WANTED: Insight with Bad Battery or Powertrain

Labrat Mike · 02-04-2010, 02:05 PM

WANTED: I am looking for an Insight with a bad battery or bad engine or bad transmission etc.

WHY: I want to give it a new life as a dedicated electric vehicle

HOW: This is actually the interesting part. We know how to hack the controls of a Ford Escape HEV. Turns out, the transmission will run without an engine and could be configured to put all 120kW to the road! So I dont need any of the existing powertrain to work. I will add Li-Ion batteries in the hybrid bay in the back.

I saw someone with a dysfunctional Insight a few months back that I should have acted upon. If you have a failing Insight, rather than risk huge repair bills, please sell it to me for a good cause (new life as an EV).

I will post the results of this project on this site if others are interested in: Project FrankenInsight.

- Mike

MN Driver · 02-04-2010, 04:06 PM

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

Labrat Mike · 02-04-2010, 05:20 PM

The stock Insight transmission will be scrapped (Auto or 5-spd). The entire Escape transmission would be put in there (with the splined shaft sticking out for no good reason, perhaps I can put the A/C pulley on it and get some cool air!). Add new custom made half shafts and voila!

If we weld solid the power split gears, the entire system will run at generator speed and thus if we can get the generator mode commands right, provide traction from both motors. the low-risk approach is just to use the 70kW motor and idle the generator.

The Gen 1 insight is like 30-40% lower road load than anything else out there, it is essentially on par with the EV1 for slipperiness.

By the way, we also had a old EV1 chassis running around (not on public roads) last summer with a new drive system.

I hope someone out there has a bum Insight?!?

MN Driver · 02-04-2010, 06:04 PM

I'm a little jealous of the EV1 that you had running around, I sat in an EV1 once at an auto show, it was long enough back that I don't remember where I was at when I saw it though, I'm pretty sure it back with the lead-acid version. It was cool to see that the car had no key and worked by punching in the code to engage the drivetrain.

Here is the WWU with theirs out, but they got in a little bit of trouble for having it on the road.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCBc8pL1SGc

The power split welding sounds exactly like what can be done with the Prius power split.

If you haven't already, toss an ad out on Craigslist in the cars section as well because if anyone is selling theirs for parts they might look there first to guage what they might be able to ask for it.

**Hybrid-Battery-Repair** · 02-06-2010, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Labrat Mike

The stock Insight transmission will be scrapped (Auto or 5-spd).

If you get a good MT trans, talk to me. My 1st gear synchros are shot and my 2nd gear grinds.

insight1 · 02-18-2010, 05:35 PM

How much are you willing to pay?

Labrat Mike · 02-18-2010, 05:49 PM

I was hoping to pay around $4. I saw cars in the past with bad batteries going for that. The point of my EV project is to do it on the cheap.

insight1 · 02-19-2010, 03:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Labrat Mike

I was hoping to pay around $4. I saw cars in the past with bad batteries going for that. The point of my EV project is to do it on the cheap.

I'm sorry, how much are you willing to pay?

MN Driver · 02-19-2010, 11:59 PM

That's what I thought, how many zeros behind that 4?
It might be able to find a working high mileage 200k+ for $4000 if you are willing to look hard enough and transport it to where you are. You might be able to sell the engine+trans after to recoup some of the cash.

insight1 · 02-21-2010, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MN Driver

That's what I thought, how many zeros behind that 4?
It might be able to find a working high mileage 200k+ for $4000 if you are willing to look hard enough and transport it to where you are. You might be able to sell the engine+trans after to recoup some of the cash.

Or it could be $400? That is why asked on the first place