54.2 after lowering car, 4 mpg gain
 

This the best tank ever for this car. I installed LSi headlights, added a factory right mirror,( step back probably but it was on the LSi parts car ). I also lowered the car alot. I cut 1.25 coils up front and 1.5 coils in back. This dropped the car about 2.5 to 3 inches, it now looks like it should. The tires are a little bit lower than the center of the wheel wells. I bought an extra 3.79 ratio trans and a bearing and seal kit plus one syncro ring. So with the two trannys maybe I can build one this weekend. The overhaul manual on Teamswift.net printed out great, just like a factory manual. I also have a complete lower grill block. No more guppy mouth, car stays cool even on 100 degree days like today. I will report more success after the tranny change, then the cam. Cheers

me and my metro -

Amazing stuff! Do you have some pictures?

CarloSW2

I will take some. It is a very green 4 door.

This is consistent with my experience. A 4% reduction in height on my truck esulted ina 4% increase in MPG. Metros are just more sensitive to such things and you got 8%.

me and my metro-

Whole lot of good work. I can't wait to see the pics.

You should join our group:
Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com - Metro Modders

Some pics
 

Sorry it is dirty, we had rain and thunderstorms overnight. Yes it needs some body work but as a mechanic this may be good enough, it runs great. Now out to the shop and get into that tranny. I will take better pics later, my daughter has the cord for the good digital camera ( had to use the old Kodak 1 meg ).
Andy

Very Green...
 

They call it Tropical Green Metallic...same as mine. I kinda like it...it reminds me of all the money I'm saving and being "green" seems to be all the rage these days. I'm not tryin' to save the world, just what little money I have...

Not bad mileage, me and my metro, not bad at all...keep up the good work.

Hacksaw.

I like the new "stance". I have also been curious to see more of the 4 door Metros. I have never owned one.

Great job. I like the way it looks - and agree with you that it looks as it "should" now. I've always thought the 95+ cars sat a bit too high.

And now for the question I ask everybody who's done this to their Metro: how's the ride? (And, are you used to lowered suspension, or is this your first lowered car?... just to put your answer in perspective :))

I plan to do an A-B-A test of lowering my car this year before we run out of good weather.

It has less travel of course. I cut 1/3 of the front bump stop off and 1/2 of the rear stop. I cut a slot in the front spring seat and used a small diameter hose clamp to hold the spring in position when the suspension unloads. The rears stay where they belong. The car will hit the stops if driven aggressively over bumps. The stock springs are a little too soft for this length. I don't mind the ride, just have to be a little careful. I would recommend this to everyone.

Is it true that more of the sedan metros are 4cyl? It just seems that most are 4cyl when I browse classified ads.

I think all 95 and up 4 door sedans are 4 cylinders. I put a 3 cylinder out of a 95 coupe in my car. Everything bolted in although I had to drill a new hole for the tranny mount. I used the coupe for a pattern. I just plugged in the harness and used the same 4 cylinder computer. Having a complete parts car is very helpful as the engine mounts, the shifter stabilizer bar, axles and even the clutch cable are different.

me and my metro -

Thanks for the pix. I didn't have the right model in my head. I like the design detail where the top of the rear bumper comes from the rear wheel-well.

I was expecting a "lowered look" too, but you're right, it looks the way it's supposed to look.

CarloSW2

I'd be careful with those cut springs. Lowering springs have extra tension to them that helps to keep your ride smoother.
I know someone whos boyfriend thought her neon would look cool if he cut 2" off of the springs.

The resulting bouncyness caused the lower engine support to snag on a crack in the highway and shot her into a bridge support at 65MPH and now she can't remember anything that happened before the 6th grade.

BE CAREFUL!

watch out for the lowering - in New Zealand you have to have an engineer's certificate and a vehicle modification certificate before they will pass a warrant of fitness. Its really strict over here for exactly the sort of stuff binger said - handling can get real unpredictable. That said - the rulz are more for the kidz who are into 300hp and burn outs - hyper milers are probably not going to be testing the car's stability at 140mph :P

Or 65 mph for that matter :)

I got a ride in SVOboy's lowered CRX at HybridFest, and it was a little firm, but not uncomfortable. I do wonder about winter though. The summer heat adds a lot of compliance to a suspension (including tires). What's fine at 25 C may not be at -10 C.

I also thought of lowering my car and heard the great results from it over at TeamSwift.net, but I also live in the dreaded "Snow-Belt" and I may need the extra height this winter since I still don't plan on driving my truck unless the snow gets really deep.

Yes I agree about the snow being an issue with a lowered car. Here on the left coast we only have a few ice days and very little snow. I can drive my 4x4 on those days if it is real bad. Cheers

me and my metro,
good job with the lowering, it looks better (I own a stock height '96 2 door). With less effective frontal area now, the improved mileage your getting isn't a huge surprise to me at least, thanks for reporting some real numbers on a car like mine.

I am not sure if you know what I'm talking about, but alot of cars experience 'bump steer' after being lowered.

Do you notice anything like that now that your Metro has been lowered?

My Metro is already 'twichy' out on the hiway, I think the result of not enough factory caster, for my liking awayway. Susuki had it right I guess, which on one hand little caster makes it easy for some little old lady to turn into a parking space at 1 mph, but on the other at the expense of high speed stability. I want to lower my car, but adding bump steer to an already twitchy car would drive me crazy.

I'm glad you cut the bump stops down, good call. I lowered my truck back in the the late '80's with these things they call 'lower blocks'. It turned out to be a handful to drive, rebounding off the bumpstops made me regret lowing it, until I cut 1-1/2 inches off the factory bump stops, which cured the problem.

For anyone questioning the act of cutting springs versus buying different ones: cutting any coil spring, reducing it's unwound length, by definition, increases it's overall stiffness. This point is often misunderstood (it's not intuitive) but it is fact.

I can't remember the formula, but if you think of a coil spring as a simple bending beam (like a fishing rod) <that just happens to be coiled up to save space> you can imagine in your mind's eye that the shorter beam, is a little stiffer than the longer one. Said another way, the same force applied to the longer beam, moves the beam further, easier if you will. Because of leverage and that same force having a greater mechanical advantage. Remove 1 coil from a 6 coil spring, and it gets stiffer by some amount (1/6 maybe?)

This car does not bump steer at all, in fact it drives great. It is on stock steelies w/ 175/70-13 winter tires, really soft and sticky but are wearing well @ 44 psi. Not the ideal tire for fuel mileage but I've been impressed. I plan to purchase some 155/80-13 Kuhmos after I sell the 90 Metro that I have for sale right now. I got my bearing and seal kit w/ 2nd gear syncro kit for my 3.79 final tranny today. I knew about the cut springs being stiffer than the originals, thanks great info. A

I tore down the used Swift tranny today and it needs a new 2nd gear not just a brass syncro ring. At least it is a 3.79 ratio, I paid $100.00 and bought it as a core. So I put the new bearing kit into the original tranny from this car today. I installed it tonight and replaced one outer boot. After the test drive I was amazed how quiet the car is now with the new bearings. The gear ratio is what I expected because I drove this car with the original 4 banger for a couple of months before the powertrain swap. I should have more fuel numbers by next weekend. This is a fun ongoing project for on old car guy like me.

I have the same size tire 175/70-13. Mostly because I thought the wider tire would be better on the grooved concrete roads. The past 6 months they have repaved everything so this isn't a problem anymore. Back to 155/80-13 next time around.

8% increase of FE on a lowered car? That seems like a lot. If it's true, then I guess I'm overdue for a lowering. 5 mpg extra would be great. Mostly it is dry out here, but we do get snow. It's a gimme to drive the 4by when things get ugly. A lowered car would high-center too easy. I'd like to see the data (before/after) of someone who lowered their Metro.

Today's fillup is 57 mpg
 

This is the first tank with the new tranny. The car went 200 miles on 3.5 gallons of e-10 Shell regular. I am very pleased, the car glides better with all the new bearings and the Mobil 1. I've contacted Mike @ 3tech about an xfi cam and 10 degree gear. I will send in a spare cam and gear as cores and await my new parts. I probably will run the car the way it is for a couple of weeks just to verify this increase. It is great to see the results of all your research and development. Thanks again fellow ecomodders. Cheers Andy

I lowered my car years ago by cutting the springs, by about 1.75-2".

Couldn't detect any fe difference. :confused:

But I like the mod anyway. Corners with more confidence. Looks better. It's true though, about winters- I've gotten stuck where I think if it wasn't lowered I would have motored on through.

What's yer test methodology for arriving at 8%?

I have been keeping detailed fuel records for the last 2000 miles. I fill at the same pump, at the same nozzle setting, never top off, and at the same time of day. This is as close as I can get with OBD 1 car. I think the increase jumped out at me because I had been trying a set of 195/50-15 tires and 7" wheels for two weeks prior dropping the car and going back to the 175/70-13's, now with the new trans, the first tank is at 57 mpg, I'll see how that holds. I believe my driving style is improving constantly, so that may also be part of the jump.

Multiple test variables pretty much invalidate the "test".

I have gas logs spanning years and looking at them, you'd never be able to pick out the point at which the car was lowered.

Oh Hell......I thought that was normal :( I had better go get me noggin checked out

Don't forget the MPGuino if you want to instrument your car...

Frank's right on the money there. Can't really assign the 4 mpg gain to lowered ride height when several things were changed @ once.

Nevertheless, I just made your car the poster (OK, thumbnail) child for "reduced ride height" in the EM mods list: Vehicle mods for better fuel economy.

Hand Throttle?
 

I installed a hand throttle on my 89 4dr Geo and got 56.6 mpg @ 55 mph...however, it was a handfull (No pun intended)

I got 54 mpg maintaining 55 mph rigidly, without the hand throttle.

I eventually removed the hand throttle.

Point? conservative driving equals high mileage...55 mph does VERY well in Geos.

Hand throttles and hills make for complicated driving. Forget I mentioned them.

Got any updated pics of it, maybe a shot of your springs too? Great discussion

I cant remember anything before the 6th grade either.

I've driven lowered cars almost every year since i've been driving, growing up in wisconsin. Sometimes it's an issue, but body work is worrisome more than anything else.

I lowered my Metro too.

I just did it by adding 500 lbs of lead!

Took me a second.... I was like, "Why would he put so much lead in there?..." DUH! lol

I also took out one round of coils from my metro. I would say no change in MPG. But I will say it was worth doing for the cornering. :thumbup:

Of course there is always a proper way to do things ;)

You can sometimes find Suzuki Swift coilovers on Ebay or whatever, but if not, springs are readily available.

H&R SPORT LOWERING SPRINGS 96-99 GEO MATRO SUZUKI SWIFT | eBay

I used a 4 1/2 grinder with cut off wheel cut in the same location as the holder in the strut and whent right back into place. just 1 coil on all 4 corners. free mod that way :D

The proper ways of doing things are the ways that work. If you like to buy everything, do that. If you like to fab and modify, done right, that works too.

Cutting springs may not seem so "proper" if the 15 year old struts blow out sooner than normal.

This is why I bought coilovers for the Rabbit. They aren't the best on the market but at least they're designed for lowered ride height- something you can't say with the stock stuff.

I don't want to start an argument though, Frank. Just giving a word of advice from the performance and longevity side of things.