university record and know that it's fine.

I'd like to find a small aero mirror to put in the driver's side to make it look a bit nicer and redo the blanks with aluminum, but I'm having trouble finding a mirror that's as small as my current one and that'll mount easier. Also trying to find one that sticks out a bit further with just the stalk attached to the door rather than the actual mirror, as I suspect there is some slightly detached airflow there.

As it is, they look fine until you're 10 feet away, then it's pretty obvious that it's a homemade setup, so I can see how an officer who didn't know what the law said would do something about it if he was nit-picky enough.