electric motor swap??

Welcome to the site!

Engineers say "anything is possible except skiing through revolving doors". Practically speaking, however, it would probably be a lot simpler to transplant an entire Civic engine into the Insight. That, and the Civic IMA battery would make a fine project if you are well funded and retired. :wink:

If you are looking for more power and efficiency, check out the Turbo Kit now available for $1,750 to $2,050.

b1shmu63 said:

Welcome to the site!
Engineers say "anything is possible except skiing through revolving doors".

Click to expand...

What if you had very short skees?

63,

I was under the impression that the two batteries have the same specs. I asked a few questions at the local Honda dealer, and they sort of confirmed it, even though they were very vague on anything relating to hybrids, including how long the Insight is going to be around.

I have an '03 and partly because of the fear of replacing the IMA battery, I just purchased a 100K, 7yr, Hondacare warranty. I've read such a wide range of prices on this battery on this forum that it kind of frightened me. One dealer told an owner of an Insight (out of warranty) that it would cost him $9600! I know that sounds preposterous, and the dealer probably had ulterior motives.

If the housing is the same then maybe, but I was under the impression the civic's motor was a little bit larger. I think the issue here wouldn't be the motors capability but rather the supply's capacity. If you'd be using the Insight's supply to the motor if it's only putting out enough power to supply 10 hp then the larger motor is still only going to supply about the same amount of power. The larger motor would possibly be slightly more efficient, but for what it's worth I'd look more in to just doing a whole drive train swap if anything.

I believe that the Civic IMA motor has been quoted to have the "exact same dimensions" as the Insight IMA motor. The bolt holes and such may not line up, though I'd consider it likely that a "drop-in" replacement is possible.

Having said that, I wouldn't feel comfortable being the first person to try it.

motor swap contd.

Thanks for all of the help so far - I may end up being the first person to try it as I need to replace the battery pack, and possibly the transmission on my poor 00 Insight. Please let me know if anyone else has ideas, and if anyone knows the exact power difference in the motors. Also, as motor swaps have been mentioned, has anyone heard of this being done? Thanks in advance,

swap continued

Of course, I meant the gasoline motor being swapped in my last message

There have been motor swaps done for drag Insights. (with heavy modification) No "easy" swaps have been performed so far, to my knowledge.

I did a quick search today, I am not totally sure but the Civic's IMA motor is listed as 10KW which is the same as the Insight. So it is very possible that there is not much difference between the motors.

Even the Accord has the same battery capacity of 6.x AH like it was pointed to before, the motor can not be much different.

The only difference I have found is that the Accord motor thickness is listed as 68 mm, the Civic is 65 mm and the Insight is 60 mm. Maybe those have more torque and efficiency.

Or it is just that to be able to let the gas engine power go through the IMA (bolted directly to it) the IMA motor needs more thickness for staingth.

Not sure if there's enough room, but the new Rasertech AC motor is about the same size as the Prius motor, so it might be able to slot in. It has a reasonable output too... is 500 bhp enough for you!? :shock:

http://www.rasertech.com/monaco.html

Being sensible, however, you'd need a heck of a battery to be able to give it that much juice for any length of time (sorry, stock battery won't be up to it!) You'd also likely melt a fair number of tyres (not to mention transmissions, driveshafts etc) but it would be cool to see a 500hp electric Insight beating all-comers! 700 bhp per tonne would be waaayyy more than a Ferrari Enzo or even a McLaren F1! 8)