Honda Insight Mk1

[Greg-SiR]

I could look at this car all day and i keep seeing other Honda car lines and shapes,totally rad!
My mate back home has one of the first Toyota Prius's and he uses it as his daily and has done hassle free for 4 years now.
He's a mechanic too and picked it up at a steal as the battery had died but with his contacts he was sorted in no time.
I remember one of the first trips he came round to me in it and it's so weird to have no engine sound,just motion,like someone has hit the mute button

[jjmartin349571]

ok well thats good maybe i just misread it a bit

It's probably just my terrible prose mate I'm normally posting updates from work, i.e. typing them as fast as I can before someone walks up to my desk and sees what I'm doing They're probably slightly unintelligible at times as a result...

There's a much loved Insight in our family too Sure does get looks, especially with its UFO number plate.

Insight friend! The car is definitely growing on me, but I just wish I didn't get a ribbing every time my petrol head friends see it

I could look at this car all day and i keep seeing other Honda car lines and shapes,totally rad!
My mate back home has one of the first Toyota Prius's and he uses it as his daily and has done hassle free for 4 years now.
He's a mechanic too and picked it up at a steal as the battery had died but with his contacts he was sorted in no time.
I remember one of the first trips he came round to me in it and it's so weird to have no engine sound,just motion,like someone has hit the mute button

I know what you mean... feels like there's a bit of EK Civic lurking at the front, a bit of 4g Prelude in the tail lights, a little bit of CRX in the tailgate. There's certainly quite a bit going on with the design of it!

I'm hoping the batter doesn't go in this one anytime soon - that said even if it does has to be replaced in the coming years I think the car should hold its value going forwards, I've seen them fetching better prices over the last year or so.

The Honda hybrid system is a bit different to the Toyota system - it's more reliable theoretically but it's less efficient. Rather than a separate electric motor like the Toyota has with a box splitting drive between the petrol motor and electric motor, the Honda IMA engines have an electric motor integrated into the engine which helps to provide additional torque and power at low revs. The gearing on it is insane as a result! 3rd feels like 5th would in a normal car

[Feeniks]

Insight friend! The car is definitely growing on me, but I just wish I didn't get a ribbing every time my petrol head friends see it

Sod 'em! It's a great car (ours has done 187k and is still going strong) and beautifully unusual. Be boring if we all liked the same things.

[bb1boy]

I know what you mean... feels like there's a bit of EK Civic lurking at the front, a bit of 4g Prelude in the tail lights, a little bit of CRX in the tailgate.

I was going to say exactly the same thing..

I spy POTENTIAL!! best of luck with it, dude!

[jjmartin349571]

So it was pointed out that the rear stabiliser mount was drokked and allowing the engine to shake around like a motherfucker at idle. I was a bit gutted at this as I wasn't sure I'd be able to track the part down!! Nonetheless I got straight on the phone to the Honda dealer I used to work at, and after parting with about £116 the mount was on its way from Japan. Roll on a couple of weeks and it had arrived, and off I went to collect it. Obligatory picture of the part number, not that it's of much use to you guys :



Then I was really unmotivated with this car for a bit and was caught up on my Subaru project so nothing got done. Last night though I decided to finally tackle this in anticipation of registering the car. I thought it would be so straightforward, the exhaust had other ideas though:



Disconnecting the downpipe wasn't too much of a drama luckily, I removed the front hanger also and supported the exhaust with a bottle jack slightly lower than it would normally sit. This gave me enough room to pull the bolt through. The remaining two bolts were directly in to the floor of the chassis and easy enough to remove.

There's your problem:



And a comparison of old vs. new:



I was blown away by how light this component is! It's amazing how much effort was put into keeping this car as light as possible when it was designed.

Refitting was nice and easy:



I'm pleased to report that the vibrations are now gone, the engine is held in place sturdily now.

The bad news is that both batteries have discharged from standing. I'm hoping a long drive will set the car straight as this has worked previously. That said this car is going straight to my ex, so once it's registered and I've handed over the keys I'm not sure how bothered I actually am as she's been a pain in my arse of late... I doubt I'll be losing any sleep

[yinujim]

Nice work. I do like these for some reason. Much cooler then a Prius.

[mercutio]

that was such a cool part i cant believe Honda made any money out of those at all

[jjmartin349571]

that was such a cool part i cant believe Honda made any money out of those at all

I hadn't thought of it that way until you said, but yeah the lengths they went to in order to save weight were extraordinary for a production car!

[Rudelude]

Just caught this thread and I do looke the car and colour, I looked at these a while back but they were a bit pricey. The s2000 dash is v cool. Nice buy, well done and congrats.

[Greg-SiR]

And one has even made it in with the right people,more cred

https://www.facebook.com/teammfactory/v ... 251644861/