KwS's Small Car Shenanigans. Making Altos work.

[kws]

23 minutes ago, tomble said:

Yum! I've been eyeing up some weather shields too but will put it off for now to avoid looking like a copy-cat. 

Weathershields are life, highly recommend. These are the ones I bought https://store.shopping.yahoo.co.jp/parts-conveni/99000-990h6-a01.html

[tomble]

Well if you insist... It'd look really good with the black wing. 

[kws]

After spending an hour or so driving in the rain yesterday, I'm really loving the weathershields. Could have my window open in all but the heaviest rain and nothing came in the window.

Visiting Wellington though, eww. The Alto is perfect for the narrow streets, but so many hills.

[kws]

First tank of fuel since getting the car done. Averaged 5.98L/100KM. Its currently my most efficient car, and I wouldn't be surprised if its the most efficient car I have owned.

It doesn't get an easy time either, with it coming on boost almost instantly, it lives either on boost or high in the rev range most of the time.

[kws]

More parts arrived, so with some time up my sleeve this weekend I got cracking on fitting them.

There were some checks to do before getting into the "fun" stuff. I had noticed while driving the car to work last week that there was a knock from the front suspension, particularly when turning or going over a bump, so I wanted to spanner check the suspension and make sure everything was tight.

I found out last time I needed to jack the car up that my jack didn't fit as the front lip was too low, so I ended up having to drive the car up on a pair of old brake rotors to get some extra clearance. I decided this time it's about time I finally forked out and bought some low-rise ramps to help jack my cars up. A quick trip to Repco got me these

They only lift the car 65mm, but it's more than enough to be able to get my jack under and lift the car up onto stands. Way easier than using random bits of wood/junk from the garage. The only thing was that I had to hold a mirror out the window to spot myself, and make sure I didn't drive off the end (not that it would matter, unlike big service ramps, these wouldn't hit anything if you drove off them).

Rolling around under the car, everything appeared tight, until I went to check the lower balljoint on the RH swaybar link and noticed it clicked. Looking further into it I could see the top balljoint moving in the shock, causing the clicking noise. It turns out the nut was finger tight, and this was because someone had rounded out the hex in the end used to stop it from turning, so it couldn't be done up tight with a spanner.

I whipped the wheel off for more space, and hit it with the rattle gun to great success. Nice and tight, and no more clicking. It pays not to ignore noises.

One mod I had been waiting to install was my new-to-me Trust Greddy intercooler. The standard intercooler is tiny

But before I installed the new intercooler I wanted to check the intake temps and see how both intercoolers react.

With my headunit running native Android I can run TorquePro on it. This allows me to read a bunch of different sensors from the engine, including coolant temp, intake temp and even the factory wideband O2 sensor. Ignore my reflection and ugly layout; the layout is just thrown together quickly to display the most important stuff I will need on the track at a glance.

With the standard intercooler, running 14.7psi, and an ambient temp of about 18c, under sustained load, the intake temp would rise quickly and hit about 50c. This would slowly drop back once off boost again. Not great results.

The Greddy intercooler is a beast. It includes a new, much bigger shroud on the top, which fits the standard intake hose.

Removal of the old intercooler is quite simple. Four (unless you're missing one) clips secure the shroud, two on each side. The intake hose just pulls off the shroud.

Remove two hose clamps, one at the front of the intercooler and one under the rear, and then two bolts on the front of the intercooler hold it to a bracket. With those removed, the intercooler pulls free.

Side by side with the new intercooler, and it's a slight size difference

And in thickness too

The previous owner had modified the stock intercooler, with something that Google translates as "processing", which means removing the end tank

and insert crushed bits of alloy tube between the core tubes to try and smooth air flow on the hot side of the intercooler

It turns out some of these had come free in my intercooler and were sitting in the end tank

Thankfully they appear to be accounted for and are on the inlet side of the intercooler, so couldn't really go anywhere

The new intercooler just bolts straight into place

I noticed when test-fitting the shroud that there was a large gap along the rear edge, where air could just freely escape instead of being forced through the intercooler. I decided to run a bead of non-setting butyl tape along the gap to seal it against the shroud

The standard intake and carbon duct work nicely with the new shroud

While in the area I also replaced the hose blank where the BOV used to go on the intake pipe, as this was showing signs of cracking and had been weeping breather fumes

Now done in the engine bay I moved on to the interior. I had ordered brand new carpet from Japan which arrived the other day, so no time like the present to get it fitted.

It arrived in a massive box, which barely fit in the back of the Alto. Thankfully, it weighed nothing. Barely a kilo.

The first job was to clear the interior out. Remove the seats, the center console and the scuff plates.

The seats come out easily enough. Four torx bolts on each. Slide them to the mid position on the rails, and (un?)recline them forward about 45 degrees. They will then easily fit out the front door openings. Remember to disconnect the connector under them first.

I didn't need to remove the back of the rear seat, just the base squab. A sharp tug on each front edge will disengage the front tabs, and then there is a tab on the rear that goes over a hook on the back of the seat belt buckle bracket, you need to push the squab towards the rear of the car to disengage this (or as I did, fold the seat back down, reach under it and lift the tab off the hook by hand).

The center console is a pain. The rear half is held in with two bolts into the floor, one under a cover at the rear, and one that is uncovered once the front half of the console is lifted up. The front half is held in place with a screw on each side and is clipped to the rear half.

The catch here was that it would be easier to remove the front half completely. To do so you would need to remove the gear knob. Suzuki used a press-fit knob on these, which I couldn't get off. Instead, I undid the four screws that secure the gear boot to the center console, which let me remove the console without the knob or boot attached.

There is also a section in front of the gear shifter that needs to be removed. This has one clip on the RH side, and then a quick sharp tug should disengage the clips holding it to the center stack on the dash.

With those removed, I set about giving everything a real good clean. I vacuumed up all the excess dust and dirt from the panelbeaters, and then gave everything a quick wipe down with APC and a cloth.

From factory, the Alto Works had an underlay under the carpet. I wanted to replicate this without having to buy the pieces from Japan. Thankfully I still had a large part of the roll of underlay from when I did the carpet on my TVR

After some quick measuring and some cutting, I had four pieces to fit

Some trimming is needed to get them around the seat mounts, but otherwise they just sit in the footwell. Just like factory.

Both sides had the same treatment

Next, I unboxed the carpet and carefully dumped it in a heap in the back of the car

After MUCH faffing about fitting the Monstersport foot rest, and poking holes in my new and expensive carpet, I refit the console and suddenly it looked a bit more like a car again. Don't forget to pass the seat plugs through the carpet!

It tucks nicely under all the side trims

There were two clips under the drivers seat, one clip under the rear seat, and one screw on clips on the front corners of the carpet.

When refitting the front scuff trims I decided to remove all the faux carbon wrap they had on them

It may have looked nice when new but was looking a bit tatty and dated now

Thankfully once removed it uncovered nice near perfect condition trims. Much nicer (look for it in the below photos).

I gave all the seats a quick vacuum as they were all also quite dusty, and then refit them

So how does that flash new carpet look?

Much better. It's practically a luxury car now.

I have a set of carpet mats on their way from Japan, but until they arrive, it is brown paper time. Don't want to get that new carpet dirty now!

Driving the car to work today had a few results;

Firstly, the suspension knock. Gone. It is one of those things that must have been worse than I noticed because the noise is very conspicuous in its absence now.

Secondly, the intercooler. The bigger volume hasn't affected response, if anything, it feels like it spools a bit quicker, maybe less restriction? Temps have dropped. Doing the same sustained high boost pull with similar ambient temps results in a 5-10c decrease in max temp, but the drop when coming off boost was much quicker, it was dropping degrees a second, so it not only cooled the intake charge better but shed the excess heat much quicker. Hopefully that keeps the intake temps in check on the track.

Lastly, the carpet. Road noise is significantly decreased, as is exhaust drone on the open road. The exhaust might be more bearable at 100kph now since the car isn't acting as a big echo chamber. The car feels more civilised in general. It's funny how just refitting carpet can make such a big difference in how much of a "car" it feels.

A+ changes. Very happy with how the Alto is coming along. It's less a track monster, and more a weekend warrior now, but much nicer to live with.

[Nominal]

Thanks @kws for your updates on your projects - always well written and great pics. 

[kws]

Took the angry little nugget to Cars and Coffee today. Got heaps of attention. Love it when people pass me trying to work out what it is, since it's devoid of badges on the back.

[CaMpylobacter]

this is bad ass. 

my brothr went to that auction n marton and had a bid on that first car for me but he dipped out quickly coz of the enthusiasm. 

he bought 4 morris minors instead. grot. I went to pick them up and the dude there wouldn't get someone to move a car out the front so I blew the railings off the bridge on the way in, and a cinder block on the corner of the front building on the way out with the cut in on the trailer I towed out there, 

first job with my class 5. success!

 

i see the wagon r thing got sold (even though the owners kept it) and it's doing the rounds on marketplace. 

[kws]

The final lot of parts from Yahoo Japan arrived the other day, so it was time to do some more work.

But first, it was time to clean the little nugget up and take it for its first outing to Cars and Coffee up the coast.

I stopped on the way to catch up with a friend who was also going to C&C, and my wife suggested we grab a couple of photos while we waited.

It's such a cool wee car

I didn't take many photos at C&C, but the Alto drew quite a bit of attention. Had a chat with a fellow Kei (AZ1) owner, and even a GR Yaris owner who was interested in importing a Works himself as a daily.

Back home again, it was time to do a couple of quick upgrades

The first was to finally fit a set of carpet mats to protect the expensive new carpet I had previously fitted. These aren't genuine mats, but the seller makes a strong point that they are "made in Japan" and of very high quality. I tend to agree, they are made very well and are a good fit, and at about half the price of genuine ones, it's a win in my books.

They came with fitting hooks for both front mats to stop them from sliding. I don't know if it's just because my carpet is new, or if an Alto had never had mats fitted if the mounting holes for the hooks will be punched out or not, but in my case they weren't.

I initially thought the mats would mount using the clips the carpet also uses to secure it on the drivers side under the seat, but it uses two other holes in the cross-member which are hidden under the carpet.

In order to access the holes the factory has perforated a couple of little squares in the carpet where the holes are

I carefully used a sharp knife to cut the bottom tab so I could lift the squares up and access the holes

I'm really happy with the mats. They're very plush, and fit well. We're well on our way to luxury car now

The drivers one fits nicely under the Monster Sport footrest

The rear mats don't hook in place, but all the mats have a non-slip backing on them, and they're shaped well to stay in place

Looks a lot nicer than the brown paper I had been using, and a lot more secure for track use next week

The next upgrade I did was to replace the bulb in the high stop lamp in the tailgate with an LED board. I wanted to do this because I wanted a brighter light to catch attention better. The brake lights on the Alto are way down the bottom of the bumper and these days well below the level of visibility of cars on the road. If the high stop light is brighter, hopefully I'll have more chance of someone seeing it instead of rear-ending me.

I bought this off Yahoo Japan, and looking at it, I believe it must be handmade. It's very nicely assembled and looks good. Through-hole components are also unseen these days, it's nice to see.

To fit, first, you remove the cover over the lamp. This just sides away from the glass. This is how you would normally change the bulb. The bulb just untwists from the housing.

Next, you remove the lamp housing from the tailgate, by removing the two bolts. Once removed, I used a thin flat blade screwdriver to carefully pry out the two tabs holding the lens into place. It was easiest to carefully pry between the black housing and the lens

The board just slips into place

It's a tight fit against the reflector and I believe it should be retained in place by the lens clips. If not, I'll need to remove the light and secure the board with some glue.

You can just make out the grid of LEDs through the lens

The wiring is in two parts. The first is the base of a bulb with two wires sticking out of it. This plugs into where the bulb would normally be.

This then needs to plug into the two wires that are coming out of the back of the board. Because LEDs are polarised and can only flow electricity one way, it's best to plug it in and test it before fully assembling it, as like me, you might need to swap the two wires over for it to work

Once I knew it worked, I carefully tucked the wiring in the housing and reinstalled the bulb holder

I then reinstalled the lamp onto the tailgate

It seems quite effective. It was very sunny outside, but hopefully it's more visible now.

The last thing that arrived in this shipment was something I had been trying to buy for ages, but was loath to spend the price for a new one; a Genuine Suzuki workshop manual for the Alto.

I had a saved search on Yahoo Auctions, so as soon as a NOS older version of the manual came up, and confirmed it still supported the turbo models (Works and RS) and was about half the price of a new one, I jumped on it.

One of the main reasons I wanted this was to troubleshoot an issue I was having with my keyless entry buttons, which didn't work (Keyless start works, remote locking worked, but the buttons on the doors were all dead). I knew the basics, but need to know the system layout, trouble codes and wiring diagrams.

Unfortunately as this disk is old, its support in modern systems is very limited. In the end, I had to build a virtual machine running Windows XP, so I could run OG Internet Explorer (doesn't run in Edge, Chrome, Firefox etc).

I did get it running though

Yes, it's all in Japanese, so Google Translate gets a real workout, but the information is all there.

For my particular issue, I navigated to the correct location in the manual and ran through the troubleshooting guide. Most steps refer to Diagnostic Trouble Codes from the Body Control Manual, something I didn't have. I knew it would have a DTC though as the security light in the cluster was flashing on startup.

I tried my OBD scanner, but that wouldn't talk to the BCM. I started looking into all manner of diagnostic tools to run the Suzuki diagnostic software, but in the end, I remembered that for my Swift I had previously had success with a piece of free software called SZ Viewer, which I even still had installed on my tablet.

I fired it up, plugged my ELM327 v1.5 cable in and hit connect

It connected to all modules and even alerted me to two DTCs in the BCM. Success!

I'll look into B150A later, I think that is related to the AC system and isn't causing an issue currently (and isn't lighting a malfunction indicator lamp). B1106 was what I needed to see; there was an issue with the Passengers side antenna circuit. Before now, I didn't even know there was an antenna on the passengers side!

Reading the workshop manual, suggested to locate and inspect the antenna. The system overview shows it on the B pillar behind the upper trim (22)

Digging deeper, it gave specific details

If what I found there didn't fix it, there were a few more steps to follow

I pulled back the B pillar trim and found the wires running up the B pillar

I gave them a wiggle and heard the distinctive sound of the plastic head of a plug rattling freely in the pillar

That'll do it then, it's not even plugged in!

A quick peek behind the upper trim shows the antenna in place, but the connector wasn't looking to flash

Some jiggery pokery with a set of needlenose pliers allowed me to remove the antenna from the two clips holding it in place. This confirmed the part of the connector that should latch to the plug was completely missing. There is some "damage/modification" to the B pillar trim in the area, so suspect it got damaged during cage install and never fixed.

That ain't nothing a ziptie can't fix though

Once clipped back into place, I shut all the doors and pressed the button on the drivers door. "beep" *clunk* - All the doors locked and the mirrors folded in.

I tested all the buttons and all worked perfectly. Very happy with that fix. I might have stumbled on that wire by accident at some point, but the manual and SZ Viewer were the real heroes here.

Now that all the nice clean hands stuff was done, there were two jobs left for the day.

I jacked the car up and put it on four stands.

The first job under the car was to drain a small amount of gearbox oil, and add some Redline friction modifier to hopefully help the Cusco LSD be a bit more civilized when it's cold. At the moment it clunks, bangs, binds and sounds like the axles are in bits. I know this is normal to a degree, but it'd be nice if it was slightly lessened.

I drained off some fluid, and using a syringe added a minimum recommended amount of additive, 30mls (or 1oz). I don't want to over dose the oil and risk the LSD slipping too much and not working.

A quick drive (including some tight circles in a carpark) shows it might be a little better already, but I need to get the additive cycled around the box a bit, so tomorrow's drive to work will be interesting.

Finally, I wanted to give all the brakes a quick flush. I know for compliance the pads were replaced with RDA Phantom Ceramic pads (the same I'm running in the Jazz), and the fluid looks clean, but I wasn't sure if they had also bled the rear brakes. A quick vac with the bleeder, and now I can have a bit more confidence knowing it's done. The old fluid wasn't worrying, so maybe it had been done.

So for now, until a couple of other specific parts arrive from Japan through the local dealer, that's all I have for it.

Next Monday will be the little nuggets first outing on the track, so I'm both excited and nervous about that. Hopefully, it all goes well, and I can beat some of the times I put down in the Jazz last year. We'll see.

[AllTorque]

33 minutes ago, kws said:

I'll look into B150A later, I think that is related to the AC system and isn't causing an issue currently

Chances are, this code is because you were in the shed when you scanned the BCM, so there is no sun on the solar sensor.

[kws]

17 minutes ago, AllTorque said:

Chances are, this code is because you were in the shed when you scanned the BCM, so there is no sun on the solar sensor.

Good point, it was about 10pm and outside lol

[kws]

[kws]

I'll post up more details at some point, but for now, enjoy the glorious sight of an Alto Works on a track

 

 

[kws]

Well, here we go again, another track day. This time, I brought something a bit more interesting than a Jazz.

But first, before doing fun things in slow cars, I had to attend to a couple of things.

I started by giving the headlining a clean, as it was filthy. I don't know why, but both sides had a lot of black on them.

This was after I had already given the area above the pillar a quick clean, there were big areas of dark black

It did seem to come off quite easily with just a rag and some APC

There is still some darkening, which another clean will probably get off, but it's a lot better for now.

The passengers side was bad too, but not as bad

While in the area I fit the three grab handles that were missing

Big improvement there, so I moved on to checking all the fluids and making sure we were ready to go. I couldn't help myself though, and removed the Take-Off vent and gave it a quick hit with some black paint on the mesh. It was a kind of faded pink/silver

The last thing that needed to be done was a last-minute wheel alignment.

When negotiating the car with the previous owner, swapping in the standard suspension was part of the deal, and there was talk of a wheel alignment to go with it. It never occurred to me until now that there wasn't time to get one done before the truck arrived....

I noticed at work the other day when I parked up that I was sure the front RH wheel was pointing slightly inwards when the steering wheel was straight, and the LH wheel was straight. As a friend said, it must be pretty bad if you can see it by eye!

Sure enough, I dropped it down for an alignment and the results were... interesting.

The front wheels were / - \ with a total of almost 10mm toe in, no wonder I could see it by eye! There is still too much toe on the RH rear, but as it's a beam rear end I can't adjust that out without shimming the hub. I'll keep an eye on tire wear there and decide later what I want to do.

The alignment made a world of difference to how it drives though. I'm no longer fighting the diff as much, it's a bit less murder-y in corners, and it feels more stable. A+ should've done it sooner.

So that was it, we were off on a 2 hour drive to Feilding for the weekend. The carpet has made a huge difference in NVH at open road speeds; the noise and drone were easily bearable, and it was quite a nice drive. The 30c ambient temps weren't so nice, but with working AC it wasn't an issue inside the car.

The next day it was track day. I got geared up, and drove to the circuit nice and early so we could get some good pits.

And suddenly an excellent car friend arrived; Tom in his lovely blue Alto

Compared to mine, his is mostly stock, but running KYB "Lowfer" lowering shocks and springs, aftermarket wheels and an axle back exhaust. The blue is a very stunning colour.

We started the day with the usual driver training; cornering line, braking/obstacle avoidance (new this year) and the slalom.

Speaking of the braking/obstacle avoidance, this was new. Last time it was just brake as hard as you could when the flag dropped, this time there were cones in the middle of the track to split it into two lanes, and a light on either side that would light up when you triggered a beam across the track.

I think the idea was that either the left or right light would come on and you would brake and turn to the opposite side of the track to the light. That didn't really happen though, the braking was kinda dropped and you just changed to the other side of the track to the light and kept going. I think I preferred the emergency stop test.

The Alto did quite well in the slalom, whipping around the cones and only once in three goes did I clip a cone when I got a bit cocky. The Alto was nothing compared to the S660 there though, that thing just darted around the cones like it was on rails

Once the driver training was done, we lined up for the actual group runs on the track

And off we went

I chased the other Alto for a bit

And eventually managed to zip on by it

Because I was running standard/low boost (8psi) and pushing maybe 70hp I wasn't the fastest thing on the track, but easily kept up with the slower cars and didn't hold many people up

Sadly Tom had to withdraw the other Alto from our little battle due to technical difficulties. I would've liked to have some more Alto vs Alto fun, but hopefully that'll happen another time.

As the day went on I got more confident with the car. One of the things that I was struggling with was trusting the LSD. I had the grip to get out of corners now, unlike in the Jazz, but I found it hard to trust that all I needed to do was put my foot down and keep it there and rely on the diff to pull me through.

I had a couple of good battles throughout the day. One of them was against a pretty heavily modified classic Mini. I'm not sure what was under the hood but it was caged and it was quick for what it was. I could catch up and sit on his tail in the corners, but he'd just pull slightly on the straights. I would've walked passed him on high boost though...

 

Unfortunately at one point while chasing him I noticed what I thought was a mist on my windscreen. Thinking nothing of it, I flicked the mist function on the wipers.... and it smeared, bad. I pulled into the pits and found the front end of my car covered in oil spray, which was thankfully not mine (I was worried it had come out of the cowl vents). While I was cleaning my windscreen with brake cleaner my wife popped over and let the Mini owner, who had just pulled into the pits, know he might have an oiling issues and sure enough his breather had failed. He came over and apologised to me, but it is what it is, things happen on the track. No harm, no foul.

Speaking of high boost, I did find that the more power I have, the better the LSD works... I found that out in one of the shorter sessions I joined, where I decided to see what the Alto was like on high (14PSI) boost for a couple of laps.

With the car putting out about 85hp or so the car was suddenly a lot more lively on the track which meant the LSD was working a lot harder and just acted like a slingshot out of corners, if you were brave enough to pedal down and hold on.

Looking at Racechrono we were pulling more speed in the corners, but I was really hustling down the straights (all speeds in KPH)

Alto on high boost (14psi)

Compared to the fastest lap on low boost

Alto on standard/low boost (8psi)

Sadly with high ambient temps (25+c) I was concerned the Intake Air Temp was getting a bit high on the high boost. Standard boost saw about 50-60c, but on high boost was seeing over 70c, which I now know is normal but in the interests of longevity I didn't want to push it too hard.

So, how did we go then? Well, compared to the fastest lap in the Jazz last year

Jazz 1.3

I was similar in speed through the corners, but whipped the Jazz pretty much everywhere except the front straight, where somehow the Jazz pipped me in top speed. I think part of that is down to just going full send in the Jazz and beating it like it owed me money, not so much the Alto being slow.

In saying that, the lap times don't lie;

The fastest in the Jazz was a 1:50
The fastest in the Alto on standard boost was a whopping 1:45, shaving a whole 5 seconds a lap off
Better yet, the fastest in the Alto on high boost... 1:42!

Even the difference between high and low boost is whopping, but shaving 8 seconds off the fastest time I could squeeze out of the Jazz is immense.

I swear next time I can go faster too. One of the biggest things holding me back was the rear suspension. I have a thick 20mm Cusco front swaybar, but no rear swaybar and on top of that the wrong shocks and springs. It appears the seller of the car fitted poverty pack rear shocks and springs to the car, not the correct Works KYB ones. This results in a really soft rear end, which caused me some grief on the track by wobbling about and generally slowing me down in the corners and it just didn't want to rotate like the Jazz did. It also hated having tools in the boot on the drive up and hit the bump stops more than a few times.

I have new genuine Works shocks and springs on the way to fix this. I may also consider getting a Cusco rear swaybar like the car had fitted in Japan, to balance the front out, but the correct shocks and springs should help a lot.

Lower ambient temps should help too, as the lower the IATs the more power I'll make. In saying that, I have plans to move the big Greddy intercooler on and change to an SWK intercooler which although fits the same footprint as the tiny standard one is about 1.5x as thick, though more importantly, allows me to reuse the original shroud and reinstate the waterspray the previous owner was running. Obviously the little turbo is making a fair bit of heat at higher boost.

Can't even complain about the economy; 5.2L/100KM on the run up there, 11L/100KM on the track.

The Android headunit was outstanding, exactly what I wanted it for and it did it perfectly, giving me IAT, Coolant temp and AFRs at a glance all day, and freeing my phone up to focus on Racechrono. On the way there and back, wireless Android Auto kept the tunes going and gave me ETA and road updates.

Overall, after almost 40 laps, the Alto did really well. Plenty of room for improvement before the next trackday in September, where hopefully I'll be able to play with another Alto again and better my laptimes.

[tomble]

Real "Weekend at Bernie's" vibes here

[kws]

Removed the tow hook the other day and fitted the blanking panel. The towhook will remain in the boot once I have the insert to store it. It tidies the front up a bit, but i do kinda miss how it looked.

On a side note, now that the auction results have dropped off the system, the rusty 4WD Alto I bought in Japan has resurfaced at a dealer in Japan for a shade over a million Yen (more than I paid). Looks like they gave the underside another coating of underseal, and fitted the white "summer" wheels, which were missing from the car when it was inspected after I bought it...

[kws]

I mentioned in my last post that I had new shocks on the way, well, they arrived, so let's get them fitted.

I began by jacking the rear of the car up, putting it on stands and removing the rear wheels. This gave me access to the shocks and springs.

Both the yellow stripe and the part number on the shock indicate that it was a poverty spec shock from a low spec (not Works) Alto. Note the missing lower rear spring pads, the spring shouldn't be sitting on the metal like that.

The spring also had the incorrect colour code, yellow and white, not blue and white like the Works spring has. Other than the paint mark they look visually the same, I don't know if the Works has a higher spring rate or anything.

Removal is really easy. On my car the side boot trims have been cut, I believe for the damper adjusters for the adjustable rear shocks the car used to have. This gives me perfect access to the nut that holds the top of the shock in place. Because I didn't care about the old shocks, I used a rattle gun to zip the nuts off.

Before completely removing the nut I supported the rear beam with a jack under the spring, so the force of the spring wouldn't ping the arm downwards

With the top nut removed, I removed the lower bolt on the shock and removed it. This one was very dead. Because they have gas in them, once compressed by hand they should extend to their full length again. This one had no resistance to compressing it and made no efforts to extend. The other side was only marginally better, where if you left it for about 5 minutes it would have extended in full (it should extend to full in a matter of seconds).

The new shock has the correct KYB sticker and P/N on it, but it appears the new replacements don't get paint codes like factory-fitted ones do; the factory paint code for a Works is purple and green. I ordered these from the parts book to Works part numbers, so I know they're correct.

With the shock removed, I could push down on the hub by hand and pull the spring out. I then fitted the new lower spring pad, in the correct orientation based on the service manual

I then replaced the old upper spring pad and fit the spring

The new shock slips into place next

The top mount on the shocks is interesting to me. The top of the shock has a captive rubber mount and steel sleeve. There is then a top bush and metal washer that sandwiches the shock tower into place.

On the underside of the shock tower there is a metal cup that locates the captive bush

Even the top bush is weird, the shoulder goes face-up

The washer sits on top of it

and the nut is placed on top

As the nut is tightened, the bush squishes and flattens out under the washer

I guess compressing the bush like that creates a fair bit of tension, so the shock won't be rattling around in a hurry.

Other than jacking the hub up to ride height and torquing the lower shock bolt, that was one side done. I copy pasta'd the other side.

and then onto the ground it went.

With the combo of fresh new zero km un-saggy springs and the lower spring pads being fitted, the rear ride height has increased a touch. It's only a couple of mm higher and should settle a little as the springs bed in.

I know why they put the KYB sticker where they did now

The Suzuki lineup at work the other day

Looking clean sans tow hook now too

So, how does it drive now? Well, the blown shocks explain a lot! I thought it was just lame povo spec shocks, but even that wouldn't have been as bad. On the road at low speeds the rear feels firmer, but there is a huge difference in how the car feels on the open road, the rear is much more planted and doesn't pitch and dive so much.

In the corners, it's a lot more controllable and the rear doesn't feel like wobbly jelly. I still think it needs the extra stiffening of the rear swaybar to balance it, but cornering speeds can be higher than they were beforehand and the rear follows the front wheels like it should. I reckon it'll be good for a second or two off my laps at Manfield next time, particularly if I can get it to rotate as the Jazz did (no hope for trying to do that when I was lacking any confidence in the rear end).

Some more (boring) bits should be with me soon to tidy the interior up further, and other than that I'll just keep driving the pants off it. Should hit a milestone soon too...

[kws]

It's been an interesting few weeks. I had a scare in the Alto, and more parts arrived.

The weirdness started when I was taking the Alto to work the other week. I jumped in, started it up, and all was normal. I'm cruising along, jamming to some tunes, and hit the usual start stop traffic. I'm just crawling along... And BAM, ALL the dash warning lights suddenly light up and start flashing. They flash a few times and then the majority turn off, leaving only the Check Engine and Stability Control warning lights lit.

I'm worried, will the car suddenly die stuck in traffic? Is the car about to asplode? I've never seen all the dash lights flash like that. I quickly jump off the highway at the next exit and crawl the car home.

It was running fine, no misfire, no smoke, no leaks, nothing. Just the lights.

I made it home fine, swapped cars and left it to think about what it had done.

After work, I plugged in the tablet and fired up SZ Viewer to scan the codes. Ah yes, I think I have a couple of codes. None were current, but nearly all modules at at least one code.

Reading into the codes, they all centered around one thing, the loss of CAN communication with the ABS unit.

I checked all the modules and they were all the related codes, so I saved screenshots of the codes for later and cleared all the codes in the modules. Nothing came back.

I've driven a few hundred KM since, and haven't had any issues, so hopefully it was a once-off and not an intermittent CANBUS issue.

I did have a quick look at the ABS module and it looked normal, so I gave the plug a wiggle and left it

While in the engine bay, I forgot that I hadn't shown my awesome duct tape duct.

For whatever reason, either the intake rubber intake or the fibreglass duct are too short and they don't really meet up, leaving a large gap between and around the two. I made the duct tape duct before trackday to try and encourage more air into the airbox rather than slip out around the smaller rubber intake. Its fully enclosed and seals the two parts together.

It withstood the trackday heat and is still there. I might look for a proper solution one day, or maybe not.

The other day I finally had some bits arrive that I have been trying to get for months. Before Christmas, when I first got the car, I tried to order these bits through the local dealer. They asked Suzuki NZ, who asked Japan, and were advised they could be ordered, so we placed the order.

Japan then proceeded to ignore the order and not process it. After a couple of months of chasing it, I cancelled the order.

I enquired with Amayama, who I have been getting the majority of my genuine Suzuki parts through, and sure enough, they could supply and at a lower cost.

Finally, those parts arrived. What are they? Well, the main one was the massive polystyrene insert that sits in the boot and gives me a proper boot floor. Without it, the floor of the boot is much deeper but tapers and makes it kinda useless for carrying anything in.

The insert just slips into place

All the shaped spaces in it are meant for things like the jack, tyre iron and flat tyre goo kit. I have none of these, so all it is used for is my tow hook

I would like to find a water bottle for the intercooler spray that fits into one of the spaces too...

Having the block in place means I could reinstall the coreflute "floor" and carpet. These are retained with two special clips with little pull tabs on them, so you can access the tools under the floor

It's a kinda dumb thing to be excited about, but I can finally use my boot.

The other thing to arrive was the LH and RH front A-pillar trims. The LH side had a big crack in it, and the RH side had a bunch of holes from when the Japanese owner had a gauge pod fitted there.

To remove these trims, all you do is pull down the door seal

And pull the trim free, starting at the top.

It's hooked into the dash at the bottom, but easy to pull free. Refitting is the reverse, hook it in at the bottom and then push the clips into place. Refit the seal, and you're done.

I've got a couple of other small things on the way and then that should be most things sorted. It's crazy how well priced genuine parts are for these wee things. I'm paying the sort of prices I would normally pay for secondhand junk on Facebook, for brand new parts from Japan.

Future thoughts are an oil cooler for the engine, an SWK intercooler and water sprayer, and maybe some half-down lowering springs. All in good time, and depending on cost.

[AllTorque]

Re dash lights, check your alternator and battery. Often when there are codes everywhere it causes by low voltage. A lot of modern cars will turn off the alternator when idling until there is enough electrical load.

[Goat]

I had a similar problem with my volvo.
It had a ECU controlled alternator, and it had been replaced with a slightly different alternator at some point prior to my ownership.

Apparently it would overcharge and the car would shut off the alternator. So every now and then, the car would light up like a Christmas tree and be bricked, with the wipers running on full hah. (My only car ive ever used AA+ on, twice!)
All modules would throw a code, and it was to do with canbus connection being dropped.

The guy i sold the car to found this out (i sold it bricked as i had no idea what was causing it). Fitted the correct alternator and it was all hunkey dory.