2006 Honda Insight MT Build Thread

[Ecky]

Sorry to hear that. I don't think I've put a single scratch or dent on mine, but it has plenty. People are terrible.

[19bonestock88]

Agreed, people suck! And yeah, try getting that small dent out before it sits long enough to become semi permanent hot water may help you there...

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by mpg_numbers_guy

My roommate and I will go out there tomorrow and try to pop it back out. Not going to be easy without removing the whole bumper, and I'm not sure if we'd be allowed to do that kind of work in the parking lot lol. We'll see what we can do.

You'll need to pull the cover off... not enough room to work otherwise, unless the inflating a football technique can do it.

Otherwise, take the cover off and go somewhere else with it so security cannot figure out what's up.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Wasn't able to fix the dent the night that my roommate and I went out there to try to work on it. Need to find a day to take the bumper off and do it, but my schedule is pretty crammed busy today.

Found our one (literally, one) EV charger on campus. Free parking for the first 6 hours ($1/hr if parked for >6hrs), 7.2kw, $0.32 per kwh. Assuming that electric motors are twice as efficient as gasoline motors, my Insight as an EV would be looking at around 6 miles per kwh, which translates to over $5/gallon compared to the $2.19 that gas is here. In order for electricity to be cheaper, it would have to be <$0.13/kwh. The 6 miles/kwh is theoretical based on the conversion rate here on Ecomodder.

And that's not even considering the crazy high cost of lithium batteries for an EV conversion.

I'm sticking with gas only.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by mpg_numbers_guy

Wasn't able to fix the dent the night that my roommate and I went out there to try to work on it. Need to find a day to take the bumper off and do it, but my schedule is pretty crammed busy today. ...

Have you considered this method?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSMLRMU2kZA

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Got the dent slightly less dented the other day, but I likely won't be able to do much with it until Thanksgiving break when I return home.

On the other hand, had my first "run in with the law" from my car modifications. Over this past week one of the university officers put a note of "warning" on my car for having "illegal mirrors", or specifically "Missing passenger side mirror, and non-Virginia DOT approved driver's side mirror."

According to the law, this is complete BS:

Originally Posted by Virginia Law: § 46.2-1082. Mirrors.:

No person shall drive a motor vehicle on a highway in the Commonwealth if the vehicle is not equipped with a mirror which reflects to the driver a view of the highway for a distance of not less than 200 feet to the rear of such vehicle.

No motor vehicle registered in the Commonwealth, designed and licensed primarily for passenger vehicular transportation on the public highways and manufactured after 1968 shall be driven on the highways in the Commonwealth unless equipped with at least one outside and at least one inside rear view mirror meeting the requirements of this section.

Notwithstanding the other provisions of this section, no motor vehicle which either has no rear window, or which has a rear window so obstructed as to prevent rearward vision by means of an inside rear view mirror, shall be required to be equipped with an inside rear view mirror if such motor vehicle has horizontally and vertically adjustable outside rear view mirrors installed on both sides of such motor vehicle in such a manner as to provide the driver of such motor vehicle a rearward view along both sides of such motor vehicle for at least 200 feet.

Emphasis mine. My Insight has a deleted passenger mirror and a smaller, custom driver's side mirror that easily allows visibility for more than 200 ft.

So I went over to the police department on campus to get this resolved, but they are closed on the weekend. However, I was able to talk with a sheriff who happened to be passing by. After respectfully explaining the situation I was in, his statement was that all cars "have to be equipped with the original equipment that came with the car". Which really is more BS; if that were the case, then in all technicality replacing your tires with a non-OEM tire is illegal, or repainting your car in a non-OEM color is illegal! But I didn't go into that. After showing him the above statute, he agreed with me that I was in the right. He promised to call the officer who wrote me the warning and inform him of his mistake, and instructed me to return on Monday when they were open with the warning to get it erased from the record.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by mpg_numbers_guy

Got the dent slightly less dented the other day, but I likely won't be able to do much with it until Thanksgiving break when I return home.

On the other hand, had my first "run in with the law" from my car modifications. Over this past week one of the university officers put a note of "warning" on my car for having "illegal mirrors", or specifically "Missing passenger side mirror, and non-Virginia DOT approved driver's side mirror."

According to the law, this is complete BS:



Emphasis mine. My Insight has a deleted passenger mirror and a smaller, custom driver's side mirror that easily allows visibility for more than 200 ft.

So I went over to the police department on campus to get this resolved, but they are closed on the weekend. However, I was able to talk with a sheriff who happened to be passing by. After respectfully explaining the situation I was in, his statement was that all cars "have to be equipped with the original equipment that came with the car". Which really is more BS; if that were the case, then in all technicality replacing your tires with a non-OEM tire is illegal, or repainting your car in a non-OEM color is illegal! But I didn't go into that. After showing him the above statute, he agreed with me that I was in the right. He promised to call the officer who wrote me the warning and inform him of his mistake, and instructed me to return on Monday when they were open with the warning to get it erased from the record.

How did this work out in the end?

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

How did this work out in the end?

No issue at all, they just put a note on the record that I had spoken with an officer and that my mirror setup was within the specifications of the law. It's on my university record, not my actual driving record. No ticket or anything. So if this were to happen again, they would see the note on my university record and know that it's fine.

I'd like to find a small aero mirror to put in the driver's side to make it look a bit nicer and redo the blanks with aluminum, but I'm having trouble finding a mirror that's as small as my current one and that'll mount easier. Also trying to find one that sticks out a bit further with just the stalk attached to the door rather than the actual mirror, as I suspect there is some slightly detached airflow there.

As it is, they look fine until you're 10 feet away, then it's pretty obvious that it's a homemade setup, so I can see how an officer who didn't know what the law said would do something about it if he was nit-picky enough.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Figured I was due for an update since it's been a while since I posted anything here.

Since the Insight doesn't have bluetooth, and I prefer to keep the stock radio, I recently ordered a FM transmitter to be able to stream music from my phone. My sound system has a higher calling than merely playing radio music, especially through those patches in the WV mountains where every station only plays country music. I'm not opposed to country music, but listening to it for a couple hours on end does get old.

Another reason for ordering this is partly from what Daox discovered in his alternator delete thread, namely that the Scangauge isn't completely accurate with voltage readings, something I was not previously aware of. Voltage readings on my Scanguage are slightly lower than actual voltage. The FM transmitter I ordered has a 12V battery voltage readout, fingers crossed that is more accurate. If not, then I'm not really any worse off than I was before.

This will allow me to set the fourth data display on the Scangauge to TPS, so I can keep honing in on my lean burn driving. This will let me view coolant temp, intake temp, engine load, and throttle position all at once, in addition to the 12V voltage readout on the transmitter. If I gain enough momentum on the downhill, and have the throttle right at the very limit of lean burn, I can climb most hills without going out of lean burn or downshifting.

However, my lean burn limit seems to vary depending on day and weather. Some days I can maintain lean burn up to 87% load; other days it will kick out at 81% load. Some days I can get as low as 70-75 mpg before it kicks out of lean burn, other days it will kick out of lean burn if I go below 85 mpg. 5th gear, of course. Hoping TPS can help shed light on this.

Down here at college I only drive once or twice a week, and my longest drive is 11 miles one way. Because of this, the engine spends a decent amount of time not warmed up, even with my full lower grille block. Because of that and all the hills, I do quite a bit of EOC to offset the mileage hit whenever traffic permits. Mileage has been in the 90s down here when the weather was warm (60+ *F). Recently temps dropped to the 40s so mileage has dropped to mid-upper 80s. The two times I didn't hypermile, once due to traffic and another due to running late, were both about 20 mpg lower. I'm guessing my old Civic would've been in the low 40s mpg if I had that instead of the Insight, mostly because I couldn't EOC in it (autotragic).

Probably a solid 10%-20% of my driving is EOC. Between that and the car just sitting most of the time here at college (another reason why I'm glad I deleted the hybrid system), it seems like my 12V may be living a rough life. Hopefully it lasts for a while longer, but if not then I'll be looking into a LiFePO4 replacement that I can easily disconnect and bring into my dorm to keep topped off, and of course reinstall a switch to turn off the DC-DC converter.

[Ecky]

I'd love to have weather in the 40's. It's supposed to get down to EIGHT here tomorrow.

I want to say the highest load I've seen lean burn hold was around 91%. Would you have any interest in my old ECU? I'm not sure if the plugs are the same, but I have no use for it at least.