Reviving a 2000 Honda Insight "beater"

[3-Wheeler]

Hi Red,

An old trick that I started doing years ago to fix a worn/leaky strut was to 1) jack up the car, 2) remove the tire, 3) drill a small 1/8 (.125) inch hole near the top of the strut, making sure to keep drill chips out of the drill hole.

Pump 10W-30 motor oil right into the strut body until the strut is full. With the strut hole still open, reattach the tire and drop the car back on the ground, then pump hard on the bumper to get excess oil out of the strut.

Jack the car back up, remove the tire and cut a small square of inner tube rubber or similar and place over the open drilled hole, then cover tightly with a worm-gear clamp.

I have performed this trick on one rear wheel drive car and two front wheel drive cars with very good success. And it saves about $300 to $400 on each car done in this manner.

P.S. As for shortening coil springs, the coil springs are heat treated during their manufacture, so heating with a torch will remove the "springiness" (temper) from the coil spring and should not be attempted. A highly tempered spring will cut with a hacksaw blade, but the blade will most likely be shot after one cut since a high quality spring is just about as hard as the hacksaw blade. Grinding is certainly a good option, but try to keep the temperature low during this operation to preserve the metal temper in the area.

Hope this helps.

Jim.

[Red]

Originally Posted by 3-Wheeler

Hi Red,

An old trick that I started doing years ago to fix a worn/leaky strut was to 1) jack up the car, 2) remove the tire, 3) drill a small 1/8 (.125) inch hole near the top of the strut, making sure to keep drill chips out of the drill hole.

Pump 10W-30 motor oil right into the strut body until the strut is full. With the strut hole still open, reattach the tire and drop the car back on the ground, then pump hard on the bumper to get excess oil out of the strut.

Jack the car back up, remove the tire and cut a small square of inner tube rubber or similar and place over the open drilled hole, then cover tightly with a worm-gear clamp.

I have performed this trick on one rear wheel drive car and two front wheel drive cars with very good success. And it saves about $300 to $400 on each car done in this manner.

P.S. As for shortening coil springs, the coil springs are heat treated during their manufacture, so heating with a torch will remove the "springiness" (temper) from the coil spring and should not be attempted. A highly tempered spring will cut with a hacksaw blade, but the blade will most likely be shot after one cut since a high quality spring is just about as hard as the hacksaw blade. Grinding is certainly a good option, but try to keep the temperature low during this operation to preserve the metal temper in the area.

Hope this helps.

Jim.

Awesome stuff Jim thanks. I did replace the struts and shocks with factory units so its kinda late for this car, but next time I blow one I'll give this a shot

[69-300]

How much fun is that....great writing style...So what has happened since?

[Red]

Originally Posted by 69-300

How much fun is that....great writing style...So what has happened since?

Thanks. Not much, ever since I transferred to UCLA I haven't had much time to work on it. Next thing up to do is split the trans open and replace the syncros. And get a new windshield again

[discovery]

Great job, i do really admire people like you that are bringing to life cars from dead. I own an insight and thinnk, this is the type of cars that are much in need not only here but mostly in the while world. Even without the BAT the car still pulls 55/60 mpg. Before i bought the Insigh'teto i bought a Accord 88 LX-i for $380 on ebay just to proove that old car are very usuble with some TLC. Agian keep up the good job and if interested check out my build on 3geez.com

Bought Accord LXi 88 on ebay for $380 - 3geez

[Red]

Originally Posted by discovery

Great job, i do really admire people like you that are bringing to life cars from dead. I own an insight and thinnk, this is the type of cars that are much in need not only here but mostly in the while world. Even without the BAT the car still pulls 55/60 mpg. Before i bought the Insigh'teto i bought a Accord 88 LX-i for $380 on ebay just to proove that old car are very usuble with some TLC. Agian keep up the good job and if interested check out my build on 3geez.com

Bought Accord LXi 88 on ebay for $380 - 3geez

Nice rebuild and awesome pics!

Minor updates, got the windshield replace a month ago. Thanks to this economy there was some small glass shop with a 50% plus I think some kind of phone discount or something, either way I go a new windshield for $160 bucks! Beats the near $400 I paid earlier. Downside is the dude trashed all my molding clips and they weren't too inclined to replace em. Considering the cheapness of the repair and the fact I still had that tube of windshield gasket maker goop, I just glued the trim pieces back on. Come summer when I have some free time I'll replace the clips

Bought some time on the trans by making a random qusi-suby secret sauce of a gear oil. A mix of Honda MTF, Redline MTL, Redline Lightweight Shockproof gear oil and I think some ATF and its smooth enough that another person can more or less shift it. Still needs a rebuild but its slightly more usable right now.

Did an alignment, apparently was off by 2 degrees.

[Angmaar]

This is amazing how you revived an "about to be junked" Insight.
What kind of milage are you getting on it?

[Red]

Originally Posted by Angmaar

This is amazing how you revived an "about to be junked" Insight.
What kind of milage are you getting on it?

Thanks. Last time I drove it I was getting around 60-65MPG. But since school has started back up my dads been driving it and last time I checked he's been doing around 55 MPG

[Red]

Originally Posted by AngelaA

Love your attitude You should name your "beater" something great. I have always had good luck with cars that I named. You have to come up with a good one for this car.

Actually I've been calling it "Dingbat" for some reason

[Red]

So I've received the ominous IMA light and the code of doom, 1449 so a rebuild of the battery pack is in order......