Resurrecting a '91 Swift
 

Fifteen years ago I bought a '91 Chevrolet Sprint, a re-badged Suzuki with the 1 litre 3- cylinder and 5 speed manual. I've been trying to buy a US-only XFI cam for it ever since, to install when I did the rings and valves it needs. Now, I just want to get it going, and wanted to check for age deterioration before driving it up on the ramps to do the engine. Sadly, I couldn't even get the fuel pump to run to change the old fuel.
Inside the tank, one wire has corroded right off, and there is a great deal of rust. A friend who has worked on many Swifts recommends a whole new tank and pump. The pump is currently out of stock at AutoPartsWay.ca and they don't list a tank. I'm working on a Coupe, and don't know if the four-door tank is the same. This climate does not usually cause a lot of rust, but now I wonder what the odds are of finding a good one used, if they have not already been crushed.
I live in northern Saskatchewan, Canada, and don't have a running vehicle now. Any advice would be appreciated.

They were sold here as a Geo Metro, I had several many years ago. There was also a Geometroforum.com, I don’t know if that exists any more. I bought a reground xfi cam and a plus 10 cam gear to simulate a real xfi. 3tech was the cam grinder somewhere in Ontario. I found them all through this forum back in 08.
Good luck
Andy

Reach out to Metrompg

Geometroforum.com is still there also.

I got this kit for a Superbeetle gas tank but I haven't usd it yet. Apparently the key to success is to thoroughly clean the rust. Hang it by a rope from a rafter and partial fill it with some abrasive (sand or metal scraps) and shake or vibrate it.

Bob - I've also found that Metro/Firefly/Swift parts are getting harder to find, at least in Canada. I couldn't get exhaust parts last time I tried. (Ended up getting out the welder and cobbling something together.)

That said, I think you can still get everything from the States, online. For a price of course -- shipping is the issue. Makes it sometimes very expensive to buy economy car parts.

I lucked out... bought a complete running parts car for my '98 a couple of summers ago. I jumped at the chance - these cars are extremely rare around here. ( I saw one on the road when I visited Florida this spring, but I haven't seen one on the road in Ontario for many years.)

And that's the final generation car, not the even older one you have.

You guys are scaring me.

https://ecomodder.com/forum/member-f...etro-thumb.jpg

I can no longer get parts for my Superbeetle delivered to my carport, but then it's two decades older that the 1990 Canadian Chevy.

Thanks for all the replies. I had an XFI cam lined up for the third time last winter, but the US owner just didn't want to deal with foreign shipping nohow. 3-tech stopped replying years ago. I'll keep you posted. Since first buying a car around 1998, I've averaged less than $200 pa in parts and depreciation. Those were the days, I guess.

I've gotten a thousand dollar car with two hundred in tires, but now the alignment shop is asking US$310 for an inner tie rod end and re-align.

And I find out the DMV thinks it's registered to the previous owner (sadly RIP).

I replaced the front crossmember on a Toyota and then couldn't get an appointment for alignment before a booked trip. I just set up with some blocks and straight edges to measure the toe in, and it was fine. Adjustment would not be hard from there if needed.

It probably falls within the scope of my abilities. It would have to go back up on the ramps.

I just repaired an inch-long split in the tailpipe with a fiberglass bandage, aluminum flash metal and two hose clamps. A "$250" repair for sixteen dollars.

The first attempt went off the end of the ramps and I had to jack the car up to get them out again. The second time, with the front up I had to use two bottle jacks in three lifts to level it up. Fortunately I have six jack stands.

What was really noticable is to raise it off the side jack points, I had to lift the center rear jack point two inches before the side jack points cleared. That body has no torsional rigidity at all.

I didn't want to buy expensive, heavy-duty jack stands, but I also didn't want to die, so I made some tripods from 2 X 4 studs. They are working fine. Lifting is done in stages so that a power drill can do the work on a scissors jack.
YouTube has many clips about making ramps, mostly wasting a lot of wood, but the featured improvement is hinging the thin ends so they can swing out and not restrict access. It occurs to me that one could make a whole series of sloping blocks and drive a foot at a time, adding bigger blocks in front of each tire and moving shorter ones to the following tire.
I got over a year out of a plain fiberglass bandage on the exhaust pipe, and the problem is probably new holes. "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."

AFAIK the underpinnings are pretty much the same for the hatchback and the sedan versions, and that very same generation of the Swift soldiered on until at least 2004 in parts of Asia, and 2003 in Europe. Eventually, you could try to get some parts shipped from overseas.

Most differences were engine types in some regions (in my country, the G10 is the most common engine for the hatchback).

If the tank isn't leaking, I would try cleaning it out. If you really need one, RockAuto has them. https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...6268&jsn=22952

My little brother left a 1959 Chevrolet parked in the street in front of our house, with a leaking gas tank.

I tried a number of things to stop the leak -- what finally worked was rubbing the jagged edge with a potato. The more you know....

And a few potatoes down the filler neck just to make sure it's fixed?

IIRC he came back, towed or drove it away and survived a head-on collision in it. It would have been the 1970s.

Some "unorthodox" ways to fix a radiator leak with random food items are quite common, but I don't remember seeing anything like that applied to a fuel tank.