RichardKs wanderings: RX-7 gives a lesson in physics, atmospheric pressure, and observation skills.

[RichardK]

4 hours ago, Asimo said:

Insights do leak, it took quite a bit of work to get mine rain proof. There are places behind the seats and under the electronics which fill up with a cupfull or so. There are pads of wadding which take forever to dry out. Possible source of smells? 

More details here 

 

Possibly - it does get a bit steamed up at the moment, but I've also spent ages sitting in it fiddling with bits of trim or computer stuff. The first job I do on any car I get is 'drainage assessment'; all enclosed panels, scuttle, door and other drainage points are checked to allow water to flow as designed, and all seals are checked. The age of the Insight and style of construction makes me suspect it's like the MX-5 MK-3 windscreen trim - there are plastic insets with foam washers to hold the trim in place, and the foam ages and shrinks breaking the seal, so the water drips in slowly, so slowly that a regularly used and heated car may never show a problem but a parked up one will gradually get waterlogged.

This doesn't feel waterlogged to me, just in need to a few regular runs, but given the side trim attachment clips and arrangement, I wouldn't be surprised if they had a foam gasket that fails and then subsequent owners fight a variety of ways of fixing it because Honda don't make those clips anymore. My solution would be to remove as many factory clips as possible and cut new foam gaskets, if I get to that stage (this is why I've ordered a new spindle hasket for the wear wiper, it's on an almost flat surface and quite a large hole into the body!).

Until the weather is nicer I can't do the kind of going-over-it I want to do, partly because it's not easy for me to move the RX-7 and bring the Insight indoors for comfortable tidying work. Maybe getting the RX-7 starting and running enough to move should be a priority...

[RichardK]

Okay, I have already replaced the wiper blades, but the first proper replacement part is always exciting!

I do love a genuine part label.

What vital, hugely important piece is getting replaced? What seismic shift and revolutionary improvement am I making?

It's a huge deal! Really important!

Looks better in Japanese, that's for sure 😂

[spike60]

I don't know if there are any others on the forum but I have had a 2015 reg CRZ since June 2023 so if you if have any questions fire away. Almost total reliability ay 67k, about 47mpg round the houses and just under 60mpg on a run,

[RichardK]

30 minutes ago, spike60 said:

I don't know if there are any others on the forum but I have had a 2015 reg CRZ since June 2023 so if you if have any questions fire away. Almost total reliability ay 67k, about 47mpg round the houses and just under 60mpg on a run,

I'd been contemplating a CR-Z for Meena, as they seem quite cheap sometimes. This is definitely pushing me in that direction

[mat777]

10 hours ago, RichardK said:

Okay, I have already replaced the wiper blades, but the first proper replacement part is always exciting!

I do love a genuine part label.

What vital, hugely important piece is getting replaced? What seismic shift and revolutionary improvement am I making?

It's a huge deal! Really important!

Looks better in Japanese, that's for sure 😂

 

Aaaah, so _that's_ what it means! Though I now wonder, is that a homologation sticker saying the car beats a government target, or an individual "MOT" sticker indicating the car passes its own limits? If the former, I'd have to ask just how strict the Japanese emissions laws were if an Insight only beats them by 5%?!

You'll be pleased to know there's another couple of stickers in the post to you as part of the care package from the RR

This one also coincidentally popped up on my feed yesterday, papped at (of all places) a VSCC meeting! Check out both the sticker and the plate  

 

 

9 hours ago, RichardK said:

I'd been contemplating a CR-Z for Meena, as they seem quite cheap sometimes. This is definitely pushing me in that direction

 

I had also contemplated a CR-Z before purchasing the Insight, and it seemed to have its pros and cons. They're a fabulous looking thing and seem to be well screwed together (really, why did they lose out so badly to that bloated Golf-in-a-frock Scirocco?) and have some mod cons missing from the Insight such as DAB and cruise (plus the Spaceship Civic style dash, though of course the Insight has its own digi dash charm). However, they are disappointingly conventional in their fuel economy, owners reporting getting mid 40s on a run - the IMA is still extremely mild as the more energy dense battery tech went into providing a back seat instead. There also seems to be a common fault with door handles breaking repeatedly and irreparably - some sort of weakness in the mechanism I believe. 

[autopaul]

8 hours ago, mat777 said:

 

Aaaah, so _that's_ what it means! Though I now wonder, is that a homologation sticker saying the car beats a government target, or an individual "MOT" sticker indicating the car passes its own limits? If the former, I'd have to ask just how strict the Japanese emissions laws were if an Insight only beats them by 5%?!

You'll be pleased to know there's another couple of stickers in the post to you as part of the care package from the RR

This one also coincidentally popped up on my feed yesterday, papped at (of all places) a VSCC meeting! Check out both the sticker and the plate  

 

 

 

I had also contemplated a CR-Z before purchasing the Insight, and it seemed to have its pros and cons. They're a fabulous looking thing and seem to be well screwed together (really, why did they lose out so badly to that bloated Golf-in-a-frock Scirocco?) 

If you've ever had to sit in the rear of a cr-z you'd probably know the answer.

I loved the cr-z until I worked at direct cars and had to take a customer on a road test in one. Obviously her dad wanted to come along and ride up front. This left all 6ft 1 of me shoehorned in to the rear seats. (I took up both seats as head room is at best limited and leg room again isn't the best.

Lovely cars though and drive nice 

[spike60]

+1 for useless rear seats, mine runs with them folded all the time. Rear and rear 3/4 visibility awful as well. There seem to be 2 versions, the first 2010-13 ( most of them) have 113 bhp engine plus 13 bhp battery, later ones which I've had two of 137 bhp plus 20 bhp lithium battery. They seem to have stopped selling lower spec'd as time went on, my 2015 reg one is a GTT which gets you all the toys. From memory the battery assists 1-2500 rpm giving a nice low down torque I wouldn't expect from a fairly high revving 1.5   V- tech , the engine joins the party much later, I rarely rev it up there.

As I said earlier mine does about 47mpg locally, - 7 mile commute, Tesco's etc and high 50's on a run though we have a Merc E320cdi which gets used for long trips. Last 120 mile return trip averaged 57.5 mpg in normal ecu setting, sport is a bit abrupt throttle for me, Eco makes me want to crash it to get it over with. Sport+ useless because drops out when you lift off the throttle.  I thought door handle problem was a US hot states thing, both of mine and any I've seen for sale have been fine. Not a problem so far on the NE coast!

[RichardK]

 

Journey start in hope

Yet seasons take the colour

Was this sufficient?

 

Ambitious design

To slow earthly decline

Yet still be free

 

Travelled so far

On the land, and the ocean

Home left far away

 

 

Yet the earth fades

Consumption cannot save it

Even when reduced

 

Combustion, on ICE

But still, Honda's first Insight

Shows others a path

 

Green again, just dreams

New car, makes no difference

New human? Maybe

 

 

[RichardK]

My mood has been a bit off and I've had a headache more than usual.

Also I last used gunk on the SsangYong but the house/garage smells of it.

I've tried flushing the drain. Suspected the boiler.

Today I moved some stuff...

This is after I  deployed a whole roll of kitchen towel to remove a litre of "WTFeeek"

So yeah, don't drain half the tank, put the cap on, and forget it. When the car is in a room in the house for all intents and purposes...

I had missed the pool of petrol because the C5 was in the way.

Pretty, but ungrateful bastard.

I'd even bought it a present

[RichardK]

Honda make life easy

What they don't make - Insight logo badge.

2/3rd of the way there, but discovered a damaged clip/moulding on the rear spoiler that explained why it is loose on one edge.  The plastic part appears wedged in the side so maybe I can glue it - if I can remove the spoiler and not damage it. Hmm.

[RichardK]

I'm blue do ba dee etc.

The alternator is very spicy, works best if you keep the lights on and fan going.

[RichardK]

[Missy Charm]

2 hours ago, RichardK said:

Not bad!  I like that incarnation of the Fiesta, especially as a five door - the longer side profile of that variant better balances the chunky styling of the front.  They feel much more like a 'quality' product than the previous one, as well, especially internally.  The steering wheel in that version is a distinct improvement, too.  Nice colour.  

The only downside, from memory, was that the new design of gear lever - I think with stronger return springs to provide a sensation of solidity - resulted in an inferior gearchange to that of the previous incarnation.  Ford's fixed that for the Mk 6, but they're a bit too modern car for my liking.  Your one comes from that golden generation of old cars in new clothing that offer much of the nineties' driving experience - not too heavy, not everything is electric or power assisted and you actually have to drive the thing yourself - without quite being as long in the tooth as a real nineties car.  

Best thing, however, is that it is still a Fiesta so is good to drive.  What engine have you got?  

[High Jetter]

4 hours ago, RichardK said:

Y tho?

[RichardK]

It's a 1.4 Zetec with 16 volt mild hysterics until I fix the alternator/wires/ECU...

And no old car in new clothes charm - this is 100% new, the Mk6 was the fifth-gen platform, co-developed with Mazda for the Mazda2 - and it underpins 6th and 7th Gen to the end of Fiesta production (2002 Mk6, to 2024 Mk8.5 - Ford treat Mk4 and Mk5 as one generation), a 22 year platform lifecycle across three body revisions and still carrying on in revised from as the Puma and Mazda 2. You can feel the continuity when you drive them, but you can also feel where the pressure for more kit, handling, tech makes it less spacious and lightfooted.

It's the first Mk6 I've had, and it is very impressed next to a contemporary Citroen C3.

[Markeh]

My old uni housemate had one of these as his first car, would've been back in 2015/16 - an 05 prefacelift 1.25 Zetec 3dr in silver. Despite some dubious modifications it seemed to go on quite well, other than a belt half shitting itself on an early morning booting trip - it made it back to our house (conveniently 5 doors down from the garage!) for us to swap to my Megane. IIRC he ran it for about 2 or 3 years before replacing it with an A3 that I think he still has.

Scrapped when I just looked it up, but passed an MOT in January 2024, albeit with a pretty hefty list of advisories, a number of which mentioned rot.

[RichardK]

10 hours ago, Markeh said:

My old uni housemate had one of these as his first car, would've been back in 2015/16 - an 05 prefacelift 1.25 Zetec 3dr in silver. Despite some dubious modifications it seemed to go on quite well, other than a belt half shitting itself on an early morning booting trip - it made it back to our house (conveniently 5 doors down from the garage!) for us to swap to my Megane. IIRC he ran it for about 2 or 3 years before replacing it with an A3 that I think he still has.

Scrapped when I just looked it up, but passed an MOT in January 2024, albeit with a pretty hefty list of advisories, a number of which mentioned rot.

They don't rust like the BE1 Mk3-5/Ka/Puma coupé, but they do rust eventually. I think for a cheap, entry-level Ford consistently lasting to 21 years old in active service and not all of them dying because of rampant rot is pretty good in itself; this one has a few squeaks and clonks from the suspension, some gearbox noise (just sounds a bit worn) and the aforementioned very exciting alternator that is causing electrical havoc, but it also has good rubber seals on doors and roof trims, decent panel fit, relatively unworn interior, good refinement etc. 

It's a world away from the ragged pieces of shit I used to flip in college, buying Mk2 Fiestas from starving students and old people, T-cutting the hell out of them and replacing wheel trims and so forth then selling for £400. I hated Mk2 Fiestas way more than Mk1, just ugly, cheap, nasty cars IMO so I 'didn't like Fiestas', then car dealer Ian (RIP  ) got me to buy an XR2i he was offered and had no cash for and I discovered that the Mk3 was a VERY different thing indeed, and started liking Fiestas.

As luck would have it, Tesco had some of the Matchbox Mk2 Fiesta XR2 in so now I have a Mk2 Fiesta driving around my desk...

Speaking of the Mk6 spicy alternator...

What are the chances of it being the alternator, really? I'm trying to decide where to spend time or money. The 'smart charging' system is taking 16V then shutting off things, the calcium battery is holding charge (and it is the right battery), but if it's not the alternator itself (which is happily pushing out 14-16V no worries, no dropping out - there's some belt noise in there, so maybe the bearing is on the way out but I've not checked it properly yet. My gut feeling is that if the alternator is alternating and making volts, the battery is holding 13V fine and is the correct calcium one, the issue is more likely to be the wiring loom or the BCM.