In March ('0
I purchased an '01 5-Spd Manual Insight with 105k on it for $7750 cash price. According to CarFAX it had been in one minor collision, but repaired. I have had no problems (other than some annoying rattles). Here is a list of the mods I have done.
Disclaimer: These are my modifications. I have posted the steps that I took. If you perform any of these modifications, I am not liable for damage done to your car or you. If you should choose to take *my* steps and use them yourself you do so at your own risk.
Sylvania Silverstar Ultra Headlamps (9003/H4)
Cost: $28 (
http://www.ebay.com)
Time: 20 minutes
Corrects: Typically poor OEM lighting without spending several $100 dollars on HID lighting
Procedure: This install is simple and does not require a lot of expertise.
- Lift Hood
- Starting with passenger side, pull the 9003/H4 wiring harness out of the bulb (it goes straight out, no twisting)
- pull off the rubber boot around the back of the housing. It helps if you don't have sasquatch sized hands. It will take a little effort to pull the boot (it also comes straight off)
- Undo the Honda metal clip. You will see on one side you can push it in. On that side you need to push it in and up (kind of like releasing a safety pin).
- Once released the bulb comes loose, so make sure you grab it. Note the orientation of the three little prongs.
- Your New bulb goes in the same way the other came out. (IMPORTANT: DO NOT TOUCH THE GLASS OF THE BULB WITH YOUR FINGERS OR ANYTHING ELSE IF YOU CAN MANAGE)
- Repeat the drivers side. The only addition is that you need to take that reservoir off its hangar by sliding it up toward you.
Result: Sylvania isn't lying in their claims about the bulb being up to 50% brighter, 40% more down road vision, and 50% wider viewing angle.
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135db dual tone air horn
Cost: $17.98
Time: 1-2 Hours
Corrects: The dangerously impotent OEM horn that Honda installs
Procedure: This install requires some knowledge of wiring (albeit, not a lot), and could require you to drill a hole or two into the aluminum support beam (although some have used existing holes)
- Lift the Hood
- Find a mounting location for the two air horns and the compressor
- I mounted mine just in front on the drivers side of the engine compartment on the support beam that is just in front of the brake reservoir. (this is where drilling may be required)
- I mounted the compressor very near the horns (the shorter the tube, the better and more responsive the horn will be)
- Using 16 gauge wire (probably 2' for each), connect the positive and negative wire to the bottom of the compressor. I would recommend soldering and using shrink tubing to ensure a nice connection.
- Unbolt the fuse box and turn it upside down.
- On the bottom of the fuse box there is a protrusion that slides out and reveals the wiring going into the fuse box.
- Find the small Orange wire (about 22 gauge) and and use a quick-connect to tap that orange wire with the negative wire from your compressor.
- Slide the plastic wiring cover back into place and remount your fuse box
- Now, using an inline 30A fuse, you need to hook the positive to the battery positive.
- I did this by connecting the fuse to the positive (using a quick-connect)
- You'll notice on the fuse box that there is a wire that runs from the positive side of the battery terminal to the fuse box. Unscrew the 8mm/phillips bolt about half way. Then slip the other side of the fuse wire between the bolt and the plate, and retighten the bolt. The advantage of this is that you can then hide the fuse and wiring inside the fuse box.
- You might take the time to zip-tie your wires together
Result: The next time someone just starts merging in on top of you because they don't see you, you can let them have it, and the new horn will get their attention much better than the OEM horn.
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Superbright LED's in marker lights, license plate light, and brake lights
Cost: $36
Time: 20 minutes
Corrects: Low output/high power consumption of incandescent OEM bulbs
Procedure: As with the headlights, this install requires low expertise and little knowledge of car electronics is necessary. Go to
http://www.superbrightleds.com and purchase the following
Quantity: 3
Product: WLED-x6 LED bulb $ 2.79 (each)
Options: Natural White WLED-W6 (DO NOT GET THE COOL WHITE BULBS, THEY ARE ACTUALLY BLUE, NOT COOL WHITE... THE NATURAL WHITE BULBS ARE ACTUALLY CLOSER TO WHAT I WOULD CONSIDER COOL WHITE)
Quantity: 2
Product: WLED-x6 LED bulb $ 2.79 (each)
Options: Amber WLED-A6
Quantity: 2
Product: 7443-x15 LED bulb $ 6.99 (each)
Options: Red 7443-R15
If I did this mod again I would get WLED-A5 LED bulbs for the Amber bulbs because the A6 Bulbs are mainly forward shining bulbs and the Amber markers in the front do better with side mounted LED's that the A5 bulb has.
Procedure: This install is simple and does not require a lot of expertise.
-
Front Natural White Accent Lights:
- Lift the hood
- Locate the wiring harness behind the bulbs
- rotate the harness 45 degrees (can't remember if it's right or left)
- pull the harness straight out. (if it doesn't come out easy, then you haven't rotated the harness enough)
- Remove the bulb, and install the LED bulb. It's best if you don't touch any of the LED's with your hand.
-
Front Side Amber Marker Lights:
= Procedure is the same as the Accent lights
-
License Plate Light:
- With a #2 Phillips screwdriver, remove the two screws holding the lens cover in place
- Remove the lens cover
- If you are unable to pull the incandescent bulb out with your fingers, you may need to remove the two remaining screws to pull out the entire light housing so that you can get to it.
- Once removed, insert the Natural White W-6 LED bulb
- Reinstall the lens cover (I recommend cleaning it before doing so)
-
LED Brake Lights:
- This one is a little more fuzzy for me, so I'm doing it from memory.
- Open the Hatch
- pull back the carpeting that covers the two mounting bolts for the brake light housing
- With a 10mm socket wrench, completely unscrew the mounting bolts
- The brake light housing pulls straight out.
- With the housing out, remove the brake light harness (the bulb comes with it)
- Remove the incandescent bulb and install the 7443-R15 bulb. (these are dual intensity bulbs, so they act just light brake lights are supposed to)
- Reinstall the housing in the opposite order of the removal
Result: Not only is there significantly less power draw from the LED bulbs, but the lighting is brighter (especially for the Front Accent lights, and brake lights) and more focused. They are considerably more expensive than incandescent bulbs, and the gas savings is probably minimal (less than 1/4 mile per gallon is my guess... though that is just a guess) so it would take about a year for them to pay for themselves.
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Pioneer TS-G1641R 6.5" Door/Rear Speakers
Cost: $49.95
Time: 1 hour
Corrects: Poor performance and longevity of OEM front speakers and lack of surround sound that comes from not having rear speakers
Procedure: This mod requires medium understanding of wiring, and requires the use of some basic tools
-
Front door speakers:
- With a flathead screwdriver, find the small indent on the front door speaker cover. Insert the screwdriver and gently pry the cover off. This shouldn't require a lot of force.
- Unscrew the three screws used the hold the oem speaker in place
- Disconnect the OEM speaker harness from the speaker and completely remove the speaker
- If you purchased these at crutchfield.com, they include speaker harness adapters, otherwise just snip off the wiring harness from the door speakers as you won't need the harness.
- On each of the four speakers I recommend wiring (with soldering and shrink tubing) a 6" 16 gauge wire.
- Connect your positive and negative wires to the door speaker wiring.
- These speakers already have the proper mounting holes, so line them up and reinstall the three mounting screws.
- Before totally putting everything together I recommend that you turn the stereo on to make sure that you have sound coming out.
- Repeat with the other door speaker
-
Rear speakers:
- Many people pay the $60 bucks for the OEM rear speaker kit. I however chose to not do this. The disadvantage is that you don't get that "OEM" look, but it still works fine because these speakers come with grilles.
- Locate the hole cover that's behind the carpeting by feeling around or pulling back the carpet a little. Using sissors, cut out a hole to a little less than the same size as the plastic cover.
- Remove the plastic cover (pull it toward you)
- Remove the wiring harness (again, you can snip off the harness if you don't have the Honda speaker harness adapters)
- Follow the same procedure as above for wiring your speaker
- Unlike the front door speakers, I could not find the correct mounting holes, so you can very easily drill the screws in place. It's just thin sheet aluminum, and there is nothing behind it for a couple of inches.
- Install the grille by removing the mesh part of the grille, and install the grille onto the speaker with screws (you'll see what I mean when you remove the mesh). This is what "captures" the carpet and gives it the finished look. Once in place, reinsert the mesh to the grille.
- Repeat with the other side.
Wiring color codes:
- Front Left (+) Green /w black stripe (-) Light green
- Front Right (+) Green /w yellow stripe (-) Grey /w red stripe
- Rear Left (+) Blue /w white stripe (-) Blue /w black stripe
- Rear Right (+) Pink (-) Blue /w yellow stripe
Result: A fuller more robust mid and high range, as well as surround sound. I do not agree that the sound is muffled unless you are 7' tall and your seat is all the way back, and the passenger side is the same.
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Repair Auto Down Function
Cost: $0
Time: 2 minutes
Corrects: The symptom of the auto down function of the drivers window ceasing to work. The window still goes up and down but auto down doesn't work.
Procedure: The only skill required here is to be able to follow instructions.
- Start With the drivers side window all the way up.
- Hold the switch down until a full three seconds after the window stops
- Release the switch and then press it all the way down again.
- Release it a second time, then roll the window all the way up and only release the switch 3 seconds after the window stops
- then hold the switch up a second time for 3 seconds.
- Turn the car off and then back on, and your auto down should work again.
Result: This should repair your auto down function provided that there is no mechanical damage to the brush motor. As a note, this fix only lasted a few days for me, so I don't know how permanent it will be for you.
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Reinstall OEM Potenza RE92 165/65R14 Tires
Cost: $350 or Less
Time: 1 Hour
Corrects: If you have non-oem tires you are sacrificing somewhere between 5% and 10% fuel economy. This is especially true if you have oversized mismatched tires like I did when I bought the vehicle.
Procedure: The only skills required here are a little internet searching and patience.
- I purchased my tires from
http://www.roadwaywholesaletire.com and they were $309 after shipping. If you do a little searching (perhaps calling local tire shops, you might be able to find them cheaper. Also, check eBay, and the Sell/Trade section of this site.
- Once you order the tires, do a google search for tire shops in your area. The cost to mount and balance your new tires varies. I had one shop quote me $107 to do the job, and I ended up going to Walmart and getting it done for $44 which includes lifetime free rotations. Firestone was the second cheapest at $57.
Result: While it is costly, these tires should last 80,000 miles with good care, and the tires will more than pay for themselves with the added gas mileage. If your old tires are more than 5/32" tread depth you can probably sell them on craigslist too.
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Repair Slow Windows
Cost: $3
Time: 3 minutes
Corrects: Several Insight owners have complained that one or both of their windows is slow going up or down. This mod, fixes that with relative ease.
Procedure: If you can use a point and shoot camera then this will be a sinch for you.
- Purchase a can of Silicone-based lubricant (make sure it has a straw, so you can aim precisely)
- With the offending Window, roll it up all the way (if you can).
- Roll the window down 3-4 inches (enough that you can get access to the front window guide (those are the "tracks" that the window runs on)
- spray a full 1 second burst of the lubricant down the front guide and rear guide. With the Straw this should be no problem and no parts need to be removed.
- Roll the Window down the rest of the way, and spray another full 1 second burst down both guides.
- Roll the window all the way up and down 2-3 times. At the point that it sticks, repeat the spraying. That will permanently fix the problem.
Result: No more annoying slow window, and you saved a ton of money by not taking it to the dealer.
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Forced Regen Switch
Cost: $8
Time: 40 minutes
Corrects: The regenerating capabilities of the Insight are great, but sometimes it would be nice to slow the car down by safely forcing it into full regen, and you get the added benefit of not using the brakes (if timed right). IMPORTANT: Engine braking or forced IMA regen is never a replacement for brakes. If you rear end a car because you thought your forced regen would stop you, please also employ your other brain cell and not wear your seat belt... or at least apply at
http://www.darwinawards.com before you do.
Procedure: This modification requires basic wiring skills, and the ability to use a drill, screw driver, and pliers. Soldering skill wouldn't hurt either.
- You will need to purchase a small normally open Single Pull Single Throw (SPST) momentary push button switch. Basically that's complicated lingo for your typical push-button switch that doesn't click but is spring loaded so is only "on" when you have it pressed in.
- I highly recommend finding a small black button that is soft to the touch, but this is your preference.
- The opposite side of the button will have two "poles" You need to wire 18-22 gauge wire to each of these poles (4' will do). Polarity in this case does not matter.
- Find a mounting place for your button. It needs to be unobstructive to components necessary to drive. I mounted mine on the stick shift console right across from the emergency brake. This way, I can rest my hand on the e-brake and press the button.
- To use my mounting location take the following steps:
- Unscrew the shifter knob (just like a screw it goes counter clockwise).
- Using your screw driver, locate and remove the four screws on the sides of the shifter console.
- before lifting the console out of place, mark with a pen where you want your button to be.
- lift the console out of place, and you will note that there should be nothing on the other side of your 'x' besides air.
- Using a smaller drill bit than your button, drill a hole in the center of your X
- You may have to disassemble your button a bit, because you will want to fit it through your hole (you might have to make the hole bigger)
- My button was fixed into place with a nut on the end. Just pay attention not to drill too big of a hole or you will end up hot gluing your button in place.
- Once your button is mounted, run the wire underneath the console and back to the foot well where your pedals are.
- Put the shifter console back in place, but don't screw it down until you test your setup and you know your wiring is good.
- Now, get your head down to the foot well and find the brake pedal. (I find its easiest if I push the seat back all the way, and lay down opposite than if I were sitting (head where my feet normally are)
- At the top of the brake pedal you will notice another push button switch with two wires coming out of it. That is your brake switch. When that thing is triggered, it tells the auto regen to kick in, and it turns on your brake lights.
- Using quick-connects, connect your two switch wires to the two brake switch wires (we don't care which is which here, but yes, one is positive and the other is negative)
- You can test your switch now. The easiest way is to have someone stand behind the car. WHen you depress the switch, the brake lights should come on. Alternately you can go for a test drive. Speed up to 30MPH, then put the car in second gear and take your foot of the gas. Hold the button down, and the car should go into full regen.
NOTE: I've also found this button handy to cancel the cruise control quickly, and to "flash" tailgaters to warn them to get off my back without having to press the brake pedal and slow down.
Result: Used strategically, you can keep your battery better charged (less gas consumed), and use less brakes (they last longer).
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Factory Recalls
Cost: $0
Time: 1-4 Hours
Corrects: There are several recalls that Honda has made on our little cars, including the replacement of the ECM on some vehicles (a $700 part). These recalls are free, and easy to do. They just require you surrender your baby for a few hours.
Procedure: You just need to be able to use a telephone here
- Call your local Honda Dealership Service Department
- Give them your VIN number, and ask them to look up the recalls needing to be done on the vehicle.
- They will tell you which recalls have not been done, and you can setup an appointment. A good dealer will even offer you a shuttle to drop you off and pick you up when it's done.
Result: Happy car, free repairs, longer life of the vehicle.
NOTE: Some people are nervous about jinxing their good gas mileage by doing some of these repairs. I don't know if that is substantiated or not, but I recommend doing the recalls. Your IMA Battery WILL last longer, and other components will be fixed.
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Install Sony Xplod GT-30W Head Unit
Cost: $85
Time: 30-60 minutes
Corrects: The OEM Stereo Head Units in cars are rarely any good. I chose this particular one because it has CD, and MP3 capabilities as well as a little jack on the front that I can connect my MP3 player to and play straight from that! There are other head units that will also allow you to play from a USB flash memory stick and an SD card. This unit also has a detachable faceplate, which I highly recommend.
Procedure: Basic knowledge of wiring and use of tools is required.
- Disconnect your negative battery terminal
- Removing the factory head unit is pretty easy. The first step is removing the glove box.
- Using an 10mm socket wrench, remove the two screws at the bottom of the glove box.
- Then open the glove box, and there should be two screws you will need to remove with a screw driver.
- Pull the glove box out (you'll have to twist it a bit but you'll get it).
- Then remove the 4 (I think there are 4) screws holding the front console bezel on (that's the thing that goes around the cigarette lighter and head unit).
- that should come off with relative ease... although there are tabs you will be pulling out... just make sure they are tabs and not a screw you forgot.
- THis will expose the head unit. Remove the screws on the side of the unit and slide the unit out.
- At the back of the unit you will need to disconnect the antenna cable, and the wiring harness.
- Once the head unit is aside, you are ready to install your new head unit.
- You will need a wiring harness adapter that is available online for cheap, or $15-25 at car stereo stores.
- Using bullet or barrel connectors, prep each one of the wires on the harness end and then do the same for the head unit end. Consult the manual which will tell you which wires go to what on the harness. THis will make installing the head unit an easy plug-n-play job.
- Reconnect the wiring harness and the antenna wire and gently slide the head unit in.
- Before bolting everything back up, reconnect your battery terminal and turn the car on to test it. Make sure all the sound is coming out of the appropriate speakers.
- Use the screws that came out of the OEM Head unit to install the stereo. If you are feeling really ambitious, you could use a keyed bolt to prevent theives from stealing the head unit... but then again, by this time they've already torn up your car, so it doesn't really help.
- Put everything back together, and you're done.
NOTE: There are tabs that need to go precisely in place on that console bezel. If they don't, it will look funny, or the tabs will break... also, don't forget to reconnect the cigarette lighter.
Result: Sweet Stereo head unit... nuf said.
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Install Cruise Control
Cost: $273
Time: 3-6 hours
Corrects: For some reason Honda didn't even offer cruise control as an option. That was dumb. Cruise control is such a helpful tool for long drives, but it can also help increase gas mileage if you tend to lead-foot it.
Procedure: So far this mod was the most intensive mod requiring good knowledge of wiring, relays, and use of tools. Rather than give the full write-up, I am going to instead refer you to the main writeup that has been done (
http://www.insightcentral.net/owners/mods/cruise1.htm) and then give you some pointers where I think this guys writeup falls short. (NOTE: This guy did an amazing job on the write-up, and pictures... it's just missing one or two things that would have saved me some time)
- When mounting your servo, make sure there are no magnets near by. Even a small magnet (like the one the previous owner put on the fuel line) will throw the servo off and it will do all kinds of weird things.
- If you've done the LED brake light mod, then you will need to purchase a 5 position, normally open relay (I also recommend a harness). Here is how it should be wired:
- When using quick connects, double check to make sure that the quick-connect actually pierced through the sheath and is making contact with the wire. This happened to me twice and I couldn't figure out why it wasn't working.
- When mounting the servo cable to the throttle cable, there should be LESS THAN 1/8" SLACK. The writeup is vague about this. What I did was adjust it so that if I adjusted any more it would actually lift the throttle off idle, and then I backed off a quarter turn.
- When mounting the servo, I didn't bother fashioning my own bracket. I just used the bracket they provided and it works fine.
Result: This mod is well worth it. While It's not the cheapest, it's probably the more rewarding mod I've done so far.
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Other mods I have done include:
- Transmission fluid change
- Oil change
- 300W monoblock amp & 10" 300w RMS sub install (mounted into the access panel to the spare tire... looks slick and still sounds nice)
- Clean EGR Valve
- Replace the battery terminals with more "useful" terminals
- Installed "The Shade" Retractible Window shade
- Installed GPS navigation mount, external antenna, and system
- Window Tinting
- Applied Fog-X to interior of windows
- Installed a fake Alarm blinking LED
If enough people want the write-ups on these mods, then I will add them as people request them.
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Mods I'm interested in doing if someone wants to help me out with pointers, money, etc
- Sunroof (sliding, or flip up)
- Forced Auto Stop Switch
- Removable roof rack (Saris 901 seems to be the only model that will fit... anyone know another rack that works?)
- Pedal replacement (I've got the pedals, but I need to rig up mounts that will actually stay in place)
- Armrest installation
- Alarm installation
- LED Turn signals/electronic flasher
- Programmable license plate marquee
- LED reverse lights (anyone know which part # at superbrightleds.com will work?)
Write-ups for my mods
