92 Suzuki Swift Project
 

Hello everyone.

I'm new here! I'm Roman from Holland and came here throu a link on a dutch tuning site for Suzuki's. So my English sometimes like a little bit on Engrisch :D

Now the days fuel is very expencive. I pay 1.52 euro a liter (when my excel skills are right that would be 8.8 dollar for a gallon, while 1 euro is 1.515 Dollar). So i read a lot of things to do to make my car cheaper. Like Aero modding, WAI and so on.

I own a Suzuki Swift GL 1liter from 1992. (pics will follow). I bought it a year ago for 200 euro (303 Dollar). First when i had it i was disapointed doing only 34 MPG. Now i do better, 43 MPG. But i want more. I would like to reach te 50 MPG next. And im here for some help and indeas.

What i already have done is a little modification whit the air intake, still testing what is better. WAI or CAI. Last week i changed my ignition timing, but i think it's to early now. And i use Aceton as and add to the fuel, giving 10% (from 39MPG to 43MPG).

First i want some engine mods, later on i want some Aero mods.

Welcome to the site. :)

Welcome!

There's a few people here with that 1L engine (me for one), so there's lots of tips on how to get higher fuel mileage. The main thing is changing your driving style. Also, make sure you have a good engine to start with. Check your cylinder compression and make sure all three are above 180 psi, preferably 200 - 210 psi. You should use a mid-grade gasoline, not the cheapest. Hopefully you aren't using too much oil. Read these forums and ask questions and you will gain knowledge and increase fuel economy.

Don't worry so much about making perfect sentences or perfect English! Get it out the best you can and we'll ask questions if we don't understand. You are doing good and very understandable.

How much acetone are you using per tank? There's lots of controversy on whether this helps or not.

Welcome to ecomodder! Americans really need to stop whining about gas prices, ;)

Here's a link to how some of us have our intakes "modded", It seems to work the best(?)
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...take-3277.html
When I accelerate, I try to keep it down to where I am just below to where the sound of the intake changes - if that makes any sense.
Although I have a 1999 Chevy Metro, my engine is a 89-94 JDM. I also have my timing set a little higher to take advantage of higher octane fuel - but that is something I am experimenting with.

Tanks eveybody.

Just made some photo's:

The Front. Here i planned some Aero mods
http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/4391/dsc2065sb0.jpg

The Back: Also some Aero mods planned. First i removed that 2 wheel splash-boards.
http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/2200/dsc2066ur0.jpg

The Engine: Stil testing whit air intake.
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/4674/dsc2067yp0.jpg
/edit LOL your link shows the same air in take i use now :D

Little oil... but no leaking. Have to change oil running 19.000km whit the same (11799 miles)
http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/543/dsc2072ih5.jpg

But i cant open the Carterplug. That's this one right??
http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/5530/dsc2070mg5.jpg

Another one from the front:
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/8774/dsc2074ol1.jpg

That's it for the moment. :D

About the aceton. I use 23ml on 10 liters. You can see my fuel use here. You see the entery from 30.07.2008, that the the second one i used aceton going from 6.0l/100km to 5.5l/100km.

@99metro how i check the cylinder compression?

How to check cylinder compression:

How to test car engine compression

Basically it is a hose with a gage that screws into a spark plug hole of one of the cylinders. Crank the engine a few times without the distributor or fuel and check the pressure. You do this for each cylinder. Don't quote me on the specs, but I believe over 200psi will be just fine, and as low as 180psi would be good too. If there is a big mismatch, or if one or more are much less than around 150psi or so, then there could be issues such as the common exhaust valve being burnt, especially in #2 cylinder. Again, don't quote me. I one of the cylinders are way low, then this is the problem with not being able to get fuel economy.

You might be able to make or borrow a gage. Of course you could buy one also. Most repair shops should have one handy. Over here in the US, we can rent one from an auto parts store.

Hope this helps.

PS

Your engine compartment looks almost exactly like mine!

No wonder.

Swift en Metro are the same only other brand. Also like some Subaru Justy and Pontiac Firefly models.

I'll try to get one of those to check my comression.

Oh my machine had run 304000km that's 188875 miles.

Hoi Roman

Drivers in NL tend to drive fast and the streets are quite busy so it will take a lot of driving skill to improve your fuel efficiency. Try to keep the motor in lower rpm ranges and if no one is behind you, coast to a slow stop. The less you have to brake, the better.

As a friend in Nijmegen told me: A good driver never uses his brakes.

Oh i have to use my brakes. Here we've got a lot of crazy bikers who don't understand the rules. :D

The Netherlands are indeed small and short way's. In Germany i use less because longer ways. (ok also drive fast in germany. My record was 175km/h between a BMW 745 and a Porsche, that's 108 miles / Hour) :rolleyes: But i did that once. Thats a suicide attempt in that car :D

I think my car uses more fuel when im driving on a autobahn that in a city. Whit this car i only get 600km on one tank. With my crashed Swift (a woman tried to cross it whit a Bens Vito bus) is used to get 750km on one tank.

Roman, you gotta adjust the nut behind the wheel ;) Your getting 40mpg in a car that can get 70mpg on technique alone :)

What nut do you mean?

Welcome, Adjusting the nut behind the wheel is our way of saying adjust yourself, and the way you drive your car.

Hey click here and join our group. Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com - Metro Modders

Here are three great threads you will find involving working on your Swift/Metro. Each of them are very good and have a lot of detail, and these guys are real good at it.


Engine and frame work.
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ject-2936.html

Complete car build.
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ished-491.html

Sweet mods and real high MPG.
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ehicle-83.html
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...gine-1141.html

This guy is just starting, but is doing great work.
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...-xfi-3887.html

Hey that's me, Thanks man..

Roman invest in a vacuum gauge as well. Keep your vacuum as high as possible while driving.

Nice looking car! I am a recent fan of the Metro/Swift/Firefly cars and enjoy helping other people get the best out of theirs. Welcome to ecomodder!

Thanks Everybody.

Vacuum Gauge is already planned. Think next weekend.

And also some aero mods at the front. I need some 0.5mm plastic plate but don't now were to find it.

But i have some questions what would be more effective. See picture below (my best drawing skills in The Gimp). Left you see a closed front, like that from AdrewJ's 5th Generation Civic photo. And on the right side i thought about a kind of spoiler behind the bumper pressing the air under the car.

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/6509/whatzd1.gif

Now i friend said the less air under the car the more effective it is. So it would be solution on the left side. But i thing that i have more counter-pressure (don't know if this is the right word or should it be "Drag"), so the solution on the right side would give less counter-pressure.

So what to do?

/edit: About the Vacuum Gauge. I was in a shop here en they have some like going from -1 to 0, and all i found here on the forum go from 30 to 0. What's the difference?

Yesterday i made some aero mods in front. I could not find any black plastic so i used transparent from a lamination machine (i have one of those at home). It's just for testing. When it's doing great i wanna buy me a bumper from a car graveyard and make me an custum one.

I'll try to make some pics today.

PICs:

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/6759/dsc2082fo2.jpg

http://img394.imageshack.us/img394/8492/dsc2077mu1.jpg

Just filled up my tank again. Did 44.4 MPG this time.

Aeromods looks like to help.

Up to reach te 47 MPG. That would be the next target.

Roman -

Welcome to EM! I like the grill block experiment (asymmetry rulezzzz). Graveyard bumper for Frankenstien-mods is on my todo list. I wish we had your long horizontal license plates in the USA!

CarloSW2

I installed the vacuum gauge and it's working... :D

But i think there is something wrong. When it stationary the needle flipping all the time. See video. I found this site. Here is all explanation about the gauge. But that one goes from 0-30. So if "0" equals off and "30" equals high compression than it's mirrored. Mine goes from red to green where red is off. But im not sure.

On this crappy video i start the engine and let it on for 10 sec and than stop it again whit-out giving gas. It's a 15fps video so it's not good to see the flipping. When giving gas (not in this video) than it's not flipping. Also when i push the gas down it will go to 0. (sorry for the crappy video, i need a new camera)

YouTube - Swift GL 1.0 Vacuum Gauge

I think this could it be, but im unsure:
Drifts at idle,
stabilizes at higher RPM
Burnt valve; combustion chamber leak.

Have you ever done a compression test on that car yet? I would do so and post the readings here. Should be around 200 PSI (?KPA) in each cylinder and no more than 10% difference between.

Not yet. But i buy me a compression test set and a timing light this weekend (i think). Than i know more.

But what if one (or more) are to low?

I found a calculator here

200 PSI = 13.19 Bar = 1379 KPa

If you have low compression in one or more cylinders, then this thread is gonna really take off when we help you replace the burnt exhaust valves, head gasket, etc.

Hmmm maybe i just do it like my last swift and wait for a woman to crash in me :cool: :D

I'm already planning to move to another country and will buy there another Swift. So i will not making big cost for repair. I only do basic cheap things. And all mods i taking with me :cool: This is just a learning process for me.

I just get me a pressure tester and test all 3 cylinders. Whit a shocking result.

Cl1 = 770 KPa 111 PSI
Cl2 = 740 KPa 107 PSI
Cl3 = 740 KPa 107 PSI

Did this whit a hot engine like just drove 25 miles.

Did you make sure the throttle was open while doing the testing? Readings that low I would think would cause noticable idling problems.

What do you mean. I did it like it was written in the manual.

1. Warm up engine
2. remove sparks
3. connect tester
4. pull key some times till maximum reached.

There was nothing written about giving gas. That is what you mean whit throttle, right?

Got me some new toy and just made another movie.

YouTube - Suzuki Swift 1.0

Roman, that reminds me of my video.

And on compression test
1. Remove all spark plugs
2. Remove air-cleaner
3. Insert a large screwdriver in throttle body to hold throttle plate all the way open
4. Unplug ignition coil
5. Do a compression test on each cylinder try to count the compression strokes on the meter I did 8. You want to try to keep the test the same for all cylinders. Do a wet and dry test. Dry first then wet by adding a small amount of oil to each cylinder (WD-40 will work). If your numbers go up significantly when wet the rings are bad.
6. Post new numbers by doing it this way.

What's the differents between a dry and wet test?

Dry is just test it, add nothing.

Wet is add a little oil then test. Add oil directly in spark plug hole to piston. Just enough to "wet" the cylinder rings. This "seals" rings and shows if bad or not.

Hmmkay.. i do it tomorrow...

It really don't matter right now. With those dry readings, the test has already failed and if the car does not smoke, then it's time to replace the exhaust valves. Doing the ring job is up to you.

You say you are moving and don't plan on dumping any money into the car, but if you like this car, you may want to reconsider fixing it especially if you have trouble locating another Swift to replace it with.

Whatever you decide to do, we can help you along the way!

I goolged it... looks like a nice operation for a week end. (and than hoping to get it back to running :rolleyes: )

I did another test as bbjsw10 told me to do and found a good DIY on teamswift. It's better now only cylinder 3 is a bit low

Dry
CL1 1125 KPa = 163 PSI
CL2 1125 KPa = 162 PSI
CL3 980 KPa = 142 PSI

Wet
CL1 1250 KPa = 181 PSI
CL2 1200 KPa = 174 PSI
CL3 1080 KPa = 157 PSI

It won't be hard to find another swift. I'm moving to Hungary and since 1996 they made the swift. So each 4th car there is a swift. Maybe hard to find a 3 doors, most there are 5 doors. It's cheaper to by another one than importing the car to Hungary. I will go whit the car there and than disable it and use it for spare parts.

I'm not planned to invest a lot of money in the car. I only just have invested in some tools. Only thing i invested till now was in a new airfilter, oil and oil filter. And all the things i learn now i can use whit my next car. Or when i fix the engine for better FE than i could change the engine or buy me a car with a blown engine. Hmmm that would be a good idea.

I will call my car-supply shop tomorrow and ask what the parts and tools are costing.

If you are moving soon I think I would not really worry so much about the engine, which I think needs a serious rebuild. I would use it to test all the mods you want and to perfect your driving habits!!

I second that use it as your training device. If you can squeeze good mileage out of bad motor Imagine what you can do with good one.

I dont' worry and use this machine as a test. Wenn replaycing al valves cost like 20 euro i will do it. When it's cost more i wont :P

About the Vacuum gauge. When im driving low RPM it's going to red. But when ik driving on mid RPM (like 3000-4000 rpm) it wil went to green. Is this normal? Or has it to do whit the valves/compression?

I do it not :P

17.65 euro for one valve. That is 26.75 Dollar.