New here, Insight owner!
 

Just heard about this forum over on insightcentral, and figured Id join and check it out! I drive a green 2000 5 speed insight, although Im not your typical honda insight owner, I spend a lot of my time in the car above the speed limit and accelerating briskly (In fact I may have the only insight in america with a V1 radar detector hardwired in!) That being said, I am a car nut, owned many many cars of all different types, 5 insights, CRZs, 5 supras (2 well over 1000 whp, lexus ISF, many del sols and civics, etc etc, and my little citrus insight is bar NONE, my favorite car ever. I absolutely love the technology and rarity of the car. Anyhow, even with my abusive driving habits the car almost always averages between 56-59 mpg per tank, and I will be recieving a brand new upgraded max-ima battery pack from Eli and the guys at bumblebee battery next week so hopefully that number will climb a noticeable amount. Anyhow, I fugured Id join because I have an eco car and Ive done extensive mods to it (that is the title of the site) although I hope the flaming isnt too bad as most of my mods are not centered on gaining MPG, but making the car perform and drive more comfortably, and enjoyably day to day. The seats I installed are a bit heavier (but 1000x more comfortable) stereo is heavier (but 10,000x better) wheels/ tires are a little wider (rides/ handles infinitely better than the stock RE092s) etc. anyhow, heres my little transport pod, the best car I have ener owned!

2000 Citrus insight, 5 speed with A/C

-Sylvania lights
-painted parts in engine bay including strut bar
- HKS Camp 2 data acquisition system
-leather shift boot
-skunk2 knob
-alpine headunit with streaming blutooth, handsfree calling, ipod hookup etc
-alpine inline amp
-alpine front speakers
-jl audio rear speakers (sound system is fantastic)
-leather recaro seats
-OEM front mats in good shape
-OEM rear mat
-Entire interior is in near new condition
-light tint on all windows besides windshield
-Just changed wheels to black Volk forged CE28n, basically one of the lightest wheels money can buy, under 9 lbs per wheel, custom citrus green pinstripe on them
-brand new rear tires, fronts are decent.
-black powder coated stock wheels with almost new continental winter tires
-stainless "insight" dead pedal
-highwaters dash switch upgrade
-new upper cat last year
-new EGR last year
-leather s2000 steering wheel

-new bumblebee battery coming next week
http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/a...psb59918eb.jpg
http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps4798258f.jpg
http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps2a46ee19.jpg

Since you spend a lot of time at extralegal speeds, it seems like aero mods would be the way to go. Any aero drag reduction acts like a horsepower boost when driving at the higher speeds where aero drag is dominant and will allow you to remain in lean burn at higher speeds and on steeper grades when at speed. And any aero mod that allows you to go faster on the same horsepower will give you better mpg at normal speeds. Since you are into speed, modify your car into a street legal salt flats land speed car. Since most high speed highway driving are on fairly straight roads, salt flats land speed is a better model for performance modding than NASCAR. A fringe benefit of the rounded aero shape is that it is stealthy and harder to pick up on radar. My aerocivic gets mileage in the low 60's while cruising at 80mph in lean burn and a fully aeromodded Insight ought to do even better than that.

Basjoos isn't joking. For the most part, we mostly focus on maximizing fuel economy, but we are not group to hate on others. If you're not bashing us, we won't bash you.

Welcome aboard, and it'll be nice to see testing done at speeds above 55-59 (as fast as I go lol)

Hahaha, thanks guys! Im pretty happy with the factory aero of the car, as I said Im getting just under 60 mpg driving spiritedly, and from several accounts Ive read of the maxIMA battery I should expect to be in at least the mid 60s once thats in. Only other mods Id like to do to the car is find/ adapt some kind of adjustable aftermarket suspension that would allow me to lower the car. Other than that just hoping to keep it as clean and like new as possible, and enjoy driving it!

ps- Im definitely not the bashing type, if youre into cars in any way more power to you!! God knows theres many many different ways to enjoy an automobile!

welcome!

Slick ride. Seriously.

I never thought I would seriously dig a Citrus, but it looks good. Can you expand on the setup replacing the left pocket? Have you thought about an S2000 radio or shifter? I got those two when I got my S2000 wheel.

And not to pressure you, but if you are ever interested in a grille block (better aero), Metro has proven one can make a nice OEM looking grille block: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post360694

This is the real final: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post380444

It might be quite hard to enhance the aerodynamics of an early Insight without going so extreme as basjoos did with the Aerocivic. But it already has a nice Kammback...

What's the deal with the s2000 shifter? Wasn't aware of that mod. As far as the left pocket I assume you are talking about the display for the HKS Camp2 system. It's a comprehensive data acquisition system, you can program in fuel prices and it will track mpg's, cost per trip per mile etc. also will graphically display throttle position and just about any other parameter the factory computer monitors. It's a neat little system

Sounds sweet. Any links or references? I'd like to learn more. I currently only use an SGii.

Yepp, I switched to it because it looks good while being heavier. The only thing is that it's 135,246R- while we don't have a 6th. The heavier weight makes it feel quicker, and the shifts themselves are more confident. I read an article on it, was at a Honda graveyard (Insights, S2000s, CRZs, more) and tried it to see if it worked- WOOO, it felt better and looked way better.

How did you instal the system?