With my gas savings, I bought this! (2000 Honda Insight)

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Looks good! Brings back memories. Sigh.

You shouldn't have sold yours >:l

[Trinost]

Installed new Sylvania 9003 headlight bulbs
Buffed out the headlights

Q1:
So is the Sylvania 9003 headlight bulbs really a good upgrade or is there a better one out now in 2015?

Q2:
Also how did you buff the headlights? I have read about wet sandpaper and/or using products what did you use cowmeat? Those headlights look amazing!

Q3
I don't see the write up for the kill switch from Balto with pics can you link?

Q4
New to forums how to I contact a the person Doax for the really cool three-button shift knob he made me from his 3D printer? I'm not sure I would want a logo on mine since I drive a G1 red insight.

This is my first post I was just searching random google sites and found this and decided to join. Purchased mine in March from someone trying to run it into the ground. Slowly replacing basic parts. I purchased the 2000-06 Honda insight regenerative braking circuit and Honda insight 2000-06 Clutch interrupt circuit/ for 5-speed models. I believe I read that you mailed your Throttle Smoothing Circuit also for 5-speed models to someone else since wasn't really helping? I decided to ask before purchasing that if was really worth purchasing.

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by Trinost

Q1:
So is the Sylvania 9003 headlight bulbs really a good upgrade or is there a better one out now in 2015?

Q2:
Also how did you buff the headlights? I have read about wet sandpaper and/or using products what did you use cowmeat? Those headlights look amazing!

Q3
I don't see the write up for the kill switch from Balto with pics can you link?

Q4
New to forums how to I contact a the person Doax for the really cool three-button shift knob he made me from his 3D printer? I'm not sure I would want a logo on mine since I drive a G1 red insight.

This is my first post I was just searching random google sites and found this and decided to join. Purchased mine in March from someone trying to run it into the ground. Slowly replacing basic parts. I purchased the 2000-06 Honda insight regenerative braking circuit and Honda insight 2000-06 Clutch interrupt circuit/ for 5-speed models. I believe I read that you mailed your Throttle Smoothing Circuit also for 5-speed models to someone else since wasn't really helping? I decided to ask before purchasing that if was really worth purchasing.

Here you go:DIY Injector kill switch install. - Insight Central: Honda Insight Forum

I buff my headlights with some hard water stain remover. Don't use sandpaper, unless you are gonna do it right and spray clear coat on them.

Don't get the throttle Smoothing Circuit. It sucks.

[cowmeat]

#1 - I have had no issue with the Sylvania 9003 lights I put in.

#2 - I use Blue Magic with my cordless drill and a sponge buffing pad. I follow that up with two coats of wax, then I re-apply wax every time I wax the car

#3- You should be able to follow Balto's link above. This worked perfectly for me the first attempt

#4 - Just send Daox a private message if you're interested in a shift knob. He sells a bunch of them now!

#5 - Skip the throttle smoothing circuit, it makes it drive like a metro bus. I gave mine away

For some different mods/tricks/fixes check out the thread for my new Insight Ron Burgundy here:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post468890

Or the G1 thread here:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post455603

Or Ecky's thread here:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post430786

Or QC's here:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post370411
Also, put your car in the garage and start a fuel log, then join the Gen-1 Insight team!

You get the idea, there are a lot of G1-specific threads here.

Good luck with the car, there are a lot of people here who can walk you through the various mods and fixes on these cars

[Trinost]

I'll be honest I have never worked with anything electronic. I am a little nervous cutting wires under the hood. I have no idea how to set up that 5 pin relay or what type of wire I should be using. Post 2 and 3 with photos is where you lost me with port numbers and the part about cleaning something up? What did you clean up? I am lost on that part. What did you do under the cabin? Thanks


On the throttle smoothing circuit, it makes it drive like a metro bus. I am not certain what you mean. Reading about your location I can see how it might not help much if your are not using the throttle a lot with your mostly flat roads . Myself there are a lot of hills here (never noticed until got this car) and force me to let off and engaged the throttle quite often trying to get a decent FCD reading for good mpg. My personal best so far is 82mpg, but that was on a fully grid charged battery and smooth road at 40MPH for 18 miles. Normally it is floating between 50 and 65 mpg regardless if hwy or city if I try really hard with no head wind if lucky. Our freeway requires 65mph. I read in threads that it is hard to keep LB at that speed. Keeping a steady foot is like holding the tail of a pissed off bull with these hills.

I did purchase a ultra gauge and thinking of putting TPS, Eng load, o2 sensor, and RPM on left side (in that order). Thinking if possible set up alarm or something that lets me know when TPS+load is over 130 combine for lost LB and 65 combine to tell me I am in LB. http://www.insightcentral.net/forums...tps-65-lb.html

I found this site on another thread here, at bottom, explaining some details on how the throttle smoothing circuit works and makes sense to me. Anyone tried it where their is a lot of throttle action like with hills every quarter to half mile?

AutoSpeed - Giving the Insight a Good Driver

[cowmeat]

I'll be honest I have never worked with anything electronic.

Me neither, but if you can follow directions it's do-able. If you're a straight-up electrical noob and feel uncomfortable with it, you might want to consider having an electrically inclined friend help out with any mods requiring tapping into electric.

On the throttle smoothing circuit, it makes it drive like a metro bus. I am not certain what you mean. Reading about your location I can see how it might not help much if your are not using the throttle a lot with your mostly flat roads

The TSC meters the amount of throttle you can give it, so you can punch it and it won't give you full throttle, which drove me crazy. It's like trying to floor it without assist and only two cylinders firing. It made my car accelerate almost dangerously slow, and I couldn't deal with it, so I ripped that high-priced mod out of there.
On the upside, it makes it a lot easier to hold lean burn, but I found after I'd driven the car for a while I could do that anyway. True, I live in a flat area, but I would think the slow throttle response would be exaggerated even worse in a hilly area.
I found out later (after I had already given it away) that I had purchased an early version of the TSC, and there are people that swear by the newer versions, but some of them would need to chime in cause I'm not willing to experiment with that particular mod again after my negative experience.

Our freeway requires 65mph. I read in threads that it is hard to keep LB at that speed.

I average over 80 mpg all day long at that speed, but whether or not I'm actually in lean burn I can't tell you cause I'm too cheap to buy instrumentation. I can imagine it would be really tough to try to get good mpgs in a hilly area, glad I live where I do!

Keeping a steady foot is like holding the tail of a pissed off bull with these hills.

I don't use my toe on the gas pedal when I'm on the highway. Instead, I plant my heel on the floor board at the bottom of the pedal, and use the bottom of my foot to give it gas. I keep the right side of my foot resting against the carpet below the center console, and that helps me hold it at the same speed/rpms and give it gas or let off the gas slower, without wearing myself out doing it.

[Ecky]

I take my sandals off when driving, and use my toe to modulate the throttle. I find it's a lot easier to stay in lean burn that way. Some things I've figured out about lean burn:

-Lean burn will not initiate unless you back off the throttle so that you're seeing at least 100mpg on the FCD, but you only need to back off to there for a moment

-Lean burn will maintain until you've pushed the throttle enough to get ~70mpg; beyond this, it will jump to ~45-50mpg and assist will kick in

-Sometimes (rarely) you can get assist while still in lean burn, but I haven't figured out how to do this consistently

-You can't reenter lean burn within about 5-6 seconds of a bump start (from EoC)


For the most part, I drive by staying right at ~70-75mpg, allowing my speed to vary, and EoC down hills. For larger hills, I bump myself out of LB and ~50mpg up the hill, avoiding assist.

[Trinost]

I am still trying to figure out the lean burn.

Q1 You are in lean burn on insight G1 when the o2b2 is at 0 volts and holds right?

If so I have hit it twice on trip to the store, but it was very short lived 2 minutes maybe , as I would finally hit a hill. I saw my UG hit 0v for o2 and car made a different sound, it was weird and kind of cool too. I think that is the first time I have ever had and held it to notice the different. I saw the FCD slam right to 150 and stuck there with MPH not moving. It is hard though to keep the TPS and load steady and under 130 combined so I do not lose lean burn. I also know you should keep the RPMs below 2500-3200 depending on something to do with the TPS is what I read . However going uphill it's almost impossible to keep load+TPS low and make it up the hill while still going the speed limit or even 5mph close.


Q2
Also I found that if the car is charging the battery it doesn't like to go into lean burn. It feels like it is pulling on the engine. Is this true and normal?

Q3
This is just a guessing here since wouldn't go into leanburn when started the trip is their some engine or coolant temp it should be at or something before it will allow lean burn as well?

I do not charge my car every night and I know the battery is bit weak. It is weird. It shows same charge as last time I had when left the car, then drops to 2-3 bars after a few minutes of driving. I think I am having issues with the self discharge rate or something... Anyways I have yet to get my purchased switch to turn off battery and the one for charging battery breaking for charge that I will at some point hook up to a 3 button knob. Maybe those can help until I build my grid charger successfully (trying save $ here)

I plant my heel on the floor board at the bottom of the pedal, and use the bottom of my foot to give it gas. I keep the right side of my foot resting against the carpet below the center console, and that helps me hold it at the same speed/rpms and give it gas or let off the gas slower, without wearing myself out doing it.

I will give this a try. Hopefully it will help me out a bit.

[cowmeat]

Q1 - can't help you there since I don't use any instrumentation other then what is on the car. I basically just try to maintain certain mpg at certain mph:
45 mph - 100-125 mpg
55 mph - 100 mpg
65 mpg - 80-90 mpg
75 mph - 75-90 mpg (requires blocking vehicle to maintain)

Q2 - If the green bars are lit up, it's trying to charge at a high rate (force charge). If it feels like it's pulling but the bars aren't lit up, it's trying to charge at a lower rate (background charge). Only a clutch switch can prevent it from doing this if your battery is weak.

Q3 - Don't know about lean burn, but I can maintain 100 mpg at 45 mph half a mile from my house. Until the car warms up it will hesitate a little while holding the high mpg, but it'll do it.

A weak IMA battery's best friend (beyond a grid charger) is the clutch switch. Get one as soon as possible, even if you don't install the brake switch yet.

As far as planting your heel, I would try that, and try Ecky's method. Eventually you'll find which suits your driving style the best, or you'll come up with one even better. We all learn as we go with these cars.

[cowmeat]

My son bought Turtle from me a couple of months ago, and the car has been re-badged "Dr. Horrible".
He is right behind me in the top 10 hybrids (and will probably overtake me at some point), and he's squeezing out better gas mileage than I was ever able to from the car.