2001 Insight

[Natalya]

Warm Air Intake



I made it out of a 6" adjustable HVAC connector and a lot of reflective aluminum HVAC tape. Here you can see that I cut the front-of-vehicle side in half so that during installation I could open it and get it around the catalytic converter.




This is the complete assembly before installation. I didn't know the positioning of the upper cat sensor, so its hole is not drilled here. I ended up drilling that hole after installing the rest of it. The duct is 3" diameter. I should probably replace it with something more sturdy, this is a really crispy mod.



Here's how it fit on the cat. Not a perfect seal, not even close, but better than the shield it had before. The old shield was something I made out of some garbage aluminum flashing metal. The OEM heat shield was gone when I bought the car.




All hooked up. I'm wondering if I'm causing any airflow restrictions and losing power because of this. I guess I need to do A-B-A testing. I did, for like a second, see 130°F on my ScanGauge for Intake Air, which is the hottest I've ever seen.

[Daox]

Looks pretty nice IMO. I do wonder about the aluminum tape's ability to hold on at high temps. I guess you'll find out.

I wouldn't worry about a restriction. Unless you're winding the Insight up to get around it likely won't be an issue. Restriction happens worst when you're flowing the maximum amount of air, which means your engine is producing the maximum amount of horsepower. When you're tooling down the highway at 65 mph using 15 horsepower, its not even an issue.

[California98Civic]

130* F is pretty good. It is also worth knowing the ambient temperature so you know the kind of gain you get. Summer IAT will be higher than winter, according to outside temps. How much higher than ambient tells you something too. My WAI is over the cat too, but not enveloping it like this. I get 45-50* bumps over ambient. I have an alarm set on my UltraGauge for 150* so I can keep it from getting much hotter than that by cracking the hood (my "active grill shutter").

[Natalya]

I have an extra thermometer built into the change drawer, I wanted it to control an actuator that would open or close an adjustable lower grill block. However I haven't been able to get the materials to build such a thing. Yeah, I'm talking about something similar to the one that The Donkey CRX has in his car. Coincidentally, in 2013 I worked at a factory in Ontario where my job was to assemble aluminum control dampers, so I know how to build one, I just gotta actually get off my butt and do it. Main problem is getting the components. I need a 12v actuator that springs open on failure, it can be wired to the thermometer, it's one of those Chinese ones with the relay.

In any case, right now I hooked that thermometer for ambient air temp, and today on my drive home it was showing between 15°C and 20°C lower than the ScanGauge's °C Intake Air temp, so that means something good is happening, but what I think I need to do is put the probe inside the engine bay near the resonator to see what the bay air temp is. That way I would know how much the warm air intake improves the temperature over the air it would have sucked in otherwise. I'll probably do that tomorrow.



There check that thermometer out. This is an older picture, from before I got the ScanGauge.

To-Do:
- Re-route ScanGauge to top of dashboard through windshield defroster duct.
- Re-solder resistors inside stereo to get the display working again.

[Natalya]

Just got my best ever tank mpg.

2001 Honda Insight 5MT Gas Mileage (Silver Insight) - EcoModder.com

[Ecky]

You have a really nice upward trend going.

[NoD~]

Dang! That's a HUGE jump! Congrats! Good luck from here...



I've already seen some drops in MPG in my own Insight since the temps have dropped. But, if you can keep your game going like this, the drop won't hurt too bad and when the warmth of summer comes, you'll hit new records with ease.

[Ecky]

This morning:

[Xist]

It barely gets below freezing here, but I would still benefit from a WAI and perhaps even an engine heater! Could you imagine running an engine heater in the frigid Phoenician winter?!

I could definitely close up the vent in my grill block, though.

[Natalya]

I'm feeling the cold, and it's affecting my mileage. I need to construct another radiator block. But in the mean time I made an upper grille block:
















Next step is to seal the top by adding some kind of rubber seal along it, except for right where the latch is, so that it closes with the hood.

Then I can either:
- Use it as a mold to make a nice permanent fibreglass grill block
- Or add another couple layers of pink blocks going forwards so that it extends out and can be shaped differently for more of an aero benefit

If anyone has tips on the fibreglass, let me know. I used fibreglass resin and mesh once to repair the chin splitter on my Mustang, but beyond that I don't know what I'm doing. I think if I made a fibreglass block that is approximately where this foam one is and I painted it black it would look really sharp.