World's only Diesel Honda Insight

[roflwaffle]

Originally Posted by basjoos

I wonder what kind of mileage the Aerocivic would get with a diesel engine from the Polo

Do you have any info for the minimal BSFC of your current engine? IIRC, the 1.2L TDI was around 190g/kWh at best, so just compare that to whatever the D15Z1 is at. That said, your gearing probably isn't optimized considering how low the load must be w/ a Cd=.17 or whatever you're at, so that's where the most gains could be. Anyway, in terms of peak thermal efficiency, the lean burn engine in the Insight was the best I've seen from a production vehicle IIRC.

[rmay635703]

Does this guy ever plan on releasing a how to thread?

I wouldn't mind knowing how to get a lupo non tdi over to wisconsin.

Especially if he has a kit

[jpstaub]

Once upon a time I had a website devoted to the project (redlightracing.org). My buddy was taking care of the server space and that fell through the cracks. I'll see if I can't get the problem resolved. It'd be a shame to lose all the content that was generated.

I'm afraid kits won't be forthcoming. The time and expense just don't make offering a kit feasible. I'd be happy to help people with their own projects. At a point in the near future I'll have a robust electronic adapter module put together which, quite frankly, was one of the most difficult parts of the build. The mechanical part was relatively straight forward. Wiring was tough but again, not bad compared to figuring out how to get the electronics to play nice with one another.

[rmay635703]

My recommendation if you ever get a website setup again, (this applies to anyone) is to be sure that right away once its up and running to submit it to google and to go to archive.org and try to view historical pages of your website, this normally puts it in queue to be archived, thus no matter what the website would not get lost and you can reference it once the site goes down)

The one thing is though you need to make sure the robots.txt is setup to allow everything to be indexed, I really wish some of the really old forums had been setup to allow archiving because there was a lot of neato technical discussion on several forums I used to frequent in the 1990s that are lost to the recycling bin of time.

What service did you go through to get the LUPO? I would very much like to get a LHD non-turbo lupo but have absolutely no idea what would be required to even attempt. (I would be more apt to putting it in an antique VW vehicle or the Miles I retitled, not necessarily an insight... though that would be sweet if I could find one reasonably.) I also wonder if there are any modern common diesel motors that are as efficient as the VW 1.2 that are either smaller or non-turbo, the vehicles I am considering for conversion are very very light and wouldn't need much to get going. The other issue would be gearing.

How much did it end up costing to get the vehicle and get it here, if you don't mind divulging?

I also wonder what forms I would need to fill out.

(sorry for being such a nuisance but these things are really interesting to me)

[jpstaub]

I went through Classic Motorcars International to get my Lupo. Erik was a friend of a friend who took good care of me. He does a lot of car imports for people and is very familiar with the process. I will say bringing cars into the country is a difficult, time consuming, and costly proposition. It's much easier and cheaper to bring parts in as long as you know what parts you want.

The Smart diesel would be one way to go. You can source them from Canada which would be more convenient than going through the Europeans. It's a turbo charged 0.9L but based on my experience, you want the turbo charger for automotive applications. They make the engines much more responsive and efficient. With a turbo you don't need to carry as much displacement to get the performance you need to keep the vehicle from being a hazard to yourself and others.

The Lupo cost me about $8k when all was said and done. Erik can point you to all the forms you'll need to fill out if you'd like to import a vehicle. The primary agencies you'll have to deal with are: 1. EPA (always fun) 2. Federal Department of Transportation (even better) 3. US Customs. No. I didn't have a lawyer and I'm not a lawyer so I had to get good and reading/interpreting federal regulations.

Not a nuisance at all. Here's a build photo album to give you an idea of what the swap was about.

Best wishes,
Jake

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by jpstaub

I went through Classic Motorcars International to get my Lupo. Erik was a friend of a friend who took good care of me. He does a lot of car imports for people and is very familiar with the process. I will say bringing cars into the country is a difficult, time consuming, and costly proposition. It's much easier and cheaper to bring parts in as long as you know what parts you want.

Thank you, not sure if the full motor and drivetrain/front wheels would be cheaper than a full car or not. ( I would try to set the donar on top of the whole kit and kabootle if I could)

Originally Posted by jpstaub

The Smart diesel would be one way to go. You can source them from Canada which would be more convenient than going through the Europeans. It's a turbo charged 0.9L but based on my experience, you want the turbo charger for automotive applications.

From what I hear smart diesels don't last...

Up here in the great white north turbos have less than stellar reps, I would take a good non turbo if I can find one, power won't be an issue. Cold weather and pollution controls don't mix with turbos, my father has had to clean the intake and turbo on his VW every couple of years, 5cyl Sprinters get the black crud of death after a few years of winter operation and even some gasser turbos aren't much fun here. Up here if you run a diesel in winter and don't do just long trips you don't want a turbo.

Originally Posted by jpstaub

The Lupo cost me about $8k when all was said and done. Erik can point you to all the forms you'll need to fill out if you'd like to import a vehicle. The primary agencies you'll have to deal with are: 1. EPA (always fun) 2. Federal Department of Transportation (even better) 3. US Customs. No. I didn't have a lawyer and I'm not a lawyer so I had to get good and reading/interpreting federal regulations.

Not a nuisance at all. Here's a build photo album to give you an idea of what the swap was about.

Best wishes,
Jake

Thank you for the info, $8k really isn't that bad considering how much VW itself wants to charge for motors and transmissions.

I think it would be worth it to save up a while to have a unique ride. I wonder if the 1.2 can be "un" turbo'd, I would like to detune and remove as much potential for reliability issues as possible. My little 900-1700lb donar vehicles should run well enough on a 1.2 FI diesel

[ymou]

It has been some time since anybody commented on this thread. I am wondering if the OP is still actice with this diesel project and if any member have any information about this project. Is there anybody else who tried to convert their insight 1st gen to diesel ? Let us know where you are with your diesel swaps. Hopefully we can pool together our experiences and share information.

[HHOTDI]

I located his contact info and sent him an email. We'll see if we get a response. I'M subscribed! :{)

[bikeprof]

Great but seems lack of interest (numbers), killed the thread �� !
I believe it's a GREAT doing and meticulous enterprise ��

[HHOTDI]

I did get a reply from Jacob....! He has since moved his family to Portland Maine! Wow, from the west coast clear over to the east coast. I'll share a portion of his email to me here with you all...

"Funny you should mention putting a 1.2L in a motorcycle. Way back when I started the Insight project I ran across the Thunder Star. It's certainly doable from a technical standpoint. For most people money is what holds that type of project hostage. The total project cost for the Insight was somewhere around $25k--expensive but about a quarter of what one custom vehicle house said they'd do the job for.

The Insight has languished a bit in daily driver obscurity. I did take it out to the '09 Bonneville World of Speed. My Dad holds the official unofficial land speed record for diesel powered hybrid cars at a whopping 97.7mph. Click here for a short picture album that will give you a better feel for what was involved in swapping in the 1.2L.""