Sweet thanks Zugy

Unfortunately, most Hondas use a speed/density system rather than mass airflow to meter fuel. That means that a vacuum leak will simply boost the idle speed rather than turn the mixture lean.

If I ran it hard would that net me a similar effect?

Two off the wall ideas to make this car unique that may be more trouble than they're worth:

1) Turbocharge it. John Wayland rode in Willie Williford's Honda Insight that has a turbocharger installed in it running 5 psi of boost. 0-60 mph was about 7 seconds and there was no penalty in fuel economy if driving style was kept unchanged. You could go baiting Porsche Boxters, Audi TTs, and BMW Z3s.

2) Convert it to electric. The glider is perfect for making an 80+ mile range conversion using lead acid batteries due to its low weight and good aero.

How long do the batteries actually function in the Insight. And what is the cost to replace when the time comes?

Cost seems to range from anywhere from 5000-1200 bucks. Battery life I'm assuming to be around 150k as that is what they have been warrantied to.

I think there are some commercial additives that will help prolong the life of lead acid batteries? Check out something for DC operated forklifts or golfcarts?

You would have a hard time using such an additive with an Insight. The main battery pack consists of 120 sealed "C" size (IIRC) NiMH cells. Even if it were compatible with the chemistry, you would need to break down the battery pack and somehow evenly inject the additive into each battery cell.
I guess you could use it in the much smaller 12V lead-acid starter battery, but they likely cost less than $50 to replace, so what's the point?

Exactly. Now if I replaced the pack with lead-acid or added on a lead-acid booster pack like Mike has then it would make sense to find such an additive.

What will they think of next? :confused: :thumbup: