Project: Zombie Insight (2000 Honda)

[RobertSmalls]

The diagram on the side of the relay shows it in its idle state. If you apply voltage across pins 85-86, it will magnetize the square thing, which pulls on the angled thing, connecting pins 30-87. You're going to need a five-pin relay, or a normally closed relay.

[RobertSmalls]

I removed the rear wiper from my Insight. The car is more aerodynamic, 1.3kg lighter, and it looks cleaner but more jelly-bean like.

Here's how I deleted the rear wiper.

1. Remove the rear wiper arm. There's a 10mm nut holding it in place, and with it gone, the arm can be worked loose by wiggling it back and forth a little.
2. Remove the wiper motor. Pull off the grey plastic interior hatch trim piece and discard it if you like. Unbolt the three 10mm bolts holding the motor in place, unplug its cord, and remove it from the car.
3. Plug the hole in the hatch glass. I used a plug from Lowe's misc. hardware drawer. Unfortunately, the size I needed (1+3/16" or 1+1/4" iirc) is only available in chrome, so I had to sand it until the chrome was rough so I could spray-paint it black. Install it with some silicone.

The only time I miss the rear wiper is when it's snowing hard enough to slow traffic to <20mph. That's happened once or twice this winter, so I used the side mirrors until I could get up to 20-30 mph.

Deleting the rear wiper means you can also delete the rear washer fluid pump, hose, and nozzle, which I will do when I have the headliner off to relocate my antenna. Also, it frees up two controls on the wiper stalk, which you could repurpose.

I made no attempt to measure the aerodynamic impact of this mod. I'm sure it's not large.

[user removed]

Ever try Rain-X on your windows?

regards
Mech

[bikeracer]

bravo. i was tugging at my rear wiper but stopped shy of it starting to come loose. I'll try again.

[RobertSmalls]

Originally Posted by bikeracer

bravo. i was tugging at my rear wiper but stopped shy of it starting to come loose. I'll try again.

The one in the junkyard came right off, but the one on my car had to be wiggled left and right, and tugged at a little. Remember the wiper motor is mounted on rubber mounts, so it's hard to apply good force to the arm.

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

Ever try Rain-X on your windows?

regards
Mech

Yes, and I love it. With Rain-X in place, I only use the wipers for snow, and for salty road spray.

[RobertSmalls]

Here's a picture of the Insight, sans rear wiper, in its new home: a garage! I've already made good use of the garage. Yesterday, I swapped out my old high voltage battery pack for one that I pulled from the junkyard and refurbished. Swapping out the HV battery is simple enough, but time consuming. I'll write more about it once I've gotten a few more miles on the new battery.

[TEiN]

Hey is that an optical illusion, or is your tire low on air?

[MetroMPG]

I think the tire is wet on the bottom, giving it that "faux flat" look.

Nice to see the project continuing.

[discovery]

I like the look without the rear wiper. Antenna looks broken or something.

[RobertSmalls]

I was asked how the wheel skirts are attached. Here's a picture of the skirt and its mounting location:


There are five slots around the perimeter of the skirt that line up with five tabs on the car. You slide the skirt up into those tabs, then attach two Dzus fasteners at the bottom. The Dzus fasteners are nice, in that you can remove the fasteners with a dime, with a quarter-turn. However, if you do it wrong (as Firestone did on my Insight), you lose your $15 Dsuz fastener and maybe your skirt, too.



And while I'm here, here's a picture of what I did this afternoon: