2000 Insight - TLC and ecomodding build

[cowmeat]

Did you document the exact dimensions of the hitch you made?

I'm sure somebody out there would be interested in doing this project, although it might be a WTF moment for a potential buyer seeing a trailer hitch on an Insight, lol!

I wonder if Turtle could pull my lawn equipment around? My wife is already complaining about me using her new Explorer to pull my trailer with, hmmmm . . . . .

[Ecky]

I'm sure I have it written somewhere. I'll grab the numbers for you tonight when I get home.

Yesterday I tested 250lbs of tongue weight and it held very nicely.

[mikeyjd]

Awesome thread! I must live vicariously through you guys for the time being

[cowmeat]

Mikey,

You'd better un-subscribe to this thread before it costs you, lol!

I already warned DirtyDave that he can test drive Turtle next time he comes through Lakeland, but it'll probably end up costing him three grand, cause he won't be able to live without an Insight after he drives it . . . and that was before I installed all the cool toys, like the rear camera, regen button, clutch switch, injector kill button, etc!

Ecky has installed way more stuff on his, and every time I look at this thread it cost me money cause I have to do something to mine then

[Ecky]

Repost from the G1 Insight thread, I wanted this with my mods here:

A few days ago I went around town and picked up a bunch of random signs, and used them to construct my rear pan today. I cut up the sign holders to stick through the corrugation and give support, as well as hold the individual pieces together, since I'd be making it out of ~6 individual pieces.









I tucked it under the middle pieces, plus a few zip ties to support structures. I cut out around the exhaust and bent the coroplast up in that area to keep it from catching air. At some point I'd like to do a complete pan front-to-back using only a few pieces, replacing the stock panels, but this is an improvement as it covers some cavities.

After driving it around a bit, I found it rattles near where the exhaust pokes out in the back, so I'll need to figure out something for that.

[Ecky]

Update:

Past two tanks of gas have been the worst I've had since getting the car, at ~54 and ~55. The weather has been a bit cooler, but more importantly they were 100% city driving, with a vast majority being my wife's commute. Something seems to have changed in her driving habits. I've seen the gauge with numbers as low as 35 after her commute, and she generally leaves me with 2-3 bars of battery. She is not an aggressive driver, and I know she doesn't rev it up. I suspect she is actually keeping the RPM too low and leaning heavily on assist. To support that there isn't anything wrong with the car, I'm still getting 60+ around town in traffic.

I modified the lower grille block a bit, using foam to make it easily adjustable, and keeping unused pieces in the hatch. I'd estimate that even with all four foam pieces in place perhaps 20% is still open along the top, so with three on it should be approximately 60% blocked. On particularly cold days I'll drive around with an 80% block and keep an eye on temps, but I suspect it'll be fine.

[Ecky]

Duplicate post from my aero-trailer thread:

Originally Posted by Ecky

Here's a side profile of the trailer behind the car:

I feel it might be a bit tall in the front, but the drag seemed acceptable on the highway. I have some ideas for the wheel wells, finally.

[cowmeat]

Man, a piece of coroplast attached right below the top of the hatch laid onto the top of the trailer equals a giant boat tail!

Figure a way to attach it to the trailer in one spot so when it turns it stays put but doesn't rip it off the car and you'd have a huge aero advantage

[cowmeat]

Past two tanks of gas have been the worst I've had since getting the car, at ~54 and ~55. The weather has been a bit cooler, but more importantly they were 100% city driving, with a vast majority being my wife's commute. Something seems to have changed in her driving habits. I've seen the gauge with numbers as low as 35 after her commute, and she generally leaves me with 2-3 bars of battery. She is not an aggressive driver, and I know she doesn't rev it up. I suspect she is actually keeping the RPM too low and leaning heavily on assist. To support that there isn't anything wrong with the car, I'm still getting 60+ around town in traffic.

You still have a clutch switch? I'd start using it religiously, clicking the assist off whenever possible. Sounds like the pack is degraded more, and it shows up when she's driving. Is it recalibrating a lot now? You have a brake button? If not, I'd install one so you can add to the regen you're getting and maybe limp it through until it warms up

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by cowmeat

You still have a clutch switch? I'd start using it religiously, clicking the assist off whenever possible. Sounds like the pack is degraded more, and it shows up when she's driving. Is it recalibrating a lot now? You have a brake button? If not, I'd install one so you can add to the regen you're getting and maybe limp it through until it warms up

It drives fine, and still provides several minutes of strong assist, and has made no recals. I'm pretty sure she's just running it down.

I use my brake regen button to get it back up when I'm driving, but telling her how to drive hasn't been successful in the past.