Hi All,
I have a mod for the A/C system to take some of the load off the
compressor. With the A/C on we take a pretty good hit on the mpg’s.
This is fairly simple and straight forward with logical results. I further
insulated the low-pressure pipe (cold pipe) that goes from the compressor
to the firewall. It’s the thicker of the two pipes and has a “L” on the
charging access cap. Before starting I cleaned the area with windex.
This is one of the mods where my first attempt bombed. I had insulated
it with a sticky back dense insulation tape which did not work very well.
Oh well, yanked it back off.
Home Depo has a split hose insulation with sticky back that does work.
It’s called Armacell, comes in 6’ lengths and is only a few bucks each.
If you wish to do this mod you’ll need two lengths ( one Fits ½” Cop. And
one Fits ¾” Cop. ). They also have a flat light foam 2” wide sticky back
tape. You’ll need a roll of this for securing the seams of the Armacell.
As you’ll note Honda did think to insulate part of the pipe with a short
piece ( aprox 12” ) of foam where the pipe is the highest and probly the
hottest. It’s held in place by a few small spots of glue. The hardest part of
the pipe to do is between this foam and the firewall ( no room ). By twisting
and turning the foam Honda put on you can break the glue loose and walk
the foam down the pipe till it’s up against the firewall. That takes care of the
most difficult part of the pipe. You can use the ½” foam to do the rest of the
aluminum pipe and the ¾” foam to do the rubber hose part ( as far down
towards the compressor as you can reach ). Near the highest part of the pipe
you’ll find a black/white clip that snaps on to the high and low-pressure pipes,
this can be removed. Just forward of this clip there’s a metal clamp with a
8mm bolt (10mm hex head ) that secures the low-pressure pipe. This can be
removed. Just forward of this is a length of black spiral plastic rapped
around the rubber part of the hose, this can be removed as well. After
insulating the pipe I cut the spiral plastic into 3 equal pieces and rapped it
around the insulated pipe where the metal clamp was. Put a tie-rap through
the hole where the bolt was and around the insulated pipe to secure it.
I used the flat sticky back foam tape to seal the tubing ends and seams.
Although it may not be necessary I put the car on blocks, removed the engine
under panels along with the aluminum panel they attach to at the front to
do the rest of the cold pipe. Did use clear tape to help sticky back set.
Results are what you’d expect. The hot engine compartment is sucking
less cold out of the low-pressure pipe so the compressor doesn’t have to
work as hard. This equates to better mpg’s. At highway speeds you’ll
feel small surges as the compressor cycles more ( those pesky marketing
people probly didn’t like this ) but it results in being able to maintain
better speed. Lean burn works better too.
Here in Venice FL it gets pretty hot in summer, 90+. Time to complete
mod: ½ hour shopping, 1 hour staring at engine compartment and about
1 hour to apply and secure insulation. Happy cooling…
Hope I did these pics right..When you get to the pics click on
"normal size" for a better view ( I hope ).
http://community.webshots.com/user/jackmpg
Jack
P.S. Checked and the pics seem ok. Thanks for the consideration,
patience and assistance of all who helped in this enlightened group.
Window tint also good, throwing dish towel over steering wheel to
protect it from sun. Also, Canvas Works in Sunnyvale, CA makes
one of those folding/rollup winshield reflectors for the Insight,
model # 799. A similar mod could be done to the HCH.
A/C Mod for mpg's
