2000 Insight - TLC and ecomodding build

[Ecky]

Check out what I found at the local junkyard for $20 each:

[cowmeat]

I'll trade you my stock Insight rims with the moon discs on them for those

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by Ecky

Check out what I found at the local junkyard for $20 each:

Wow, those go for 50-80$ a pop online, unfair!

[Ecky]

Here's what they looked like on the donor car:




Knocked off the loose powdercoating:




Primed:




Painted, and waiting on a clearcoat:




I considered having them sandblasted, but this will be good enough, and for a grand total cost of $0 because I had the paint already.

[Ecky]

I'm considering a few options with these.

1) 4x HX rims for my winter tires.

2) 2x HX rims in the front for both winter and summer tires, arguably improves aesthetic but there's a slight aero penalty. Rear wheels can't be seen due to spats.

3) 2x HX rims in the rear for both winter and summer tires. The rears are covered by spats so there's little to no aero penalty, and they're lighter than the factory wheels by a hair.

EDIT: I'm considering repainting them black. I'd like a second opinion though.

[California98Civic]

Wow! Lucky find. I like the use of them for four summer tires. Winter is when the aero penalty would be highest because the colder Vermont air is considerably more dense. So use the OEM Insight wheels in winter.

[Daox]

Very nice find.

I'd keep them silver. It goes better with the green IMO.

[fusion210]

Originally Posted by Ecky

I'm considering a few options with these.

1) 4x HX rims for my winter tires.

2) 2x HX rims in the front for both winter and summer tires, arguably improves aesthetic but there's a slight aero penalty. Rear wheels can't be seen due to spats.

3) 2x HX rims in the rear for both winter and summer tires. The rears are covered by spats so there's little to no aero penalty, and they're lighter than the factory wheels by a hair.

EDIT: I'm considering repainting them black. I'd like a second opinion though.

How about a 4th option? Run all 4 but with a set of inner shields like they sell for keeping your wheels clean from brake dust. Either aftermarket or diy.



If I had nice wheels, that's what I would do. You get a mix of style and aerodynamic benefit.

[Ecky]

I appreciate the feedback. I may very well get some brake dust shields, and I'm leaning toward sticking with silver again. Just finished clearcoating them:




California98Civic makes a good point about cold air density, but on the other hand, mounting all 4 wheels costs about $60 and I doubt I'd ever make back that difference. I'm going to need new RE92's in the front after winter so it would cost the same for me if I put 2 winter tires on my Insight rims and 2 on the HX rims, but part of the point of these rims was so that I wouldn't need to keep paying to have my wheels remounted twice a year.

I might appreciate the lighter weight in the summer as my driving tends to be more spirited then, too, but likely these are all going to have my winter tires on them.

[Ecky]

Today I removed my injector kill switch and installed one of Natalya's ingenious force auto-stop PCBs.




It seems a lot touchier than simply cutting fuel to the engine as it relies on the computer to decide if auto-stop is appropriate, and I'll have to install a 27k ohm resistor to fool the temperature sensor as the weather cools off, but I greatly appreciate that I don't get oil pressure and 12v battery lights upon killing the engine.

My biggest hope for this system is that, upon restarting the engine, it won't run in open-loop for ~10 seconds and preventing lean burn immediately after EOC as it does with the injector kill switch.