XFi taller gearing & Tach

[btroutmt]

Morning Everyone!

I recently scored a 91 XFi with 144k miles, with a good portion of those miles being towed behind an RV. She's in pretty good shape and I'd like to do a couple things her. I don't know a ton about the XFi, but after reading metrompg's webiste, I'm entertaining the idea of doing a few things. First, I'd love for the gears to be a bit taller. I feel like she's a bit wound up on the highway and I feel like there is quite a bit of fuel saving potential there. It looks like Metrompg did a final drive swap from a 93 swift and had good results from it. Is it the final drive from any model and year of swift and is it the whole transmission I would need? And is the install pretty intensive? I'm not too much of a mechanic but have access to a lift and equipment at the auto hobby shop on base and a guy that knows a bit about the metro can help me out. There is a 93 swift being parted out on my local craigslist but I'd like to make sure I know what I would need before checking it out. Also, it is a 91 so it lacks a tachometer in the gauge cluster. I've read into it and it looks like if I can find a cluster from a 91 convertable I'll be in business with a tach. Any insight on where to look for one of those? Any help is appreciated. Thanks all!

[MetroMPG]

Congrats on the XFi find!

Project 'nerd gear': taller tranny transplant nets +5.2% MPG - MetroMPG.com = that's the page referred to. There's also a discussion thread here: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...-gain-107.html

Originally Posted by btroutmt

First, I'd love for the gears to be a bit taller. I feel like she's a bit wound up on the highway and I feel like there is quite a bit of fuel saving potential there. It looks like Metrompg did a final drive swap from a 93 swift and had good results from it. Is it the final drive from any model and year of swift and is it the whole transmission I would need?

I think that's awesome you want taller gearing, since the XFi has the lowest factory gearing of all the 3-cylinder cars.

You need the trans from a 1.3L SOHC engine with 13 inch wheels, not the DOHC Swift GT (which has a short / numerically bigger final drive).

The other gear ratios will be identical, so the only reason I wouldn't just put the Swift transmission in the car is if there was something wrong with the other gears. Then you could swap the final drive gears into your transmission.

And is the install pretty intensive? I'm not too much of a mechanic but have access to a lift and equipment at the auto hobby shop on base and a guy that knows a bit about the metro can help me out.

You'll be fine. It was my first ever major drivetrain work on a FWD car. It took me about half a day (elapsed hours), taking my time. I left the engine in the car (supported), and took the transaxle off, slid the replacement on. The hard part was getting the replacement to line up with the engine (meshing the splined input shaft on the trans to the clutch hub on the engine). Got it eventually, lots of wiggling and some swearing.

To ensure you're getting the right transmission, you can count the teeth on the diff gearing if you like. Google to find the correct number. It's probably posted here on EcoModder or on TeamSwift.

looks like if I can find a cluster from a 91 convertable I'll be in business with a tach. Any insight on where to look for one of those? Any help is appreciated. Thanks all!

I'm sure it's been done a hundred times, but that one's beyond me.

Good luck & keep us posted!

[iveyjh]

For the 3.52 trans make sure its from a pre 1995 Swift 1.3

[btroutmt]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

I think that's awesome you want taller gearing, since the XFi has the lowest factory gearing of all the 3-cylinder cars.

Well I know it sounds crazy saying the gears aren't tall enough for me, but I'm used to driving an 85 CRX HF with RPMs <2K @60 mph

[MetroMPG]

Not crazy at all. Only the automakers seem to think everybody wants to be driving down the highway at 3000 RPM at 60 mph in top gear.

I'm with you! Give me 2k RPM at 60. If I need more power to pass or climb, hey, I'll fiddle with that gear stick thingy that almost magically lets me select a different ratio! What a concept.

[Gasoline Fumes]

I'm turning 1800 RPM at 60 MPH with my HF trans and I sometimes wish it was even taller on the highway.