Honda K Powered Insight

The tree huggers don't care much for John Wilson. Of course, we need to go back a bit to tell you why. It all began with the hybrid, but not the kind of hybrid you care about. You see, Honda was the first automaker to offer a mass-produced, gas-electric homologation in the U.S.-they called it the Insight. It was good for 70 mpg, was considered the cleanest car in America, and was adorned with all sorts of environmentally important acronyms like ULEV and SULEV from the California Air Resource Board, the big daddy of vehicle emissions standards. Yes, for Earth lovers life was looking good. The Prius was just around the corner and the eight-cylinder, gas guzzling lives as SUVs knew them were about to change. John also found hope in the Insight but for entirely different reasons-reasons that, quite frankly, pissed off the naturalists. You see, John found it altogether proper to yank out all three cylinders of gas miserliness and swap in a big fat K20A Type R.

It's not entirely John's fault though. Honda hasn't produced a chassis this light since the first-gen CRX, and the K20A, it's just begging to be swapped into something. The temptation was there but John was one of the few to actually take a liking to the Insight's body lines-face it: It was no Accord when it came to sales. He liked its futuristic look and the fact that it was about as close as anybody was going to get to a CRX replacement anytime soon. So he purchased one. Fortunately, he had the foresight to recognize the Insight's underpowered state and made engine swapping arrangements long before bringing one home. The plan was simple: It had to be red, it had to have A/C and power steering, and it had to be "a real car."

With gas prices being the way they were, hybrids like the Insight weren't exactly cheap or easy to find. Nevertheless, John found one nearly 100 miles away from his Tampa-based shop, LHT Performance, that was in fairly good condition and, best of all, was red. As you'd expect, getting the K-series to fit within the Insight's aluminum framerails was no picnic. Hasport has yet to develop such a kit for the other two Insight enthusiasts and space is tight. John and the crew from LHT considered ground clearance, hood fitment, and axle geometry all before fabbing up a set of engine and transmission brackets. In keeping with the whole "real car" theme, Honda engine mounts were used and the brackets were constructed of aluminum, similar to the chassis. A custom subframe was also built to account for the K's and the six-speed's added weight. John used 3/8-inch thick aluminum plate that ties into the strut towers, and inner fenders for that extra bit of rigidity. Sure, the engine was in at this point but the work had just begun.

The suspension, steering components, and axles posed problems of their own. Finding the correct size struts with the appropriate spring rates and pillow ball mounts, all the while leaving the steering arm intact, was difficult so John combined two TEIN kits into one. The configuration worked, in part due to the '05 Civic Si spindles he bolted up. With the suspension complete and the hubs mounted, John was able to take the appropriate measurements and order up a set of Drive Shaft Shop Stage 2 axles-three days later they were in the car.