Chili - 2000 Honda Insight Thread

[BabyDiesel]

I replaced my spark plugs after the cooling ordeal. Don Wessel Honda in Springfield did not have the stock "B" series NGK spark plugs in stock, so I had to settle for Autolite Iridiums. I bought 6 so I could personally index them myself. Having never done indexing before and going off of a 10 minute research break, I'm sure that I did this wrong. But it seemed to work out for me in the end! Here is how I did it:



That simple. I marked the top and all the way down the plug with a Sharpie to indicate the location of ground electrode. I marked all 6 the same way. The only thing left to do was to install all 6 in each hole and check the location of the spark.

I got close with 2 of them



They both had this orientation. This photo shows the ground towards the exhaust ports (rear of the car) and the spark positioned towards the intake ports. In the third, none of the remaining ones were close. So I picked the best, which had the ground facing the driver's side tire, i.e. ~90* off "optimal".

The old ones definitely showed wear and white build up from running lean, which would be normal for this car. My butt-o-meter said there was a slight difference when I left the shop and went up the hill going away from work.

[Ecky]

Neat idea on the indexing. Be aware the Insight has a tendency to let the plugs back out, for whatever reason. Reminds me that I need to check mine.

Did you see that I just replaced the thermostat and bled mine a few days ago?

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post539883

EDIT: Is that a spider next to your plug?

[BabyDiesel]

Thank you Ecky! I know this isn't "perfect", as the plugs are supposed to face the main intake valve, somewhere around a 45* angle. I'll keep my eyes on them, thanks for the heads up.

I didn't. Opening a new tab with it right now

Nope! That would be a dead mosquito hawk lol!

One thing I kinda regret not doing is widening the gap. I haven't found any evidence of anyone doing this on the Insight, and the only personal evidence I have was widening the gap on my ZX2 75% over stock (0.040 to 0.070) to help lean burn. If you or anyone has tried this on an Insight, please let me know!

Edit: Adding a link in my cooling system post to direct others to your post, Ecky.

[BabyDiesel]

Working at Valvoline, I have the perks of getting their products at cost and free labor, since I do the work myself That means $12 dollar oil changes for one

Another is access to their lineup of cleaning fluids, such as the 3 Step Fuel System Cleaner.



I did this in preparation for a 1200 mile roadtrip this past weekend (more on that in the next post). It consist of intake cleaner, their best injector cleaner and throttle body cleaner. I used the intake and injector cleaner, but couldn't use the throttle cleaner due to the bolt holding the intake pipe being seized up.

It took about 20 minutes and leaving work going up the usual hill, the car was more responsive than ever! It accelerated faster with less load and it did so with more timing than usual. I would typically see negative timing on this hill after a cold start with high loads, but this was not the case. I did not get to see inside the engine before nor after the treatment, but I assume that carbon and other build up was burnt off and less preignition happened, resulting in the knock sensor not pulling timing as much as before.

I wish I had more than anecdotal evidence and my senses and their reactions, but alas, I'm not very scientific under a time crunch

[BabyDiesel]

I left Mizzou Friday night to head for southern LA. My best friend's daddy had passed away the week proir, and I was going down to be there for her and to attend the funeral. This gave me an excellent opportunity to see just how good my Insight was on an all highway trip. 579 miles to be exact.

Here are the results!

Trip down -

Trip back up -

Total miles and fuel economy -

I was hoping for at least 70 mpg on the round trip, and very optimistically 80. Neither happened, but I learned a lot about the car and how it behaves at different speeds, drafting different vehicles and in different climates.

I can say I have never had a vehicle that was so responsive to drafting. This car eats it up and was necessary when I had headwinds roughly 60-70% of the trip.

[ECO-AKJ]

Congrats on everything, sometimes you might try a local parts store for the spark plugs so you don't have to settle for autolites...I work for O'reilly part time and can usually get most automotive plugs.

Also, sorry about the loss of your friend.

[pete c]

BD, I look forward to what you do with your Insight. Your work on the Escort was very impressive. I am sure you will get your Insight into the triple digit mileage club.

[BabyDiesel]

Fordman - Thank you! I checked and told the wrong manufacturer. They are Denso Iridium, Part # SK20HR11. Funny thing, I went to Oreillys for the SPs after Honda didn't have them had to go to the corporate office in Springfield! No one keeps anything in stock around Southern Mizzou for the 1st Gen Insight.

Pete c - Thank you for the encouragement! I miss the Escort, I had A LOT of fun with that build. I'm going at the Insight with the same intensity, just slower as I don't have access to materials as readily in Mizzou than NC.

One of my main focuses on this build is going to be the same as the Escort - aerodynamics. The Insight is amazing in factory form, but as all vehicles, is a template for the artist to showcase his/her skills and talents.

I achieved an 18.5% reduction in drag on the Escort (0.33 to 0.269). The same on the Insight would give me a Cd of 0.204, which I think is achievable. My hypothesis is that Honda didn't do to well with the Insight. Phil Knox (Aerohead) has said repeatedly that 0.25 is the start of "Low Drag Territory". It makes sense for a manufacturer, even Honda, to achieve this mark and say "Good enough!" because it would look good for those who know what 0.25 Cd signifies.

[BabyDiesel]

I have to toot my horn a lil! I have 105 miles on this tank, and I have gotten the FCD over 60 mpg with 100% city miles! what capped it off was a 92.8 mpg run over 6.1 miles through suburbia and on the bypass and back. I also hit 2 stoplights during the run!!

[BabyDiesel]

Just got back home after finishing a record trip! 86.2 mpg over 124.3 miles!!! I gathered a lot of details and info from this segment, which I will be sharing once I can get Wi-Fi and be on my laptop

Edit - just uploaded them from my phone!