TeamSwift

Exactly a year ago, the whole thing was starting to look like a car again:

It had windows [IMPORTANT - if you ever put a sun roof on a car without one, upholster the roof BEFORE glueing the windscreen back on ], doors ...


... front suspension ...


... and rear suspension, new gas and brake lines ...


... calipers were sandblasted, zinc-plated and powdercoated, and then fitted with new bushings ....


... car was sound-proofed from the inside and the electrics were almost done.

All the added weight was getting too much for the dolly, so the car had to go on wheels (finally! ):



... which was a long process ...


... with a happy ending :



The first version of the coilovers (yellow Konis with custom made springs):

So the whole thing was sitting in a garage for another 5 months, waiting for the engine.

Some pics of the block after washing:




Meanwhile, more goodies arrived:

It wasn't until mid-March this year the car finally had the engine and the gearbox back in!








The coilovers immediately got progressive springs (the helper springs were too short to be helpers and too weak to be of any use while riding):



That said, I'm quite happy with the handling and ride comfort, although I would be much happier with another inch or two of suspension travel in the front.
Does anybody know the part numbers for shorter Koni inserts (preferably also adjustable, don't have to be an exact fit)?

One more goodie being made - oil catch can:




Mounted:

After the break-in using standard ECU, this was getting ready to replace the stock engine wiring:


[I will absolutely not post any pictures of my Megasquirt, simply because it's too much of a mess ]

So after ... some time , the Megasuirt was installed and the car was running again, with me gradually getting rid of all the annoyances and getting a good tune together.

This is what the engine bay looks like for the last month or so:



[At this point, I would like to point out that I hope Jess believes that imitation is the greatest form of flattery . Seriously, though, this manifold was put together in one afternoon, it's heavy, runners are not exactly equal length, and if I knew about all the problems I was going to have while installing it, I would have one made by Jess, no question about it.]

DIY oil filter relocator:



Not very proud of the intake piping, but works for now:


Leaky radiator, standard extractors, old exhaust, all no longer neccessary:

That much for an update ...

There are still few bits and pieces not photographed yet, and some waiting to be put on (like the cam sprockets below), but that's pretty much it.


Car's running really nice, picking up boost early on.
Still in the process of tuning, haven't taken it to the redline yet. Nor did a dyno run.
Convicted to overlaying rpm vs time plots (in absence of a steady state dyno with good ventilation in my area) for spark map tuning, and although some of you may argue that road tuning is better, this is taking forever .

--
Bye,
chense

Awesome build! Good job and looks are very deceiving! I'm very glad my GTi wasn't full of rat holes like the body you started with. But glad you resurected her. One more swift saved!

Paul

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An eye for an eye will leave the whole world blind.

1989 Suzuki Swift GTi: Red "My PocketRocket"
1989 Suzuki Swift GTi: White (Being resurrected)
1996 Geo Metro (Stocker)
1999 Suzuki 1.6 Esteem (Baleno) Wagon (Sleeper creeper)

Thanks!

Didn't really have much choice regarding the body, 4WD models are scarce even here. And it looked so much better before I started taking all the underbody protection off .

Mind you, a few years back you could import a brand new MK3 shell from the Hungarian factory, at about 1000 euros total cost. Don't know if it's still available.

--
Bye,
Tom

Once again, good work Chense...

Can't w8 to see this baby rollin'...
Keep up the good work!

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......................................................................Suzy.....

I am lazy, and I often forget to crosspost.
And I'm resurrecting an old thread.
But the car is pretty much alive, and as t3ragtop pointed out in his thread, sometimes it is wiser to post your mods in advance, as somebody more knowledgeable can provide guidance and share his/her experiences.
So I'm going to bring this thread up-to-date quickly, and talk about some of the current mini-projects I want to do.

[Sep 2009] : Iridium spark plugs, poly bushes for swaybars and swaybar links:

The bushes arrived from Australia to Europe amazingly quickly, thanks Hertz!

Had some trouble with the knuckles:

The left ones are from a GT, and they were the ones I've initially put on. But since the steering rack mounts higher on the GL, that gave me a lot of bump-steer, and I had to put the 4WD knuckles (the black ones).

Before it got really chilly, I replaced the oil filter relocator lines with these shiny ones and changed the oil for something thinner in the cold:


Then I got these, and started to gather/manufacture parts for the ITB setup:


[Nov 2009] : I made some ITB progress the next month:




Then I wanted to be able to adjust camber AND caster for the fronts, so I got these made:



Got some racing uniballs, SS for the bottom and the top part, thick aluminium in between.

The ITB setup was put on in April 2010 (Easter holidays):


An old IC and the new piping was used:


The ITB setup was truly insane with the turbo, but not really suited for around the city (and I do most of the driving around the city). So after a couple of weeks driving around with the ITBs, I went back to the stock intake (had the flange reversed):


After that, I've could finally put the Mk1 rail I've had for years to use:


The entire ITB setup is for sale here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=48295 .

I haven't been completely happy with the Konis, because when lowered (how I liked it to be) they didn't have much travel /I was riding on bumpstops the entire time. So I've had some softer and longer springs made, got a set of gas Monroe front shocks, and I was ready for the trip to the shock shop:


The results was just stunning, in both appearance and performance:





[The front are the same color as the back, the pic was taken in the sun so the colors don't look right]
The shocks were shortened to my spec and matched with springs, and the difference is just amazing. Hard, precise, predictable, but not that uncomfortable.

And I got a bucket seat:


OK, that brings us to present day ...

_________________
"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk" -- Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)

Amazing..

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89 GTi Zippy (sold)
Search Teamswift via Google

Incredible, Ive built a few GTis from bare shells, gathered the parts, bolted them on, seamwelded them... your efforts make mine look small by comparison (all the repairs you had to undertake) thank god we dont have a rust problem here in Australia yet (only the front guards rust out under the sills)

You have my deepest respect. If ever i get to a difficult build, and doubt if I can finish it, ill just look at your thread for inspiration.

Bewitched

Yeah man, congratulations, and you have my respect too, excellent job, wish I had the time to start a project like this.

Very Inspiring.
I learned something new looking at your pics of the steering knuckles and the difference on the GL bracket to tierod.

Also love the adjustable Canber plates, Now I want to make some myself.
Great work

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"I love the whine of a turbo in the mornin" 1991 Sprint Turbo
"I also love the 7500 rpm scream of a DOHC" 2X 1989 Swift GTi's a 92 and Jr's new 93 GT

Keep your eye on the boost guage!
And I love this one!
"Dale Jarrett's crew chief" "Drive it like ya STOLE IT!"

Thanks!

When I first got a black GTi (it was my first car), it was a rust bucket with a blown engine (broken ring land on #1) and no suspension to speak of. Ever since then, I just wanted a fully functional Swift with zero annoyances. I guess I over did it a bit .

When t3 ragtop planted a bug in my ear about water-to-air intercooling, I did a little research on my own. I needed to get a proper FMIC made anyway, could this water business be better?
Well yes and no. Probably it will have a bit higher IATs, but the added benefits should outweigh that. Particulary, I was sold on shorter intake piping, I hate doing intercooler piping.

Most of the stuff to do it should be here next week. I plan to fit this heat exchanger besides the timing belt:


And I'm having a water heat-exchanger made to fill-up the entire front bumper area. There is about 700mm space between the inner front bumper screws, and this Audi radiator should just fit (bought a new one):


I removed the end tanks and cut it in half:


Currently it's getting new endtanks made, but that could take a while since the radiator shop is swamped, and everyone except the welder is on vacation .

_________________
"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk" -- Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)

seriously I'm impressed with all your work !!! You make me feel like i know nothing about how to rebuild my car
I think if you are Malaysian, they will be thousand of customer waiting in front of your door.. wanting their car to be rebuilt

keep up posting mate! and good luck

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/43384907@N05/

A box full of goodies arrived!

Big thanks to the man building a blue vert , he's been a big help!


[they tested perfectly similar]
Do not be misguided, these are NOT a straight fit (they are 9mm shorter cushion-to-cushion than the stock ones)!
These are WRX units, with 12 holes, Hi-Z, the mist they create is just amazingly fine, so i expect some mileage and drivability gains from them.
Anybody know the stock fuel pressure for a 02/03 Subaru WRX at idle? And at what intake kPa is that fuel pressure to be measured?

The new intake piping, thank god, will be short:


These will require butchering the valve cover, but should at least look stock when completed:

These are Bosch units fitted to Volvos, and they feature a built in igniter and a noise supressor. And as an added bonus, the datasheet is available on the web, so no more hunting for the right dwell value.

This should also help reduce the wiring mess (MAP and IAT combined in one unit):


The pump and the infamous Type 13:

I'm pretty confident this will fit nicely, the model (of the type 13) I made was much bigger.

On to get a few more things made before I take it apart ...


Thanks,
Tom

_________________
"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk" -- Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)

Naaaah...
It's a bad project...

Thumbs UP!

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......................................................................Suzy.....

wow lots of hard work has gone on here nice car one of the best projects ive seen in a while fel free to join my forum uk based

www.uk-ssgti.com

steve

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N/A THE EXPENSIVE WAY TO GO SLOW
www.uk-ssgti.com

Thanks Steve, will check out the forum when I get the chance (it's hard to keep up with TS, redline, and crosuzuki, all at same time).

I'm stuck with the build, and here's why - I took the turbo (VF38) off to get 4 EGT bungs welded to the manifold, and I noticed a good deal of shaft play (had none when I got it, secondhand). After taking it apart at the local turbine shop, they called me in to show me that the shaft has some scoring, probably due to contaminated oil. The marks on the shaft are about 0.03mm deep (see picture), and while they can rebuild it, they're not sure it will last longer than a year.



And they wanted 450US$ for the rebuild, which is a lot (another used vf38 from fleabay runs for 600 US$).

So now I have three options:
1. Rebuild mine with this turbine wheel and hope it will last.
2. Shell out another 600 $ for a used VF38 (or a VF45 ).
3. Walk away from the expensive IHI VF3/4 range and get a cheap, possibly rebuildable turbine (suggestions?).
[this would include building a new mani and downpipe, but even with that the total cost should still be well under 600$, as I can get most of the work done myself]

Freakin turbos, I never thought they're so expendable.

_________________
"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk" -- Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)

After some consultation I've decided to rebuild the thing. And due to cost to have it done professionally, I ordered a rebuild kit (comes with instructions) and just had it balanced afterwards at the shop. Total cost was 1/3 of the price the shop originally asked for rebuild. As with the engine, the hardest part in rebuilding the turbo is getting everything nice and clean, the re-assembly is a quick job:


While I was waiting for the parts, I've decided to take these apart too:


I modified a pair of wire strippers and degreased each lifter before pulling it out, but it has still taken about a dozen tries to get a single lifter apart (I just didn't have the heart to bang them).

_________________
"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk" -- Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)

While I was waiting for the turbo parts, I've decided to fix one thing that I screwed up while building the engine. I didn't take the time to cc everything and just slapped the Vitara pistons in (at the time, I didn't read Caaarlo's thread at viewtopic.php?f=6&t=24954) and ended up with a static CR of 7.5:1 (measured now when I took it apart).

As this block has new sleeves and spiral-inserts in head bolt holes, I wanted to keep it. So I needed a 75mm piston that would give a good CR and wouldn't hit anything. After much playing with the calc (here-http://zealautowerks.com/dseries.html), I've decided to go with PM6 pistons (88-91 CRX) and bought a new set of pistons (+rings+pins) from a fleaBay seller:


To cut a long story short, G13B rod won't fit unless you machine the pistons:


The pins fit into Suzuki rods without any problem, but just to be safe I've had grooves for the circlips machined:


The real disappointment was that the pistons protrude 0.5mm above the block. Which lowers their effective volume to 1.8cc (if level with the block that should amount to 4cc, and that's what I was aiming for):


So now I'm having a 2.2mm thick headgasket made, and that should bring my static CR down to 9.4:1.

I'll probably leave it at that.

These PM6 pistons have a thinner first ringland than the original GTi items, so I'll have to tune extra carefully.

Question for the turbo engine builders - leave the ring gap as it is (0.25mm) or file the rings to get some more?

As always, comments appreciated...

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"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk" -- Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)

I found 2 more CCs by unshrouding the valves:

[it got more polishing later on]

Now the CR is at 9.0:1.

Std vs unshrouded chamber:


These silicon carbide polishing points are a real discovery (at least for me), they made leveling and polishing the surface much easier:

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"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk" -- Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)