The Honda Insight was a pathetic vehicle when it first launched. At least, that was the public perception. An egg-shaped laughing stock on four wheels that looked more like something you'd buy in an adult video store than something you'd buy in a Honda dealership. But one of the benefits of being one of the most MPG-optimized motor vehicles ever built is that it also weighs about the same as a gnat on a Jenny Craig bender.
What this means, of course, is that anyone with sufficient skills in DIY fabrication can remove the old drivetrain and shoe-horn in something more powerful, and suddenly you have a restomod so fast that big block V8 drag car racers might get jealous. That's where the remarkable DIY guru Marc Roger comes into play. Your typical computer software engineer with a nine-to-five by day and Batman-style antihero engine tuner by night. Marc has two engine-swapped Gen-I Honda Insights to his name. Both use similar hardware underneath, but one is his daily driver, and the other's the one he doesn't mind driving into the ground on race weekends.
To prep both cars for their new drivetrains, Marc had to painstakingly remove both its prior 1,000 cc three-cylinder ICE unit as well as all the internals for the 144-volt, 13-horsepower electric motor. Easier said than done if you've never worked with even relatively high-voltage automotive-grade battery packs, and even ones from 20 years ago. Once all that was gone, what replaced it all is nothing short of VTEC royalty, two Honda J32A2 V6 you'd find in an early 2000s Acura CL and TL in the states. Elsewhere, the engine found its way into the Honda Inspire in East Asia, something of an Accord analog for that side of the world.
It can't be understated how much of a herculean effort it must have taken to shove an engine this large into a vehicle so puny. The J32 is over three times the size of the E0-series three-pot that came with this Insight. With some rebuilt heads and a rebuilt camshaft, plus a larger 90mm throttle body and 1000 cc injectors, these twin J32s are jetting in the neighborhood five times the power the old motor made. That'd be around 325 horsepower on the high end of things. That is, without the double bottle shot of nitrous just chilling out in the passenger seat. With that in the equation, this Insight makes in the neighborhood of 600 horsepower for brief periods.
What this translates to is a vehicle that pulls a 9.99-second quarter-mile sprint on what appears to be the wettest drag strip this side of the Mississippi. Did we mention Marc's selling the drag car? $15,000 or best offer. No low-ballers; he knows what he's got.
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