02 G1 Insight with many ecomods- 999.6 mile tank @ 105 MPG

[secaturbo]

The hose under the battery (closest to Batt?) is the one I needed the know-thank you.

Gonna try the Kats to see if the convection of heat will work. I think it might as you said :

"the water up to a tee into the heater core return line and from there the water bypasses the thermostat and circulates through the engine".

Hoping that bypassing the thermostat will allow enough convection/circulation.

[The donkey CRX]

If you have an Insight, then Yes. Just make sure the hose you tap is not the one with the shut off valve. Good Luck, I hope it works. Please let us know, as it would be much cheaper than the Hotstart heater I am using.

[Cd]

Donk, you do fantastic work.
Thanks for posting all the details.

[ME_Andy]

Why do you have a regular 12V plus a LiPO4?

[The donkey CRX]

Hi Andy, I am still in the testing phase with the LIPO4 battery and the DC/DC "kill Switch" and I will be leaving the regular 12 volt battery as a back up if any thing stops working with the LIPO4 battery. Also if I decide to take a long trip I can switch back to using the regular battery and the DC/DC converter to charge it as I drive and not have to worry about grid charging the LIPO4 battery.

[The donkey CRX]

The Insight is back in the shop this week to install a more comfortable seat. It is out of an 80s era BMW 3 series and in my opinion it is the most comfortable car seat I have ever used. This one is cloth and was originally a passenger seat, which is why it is still in such great shape. It was dirty, but I soaked it down with Simple Green and power washed it for about 20 minutes. After it dried, it looks almost new. The passenger seat fits fine on the drivers side, you just have the adjustment levers on the right. I used 2 -1/4"x 4" X20" aluminum pieces to mount the seat and drilled them out to use the Insight's OEM hardware and threaded holes to mount them in the car










I also made up a hand throttle and right leg rest to make it more comfortable to drive the car. I am constantly making small adjustments to the throttle in order to maximize MPGs and these two items make that easier to do.
















I still need to paint all these items, but who knows when that my happen.

[Cash68]

I'm impressed by your numbers, but IMHO you ruined that car. The nerdy LED lights stuck all over it, the billions of gauges tacked all over the place that can't even be all that helpful, and the rats nest of wiring. Yikes.

I would like to see the results of a mild version of your car, with the shutter mods, aero mods, and something that still looked a bit OEM. Also, is running the narrow spares a benefit if you have the central cavity for the lugnuts exposed? The factory wheels were at least flush.

[Ecky]

Where did you pick up your engine heating pads? I'm interested in doing a more complete block heater.

EDIT: And what have you used to attach it to the block?

[ME_Andy]

Originally Posted by Cash68

I'm impressed by your numbers, but IMHO you ruined that car. The nerdy LED lights stuck all over it, the billions of gauges tacked all over the place that can't even be all that helpful, and the rats nest of wiring. Yikes.

At first, I was shocked when I saw all the gauges. I thought it must have been a computer rendering or something.

[The donkey CRX]

I got both of the pads from Amazon. The one on the oil pan is 250 watts and on the transmission is 100 watts. They both seem to be enough to heat the oil to 180 degrees in 2 hours. Both come with an adhesive backing included. The kits also included the blue silicone chalking you see that seals the edges.