Debadged Front End & Pivot Stepping Gauge

Decided that the front chrome S badge needs to go since the rear one has left already. So, with plenty of patience, Ronsonol lighter fluid and my special tool, the big S came off. A fellow in the www.swiftclusg.com was selling actual carbon fibre ones for $62. That's alot to pay for a badge. So, as usual, I decided to make my own. Using the original S as a template, I cut out the shape on carbon fibre sticker sheet. Stuck it on and voila! saved myself $62. I'm attempting to 'wrap' the S with the same carbon fibre sticker and see how it goes.

Finally, after 2 or more years, the Pivot 5-in-1 stepping gauge is put to use. It was originally meant for Daisy but there was simply no space on the dashboard to put it. It would look ricey on the A pillar. So, the gauge was put into cold storage. When I wanted to sell it off on Yahoo! auctions, nobody wanted to buy it because it was so damn expensive. Price? $600. Hey, it's a Pivot Stepping Gauge, not some cheap crappy stuff. Anyway, it took 2 days for the workshop to rig it up. I am really pleased with it....especially the shift lamp. No more guessing, when that light comes on, I know exactly when to shift. It also monitors oil temp and water temp. We tried to get the boost/pressure to read vacum but it's not working well. We will sort that out later.

Debadged Rear End

Here's how the rear end looks like without all the badges. I think it looks better this way. It's got a clean look. Besides, those badges are killing my drying cloths. Due to their pointed edges, the cloth gets hooked up all the time and frays. If you want to remove your badges, a word of advice: patience. Whatever method you used, take your time or else, you are sure leave scratches. I use dental floss (waxed, of course) to cut off the badge from the body. Douse it with plenty of Ronsonol lighter fluid to soften the gum. Don't worry about the lighter fluid streaming down, it won't hurt the paint job. Remove the rest of the gunk with masking tape by pressing the tape on the gunk and then slowly lifting it off. This method is guaranteed not to leave scratches. After all the gunk is off, a few layers of polish will remove the tiny bits and give you back the shine.

Check out my Pivot 5-in-1 stepping gauge. Bought this almost 2 years ago when Daisy had a supercharger onboard. Never got round to installing it mainly because it looked kinda out of place inside Daisy. Tried to sell it on Yahoo! auctions but no one could afford to buy it. It is $600. It gives RPM reading, water temp, oil temp, boost and pressure readings. It also has a built-in shift lamp. This is one cool gauge and coincidentally, matches the main instrument cluster and air-con vents.

Engine Bay Water Seal

Fed-up with water all over the engine bay especially when I use a hose to wash down the car, I decided to do something about it. Thought about complicated methods of doing it but surprisingly, an idea flashed before me when I saw some discarded wipers. I pulled apart the rubber bit from the metal bits. With some double-sided tape, I attached them to the side of the engine bay and voila! no more water ingress from the side. That simple mod saves me having to wipe the engine bay dry. Coincidentally, the wipers were from an E39...

More mods to come...

I've just bought over a second-hand bonnet for a CAI project. The idea is to cut a hole ideally near where the stock air box is located and channel air via a NASCAR air vent. Some pipings will be custom-made to ram air into the intake pipe of the stock air. Looking at all the available systems, I decided on customising my own CAI because I want to maintain the stock air box for 2 reasons; firstly, the stock air box is nicely constructed. It would be a waste to take it out and besides, it's got good shielding from the heat. Secondly, it will be not be noisy; taking into consideration that the stock air box comes with a reasonator. Stay tuned for the results.

The other mods in the pipeline is the modification of the Wilwood brakes used previously on Daisy. New hangers will be made and enlarged front rotors will be used; probably 286 mm. This would be a nice mod and make stopping that much better.

Minor Makeovers to the Swift

Added side mouldings today. At first glance, it did not looked good. As always, will let it stay on the car for a while before I decide what to do next.

Welcome to the Family

This posting is a carry-over from my other blog on Daisy.

Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting little Swifty. Yup, took the leap and got myself a Suzuki Swift Sport just about a week ago. Wasted no time getting her up and ready for some fast runs on the B-roads. Here's the list of upgrades to date:

1. Cusco Front Strut bar
2. Cusco Rear Strut bar
3. Cusco Front Anti-roll bar
4. Cusco Rear Anti-roll bar
5. Cusco 4-point brace
6. Tanabe Sustec GF Coilovers
7. SPK Steel Braided Teflon Brake lines
8. Hurricane Steel-mesh air filter
9. Suzuki Sports Sports Clutch pedal
10. SSW 17" rims with 215-45 tyres all round

Okay, so what took me almost 3 to 5 years to do on Daisy took me only 1 week on Swifty and at a fraction of the cost. So the drive is not as fantastic as Daisy but for the price, let me say that Swifty ain't no pushover. She is swift and sure-footed with all that enhancements. I've been holding back on the throttle just so that I do the break-in nicely. For now, enjoy the pics.

New Mods to the Swift Sport

I must admit that the mods I am laying on the little car is more than expected. While the initial intent was to keep it as stock as possible, I cannot resist putting more oomph into the car because it is really capable of doing more in the engineering department. However, I am keeping all mods as legal as possible. So, nothing will be done to the extractors and the exhaust will remain stock. To improve the air flow, a Sunline Racing mid-pipe was installed. The diameter is slightly larger compared to stock and the chrome steel pipe really looks good (especially after a good rub with autosol). Surprisingly, the improvement is quite significant. The pull is so much stronger and the car feels like it's lungs have expanded considerably.

To give some glam to the rear-end, I ditched the stock exhaust pipe tips and welded 2 really big tips! They fill the holes on the rear diffuser nicely and gives the car a nice sporty rear end.

Internally, I've added a Suzuki Sports foot rest and racing clutch pedal. The sports pedal is really nice and makes the clutch biting point much lower. It feels softer to press also and that helps in a traffic jam.