01 Honda Insight Beat Up Beauty, leaks and main harness bad

[rmay635703]

I still haven't decided on the safe way to route through to the battery, likely I will drill a hole, sadly this car has absolutely no plastic splashguards anywhere so I will need to locate some some my wires don't get destroyed in the winter (lots of bare stuff)

The unibody damage will be the next concern, door just needed a bit more gasket. On the unibody I think a couple welded plugs will likely do it, no idea where to find someone who can weld aluminum well.

Cheers
Ryan

[MetroMPG]

Thanks for posting the pics. Not as bad as I was expecting.

Do you know what happened to the car? The damage inside the wheel well is strange.

[rmay635703]

He claims a car smacked into it while parked destroying the drivers door.

The front end (and likely wheel) happened when he lost control and smacked a tree, I would guess a fence post or tree stump / rock in the wrong place would have caused the impact by the tire creating the massive mess there, also likely destroying the wire harness and wheel splashguards.

No insights around here to borrow splashguards off

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Thanks for posting the pics. Not as bad as I was expecting.

It probably was worse but his friends were body guys, fenders and door where replaced, car was likely pulled and yanked straight, radiator and supports were likely replaced partially, door was likely hammered in, I noticed some "drill" marks here and there so they likely did a bit or stretching.

I would love to have the drivers side fender "tigged" but not sure, maybe I am stuck with roofing cement

[rmay635703]

All 4 tires seem to be the same brand and size Ecowing 185/60r14's that may explain some of the slightly lower than expected fuel economy. (which on an insight is still excellent) I was apparently having a brain fart when I looked at them initially.

I noticed one tire was bald and the others in good shape, she rides straight so its either an older tire, or he fixed an alignment issue or there still is one and I can't tell.

I tried locating some "used" RE92s or really any 165 size tire with no dice, with winter coming I am thinking a matched pair of snow tires may be on order despite the FE hit, I noticed some LRR snow tires on tirerack in the right size, now to see if they are still there.

I also was looking for a space saver spare to fit in the trunk, the one with the car is very very well used and bald, looks like the ones that drove my c-car 10k.

On the positive side I have located and ordered a $35 inner fender skirt or liner or whatever you like to call it, it hasn't arrived yet and I am hoping it has all the required pieces so I can try and shove it in there.

Something interesting to note is that all of my cars use the same lug pattern as does my fathers microvan, perhaps a test next summer of tire sizes on different vehicles

The one I would most like to test would be RE92's on my fathers microvan (zx40 ev) even though they would be a tad big (185's on here now would never fit) it would provide some insight into if tires could affect how well this rolls, since now it rolls like a car with a boat anchor behind it. Ditto my cobalt, its not as though cavi's never had 14's maybe worth a test to see how RE92's fair compared to the Integrities on there now. (assuming I can find a set)

Cheers
Ryan May

[MetroMPG]

I trust you've seen this:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...eet-19126.html

So you're driving the car? What kind of mileage are you seeing and under what kind of driving?

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

I trust you've seen this:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...eet-19126.html

So you're driving the car? What kind of mileage are you seeing and under what kind of driving?

The only legit driving was done bringing it back home (which was lower than I have experienced before under similar test drives in other insights), the driving done now is short slow test trips which I can't really say is real driving given the temperature and the distance and the idling involved while I tweek things and verify voltages.

I figure 14" RE92's would work great on the 15" cobalt as long as I use a scamguage to correct for them but no telling without a test, they would also work great on the ZX40 but I would have to cut the front fenders out and not turn real sharp Might fit the rear though.

My C-car space savers do glide further than typical 155/80r13's, but again we are talking a 2500lb rated tire with maybe 400lbs at most sitting on it so RR is again likely less important there as well and of coarse 155/80s on a c-car probably causes other problems that make more drag anyway, that and the 155's I have available to me are very likely not LRR at all, probably made to be cheap.

Ah well
Cheers
Ryan

[rmay635703]

Well I finally found a LH inner fender skirt, but it doesn't block the hole, also still getting a bit of a leak on the drivers door.

Car is more or less on the road, I drilled out a broken spotweld near the other cable got a grommet and routed it through some old hose. Now I have no fuse on the DC DC but have a backup and don't care.

Runs rough but the plugs are original at 150k, I will have to figure out how and which ones to install, or maybe have honda do it, though that might suck too much cash for the slight time savings.

I also figure the PVC/EGR might need cleaning or replacement, its like a bit of miss, especially when cold.

Around town with very few stops and 35mph I am getting about 53mpg and I am being relatively carefull driving which from past experience is about 20mpg low, I also noted that going 35mph my FE tops at 75mpg chugging along steady state and drops to 50mpg periodically. Even when the car is warm it doesn't seem to want to autostop until I am almost to a complete stop, I tried the upshift thing and find only Key fas works, though I am likely missing some FE that way.

My thoughts are brake drag and alignment, sadly those for me have always also been very difficult to fix. (besides buffing rust no idea)

Ah well.

Its still much higher MPG than any of my other vehicles excluding the ev.

One thing at a time.

[rmay635703]

Well first tank was 45mpg (father driving most of it in town to work and grocery store, etc) Speed was typically 25-40mph, minimal stops in a ruralish portion of Weston.

[rmay635703]

I posted a reply on my space saver tests in the thread you referenced, I did some for real today but could not test the insight wheels on the testbed vehicle sadly.

Anyway...

Well, liquid steel was put into the messed up inner fender area (drivers kickboard) the door leak has magically stopped (for some reason) and the floor no longer leaks with some nice black liquid steel plugs. My father averages 45-53mpg per the lie o meter on the day to day driving, which again seems quite low for the type of driving (ideal insight driving really).

Car likes to miss a bit and run rough, if you shift when it wants you to shift it does not appear to be able to maintain speed.

Next step in my mind is spark plug replacement, I am having a great deal of difficulty locating the proper plug code on the engine block by the spark plug for some reason.

If that doesn't do much, coils then PCV/EGR.

Wish me luck, if its something more major its gonna run just like it is till the motor dies getting 45-53mpg. Not bad for an incorrectly operating vehicle.

Cheers
Ryan