engine swaps?

[n20civicb18]

Does anyone have any information on engine swaps for insights? I heard about a K20 swapped drag car (insight) that is running 10's N/A?

I went down to a local honda dealership and looked at the engine bay and noticed there was like half the room that is in my civic's engine bay. is there enough room to swap something into here after removing the stock 1.0 and electric engine? what swaps have been done? any pictures?

Kyle

[Rick]

Not without massive chassis reconstruction. And don't let anyone tell you the Insight is based on CRX or Civic platforms, it's not. It's a propriotary Insight drive train. It would probably end up being cheaper to use a different car considering all the custom fabrication that would be necessary.

http://www.fred.net/wwmfarm/HighlandRacing.htm

[b1shmu63]

Or keep the IMA engine and put on a turbo or E-supercharger.

[Aaron Cake]

Or do a rotary swap...How does a 400HP+ 1.3 litre engine that weighs in at 200LB sound to you?

[Mitch]

The engine bay in the Insight is virtually identical in size to that of my '84 CRX. I checked out the measurements a few years ago.

Someone has already put a B16A into an Insight, so I've been told by someone who had seen it at a car show in Miami. As is the case with the 1G CRX, it's surely a very tight fit, and perhaps not even possible to fit in a/c without major work being done. I have a B16A-powered '84 CRX with a/c, but wouldn't want to go that route with the Insight.

The best Honda engine swap candidate is probably a SOHC D-series engine. I'd go for the Japanese Domestic Market D15B 3-stage VTEC engine that was in some previous-generation Civic models in Japan. It had excellent mpg (18.6 KM/Liter, which is almost 44 mpg) and was rated at 130PS (128hp) in a 2,200 lb. Civic. In an Insight you'd have one quick car still capable of 44+ mpg. The D-series is small enough so as to probably still allow sufficient room for turbocharging as well, without adding too much weight up front. Those DOHC (K or B series) engines will add alot more weight up front, which is detrimental to the Insight's great handling (with good tires on, that is). Moreover, there are no after-market struts made for the Insight, as is the case for the CRX, so that's another good reason to keep the weight down in the engine bay.

[leftturney]

Why not use the HCH 1.3 engine ? There's not as much power gains, but I bet that would work

[JustinGray]

The drag car that you read about has a fully custom tubular welded aluminum front end....

picture an isight with everything infront of the windsheild cut off with a sawzall!!! Then a new, bigger engine bay welded on in it place...


As far as swaps.... i still contend that the engine and battery pack from the civic would be an amazing feet. I think that it "could" be fit in there with minor fabrication... but might require some creative suspension solution to make it fit.

Then you would have a 100 HP engine capable of nearly the same miles per gallon you started with... save lean burn mode!

Hi JustinGray:

___Unfortunately, placing a larger ICE in the Insight minus lean burn would destroy our Insight’s fuel economy. Our 1.0 L lean burn ICE is good for 105 - 110 mpg without any wind aid when driven gently. Placing the HCH’s 1.3 in her would probably allow 70 - 75 possibly? The non-Lean burn 1.3 from the Fit/Jazz and your talking 55 - 65 mpg as the Fit/Jazz weighs only 2,100 #’s and receives less then an estimated 45 - 50 mpg out on the highway already. Honda engineers are tough to be bested as they know system integration (ICE/tranny/drivetrain) better then anyone in the business.

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___[email:32z6vrto]Waynegerdes@earthlink.net[/email:32z6vrto]

[JustinGray]

My father has a civic hybrid.... he get about 45 miles per gallon.

I still am amazed that anyone can get 115 mpg out of their insight! i can never really get better than 65!

Now the civic does nto do lean burn mode, so you will loose a bit of miles per gallon comparitively. But i think that if my father can get 45 out of it in a civic... i could do 5 - 10 miles per gallon better if it were in my much lighter and more aerodynamic car. So being what i consider conservative... ill say 50 mpg..

So yeah, its not as great as the original insight... but im only hurting myself by about 5 - 10 mpg on the highway... and not really any in the city! But i would be able to run with the rsx's anyday!

Hi JustinGray:

___The HCH’s are all lean burn capable.

___As for an Insight’s fuel economy, my best was a 117.2 mpg/96 segment achieved just the other night coming home from work although as with all my > 112.5 mpg/96 mile segments, they are all wind aided in one form or another. A nice 15 mph tail wind for ~ 2/3 of that particular trip helped but 105 mpg average throughout the entire summer is normal with my Insight, my drive, and my driving style. With a little tweaking of your Insight (if the pack isn’t already a drag on her) and your driving style, I am sure 100 mpg segments are not that far off either.

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___[email:262w9j5e]Waynegerdes@earthlink.net[/email:262w9j5e]