2001 Honda Insight Custom Fiberglass Bumper (Engine Cooling Question)

[He-man]

Hello,

I am building a bumper that will have more of a slope to it. It will continue the angle that the hood is at when it ends, in the middle, right about the bumper. The bumper that i have designed will fill this gap and make a flush clean front.

I am wondering if it is possible to have this clean front without having cooling issues. Some ideas that i have thought of are to install an oversized radiator, or possible relocate the stock one so it would be further forward, in the custom bumper, with a small hole on the outside, but that would defeat the purpose of having a super clean and smooth front end.

Any ideas on how to make the aero improvement while remaining safe and cool?

Thanks!

I have a drawing that i can post if it would help but i don't have anything physical yet because i want to make sure the concept would work before i start the build.

[He-man]

Some pieces of inspiration are cars like the C5 corvette, which i have, because they don't have any cooling openings in the front. The openings that you can see are for fog lights and are blocked off otherwise. The C5 does get very hot in stop and go traffic so i would assume that the same would happen with the Insight if i did the same style of bumper?

[Frank Lee]

The extractors on the sides are probably indispensible considering how marginal the inlets are. Gotta have air flow.

No matter what, radiators are heat exchangers and the heat must be dissipated. It won't happen in an enclosed space, no matter how big the radiator is.

[He-man]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

The extractors on the sides are probably indispensible considering how marginal the inlets are. Gotta have air flow.

No matter what, radiators are heat exchangers and the heat must be dissipated. It won't happen in an enclosed space, no matter how big the radiator is.

Are you talking about the openings after the front wheels? Those are completely cosmetic. I just checked and they are openings to a piece of plastic that is blocking it off.

The only thing that i can see that goes to the radiator are the two small openings on the bottom outside on the front of the bumper on each side of it. I wonder how small i could go with an opening like that, with tubing going to the radiator on an engine that is about 1/6th of the size?

[Frank Lee]

I suspect on something like an Insight Honda sized the cooling pretty well. But the Insight owners on here would know- I don't.

Since you don't live in Arizona you can probably reduce the opening sizes somewhat. Experiment with tape or some other means of varying the hole.

[He-man]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

I suspect on something like an Insight Honda sized the cooling pretty well. But the Insight owners on here would know- I don't.

Since you don't live in Arizona you can probably reduce the opening sizes somewhat. Experiment with tape or some other means of varying the hole.

Ok, well thanks for your input. I am new to fab work so any input is great!

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

I suspect on something like an Insight Honda sized the cooling pretty well.

Not really, though doing better would probably require some sort of active shutter. It's sized for worst-case climbing mountains on a hot day, which means it has a hard time getting up to the thermostat opening temperature (195F) in the winter - unless you are climbing a mountain.

[Ecky]

Thing about the G1 Insight is that, even though it's only a 3-cylinder, it has a water jacket in the header that collects heat from the exhaust, making the cooling requirements larger than you'd expect for an engine of its displacement.

I do just fine in the mountains with a 100% upper block and 50% lower, but it's also rarely over 80F here.

[freebeard]

Instead of moving the radiator forward, take advantage of the space to place a sealed duct to the radiator. And put the active shutter[s] on the outlet[s].

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Ecky

I do just fine in the mountains with a 100% upper block and 50% lower, but it's also rarely over 80F here.

Also, eastern mountains are rather different than western ones. In the east, they tend to go up&down&up&down&up&down, while western ones go upupupup&downdowndowndown. That gives the eastern radiator lots of opportunities to get rid of the excess heat, while in the west it just builds up.