2000 Suzuki Swift build

Free opinion & worth every cent: I think the CF would look fine, IF you applied it to both the B and C pillars. I think doing only the C would just look odd.

Oh, and BTW, those wheels look fantastic.

Love how the wheels turned out too

Updates?

Well, I kinda got busy prepping the Swift GT for the summer, then had to prep two race bikes, then the race season started... then I started working on my truck...

Once the race season starts, I'm pretty much tied up doing that. It was a really good year. I finished second in my class, and had some race wins in both my second and third classes so I was pretty happy with that. The truck took some time, but is almost finished, and with the GT now gone, I'm going to get back to this car, and get it done. I expect to be updating this build soon, and driving it in the spring.

That was on top of a full time job, and running part time business. Not enough hours in the day. And I haven't even mentioned my mini bike project

Glad to hear you're going to get back at it. I've read all of your Swift/Metro posts with interest. Trying to figure out what I want to do with my Metro.

My last post here was almost 6 months ago, and with the brutally cold winter, combined with my laziness, I got exactly nothing done.

I borrowed my son's Fiat 500 the other day and it made me realize how much I miss driving a little 5 spd. hatch.

So I've altered my plans a little . For now I'm going to set the turbo aside, and build it naturally aspirated. I have a Genie header from a Swift GT that will fit with a few mods so that's today's project. After work Sunday, it's off to Toronto to buy back the 4.4 - 1 (stock 3.8 - 1) final drive trans. that went with my GT. I'm busy, but the plan is to do one thing, no matter how small, each day that I'm off. We'll see how that goes.

Slowly, but surely, I'm picking away at it.

Trans with 4.4-1 final drive is prepped, and ready to be installed

The header has been modified to fit the different cylinder head

Bumpers are prepped for paint

And I dug out the (Swift GT) Genie exhaust that I traded for a few years ago. I knew it would come in handy some day. All SS, mandrel bent, and nice and quiet.

I did this last night.

50 mm TB from the stock 40. There is a direct 45 mm TB swap from the 1.6 Esteem, but the 50 worked so well on my GT, I wanted to try it on this 1.3. That's about a 65% increase in area.

Very nice!

Good stuff.

Awesome! What kind of power will this have with the header & throttle body mods? They only made 79 hp stock, right? A mild turbo and 125-140 hp or so would be a blast!

Turbo was the original plan, but I decided to try it non turbo, just to see if I can make mildly modded Swift GT type power with it. Nobody that I know of in N. America has built one with anything more than the regular bolt on stuff, so I'm curious to see how much power it will make. I'm estimating around 100 hp, maybe a bit more. With the turbo I have, 150 hp would be about what I'd expect. In a few years, I'll probably either go the turbo route, or be driving an Abarth

I don't know if it's my age, or just the way things are working out, but I can't seem to make any serious progress on this thing. The time just keeps getting away from me. Off this weekend, so I'm going to try and spend a whole day on it. Wish me luck.

Good luck!

I know everybody is sitting on the edge of their seat waiting for an update, so I'll provide it.

Mrs. Woof absconded with my camera, so no pics today. The TB is finished and installed. The cam is in, and the motor buttoned up. The header needed a new collector, so I did that, and added a spherical joint. The O2 sensor bung had to be relocated, so I finished that last night. The Genie exhaust was going to require some mods to fit, so I sold it to a happy Swift GT owner for what it would cost me to have a custom exh. done the way I really wanted, and had that appointment this morning. Even though my parts didn't arrive in time (More great customer service from Hottexhaust), I had a plan B. Too bad I found a crack in the header. Of course, you can't reach it with the welder, so I'm hoping I can get a brazing rod in there. Since things were going so well I figured I'd take the time and put the tach cluster in that I found over the winter. This is a rare piece for this model. The nice thing about these cars is that they're solid feeling and quiet. That comes at a price. The cluster swap isn't a 5 minute job like it is on the earlier cars, and the steering column has to be dropped out of the way to get at it. Of course, the speedo cable wouldn't come out of the trans, and the end pulled off. It was one of those nights, but I got it back together - and was rewarded with the header leak while testing the speedo cable. If everything goes well (why start now), it should be mechanically ready early next week. I just need to paint the bumpers, install the Swift GT seats, and put a CD player and speakers in it.

I like these updates, as I've always wanted to play with a Metro or Swift. Keep 'em coming. It sounds like you're making some big progress.

Well, my wife got back today, so I got my camera back, and took a few pics. The header brazed up OK. I can't remember the last time I brazed anything, so it doesn't look great, but I made up for the quality with quantity.

This is the tool I made up to fab the new collector. It worked perfectly on this test piece. You can use the press, or a BFH.

The front frame horns (the blue part that the control arm is mounted to) are a weakness on these cars. They are flimsy at the best of times, and once they get a little rust in them - and they all do, they're just under there flapping in the breeze not doing anybody any good. So the fix is to tie them together, and since I'm parting the 98 rallycrosser, i figured I'd use the brace I made for it about 10 years ago. Well, maybe not. It was a bitch to get off, and it never occurred to me that all the times I hit it, or dragged it through the gravel might actually bend, but it did.

This should be straight. So I guess I get to make a new one.

Pretty clean for a 15 year old Canadian Swift, eh?

Great work! I'm probably going to be bugging you about junkyard Suzuki mods if I get this Esteem that I'm looking at.

Good. You can be my test mule

I'm already shopping for Esteems so I can do a J18 motor/trans swap on this thing in a few years when I'm looking for more power.

In reply to Zomby Woof:

Nice! I was looking up specs...looks like the Esteem is 122hp, about 2300 lbs, and the Swift is 79hp (not yours, of course), about 1900 lbs. I bet the J18 would be a blast in the Swift! Or maybe I can knock a couple hundred lbs off the Esteem...

It will definitely need suspension. I think it's the loosest suspension I've ever seen...struts are fine, but the nose points skyward on accel and nosedives on decel. I'll probably start with some cheap eBay springs and better tires, and I'll work on finding junkyard mods along the way. If my research is correct, the Aerio, SX4, and Sidekick came with a J20, so I'm thinking they might have a larger throttle body? I need to try cleaning the IAC valve too, and throw a battery in it. Hopefully I'll be getting it on Tuesday.

Clean looking Swift. Thanks for the motivation. You have the same kind of timelines my projects do.

I finally got a good G10 motor for my Metro and been looking for an exhaust, I think I need to just make one. Motor is out and waiting to be mated to the trans.

I accidentally clicked on this because I thought it was the V8 Firefly thread, but now I'm really glad I'm here. An all-motor Swift with custom-ground cam is just the kind of car I like to read about.

Stunned that you can have an Ontario car with an underbody that clean. Even in AB, where we don't use salt as heavily, that thing would be mostly dust by now. Wonder if the previous owner treated it to those yearly "we hose the thing down with oil" treatments.

VWguyBruce wrote: Thanks for the motivation. You have the same kind of timelines my projects do.

This is slow for me. I normally start a project in the spring, drive it through the summer, then complete it over the fall and winter for the next season. I just have too many things on the go at the same time that my energy and motivation are in an age related decline.

Anyway, the exhaust work that was delayed because of the cracked header is set up for tomorrow, so I threw the wheels on (sold the stock ones last week for $100), fired it up, washed the dust off, and drove it for the first time in a few years. I couldn't resist, and took it down the road for a few full throttle redline runs with the open header. It wasn't that loud, but it's faster than I was expecting. I've driven a bunch of these, some stock, some mildly modded, and one (my son's) that had everything this one does except the header, and 50 mm tb, and it's nothing like this. Pleasantly surprised. We'll see if it's the open exhaust, the big throttle body (my guess) or one of those things you just can't explain.

I think it looks pretty good. Tint the windows, paint the bumpers (the back is on so they know where to run the tailpipe), and black out the c pillar, and It should look great. Nobody will know what it is. Maybe I'll take the Suzuki badges off, get some Peugeot stickers and confuse everybody

Tomorrow it gets 2" SS, header back with the cat and 30" Magnaflow glass pack. Should be quiet, and deeper sounding than the cheap Cherrybomb's we usually use on these cars

Nice! Sounds like a blast! I'm glad to be in the Suzuki club now! Can't wait to see yours with the bumpers on and everything done.

Any update on this little gem of a car?

The car is pretty much done except the bumpers.

Unfortunately, I've completely lost interest in it. That's why it sat for a year after I bought it. They are so rare to find in this condition, and I've been so much into the Swift thing for the last 15 years that when I saw it, I didn't even think about it. I just went up there and bought it. I was excited for a while when I first got it, but the Suzuki thing is pretty much out of my system now. I thought if I forced myself to finish the build I would regain my enthusiasm, but it didn't happen. I don't know if I'm going to sell it, as it's probably only worth about $3k tops anyway, or store it for later. It's too bad because I really love the way this car looks.

I'm leaving for vacation later in the week. If they're still there when I get back, I'm going to look at a couple of C5 Z06's, and a C6 Z51. I've pretty much made up my mind.

Anybody want to buy a really clean Swift?

How much?

I am semi-looking for a rally-X car.