The Impsight: My mischievous little devil of a car. ('00 Insight fixing and modifying)

[Stubby79]

The heck with the beat up and worn out Prius. I now own a 2000 Insight!

Can't believe my luck!

[jakobnev]

I now own a 2000 Insight

How much and in what shape?

[Stubby79]

Originally Posted by jakobnev

How much and in what shape?

$500. 257Kms (160K miles). Good shape for it's age, other than the IMA battery needing attention or replacement.

[Stubby79]

She drives well. She drives straight, suspension is hard but working properly. Needs a brake service, and/or better brakes, and possibly a wheel bearing; Will figure that out when I'm cleaning up the brakes. Desperately needs the wiper linkage reconnecting.

Other than the noise from the brakes/wheel and the wipers not doing anything but whirring, she's a perfectly driveable car.

[Stubby79]

Here she is:





Rusty brakes from sitting too long:



Serviced:



It appeared the upper caliper bolt doubled as the slider at first, judging by all the brake lube on it...then I looked closer and decided that wasn't right. The sliders didn't want to move...not sized, but dry and stuck. Everything else was lubed. A hard enough shove got them moving:



(Do your brake services properly, people!)

Grinding noise was not the brakes. Had her running in gear with the brakes completely off, and it was still there. Traced it the the passenger side bearing and/or CV joint. I intend on replacing them both, since the CV boots won't last much longer anyway:



She stops better now. You still have to push fairly hard to get her to come to a quick stop, but you can now actually come to a slow stop rather than not a lot happening and having to push them hard at the last moment.

After, I went to put a heater in the back to blow on the IMA battery and such, since I noticed condensation on the battery switch. Pulled the storage tub out to find the spare tire sitting in this:



Scale and lack of depth make it not seem so bad...but there was probably 2 gallons in there! No wonder the car started fogging up when I took it for a drive first thing this morning.

At least we know the spare tire well is water tight.

Not even a grommet/plug to pull to drain it. Sigh.

[freebeard]

Blows out the $1500 beater category doesn't it?

How much of it is aluminum? I'd be tempted to strip, polish and clearcoat the bare metal.

Time to update your profile pic?

[Stubby79]

This could be the best deal I've gotten...I bought my purple '95 Metro for $500 as well...drove that for years. I've had cheaper, but not ones that look or go as well, nor would they be worth nearly as much as this once everything is working properly.

It's all aluminum except for...I don't know! There's aluminum everywhere. The rear wheel skirts are plastic. There might be other parts that are. The wheels and tires...I can lift them comfortably with one finger! The cargo well cover is foam. Pushing it around my garage is easier than pushing a fully loaded shopping cart. It's nuts!

I'll switch profile pics if/when I start driving it regularly. Needs working wipers first!

[Stubby79]

Deez LEDeez!









It was so dang dark inside with the lights on that when I had a bit of time to waste, I swapped in LEDs.

I haven't been able to stand dim little incandescent in the interior of my cars since the first time I swapped in LEDs a decade or more gone.

Exterior will get them eventually. Muddled around with a brake light, blew the fuse, decided I've not got that much time to kill and put it back together. They're dual-element, which almost assuredly means polarity headaches with LEDs. That will take time and probably additional circuitry to work out. But at least I have the right bulbs. Or circumvent it by adding a separate bulb.

Wipers just need a new nylon bushing. The push-rod simply popped off. Will hopefully get one in a couple of hours, when the dealer opens up. If I can't, a Doorman one will probably do the trick.

Don't mind the junk, it's from the trunk...which looks like this at the moment:



The IMA stuff has had a day to bathe in warm, flowing air, which continues, so it was time to try grid charging/discharging method(s).

Oh, I love this sticker on said IMA stuff:



It doesn't come across as a warning about tinkering underneath the panel, so much as if they'll send a hit-man after you if you do!

[Stubby79]

Wow, that was fun.

Quick & dirty discharger that wouldn't discharge quickly turned into diagnosing the issue...no voltage on the charge lead, even after charging it, though the charger shows it must be connected properly. Well, drat, I'm pretty sure I know why that is...

As I thought would be a good idea, there's a diode on the other end of the charge lead. That's gonna make discharging a PITA.

Tiny alligator clips to the rescue!



Pretty janky!

Sigh. Suppose I'll have to make something safer if it's going to be a permanent fixture. A removable fuse in line with an alligator clip as a diode bypass, so I can just pull the fuse out when it's not needed. As if I have any 0.5 amp fuses laying around...

I wonder how many AH I should pull out of it each discharge... It's a guessing game when you aren't working cell by cell.

BTW, a nylon bushing from a Doorman multi-pack will work, if modified. $5 vs buying a whole rod for $35.

[Stubby79]

What's inside a $155 charger?



Nuff said.