Acura TSX engine in a Honda Insight

[Yuriman]

Na, factory LSD pulled from a wrecked Civic Si, but it's a similar design to Quaife. I'd personally rather have had a wavetrac but they're 3x as much as I paid for this.

 

[Yuriman]

Started gutting the back. The DC-DC converter and motor controller will go as soon as I get a small power supply in. The rear of the car sits a good 3 inches higher already.

 

[Yuriman]

Removed some tabs and bits from the back.

 

[Zor Prime]

I'm glad to see this thread.

I have a 2003 yet the battery is still good, which is a good thing. Should that go south, this is what's happening.

Hopefully Hasport comes through.

I really like your gearing plan. MPG and you're still going to basically have a gokart no matter how you dice it.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

So... turbo kit?

 

[Yuriman]

So... turbo kit?

Hah!

I've thought about it. However, I'll probably be close to the limit of what I can reasonably put down in a FWD car even just naturally aspirated with a tune. I've seen these 2.4's put down ~250-275whp with just IHE and a tune, closer to 350 with a K20 head.. Would probably need to only apply boost in 3rd gear or higher.

Frankly, it'll be plenty fast for me. I'm likely to tune it for lean burn between 1500 and 2500rpm to improve fuel economy a bit, rather than to try to get more power out of it. They're supposed to run very well at a 19:1 AFR.

EDIT: Anyone need an ultra lightweight engine for a dune buggy? ~65hp and under 125lbs.

 

[Yuriman]

Just ordered parts for a battery relocation, and fuel filler line relocation. These stick out far too much!

 

[Yuriman]

Chopped up my fuel filler lines, and started laying down new flooring:

 

[Yuriman]

Finished putting my sound dampening in. What a difference! Subjectively, when I first drove it afterward, it was like when your ears need to pop and the world is very muffled.

Getting close to finishing the hatch area:

Since most of the weight going in the back is in place now, I decided to level the rear of the car. Ride height was almost an inch and a half higher with all of the IMA components removed. I started by taking 1/3 of a coil off from the (already stiffer) rear springs. While I was at it, I treated their surface rust and re-coated them with underbody rubberized coating.

Removing 1/3 of a coil brought the car down around 3/4 of an inch. I'm unsure if I want to bring it down further, or just leave the rear a little higher since I have extra cargo capacity now.

 

[Yuriman]

More parts ordered: 2003 Civic Si knuckles, calipers, 2012 Civic Si 6th gear, a set of new synchros, clutch, RSX ECU, RSX-S engine bay harness, 2003 Accord throttle body (for cable conversion), RSX-S wideband O2 sensor (for leaning out to 19:1 AFR during light loads), TSX A/C compressor. Still have a lot of random bits to collect.

 

[drnickriviera]

Do you think the ride will be harsh in the back with less weight and stiffer springs? Or was it rollie pollie before

Would have loved to get all the ev stuff out if it to play with, but it has a pretty tiny battery doesn't it?

 

[Yuriman]

Do you think the ride will be harsh in the back with less weight and stiffer springs? Or was it rollie pollie before

Would have loved to get all the ev stuff out if it to play with, but it has a pretty tiny battery doesn't it?

Stock, the back is very "rollie pollie" as you put it. I replaced the rear springs with 30% higher spring rate springs around 7 months ago, and that improved things significantly. Taking all of that weight out of the back has only made it better. The car feels really well planted and balanced now, even if the weight distribution is a little worse. I expect I may need stiffer springs in the front once the new engine is in. I might consider adding a very small rear sway bar.

The stock battery was around the same size as a Prius's (pre-2016), which is to say it was ~1kwh of nickel metal hydride - not lithium. You could maybe get 4-5 miles out of a brand new battery assuming you were comfortable running it from full to empty (not a good idea with any battery), and if there were zero drivetrain losses. However, the electric motor cannot be spun without turning the crankshaft and pistons too, since they're all bolted together. It's an "integrated motor assist". Running on electricity alone is something a few have done over on Insight Central, and wh/mile is better than a Leaf, but not that much better considering how much lighter and more aerodynamic the car is, because you're spinning the dead weight of the engine and pushing air through the cylinders.

You can think of it as a virtual "4th cylinder" which can be turned on and off. 3 cylinder fuel economy, 4 cylinder power.

The car is actually very fun to drive right now, even without much power.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Curious how this is going.

https://jalopnik.com/some-genius-swapped-a-honda-civic-si-motor-into-a-220-0-1835888127