Archives

Yesterday I helped my friend Louis split a transmission, swap out a 3.79:1 crown point and pinion set from a Metro for a 3.52:1 out of a 1994 Suzuki Swift SOHC 4 cylinder. Both are 5 speeds manuals.

This is the best final drive gears for FE possible, even better than the Metro XFi.

Here it is (http://www.flickr.com/photos/drimportracing/sets/72157623615093823/show/).

Click on "Show info" and pause as needed. You can click on Options. check box for "always show title and description" and select the slow speed.

It took longer to do the slideshow than it did to split and reassemble the transmission. :o

I located the donor/transmission for him in Columbia, SC. $45.00 for half of a tranny with all the right parts.

We may end up going to Atlanta (next closest location) to get one for me. $83 complete transmission if it's still there. No live person phone service, automated system with no ability to receive a call back. So I may have to drive 4.5 hours to see if it's been gutted or crushed. Unbelievably bad communications system for these junkyards. But when they have the parts it's cheap.

:D - Dale

It is an interesting slide show. Does your friend hypermile. Will he be able to provide any test results?

It is an interesting slide show.

Tearing down this transmission is easy, anyone can do it fairly simply without much help. Putting it back together is more interesting. This points out all of the important considerations in an easy to understand way.

Does your friend hypermile?

Louis hypermiles in the respect that he gets fantastic mileage from his Metro above the EPA's estimates. He has gotten as high as 74mpg in the past and averages somewhere above 65mpg with no body changes. He doesn't practice any intermediate or expert hypermiling techniques. His interest is in mechanical improvements.

He is my wrenching mentor as much as Wayne Gerdes is our hypermiling Guru. Coincidentally Louis's mentor is a gearhead named Wayne also.

Will he be able to provide any test results?

Yes. Although not to any frequency that I am used to posting in my logs. His pre-retired method was to run till empty, fill with one gallon and run till empty. Record mileage and repeat. This was done every other day for his commute to work and back. After retirement, from October 09 till Feb 10 he only used 3 gallons.

As the weather gets better he will be doing more driving, he tells me. He did take the car down to Columbia, SC and back. He filled up on the way back and will likely wait till he runs out of gas before he logs his mileage.

His testing methods are less than isolated and controlled. He has often made multiple major mechanical changes which confuses the results of any individual test.

I have talked to him about this, I'm just as guilty sometimes. :D:D:D

He is also currently building a gasoline powered, stroked 1.0L with diesel like characteristics and compression relief cam lobes to prevent detonation. This is a modification of a Crower cam system published in Hotrod Magazine in 1981. I don't remember which issue.

He is talking about working on version 4 or 5.3 of a hot water jacketed intake manifold. He has agreed to let me install one of the earlier versions for my testing results. Likely the one which achieved the 74mpg runs. It was the only modification to his car at the time.

Together we can make bigger gains and I can report failures/successes much quicker.

Jim if you ever get back down this way I'll introduce you to him as you and he will likely both benefit. :D - Dale

Could this be done on a smart? I would be very interested as one of the main issues with the smart is the final gear being more optimized for low speeds, and suffers quite a bit as you get above 40mph. How would you go about finding a match for your car?

Suzuki Swift and Geo Metros are basically the same cars, it is the differences that you look for to see if you can improve upon.

So with a Smart you need to find out if there is a common transmission in another car with a taller gear. Smart is a mercedes product? Otherwise you have to custom machine the better gears which isn't economical. - Dale

Suzuki Swift and Geo Metros are basically the same cars, it is the differences that you look for to see if you can improve upon.

Exactly, though you can throw in the Canadian Metros into that mix as well.

I can run the same type of thing between Ford Ranger and Mazda 2300 (2200?).

Chevy Luv and Isuzu Pup, same thing.

excerpt from wikipedia:

From 1985 through 1989, Cultus-derived models sold in North America — under the nameplates Suzuki Forsa, Suzuki Swift, Chevrolet Sprint, Geo Metro and Pontiac Firefly — were sourced from Suzuki's facilities in Japan. Beginning in 1990, all North American M-cars were produced at CAMI Automotive, a 50-50 joint venture between General Motors and Suzuki in Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada. Japanese production continued to source Canadian sedan models. CAMI never reached its intended Metro/Firefly/Swift capacity.[17] While at its peak, Canadian Swift/Metro/Firefly production reached more than 100,000 vehicles a year, the number fell to just 32,000 in 2000.[18] In response to the waning popularity of smaller automobiles in the North American markets, Chevrolet/Geo sold only 55,600 Metros in 1997, off from 88,700 the year before.[19] In a 2004 Autoweek article, Osamu Suzuki, chairman of Suzuki, called CAMI "a fishbone in my throat" because of its low production.[17]

Assembly also commenced in India (Maruti Suzuki), Hungary (Magyar Suzuki), Pakistan (Pak Suzuki), and China (Chang'an Suzuki). When production began at Magyar Suzuki of the Suzuki Swift in 1992, Suzuki invested $230 million in capital for the new company and flew each of its Hungarian workers to Japan for training in its production methods.[20] Notably, 5-door models of the Generation II (under the nameplate Cultus) are manufactured today in Pakistan and 4-door sedans of Generation II are manufactured today in China.

Convertibles were the only 100% Japanese made models sold here in the US after 1989. - Dale