No one said anything about putting in a bigger motor. Just leave the puny 1.0 litre 67 horsepower motor in there. The weight reduction of removing the hybrid system will result in a greater horsepower to weight ratio anyway. The elctric motor produces 6 horsepower, not 7 hehe. So replace nothing, just remove the electric motor and its battery pack. What would the car weigh then? What would its horsepower to weight ratio be then? Interesting questions. Maybe in a few years when I can afford a 2000 Insight with 160,000 miles I'll buy one and when the battery in it dies, I'll try it! And remember, there's always engine off coasting and bump starting.

 

the big thing you would lose is torque. The IMA takes it from 66 to 91 ft-lbs. thats a big jump in a little car.

the battery module weighs 48 lbs. theres probably another 100 or so to be tossed from the back of the car, plus the IMA motor (20-30 lbs?). so thats a drop of less than 10% of the cars weight. add back a way to charge the 12 volt battery. and dont forget the battery system is also used to smooth out the power pulses of that little 3-cylinder.

all-in-all, i would go full electric before i went 1-liter gas only. i would rather have a little pocket rocket that i plug in at night than a cute little car that cant get out of its own way.

ymmv!!!

 

what is ymmv? I've seen it before but can't decipher! I agree, all electric would be sweet, but I'm still curious what the FE difference and performance difference would be. Btw, how do you like your Sumitomo tires? Good LLR? I'm looking for good tires for my '93 Civic VX. 13/65/175

 

your milage may vary.

as for the sumis, i love them! lots of grip, the car is very stable on the highway, unlike the oem tires. but even though they are considered lrr tires, i am still giving up about 12% (8mpg) compared to the oem re92 potenzas.

however, my last tank was 78.2 mpg, and thats using 10% ethanol (3% energy loss). not too bad, considering.

 

I think I read somewhere that the Insight turns back into a pumpkin at 150,001 miles. I could be wrong, however

 

Wasn't this part of their design to be environmentally friendly so as to not end up in junkyards or landfills before the cars die and get sent to the dump?

 

i like pumpkin! mostly pie! tough to commute in though...

 

The IMA motor is sandwiched between the engine and transmission and also acts as the flywheel for the engine. It cannot easily be removed.

 

Besides that, the motor doesn't weigh very much. You'd be much better off buying a set of junkyard batteries from a Insight that had been clobbered in a wreck. I wonder if the HCH and Insight use the same batteries? If so, you could scavenge one of those packs (since the HCH is a more commonly sold vehicle)

 

I'm not so sure about that yet, look up the "K-Sight," which is an Insight with its hybrid powertrain removed and a Honda K20 motor installed. The motor was tuned to 200whp and the owner claimed 47 US MPG at first, including a few dyno runs. He believes 55 US MPG is attainable after tuning and mostly normal driving. Not bad for a performance-oriented setup. A smaller high-compression lean-burn ICE motor from an old Honda Civic might yield impressive MPG in an Insight, with enough power to scoot.

I'm dreaming of an Insight with a 240ft-lb Honda diesel engine for ultimate MPG, or VW's turbocharged 3 cylinder 1.2L aluminum diesel engine. Another Insight with batteries only (100km range) would be nice too.

Mark