212cc engine swap gives a new life to an old Honda Insight.

[fujioko]

its been a while since I last posted.

I built a 212cc powered Honda Insight for a video series I'm working on. The primary objective of this project is to get the car to go 50 miles per hour...Its a challenge but I think it can be done.

The fuel economy aspect of the project was never considered and was totally overlooked.... until recently.

Anyway, I figured this group would get a kick out of the videos...

Here is the fuel economy video, there are also a number of other videos on the car as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0zLfouT9kc

https://youtu.be/w0zLfouT9kc

[California98Civic]

Fun. I won't spoil the reveal, but I am sure that, at the speeds you were driving and with the road conditions you enjoyed, many an ecomodder driver could have beaten the 212cc fuel economy in a stock Gen1 Insight with ease.

EDIT: It would go faster stock as well.

What's the story with this project?

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Cool project! Any future plans with the car?

[M_a_t_t]

I want to do a similar (temporary) project in my mercury. I actually already bought a 12 hp opposed twin for it too. I haven't watched all the videos yet so you might have already answered it, but why the CVT? I was thinking I could just do a simple chain reduction plus the metro 5 spd and be fine. I didn't do any calculation or anything, just my hunch.

[fujioko]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

Fun. I won't spoil the reveal, but I am sure that, at the speeds you were driving and with the road conditions you enjoyed, many an ecomodder driver could have beaten the 212cc fuel economy in a stock Gen1 Insight with ease.

EDIT: It would go faster stock as well.

What's the story with this project?

The purpose of this project is to demonstrate the possible engine modifications on the Harbor Freight 212cc predator engine. Instead of using a go kart to showcase the engine, we are using a car. The car is basically a big go kart.

While it is absolutely true a stock Insight will get better fuel economy, it was never our intention for this project to compete with a stock insight... it just worked out.

Anyway its just a jun project and I thought this group would enjoy the MPG video. There are another five videos that explain what what the project is about and what modifications were made.

[fujioko]

Originally Posted by M_a_t_t

I want to do a similar (temporary) project in my mercury. I actually already bought a 12 hp opposed twin for it too. I haven't watched all the videos yet so you might have already answered it, but why the CVT? I was thinking I could just do a simple chain reduction plus the metro 5 spd and be fine. I didn't do any calculation or anything, just my hunch.

The CVT 5 speed transmission we are using gives the car a big boost in acceleration. The CVT part of the transmission only works from a standing start. Once the car is moving the CVT stays in its High position, even when the transmission is shifted to another gear.

Is the CVT 100% necessary?... its hard to say.

[fujioko]

Originally Posted by mpg_numbers_guy

Cool project! Any future plans with the car?

We plan on making another five videos demonstrating various engine modifications on the 212cc motor. After that we will switch to the 420 CC engine and do more experiments.

[jakobnev]

This shows how cheap it could be to make a PHEV from a cheap electric car if it wasn't for emissions regs. and peoples need to have full power if they did something silly like emptied the whole battery.

[fujioko]

Good point. I hope this project inspires people to innovate.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by fujioko

... its just a jun project and I thought this group would enjoy the MPG video. ...

Absolutely did enjoy it, too. Good luck with the channel. I can see the production work going into these... stop motion and computer animation sequences, even!