Is the G1 Insight chassis made of aluminum too?

[Aaron Cake]

Originally Posted by JimGnitecki

Aluminum cannot be mIGw elded. It requires TIG welding.
TIG welding is MUCH more complex and costly than MIG welding. Both the equipment required and the operator required are far more costly.

Flat out wrong.

High wire speed, DC or pulsed (if your machine is capable), pure argon and a spool gun if you don't want to drive yourself crazy.

And don't just take my word for it. Try Googling "MIG welding aluminum".
Miller - GMAW (MIG) Aluminum Welding Hints

[JimGnitecki]

See:

TIG Welding vs MIG Welding

Note especially the last sentence in the article before the safety notice section.

Go ahead and try using MIG to weld some thin parts (thin like most everything on the Insight) and let me know how that works out for you.

MIG is used whenever possible by auto manufacturers because it is far less costly, but TIG is far superior in quality, and essential when the parts are very thin gauge or small.

Jim G

[Aaron Cake]

I'm sorry, I've been welding for 15 years in MIG, TIG, stick and gas. I build cars and have a metal shop. There isn't a point in discussing it. MIG is widely used in industry on production aluminum work. Search YouTube for "mig welding aluminum" or bring your concerns to a local welding store. There are obvious alumnum MIG welds on the Insight and they are easy to spot for someone with experience in welding. To say that aluminum cannot be MIG welded is incorrect.

[TRI]

Honda lost with their two best cars, Insight and NSX, a lot per car but they didn't sell that much of them. Even in the case of the NSX, rumors say that they lost about $50-100k per car.
The Insight was pretty cheap in the US, in Europe, they were around $40-50k.

[WoodyInsight]

You can get a decent Miller tig welder out of Grainger for 1934.00. I use it all the time and its not that difficult.

[jonnyvtec]

You only need to look down behind the engine and look at the frame and subframe parts to see its a bit more industrial than TIG welds