Tomble's adorable go cart / distraction / Alto Works

[tomble]

I've always loved Kei cars, but when my partner and I were in Japan earlier this year it was basically decided that we had to get one. So when we were able to come up with an excuse to get rid of the Leaf, we pounced. And hey it may be our new daily, but there's no reason it can't be a fun daily, right?

Introducing our freshly imported 2019 Suzuki Alto Works.

 

It's the HA36S chassis, FWD, manual transmission, and the previous owner was nice enough to kit it out with some KYB springs and shocks, an aftermarket muffler (perfect level of bubbly I3 noises), and classic-style enkei wheels (though the OEM wheels are also enkei, and I'd probably have chosen a different style, but they're growing on me). Also growing on me are the leather seat covers, front and back, which must have been made specifically because they perfectly wrap the stock recaros and rear bench.

 

 

There's some stuff to do. First thing we did was give it a thorough clean, the sea journey really does a number to it, we still have to do a bit of a polish because there's some deeply ingrained gunk in there. But it came up pretty nice with a quick soak and the car's paint is immaculate. 

 

 

The japanese owner had some some other random stuff too, like hack apart the console for his stereo (which he then kept when he sold the car and blanked it out). I've got a new stereo to put in that should effectively hide the edges.

He also put a random button in (also seen in shot) that turns on some footwell lights. Not really sure why. Also a bunch of bits of padding in the door and boot jams, I guess to stop rattles or something... clearly it works because the only significant noise in the car is the exhaust note.

 

 

More frustratingly, he debadged the car. I snaffled a new boot logo from Japan, and managed to wrangle the part numbers for the awesome side decals, but they'll cost $800 to get here so will probably hit someone up locally to reproduce them.

 

 

Compliance gave it new brake pads and wipers and I did the rest of the service - replaced oil and filter, new air filter, new cabin filter, replaced the coolant (old stuff was just water so happy about that), and now that I know where the fill plug is I'll replace the transmission fluid. I also have some new plugs that I'll get around to putting in. Better safe than sorry. The oil looked nice and see through and the filters were lightly used, it's a 122kkm car but has been well looked after. 

Tiny filter!

 

The little thing can really go despite having a 660cc turbocharged engine. It's limited to 64kW by law but with only 690kg, decent torque and some amazing handling it can really get out of its way in a hurry - and sound great doing so. We've owned it for a week now and turn heads everywhere we go, it's funny seeing people merge in behind us to try and figure out what the hell we're driving (good luck without that works logo on the boot) or how they got chopped by a shopping trolley going up Hayward's.

One of the cool things about this car being a modern enthusiast car is that it's pretty big in Japan. They've got accessories and mods flowing out of the stores over there and it's an awesome change from having to deal with the Starion or even the MX-5. The cars we worship are yesterday's news over in Japan, so it's fun to be near the cutting edge of what's hip.

Plans for the future:

- We've already ordered a huge wing for it ;3

- LSD 

- Upgraded turbo, wastegate, intercooler and intake system

- Tuned ECU

- Sweet stereo system

- Dashcam (have installed a decent front+rear one already but didn't take pix)

 

Napkin maths says with all of the above this thing will have a better power to weight ratio than most sports cars... but the Starion takes priority, uh, mostly... for now.

 

[kws]

I'm stoked for you man, what a cool wee car and an awesome colour. Still a little dark you outbid me though 

The aftermarket on these things is incredible. Almost anything you can think of, so ill be watching closely how you get on.

[yoeddynz]

I didn't really know these were a thing. Very cool. Very dinky. 

[GuyWithAviators]

Did I see this in Hunterville over the weekend? Man it looks rad! 

[tomble]

On 03/12/2023 at 18:55, GuyWithAviators said:

Did I see this in Hunterville over the weekend? Man it looks rad! 

We just road tripped to Hamilton and back so if it was friday or today then possibly!

[tomble]

 

I wired up a front and rear dashcam, because I can't go without it.

 

As already stated, the japanese owner had massacred the head unit surround when he'd installed his, and kept it when he sold the car, blanking the space off. It turns out there's an actual genuine blanking plate for the alto. Huh.

 

We splashed on a nice head unit, but in what is becoming a pattern for me, I'm always gung-ho about installing it then get ice-cold feet when I get so much as a glance at the wiring involved.  So we took it to a pro shop - I don't want to mangle my happy new car.  While I was there I got them to hardwire the dashcam because the fuse box style wasn't conducive to my usual use-a-fuse-tap method.

The head unit is great, though we'll have to do something about the speakers and get a sub.

 

 

I also finally got around to putting this badge on.

 

To get it properly lined up, I found a square image on the interwebs and projected lines.

 

The car still needs a polish, there's some deep grit in there, so I just did a quick hand polish on the site to make it a little easier to clean around the badge later.

Then I took a spirit level and put it on the roof, noted the bubble's position on my driveway, and used masking tape + that position to figure out where to place the logo.

A few rounds of adjustments happened before I was happy to pull off the adhesive and make it permanent.

The badge itself looks great, and it really adds to the look of the rear end. I have no idea why the last owner removed it!

 

Oh and our road trip to Hamilton last weekend needed a last minute zip tie repair before we left, I knew the exhaust wasn't always that clangy!

So far it's temporarily permanent. I need to figure out what this hanger is and how I can get another one.

 

[kws]

Looking good. Let me know if you need any genuine part numbers, I have a copy of the parts book here, albeit in Japanese.

Im pretty sure I can guess where you live, since you went passed my colleagues place in your dashcam video #stalker 

Regarding the broken exhaust mount, looks like a pretty generic rubber exhaust bobbin. The issue there is they aren't really designed to be used in that sideways sort of loading, so you'll probably keep breaking them. Might be worth seeing if there is another option you can put together.

My nugget should be here this week. Hopefully I'll see yours around.

[tomble]

Quote

Im pretty sure I can guess where you live, since you went passed my colleagues place in your dashcam video

I think with all the pix and vid I've uploaded to this site you could easily locate me. It helps that there's a GPS coordinates in the dashcam video too lol.

I need the side decals but have already gotten a quote from suzuki, over $800 to ship from Japan, nope!

From searching it looks like the broken component is a bobbin-type exhaust mount, good call on the stresses and I'll get my shop's opinion on what it could be replaced with

[tomble]

Package from Japan!

 

Hehe

 

 

Hehehe

 

Hehehehehe

[kws]

Big wang gang!

[tomble]

Following "maybe not suitable for side loads" advice I took the car to some trusted mechanics. I angle-ground the old rusted bolt off and they ended up just replacing the bobbin-style hanger with another one so I'm telling myself I spent the extra $70 on peace of mind.

 

Pic of some shopping trolleys, as well as a VW and toyota

 

I also noticed that all the wheels tuck in nicely as soon as people load in. Explains the bumpy ride with a full car 

 

 

[tomble]

We went to the MG club's training day on the 22nd for the Alto's first real thrashing, along with my mate in his amazing EK9.

The first thing we did was promptly run into @kws's excellent street-cum-track-cum-street nuggét...

There's no way you haven't seen his thread but it's here if you haven't. Much more interesting than this one.

 

His car is much faster than mine owing to its track history, especially after he dialled up the boost. I sent it around the track but he didn't stay behind me for long.

 

I didn't really have any plan, I just put her on the track and went for it. I've been on it a few times in the MX-5 so just kind of dusted off my knowledge with the idea I'd just have some fun, get used to the car and see where things go. Didn't set up any timing apps or anything. I had two great laps, passed a few cars which I was quite anxious about earlier in the day, I didn't want to be the guy that races ahead on the corners and holds people up on the straights

On the third lap I ran into traffic but went for a pass on the final straight. Then I heard and felt something strange. I was right next to the pit exit so I took it. As soon as the car slowed down I knew something was really bad - it squealed super loud. Bystanders described it as "like a duck being beaten to death".

With many eyes on me, I limped it over to the shelters and reversed into the final place it'd be running that day, and with shaky hands popped the hood and (briefly) demonstrated the noise to the accumulation of peoples.

It's really interesting how little of a plan I had. Not just in terms of prep - I'd brought zero tools or anything of the sort (and came in a brand new white t-shirt) - but also how little of a clue I had of how to move forward. I probably just looked like a flounder.  I knew there was probably no chance we were driving out of there and everything just sort of squished my brain at once.

So I'm really glad that NZ has an incredibly wholesome car scene. Our new friends Andrew (who a co-worker has coincidentally been trying to get me to meet) and Isaac wandered over from the other side of the fence, Kws lent his tools, and Josh's mate Ian was also nearby to lend some bits, and we started diagnosing.

The crank turned by hand okay, and made the noise.

We disconnected the accessories and it still made the noise. 

We took a small sample of oil from the drain which looked OK.

When briefly turning it via the starter, it clearly made a repeating weow-weow-scrape-weow-weow-scrape noise implying doom on one cylinder.

Yeah, it fucked.

Andrew almost immediately proved how much of an excellent human being he is and offered to drive one of us back to his box truck in Wellington, and stay with it to assist in loading the Alto, meaning he drove between Feilding and Wellington 4 times that day. Leonie went back with him in his excellent S660 (which I wasn't far off buying at one stage) and the rest of us helped push the Alto out the front gates for a late pick up. Not that it needed much of a push - a brief shove would have it moving on its own for quite a long time.

I got a lift back in the EK9 when my mate was done on the track and joined up at Thomsen automotive to help unload. I really should have swapped roles with girlface and feel pretty dumb for that.

The next day, the shop gave me the bad news: it's run a bearing, there is glitter magic in the oil filter. They actually have managed to find an engine in NZ but the price for them to install it is not palatable, especially with our inclination towards DIY and our new friends' excitement at helping out. Andrew once again, unprompted, suggested he use the box truck while it's empty to ferry the Alto back home. What a guy.

He then also insisted that he help us remove the engine. His price is that he's going to nag me for a bigger turbo set up. Fair.

So we got stuck into it the next day.

 

The car has a couple of surprises.

1. The boost hoses are blue, the calling card of aftermarket, but otherwise all seems stock about the turbo. Given that the car didn't come with a stereo, we're thinking that the previous owner likely was running a bunch of mods and took them all off for resale.

2. A ton of the car has miscellaneous tape, padding and other stuff, presumably to help with road noise. It's a 4 year old car with 124,000kms when we bought it, the guy must have done a lot of noisy travel!

 

While we were there we blinged out Andrew's S660 with a plate surround that we'd had on our own yellow Honda Fit back in the day, which was hanging in the garage after we switched it over to a red car and it was no longer ironic.

 

Day 1 we got almost everything disconnected sans the drive shafts and gear cable brackets.

 

Day 2, with much struggling, we got that final crap out of the way. Andrew's partner came by to help rein in the raw ADHD surging through the garage and organise things.

Action shots.

 

The oil looked okay, but the filter contents told the story.

 

EK9 mate had given me an engine stand a while ago for the starion, which I hadn't yet assembled. I threw it together and it held its first babby engine

 

We got the oil pan off and immediately we could see toast. Look at the colour difference between 2 and 3.

 

Conrod #3's bushings were very unhappy. #2 was also bad (not pictured) with some gouging. #1 was okay.

 

After taking the crank caps off we found TWO spun bearings v.v

 

Also a thrust washer was dead, but not sure what died first...

 

So what happened? We dunno the root cause, but clearly some kind of oil starvation occurred. Kws says the engine isn't known for corner-based starvation, there aren't even aftermarket baffles for it because it's such a short deep sump. User error? I don't think I did anything wild on the track but I'm also a nub. Existing issue? We don't know the history of this engine or car, but the evidence of past mods and the mileage indicate that its history is something exceptional. We'll keep tearing it down and see if we can see any smoking gun.

It really sucked to have this happen but I'm trying hard to find the silver linings of this. I made some new friends. We get to play with an engine and we'll be able to put "replaced a broken engine" on our DIY CV. I also like the idea of the car rising from the ashes like a phoenix, stronger and better, by giving it a lower KM engine with a bigger turbo....

The plan?

• Kws is checking out part numbers and costs to get new crank and conrods etc over. We could rebuild this engine if the rest of it tears down without error, but I'm cautious about putting good parts in bad.
• More likely we'll import a new engine. There's also the engine that Thompsen sourced, if we want to spend more $ for a faster turnaround with a warranty. We're doing a bit more research here because apparently we want a 2019+ engine as it resolves a thrust bearing issue from earlier engines and these seem to be a fair bit more pricey online.
• I'm probably buying Kws' Greddy intercooler :0
• I'm probably finding some way to buy a bigger turbo and ECU flash, possibly with new injectors.
• We'll replace service items like the clutch etc while it's out, that was a PITA!

[yoeddynz]

As soon as you said andrew, s660, I thought I know who that is. Lovely chap. Likes waterfalls so we showed him one...

 

[kws]

I was (and still am) so gutted for you guys. I couldn't believe it when I came back into the pits and was told your Alto had failed to proceed. I was really looking forward to a good Alto battle out on the track.

Next time.

[shrike]

Is there any go fast bit options? Other then turbo/injectors/tune 

Crank to far gone to grind and run oversize bearings?

Stroking or compression tweaks?

Is yours FWD or AWD?

[tomble]

On 27/01/2024 at 14:13, shrike said:

Is there any go fast bit options? Other then turbo/injectors/tune 

Crank to far gone to grind and run oversize bearings?

Stroking or compression tweaks?

Is yours FWD or AWD?

FWD. The crank is discoloured from overheating and as I understand it this kills the crank. People who know more than me say "yeah nah" so I'm just nodding my head there

We found an expensive aftermarket built engine parts place http://www.cadcars.info/newparts.html but that's beyond what I'm willing to spend and the turbo/injectors/tune route seems like a reasonable boost of power for the price.

One option is a rebuild with new crank etc, I've got an inquiry sitting with Amayama, in the meantime we're tearing the engine down to see what's good/bad and try to find any smoking guns. Another option instead of Amayama is to get a cheaper used engine - potentially NA because they share crank - as a source of parts. Engines after 2019 have some part number tweaks to fix some earlier engine issues which complicates it a little as well. 

[cletus]

Is a complete new long block available from suzuki? 

 

You would think a small 3 cyl engine from a current? model would be cost effective to buy but probably not 

[mjrstar]

K swap.

 

More specifically Suzuki k14 turbo from a new swift.

[kws]

2 hours ago, cletus said:

Is a complete new long block available from suzuki? 

 

You would think a small 3 cyl engine from a current? model would be cost effective to buy but probably not 

If it is, it's not in the parts book 

[tomble]

Oops. I was just going to post a li'l update since things have slowed down while I wait for stuff, but I now realise I forgot to share some stuff.

We disassembled the engine. It's otherwise fine really.

 

The oil pump housing halves look fine fortunately, no scoring or anything. The pump gears themselves are impregnated with bearing material, they still turn inside each other without much resistance but without a reference I don't know if they're meant to be smoother ;).

 

The block's journals aren't happy. You can feel the scoring on two of them, one is particularly gougey and definitely would need a grind, if it can be saved at all. At the time we were unsure if we could just use as-is but since then I've been learning some stuff from HP Academy and uh yeah that wouldn't fly

 

 

 

 

I've dropped the block off to some reconditioners in welly. They asked for the rest of the rotating assembly so I slapped the caps on in 5 minutes in what I hoped was the right order (it wasn't) and went over there with Andrew. 

One of the first things Engineman asked was "want us to try save the crank?"

We just assumed it was toast because of the overheating discolouration. I mean maybe it is, but if these guys can save the crank then that pays for the cost of saving the block! It's great to have "good news" dangled in front of me for once!

That said it could easily just go in the other direction if the block can't be saved. Engineman didn't seem too bothered about the damage, but said it might be a PITA due to one side being aluminium and the other side (caps) being steel.  We'll see what he says, this is a blocker for plans going forward because if we have to buy a block then it's probably cheaper to buy a whole new engine (which isn't cheap!).

A brief diversion into engine swaps. A swift turbo engine swap would be nice, but honestly one of the fun characteristics of this car is its little 0.6 litre engine which somehow manages to make this little thing hurtle around faster than it should be able to.  I wouldn't hate a K6A or something in there (if it could fit...), but it's a lot of fun to have this little angry thing make its noises and confuse people when the bonnet is up.

 

ANYWAY.

Here's all the bits strewn about.

Consolation prize: expensive aftermarket coils.

I have since sorted out the mess a bit.

 

Andrew cut open the oil filter I'd put on the car after it had arrived from Japan, the one attached to the engine when it started quacking, and yeah, sparklies. No surprises there.

 

It looked like a pain in the arse but in the absence of anything to do I picked up the saw afterwards and sent it on the old filter that was on the car when it arrived in NZ.

Here's @kws's hands modelling for us.

Oh my.

Okay

Heckies

 

So uh yeah I bought a lemon.

Kelv cheekily admitted that he was glad that I'd won the car. Fair.

That said, I'm strangely not mad. Nor am I put off the car. I just want to fix it and get back in it. That's got to be worth something to find out about your relationship with your daily driver.  

More importantly it tells me two things

1. I didn't break my car.

2. The question of "how did I break my car?" is no longer present. On the surface this seems like a shrug of a point to make, but it's much deeper than that. If I didn't find this out I'd probably never be comfortable driving this car hard again - or possibly any car. Maybe that's why I'm not mad.