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From the factory, the car weighed 1847lbs with air conditioning, power steering, and a full tank of gas. My conversion left car weighing essentially the same, with all of those creature comforts in place.
So you subtracted the stock gasoline engine, drive battery, electric motor, and transmission, and added a (much) larger gasoline engine and matching transmission, and after some massaging everything fit, and the front end weight and weight distribution are virtually unchanged? And so no suspension (e.g. spring, shock or swaybar) changes were really needed? If so, that's pretty awesome! I suspect that the job wasn't just "plug and play" in any case and I'd be curious to hear a little more about what it took to do the swap when you get a chance.
Weight distribution is off. I shifted maybe 120lbs from rear to front, but I also moved the 12v lead acid to the rear (now a SLA) so that helps. I upped spring rates by 30% all around but the new springs were shorter, so ride height would have been kept the same if I hadn't done anything else. As of now, I cut 1/3 of a coil from the rear to bring it back down to stock ride height, and the front sits around 1/2" lower.
Weight distribution is off. I shifted maybe 120lbs from rear to front, but I also moved the 12v lead acid to the rear (now a SLA) so that helps. I upped spring rates by 30% all around but the new springs were shorter, so ride height would have been kept the same if I hadn't done anything else. As of now, I cut 1/3 of a coil from the rear to bring it back down to stock ride height, and the front sits around 1/2" lower.
None of that was strictly needed though.
Very nice - I gotta say that I am impressed by what you're doing. You sound like you know your stuff and have good sound judgment, very pragmatic... and you're clearly not afraid to go to some trouble to get things how you want them... and moreover, I imagine that you're doing all this without spending a great deal of money, maybe the coolest part of all. Kudos man, kudos!
Are guys still putting B16's and B18's into Civics? I used to read forums for that but they slowed way up. I have a Integra GSR as passing smog with a engine swap in California is such a hassle few bother anymore
Are guys still putting B16's and B18's into Civics? I used to read forums for that but they slowed way up. I have a Integra GSR as passing smog with a engine swap in California is such a hassle few bother anymore
I'm sure it still happens but forums are all dead, all of the kids these days are on social media.
I love it! Very cool. I like the concept of light and powerful in an unassuming package. You must be very talented, as it seems you've done all this work yourself. Just the parts compatibility alone must have been daunting. That's a real "Q Ship", and should be able to smoke some snobby hot car drivers. Do you have a Tuner installed? How about exhaust? I may have missed those in your write up.
Are guys still putting B16's and B18's into Civics? I used to read forums for that but they slowed way up. I have a Integra GSR as passing smog with a engine swap in California is such a hassle few bother anymore
K-Series has taken over the swap world. People put Ks in everything nowadays. CRX, Integra, Miata, Impreza, S2000, BMW E30/E46, Geo Metro, Nissan Z33/S13/S14, you name it.
I love it! Very cool. I like the concept of light and powerful in an unassuming package. You must be very talented, as it seems you've done all this work yourself. Just the parts compatibility alone must have been daunting. That's a real "Q Ship", and should be able to smoke some snobby hot car drivers. Do you have a Tuner installed? How about exhaust? I may have missed those in your write up.
Thanks!
The ECU is from an RSX, because I used the RSX wiring harness. It has to closest compatibility to the Insight's, and many sensors worked without much fiddling. I'm using a TSX engine, so I shipped the ECU to Hondata and they added a daughter board with a USB port and Bluetooth. I loaded a canned K24 tune and have been driving around, watching the fuel trims and adjusting fuel maps. I haven't gotten much into adjusting the cam phaser other than advancing it around 40 degrees at low RPM low throttle to get some EGR effect and improve fuel economy. I don't want to touch ignition timing without a load dyno.
Exhaust is 100% 407 stainless, catalyst to tip. Header is ceramic coated. 2.5", up from TSX's stock 2.25".
Nice work! I'm curious, how difficult was it to adapt the new engine's wiring to the Insight chassis?
I compared wiring diagrams and re-pinned all of the connectors so they'd go into the RSX ECU, there were only maybe two dozen essential wires going to the car's body harness.
First major part was disabling the immobilizer. I need to get Honda to program the Insight key into the RSX ECU before I can re-enable it.
The VSS needed to be stepped down from high frequency Honda signaling to low, I used a Dakota Digital box for that. Tach read 33% high because it was expecting a 3 cylinder, a Dakota Digital box exists for that conversion too. A/C works but the ECU doesn't do the switching yet, I haven't figured that out, so right now the ECU is bypassed in that circuitry. It doesn't idle up when the compressor comes on but otherwise works fine until I figure out the ECU part. I swapped to coolant temp sensor so the RSX ECU gets a correct reading, but it doesn't work right on the dash yet - jumps from "cold" straight to "overheating" on the cluster.
Only a handful of wires were needed between ECU and body harness, as they're largely independent systems. Even in the car's stock form, the hybrid system and engine could operate entirely independently of each other, meaning you could cut all of the wires to one and still drive on the other. Just as an example, I once had ground break to my fuel injectors (was my fault, cutting up the engine harness) and I was able to drive home the few miles on just battery. Conversely, I sold my hybrid system, removed it from the car and continued driving it as a gasoline-only vehicle for 6 months while I collected parts for the swap. With very little effort I was able to even pass inspection with no lights on the dash - I just needed to spoof a "low hybrid battery voltage" signal to the ECU and it was happy to pretend the whole thing was still there and just not in a state to be called on. The car even had two redundant starter motors.
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