2000 Insight - TLC and ecomodding build

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by johnlvs2run

I used a similar fan in the driver side rear window of the chevy for quite a long time. It worked quite well and I left it in there all the time, but it won't work in my civic because the windows are curved.

I'm interested to see how the lights work out for you, and wonder how the ones on Ebay would compare.

I avoided the eBay lights as I've read a lot about a lot of trash LEDs. The ones on SuberBrightLEDs aren't the cheapest, but they're not far from it if you start looking at LEDs that aren't cheap Chinese junk.

I should have specified about the fans though, in the link you quoted I meant his second attempt:



As I understand it, the battery box draws in air from the vent behind the passenger seat, and exhausts it either through the vents in the hatch area on both sides. It appears to me that his fans, if running while the car is turned on, would be pushing air backward and against the fan inside the battery compartment. This air would eventually exit behind the passenger seat. I suppose there's no way to avoid pulling it apart and looking at the ducting.

[Ecky]

Pulled the battery box apart and made some flow diagrams.

Air is drawn in from behind the passenger seat , pulled through the battery, pushed into the battery box, where it exits through holes in the bottom into the spare tire area. From there, it doesn't appear there is any clear passage for air to pass through. On the driver's side, the foam almost completely blocks airflow. On the passenger side, air looks to most easily make it to the vent by the area around the pipe coming from the gas cap.












Poking my phone inside this hole, I found the louvers:




The space between the vent and the hole is almost exactly 25mm thick and perfectly fits a fan.




Passenger side seems blocked.



~~

Looks like the best place to put the fan will be on the driver's side between the carpet and the hole.

[Ecky]

Images have all been resized to half their size again, on request. They should now all load ~16x faster than they did originally.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by Ecky

Images have all been resized to half their size again, on request. They should now all load ~16x faster than they did originally.

Apparently, it resizes all pictures wider than 590 pixels to that size, so I started using that resolution. Now I should be able to host everything here.

[cowmeat]

Throttle smoothing circuit?

It's a gimmick I bought from one of the IC guys, supposedly it's going to smooth out the acceleration/deceleration and give me a boost of mpg between 6 & 10%. I'm installing it today, so I'll find out on the next tank, since I'm almost at empty. This tank will mimic the last tank (I'm at about 73 mpg on the dash), so we'll see if the throttle smoothing circuit is worthwhile since it's installation will coincide with a fresh tank.

BTW, you seem to be doing a lot to keep your IMA charged. One of the mods I did on Turtle that helped keep my IMA charged was adding the regenerative brake button, which I installed on the shifter. Instead of using the brakes (unless heavy braking action is required), I press the regen button and it makes the assist motor think I have hit the brakes, so it goes into full regen mode until I let go of the button. It also turns on the brake lights when I press the button, so I'm not slowing without the people behind me noticing. I run around with a full IMA battery all the time now from that mod, I haven't had any issues at all since installing it, and I barely even use the brakes now.
This was super-easy to install btw, and you could make your own.

[Ecky]

That's what my Calpod switch does!



Pull forward, like flashing your headlights, and it applies regenerative braking. Push back and it locks, like brights for your headlights, and turns the IMA system off, neither assisting or regenerating.

[cowmeat]

Nice! I like that set-up now that I understand what you did.

Mine are separate but they were both easy to install (a must for me), and I like the ease of my push-button regen, I can completely control my braking with it. I also want to add a kill switch on the shifter.
I was considering adding the FAS system they use at IC, but it seems like it's going to be way over my head to install that beast.

I'm halfway through the installation of the Throttle Smoothing Circuit, I'll let you guys know how it turns out. It involves tapping into the ECU, so there's a chance I'll kill Turtle with this installation.

[Ecky]

Cowmeat, I read through a few articles and threads regarding the TPS-smoothing circuit, and I'm interested. I have a feeling it would do practically nothing for me as I'm highly aware of and careful of the throttle I use, but when my wife drives, she's very abrupt with her throttle changes even on the highway, and this might help with her averages. In my Del Sol, which had extremely responsive throttle, her foot movements would regularly launch us forward at +5mph.

Awaiting your results.

[Ecky]

Decided to build my own throttle filter:

[cowmeat]

I finished the smoothing circuit installation yesterday afternoon. The installation was really fairly easy (considering I was able to do it) and the two wires I needed to tap into were right where they were supposed to be. Took maybe an hour for the start-to-finish.

I drove it around for a while after finishing up, and the smoothing function is awesome, I can already see that this will be worth the effort!
Whereas previously the instant mpg meter would be all over the board with every tiny movement of my foot on the gas pedal, now the meter moves slower, and doesn't bottom out so far. It stays rock solid over 100 mpg when I'm cruising, and doesn't fall as far or as fast when I hit the gas. I was at the end of a tank, so after re-fueling I only got to drive it for a tiny bit yesterday, but I averaged 94.6 mpg on the way home. I'll keep you updated, hopefully I'll take it out today, but I'm on vacation this week, so I won't have my usual commute to test it with.