That sounds like a great project to keep an Insight on the road, 120kW is quite a bit of power for an Insight, coming out to about 160hp peak. It sounds like you are using the transmission from the Escape? Otherwise, you would want to be careful with the power so you don't shred the stock transmission. I'm not familiar with the setup of the Ford Escape Hybrid other than that it normally uses 250 5.5Ah NiMh cells in hybrid form. Have you planned out the brand of Lithium you are putting in there? What Ah capacity and how many cells you are planning on putting in? I've put some thought into building an electric Insight myself but probably won't have the resources for it for awhile and I decided that if I go about adding lithium it would be to build one into a PHEV like retepsnikrep, uhtrinity, and mike debrowski have done on this forum and if I design and drive it reasonably I might manage around 125-150 mpg.
Unfortunately for you, yet fortunate for us, these engines last quite a long time and it seems the only ones either going to super cheap are ones involved in collisions and have damage, I'm not sure if you are tolerant to a car that was previously involved in a crash, you could always sell the engine to someone who needs it on eBay or here on this forum.
Good luck with Project FrankenInsight
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