Project IRX: CRX-Insight Renaissance Experiment

[Christ]

Dude... get a few bikes, make yourself a recumbent tadpole, put a small E-motor on it (like an alt conversion) and use that pack to power it.

Else do an E-Cycle.

I'm not really sure how big it is, and whether you can break it open and reconfigure the pack to a diff shape...

Remember, shape is a limiting factor... then again, I guess weight is, as well.

[SVOboy]

It's made up of D cells so I imagine I can reshape it easily enough. I was thinking of using it to trickle charge the IMA pack while driving but plugging it in at home for a PHEV conversion!

[Christ]

Man, I love NiMH packs... they're never made of anything bigger than conventional batteries, because of "patent" issues with the technology.

(Toyota got sued for using Ni-MH in their RAV4-EV, which is why they've stopped producing them.. Ed Begley Jr. has one, I think.)

Lots of times, you can find the "weird" battery sizes in stores, and if you break them open, you find that they're just made of a stack of smaller cells, often button cells.

[RobertSmalls]

Well, I like the name IRX.

Are you going with the Insight's instrument cluster, body wire harness, fuel tank, and fuel pump? And did you like the Insight seats as much as I do?

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

... the 50 kg (110 lb),330V[12] 5.5 Ah (would make it 1.8kWh storage) , 250-cell nickel metal hydride (NiMH) battery pack for the 2005 Escape Hybrid.[13]

Versus 0.9KWh, 120 cells, 22kg for the Insight's pack. So it's twice the size. However, the Ford's pack is made of 5.5Ah Sanyo cells, versus 6.5Ah Panasonics in the Honda.

I can think of several nifty but impractical ways to use that battery pack or its cells in an Insight or IRX, but realistically, it's probably better used in a separate project.

[SVOboy]

I don't have the tank and fuel pump. I know the evap system is a bit more hardcore but I don't think it'll be an issue, really

At least I hope not.

Nice seats indeed, but I like the crx buckets a bit more.

I know mike dabrowski has used an additional pack to trickle charge the IMA pack and act as PHEV and I was kind of hoping I could go in that direction with it, but that's a project for after I finish the main junk.

O yeah, insight cluster. Not sure about the body harness. I need to crack the wiring diagrams. I'm really hoping to take it one step at a time, so the first step is to get the gasoline motor running and then go from there.

Pictures will be uploaded soon!

[Christ]

250 D-cell batteries... wow.

I'm thinking that the battery packs, if broken down into smaller sets of cells, would fit nicely behind the plastic panels in the back of the IRX, between the outer shell and the inner structure.

Probably not the best place for accident avoidance, but they're Ni-MH, so it's not such a big deal if they get crushed, I guess.

[SVOboy]

You can come help me mess with it when you pick up the d15z1 swap

[Christ]

I guess I gotta get a CRX, first... I just turned down the other one, because:

1. I'm broke
2. I'd have no way to pick it up, and I'd have to get an "In Transit" plate to flat tow it.

I might just wait around and get one from some ricer moron that molested it until it wouldn't run... We'll see.

[SVOboy]

Here are some pictures from the day's work:
























Those gloves are probably the best $20 I've spent on a car thing in a long time. Really makes working on the car a lot more pleasant

[Christ]

Dude - you can leave the whole bumper assembly together if you just take out the turn signals... the bolts are easily accessible from right there.

It's either 2 or 4 bolts hodling the bumper support to the mounts, and 2 screws in each side holding the edges of the bumper cover to the plastic things on the fenders, then the snaps/clips/screws for the air diffuser/belly pan, and the whole bumper cover/foam/bumper all comes off at once.

You're way more into taking things off your car than I ever was... I'd pull the hood, disconnect the wiring harness from the chassis connectors, unbolt the engine mount and the 7-10 transmission bolts, remove the front engine pulley in some cases, then get a friend to grab one end of a 2x4 with a chain around it to help pull it out.

If there wasn't a friend around, grab a step stool and a tow strap, hook the strap to the engine, squat on the stool, wrap it around my neck and over my shoulders, and stand up.

They're light, aren't they? LOL.

Your car looks really clean, by the way. Wish I could find one that clean for... like... free!