Hello hybrid fans,

Well, I've always believed that when you're wrong, you need to admit it. So here
goes.....my past comments about the
unsuitability of the Insight in regards to turbocharging, were wrong! My
comments about
how a turbocharged Insight
would suffer in the mileage department, even when off boost, were wrong. My
comments about
how turbocharging would
destroy the clean burning aspects of the Insight, were also wrong.

Whew, I feel better now!

Nearly two weeks ago, I came home from a long day at work, to find a spiffy red
Insight
complete with racing strips,
parked in front of my house....Willie and his Red Rocket had come to visit
Plasma Boy. It
wasn't but a minute, before
we had the hood opened and I was taking in the unusual sight of a tiny turbo,
hot air
plumbing, and to my surprise,
even a small air-to-air intercooler! Willie has done his homework, and has
created quite a
turbo setup. He actually
voiced agreement with many of the things I had posted concerning the challenges
of
turboing an Insight, but not to be
beaten, he has taken each challenge, dealt with it, and overcome the obstacles.
I asked
'What about having too lean
fuel mixture conditions in the engine, how's the engine deal with detonation?'
Willie
answered back, 'The same knock
sensor that's used by the engine to keep it from detonating under its lean burn
condition,
handles the turbo thing
beautifully and is the watchdog to keep the turbo detonation at bay.'
Hmmmmm...'What about
fuel enrichment under
boost?' Willie came back with 'Right here, a Ford fuel injector I mounted that
squirts in
fuel at 2+ psi of
boost....Hmmmmm.

And so it went for 15 minutes or so, seems Willie is pretty turbo savvy!
Somehow, the
Insight's tiny 3 banger lean
burner takes to the turbo nicely, with little complaining.

I quickly identified the turbo as one pulled from a turbo Suzuki Swift, but
Willie argued
with me about how it came
from a turbo Chevy Sprint, but the Chevy Sprint 'is' a Suzuki Swift...oh well.
Since the
Chevy Sprint Turbo also had
a 1000cc 3 banger, the turbo is absolutely perfectly sized for the Insight.
Willie has
installed a clean looking
intercooler to further cool down the compressed turbo air, making it more dense
and oxygen
rich while at the same
time, also doing its part to keep detonation at bay. Boost is currently set at 8
psi,
about 3 more lbs. than I had
expected.

Then the moment came, when Willie tossed me the keys, ordered me to take 'er for
a test
drive, and instructed me not
to go easy on the car ...yeah, like twist-my-arm!

I took off on the same rout I often take newbies to EVs on, and went out the
back way from
the neighborhood, so I
could do the Burnside Street acceleration blast. At low speeds the Red Rocket
behaved just
like any other Insight,
with strong electric motor assist at low rpm, and idle stop coming on line at
stop signs.
Light throttle cruises
showed typical high mpg numbers as well. At Burnside Street, I was greeted by a
wide open
road with no other cars
around, and I turned right to head west and see what this artificially aspirated
Insight
could do. I jammed the go
pedal, and for the first instant felt the electric motor dig in, then saw the
tach swing
up, and then, heard a cool
turbo whistle sound. The boost gauge ramped up as I had the unusual feeling off
being
strongly pressed back into the
seat at higher rpms as the little engine took a deep gulp of air and began to
pour out
ever-increasing levels of
horsepower...the front tires clawed for traction. Yes, the fuel economy bar
dropped like a
stone, but at this point,
I didn't care! I did a snap-shift to 2nd, and the tires went nuts, breaking
loose at 30
mph and staying loose for a
moment as I fought torque steer. The tires then stuck, and I was again pressed
into the
seat as the electric motor's
torque and the turbo's higher end HP worked together for a very un-Insight like
power
band. 3rd gear had the scenery
blurring in a hurry, and just like in the 1-2 upshift, there was that barking
dog yelp
from the turbo 'pop-off' valve
(unleashes excessive boost pressure when the turbo's spooled up and you suddenly
close the
throttle as you let up to
shift). It was time to shut down as I was approaching a light that went red, so
I didn't
get to explore the full
potential of the car.

The rest of the drive was a hoot, and I came away with a turbo grin I hadn't had
since my
days with turbo Datsuns.
Now, keep in mind, this wasn't muscle car type acceleration, but compared to a
stock
Insight, it was pretty heady
stuff. My seat of the pants estimate puts the 0-60 time in the mid to low 8
second range,
and the 1/4 mile in about
15.7 or so at about 85-87 mph. Put it this way, the Red Rocket would eat my
Insight for lunch!

It was great that Willie let me drive his car...thanks Willie.
Before he left, I gave him a taste of pure
electric power with a spin in Blue Meanie, followed by a stereo demo in Sniffer.

>From my brief time with his car, I can say Willie's turbo setup works quite
well, thank
you. To date, Willie reports
no problems, this, with 80K on the clock!


See Ya........John Wayland