TOPIC: 2002 Honda Insight CVT

Hey Joseph, good to see you again! OK I just looked at the pics of the Honda Insight you Grooved, you did nice work on that one. I just did a search on ebay for the 95 Toyota Avalon TB, and found a few of 'em there.

I 'll try to attach a photo from one auction, but basically it will be similar to the Honda- I would dam off the 2 air slots. There is a good size flat area to one side of the center of the throttle bore, I'd use that flat area to carefully cut a trench from behind one of the dams, leading to over the throttle shaft, maybe slightly to the other side of the shaft. This Toyota TB is visually simpler than the Honda was.

Did you do any more epoxy work on the Honda's TB? I saw opportunity to do more epoxy work to the IAC air void on the opposite side from the dam you made. That dam and the Groove looked great to me!

I am seeing in info from 2 or 3 new Groove jobs I've done that the "pre-Groove preps" are making a serious improvement to Groove results. Those who seriously use those preps are getting very good results!

OK, I'll try to add the ebay link to one of the Toyota Avalon TB auctions. If it doesn't work, just go to ebay and search for that Toyota's TB auctions, at least 2 of them have good bottom side pics to see.

OK the link to ebay doesnt work. There is a bunch of these TB's on ebay right now, and cheap too. Several have good bottom side pics. To do a dam-and-trench IAC re-route, depends on the TB gasket too. Look up the TB base gasket, it should be the flat material type, I see no groove in this TB for the O-ring kind. I learned on my very first real Groove job on a Jeep TB, to study the gasket closely when planning and doing layout for the epoxy and trench. The flat gasket will often be the seal on a trench. A new flat gasket can be cut w/ an Exacto knife from new gasket material or even thick roofing felt. Good luck, I know you can do a great job on this Toyota Groove job, Joseph!

Merry Christmas, Joseph, keep on Groovin!

Tracy G

OK, that is perplexing at first glance. I forget is the Insight a hybrid? I don't know what IMA battery pack is. IT sounds like Honda's design depends on substantial airflow through the IAC to maintain the engine, while keeping the throttle itself mostly closed or something? Perhaps it can have the epoxy work, but with cuts in the epoxy to try to re-direct the air as far away from the Groove edges as possible. A sort of "tuning" of the IAC system. To not so much restrict IAC air, but just re-direct it.

Tracy G

The IMA is the battery pack light to the Honda Insight hybrid. And you're right this hybrid gives me every indication that it was programmed to have a lot of air flow, and that I probably should have redirected a lot of air to it instead of minimizing the air flow.
Merry Christmas,
Joseph