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Attempting to build the Ultimate Insight......Lets see what happens

78K views 157 replies 35 participants last post by  stomish 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey everyone. This is going to be my build thread for my 2001 Silver Insight. I plan to modify almost every aspect of the car in search of the ultimate Insight cruiser/Track Toy.

The goal of this project are as follows;
- 12.50 1/4 mile times
- 50-55 MPG on highway trips
- 1G skid pad handling on street tires (RS-3, StarSpecs, Rivels)
- Long distance driving in comfort
- Well integrated Infotainment center
- A/C, Heat, ABS, Power steering are all required.

With those ever lofty goals in mind....Please don't laugh at me, Haha. Here are the parts I have already acquired and some I plan to acquire in order to meet these goals.

Engine:
K24A2 out of a TSX
RBC intake from a 06-11 Civic Si
50 degree VTC Actuator
K-tuned Swap Header
Custom 2.5in exhaust
Aftermarket Cruise Control
Kpro V4 Ecu
Custom Engine Harness
Innovate Engine Mounts

Transmission:
K20 RSX transmission
Custom hardened gear set
Carbon syncros
Stock 06-11 Civic Si LSD
TSX longer 6th gear
Custom 3.4 Final Drive

Suspension:
Custom Fortune Auto front Coilovers with special valving
4K swift springs
Custom front camber plates
Custom swift Rear springs
GAZ rear shocks
Modifed front control arms to accept 02-05 Civic Si ball joint
Custom rear sway bar
Custom front sway bar and mounts

Brakes:
02-05 Civic Si front calipers
Slotted Rotors
Bosch High Performance Pads

Interior:
S2000 seats on custom rails
S2000 Steering wheel
S2000 gauge cluster
Custom Infotainment center (Tablet integration)
Window tint primarily for UV protection
Custom rear interior paneling to fill battery hole
500 Watt amp
8 Infinity Speaker Sound System
Battery Relocation to rear
HID Retrofit (not really interior but whatever, it fits no where else)

Wheels and Tires:
Kosei K1 15X7 wheels
200 TW tire, Undecided.

This is my build so far, I would say that I am about 40% of the way through this project as of right now. I have most of the parts on hand and am gathering more and more each day. I just want a great cruising car that will also get great gas mileage. I want it to be at home on the street as it is on the track. I know this is a lofty goal but I think I have the parts and the know how to do it. Even if I don't quite make it there I will still have one fun Insight to mess around in.

Stay Tuned.....
 
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#91 ·
For this installment, I will cover the shifter box and shift linkage. When I was researching this project I found that most people used an RSX shift box and cables. They mount the RSX shift box where the Insight box is located.

I was not fond of that idea, if you look at an RSX box vs the Insight box, the Insight version has a lower kick out that allows it to mount much lower. This is important as I wanted the interior to end up looking stock and clean. The raised RSX shift box may cause an issue with location and mounting the console.

Here is the Insight box, you can see the lower kick out.



Knowing all these things, I decided to measure the Insight vs the RSX box and see how different the throws were. Well after about 20 mins of measuring I concluded that they were pretty much EXACTLY THE SAME. This was great news. I could just connect the RSX cables to the Insight box and be done with it. So that's what I did and it didn't work.

The cables mounted perfectly, the issue was the shifter hit the side of the Insight box when I tried to get into reverse. The Insight being a 5 speed, had less room to the right of the shifter, thus causing contact when I tried reverse in the 6-speed RSX trans.

At this point I had 2 options, I could clearance the shift box in order to make room to the right or I could modify the shift cables in order to move all the shifts over to the left slightly. As you can see in the picture below there is not much material that can be removed before the box starts to loose strength.



This forced me to go the shift cable modification route. In order to move the shifter over to where it needed to be, I guesstimated I needed to shorten the end of the cable by an inch. So I did the smart thing....Went with my guess and started cutting.



Now that the cable was cut I measured to make sure that my guess was correct. It just happened to work out. Now the halves would need to be welded back together, but it ensure that it could handle my gorilla like shifts, I needed to add a sleeve.

 
#95 ·
Now that the engine is mounted I can move on to making all the things necessary to get this K24 running.
First in line is the exhaust.
I want the car to idle nice and quiet with zero drone while cruising at highway speeds. This car is going to be used for a lot of 5hr drives and I want to be able to hear when I reach my destination. If I open it up I don't mind if it gets a little louder at that point, though.

I knew I wanted a 2.5in system in full stainless steel. I decided to use a Ktuned swap K24 header as it should make good power but it is also compact enough that it should fit where the stock 1.25” exhaust went.



This is how I received the header. It had a 3 bolt flange and a nice spot for an O2 sensor. This is their 4-2-1 system for clearance reasons like I previously talked about.

I didn't want to use the 3 bolt flange so that would need to be removed and a v-band added. Here is the 2.5” v-band tacked in place.



Next I would need some tubing and, at least, a muffler. I had an old Borla XR-1 muffler laying around that was removed from an old race car and I loved the sound it produced. I decided that I would use that muffler for this project. Its a very high quality that will last plenty long I'm sure.



I started putting all the pipes together and came up with this.

 
#96 ·
It fits under the car nicely and the muffler fits in the stock location.

This was supposed to be the end of the exhaust party. I had the car ready to turn over so I fired it up and it was way too loud, haha. I needed something to quiet it down and also something to direct the exhaust out from under the car to the stock hole in the bumper. I did some research and some of my Honda friends told me to try a Vibrant Ultra Quiet, So that's what I did.



Here is it, it's small enough that it would fit in the stock tunnel and I hoped it would take the noise level down just enough so I was happy.

Now through the magic of doing a bunch of work and not taking enough pictures, here is the final result for the exhaust. It's super easy to remove if I ever need to. Pop the V-band and it all drops out. You can also see the turn out I made at the end to direct the exhaust to the stock bumper hole.



 
#98 ·
It appears the "VUQ" is the same thing as the "resonator" on the Insight.?

Good looking.
Willie
 
#102 ·
I did the same in the base, but the main slop seemed to be in the cable bushings as well. There's a ton in the lever portion when moving side to side on mine as well. Wasn't sure if it was normal or just cuz mine has nearly 250K miles on it, lol.
 
#105 ·
So the next step in the build was the fuel system. The stock fuel pump in the Insight may well flow enough but I didn't want to keep a 250K mile fuel pump in the tank. I had an extra AEM 320L/hr pump available to me and decided just upgrade now incase forced induction falls from the sky.

I started by pulling the tank out of the car.



Then I pulled out the fuel pump assembly.



Next step was the measure the resistance of the fuel sender. I wanted to make sure I could match the correct highs and lows with S2000 cluster. This is pretty simple, just move the float to the top and measure the output at the pins, then the bottom and measure again.



 
#106 ·
Next I pulled the assembly apart to get to the fuel pump. Here is the old pump, next to the new pump.



Luckily the pump was easy to install. It fit in the stock cage and all of it just snapped back together.

For the fuel injectors I am using some Fuel Injector Clinic 525cc. All the injectors come with flow documentation to ensure they are within 1% of each other.



The last part of the fuel system is think Pro series fuel rail. I am running AN line and an Aeromotive regulator to finish it all out.

 
#109 ·
Now that the engine and the suspension are bolted in place, I could move forward with the brakes. I decided to go with EP3 Civic Si calipers and rotors. This is an easy bolt on upgrade and should help drag the ExSight down from high speeds during track days. I bought some new replacement calipers that were already paint red.



Then I got the most hilarous brake rotors from RockAuto. These are going to be replaced shortly, I promise. They are only temporary to make sure the setup works correctly. Best part is they were both $10 total. Haha



I wanted to use some stainless lines but the Insight has the mounting brackets permanently mounted to the lines. This meant I had to modify the brackets in order to use Civic Si brake lines.

Here is the bracket and the line to start.



Now we just cut the line off....

 
#111 ·
Next I moved on to the sway bar. I used these nice collars from Fortune Auto as the old sway bar mounts were welded to the stock strut. They allowed me to bolt the stock sway bar back in place.






And here is a final shot of the brakes, lines and sway bar. Everything is tied down and clear when the wheels are turned lock to lock.

 
#112 ·
Amazing work, pictures, and write up. I admire your talent.
 
#117 ·
For the A/C I used the K24 compressor and all the stock Insight components. the ports on the A/C compressors are the same size so that is helpful. I rotated the fittings on the end of the aluminum lines to get them to line up to the new compressor. I was also forced to relocate the dryer as the alternator now took up that real estate. Its not an easy job but once you get it done it works nicely.
 
#118 ·
Just wondering what ever happened with this build...
 
#121 ·
He showed up with it briefly at InsightFest. I was lucky enough to get a ride. It is an awesome car. VERY well sorted out.

Sam
 
#122 ·
Lucky duck
 
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