[ Swift Sport ] (Un-) Modifications, Part 6

After my summer long road trip and travel around Japan recently, I feel really connected with my Suzuki Swift Sport. I can say definitively that the car has an amazing balance of everything I look for in a daily driver: sharp handling, good power-to-weight performance, reliability, comfort, and spaciousness. The car can prove itself well up and down curvy mountain passes, have enough power to pass slower cars on the roads, all while having the comfort of carrying two weeks’ worth of clothes, camping equipment, omiyage, and an Alto Works roll cage.

To thank my Swift for soldiering on through tens of thousands of kilometers of highways and narrow touge roads, I accumulated a few “modification” parts: wheels, exhaust, rear wing, rear wiper, seats, steering wheel, floor mat, steel nuts…

You might have noticed that all of these parts are stock parts. You might be asking what is the point of showcasing them in this post? How are they a “mod”?

Well, I’m un-modifiying my car. Let’s take a look in horror and sadness of a car undergoing a transformation back to stock.

All good things must come to an end.

Now that the car is back to as much stock as reasonably possible, what’s next in store for my Swift? Well, if you haven’t already gathered, these changes have been made so that the car can be sold in somewhat original condition.

Much as in other automobile second-hand markets, typically buyers will not want or care about aftermarket modifications, so anything attached to the car will get little to no additional value. In actuality, aftermarket parts often cause a decrease in resale value, as it signals to the next buyer that the car may have been mistreated, damaged, or worn. Perhaps even the previous owner installed parts incorrectly.

Of course, I know better than to put together a shoddy car (okay, maybe my Alto Works exempted), but nonetheless this applies. So if you or someone you know is interested in an amazing, well-maintained sporty hatchback, please drop me a message!

[ Swift Sport ] Project Mu TYPE PS Brake Pads (Modifications, Part 5B)

I agonized weeks over the decision on my replacement front pads, comparing prices, reviews, and brands of several major manufacturers. Prices range from 3000￥ ($25 USD) for OEM-level equipment, to well over 20,000￥ ($190 USD) for track-use pads. Since the fronts do a lot of the braking work, especially for a front-engined, front-drive car, and the fact that I do somewhat harsh spirited street driving, selecting carefully between price and braking performance is critical. Also because this is a daily-driver, cold braking performance, brake dust, and noise are also important.

Due to a lack of real trustworthy reviews I could rely on, I recognized price is not the only determining factor. My Miata has cheap Pep Boys pads, but as I hinted before, pads do not make the only difference. For that car, I used high quality DOT4 fluid… and the car stops consistently well, even after hard autocrossing and track use. Granted, the car is rather light, but that setup is more than good enough for my use.

For my Swift Sport, though, I finally settled on a set of TM Square Street Brake Pads which are priced at 8600￥. TM Square is a small, but well-known manufacturer of primarily Suzuki Swift parts. While I’m fairly certain they don’t make the pads in-house, they claim their pad compound was engineered specifically for them. The company has a lot of race experience with Suzukis, so I expected them to work fairly well.

However, I was glad I was patient on the decision-making because during the waiting interm, I found a great deal on a brand new, unused but “second hand” set of Project Mu TYPE PS pads. They originally retail at  20,000￥, but because they were considered “open box”... they were about 5000￥ ($45 USD), shipped. Ridiculously cheap for arguably one of their best overall pads from a well-respected manufacturer, as these pads claim to have a great balance of braking performance, pedal feel, little noise, and reduced rotor wear.

I opted not to replace the rotors at this time, given that the overall condition of them are still quite good. Maybe after these stiffer pads wear down would I replace the rotors then.

Time to put it up on a lift and replace the brakes. One thing I absolutely love about modern disc brakes is the fact they are super easy to replace. Remove the one lower bolt and the whole brake assembly pivots on the upper bolt.

Perhaps the most difficult task is to push the piston in… without the right tools, it’s a minor hassle, but luckily I have access to a proper piston compression tool here at Rodeo Cars.

After a bit of cleaning and some application of high-temperature lubrication to minimize pad chatter, the whole assembly is back in place. This is also a good time to drain a bit of the brake fluid and replace it with fresh fluid. Since it is still pretty clean from my last shaken, it doesn’t need a full drain or flush.

The first thing that needs to be done once everything is cinched back up is bedding the brakes. The process to bed in a brake pad is pretty easy, but it’s quite important. The main reason to do this is to ensure some friction is done and wear surfaces are mated properly. Essentially, I need to heat the pads and rotors sufficiently by having a few relatively hard high-speed stops. Without anyone around, I found some empty stretches of road nearby where I could do this safely and not bother anyone.

After a few hundred kilometers of fairly typical street driving, my initial impressions are pretty darn good. The brake pads have never squealed (other than the first drive after a wet night due to rotor rust… but that applies with all cars). The brake pedal is firm and braking pressure is consistent.

I only had a chance to flex the pads a bit on some local winding roads before I made this post and I can say quite certainly they are as they claim. I purposely tried to quickly push hard on the brakes on every corner in order to get the brakes as hot as possible. The initial bite is strong and feels consistent through several hard braking passes. Even afterwards, I noticed minor brake dust on my wheels, but it is not that much different than the previous pads and to be fair, I tried to drive relatively hard on them.

In truth, however, I have not tested them to their maximum heat capacity, so how they fare on hard driving or circuit driving is another matter. I do have faith in their advertised performance based on the driving I did thus far and Project mu’s reputation in racing. Brake job done!

[ Swift Sport ] Project Mu TYPE PS Brake Pads (Modifications, Part 5A)

After all my recent Hokkaido and Eastern Honshu road trip around Japan, my brakes have been run down to about a quarter remaining, so I figured one of the most important “modifications” I can do is maintenance in the form of a good brake job on my Suzuki Swift Sport.

Brakes are one of the most important safety aspects of a car. In conjunction with good tires, good brakes can literally be the difference between life and death... or a wrecked car. Almost all modern cars use disc brakes, but some economy cars, such as kei cars, use drum brakes for the rear. Their stopping methods are different and there are some minor positive reasons to use drums over discs for the rear, but suffice to say most sport-oriented cars utilize discs all around.

Disc brakes, as the name implies, use large, typically steel, disc rotors attached to the wheel and hub. One or more brake pistons push against brake pads which apply pressure to the spinning disc, slowing the car down by changing the kinetic energy state to sound, heat, and wear. Most discs also incorporate vents and spacing in the center of the disc to better dissipate heat. More advanced rotors are made of materials that better reject or give off heat like carbon-ceramic or use of mixed metals like steel in the disc and aluminum in the hub hat.

The stopping action of disc brakes is very similar to the way a typical brake system on a bicycle works, with two little pads applying pressure against a spinning disc. Well, in the case of a bike, the wheel itself.

Drum brakes are a completely different design, because they utilize brake pads that push outwards against a spinning brake drum to reduce speed. The main problem with this setup is the inability to reject or reduce heat quickly, critical for sporty applications. 

The benefits of a disc brake are numerous which is why almost all manufacturers currently employ at least disc front brakes. They reject heat quickly, are durable and easily maintained, and may have better stopping power than most drums. Some economy cars utilize drum brakes for the rears simply because of manufacturing costs. However, on off-road truck applications, drum brakes can have some advantages. Drums are essentially sealed items, so in muddy, dusty, or wet applications, drums can still stop despite environmental effects. One additional benefit of drum brakes is the ease and reliability of the mechanical parking brake which does not require the hydraulic booster system to function at all, since the lever actually moves the brake pad directly.

Brakes are an oft overlooked modification for ricers (Iike me). Some car guys dump money into exterior mods or some into improving power or handling… but overlook or cut corners on the brakes. For me, many of the cars I’ve had stop well enough with their stock setup… that’s my excuse at least.

Basic upgrades to brakes mean replacing pads to a more aggressive compound. This usually means more dust and noise, since a more heat-resistant, “stronger” material means more sacrificial wear to the rotors and eventually, the pad itself, resulting in more frequent replacements.

The next level of upgrade is usually to also replace the stock rotors with slotted or cross-drilled disc rotors. Such opening slots allow worn dust and material to be “swept away,” and there are some additional cooling benefits to the increased surface area, but there are some drawbacks like the additional risk of warping or cracking under extreme duress.

The biggest upgrade is to replace the brake system with larger calipers, allowing the use of bigger pads and discs. Some larger calipers also mean there are more pistons which can put more consistent and firmer pressure on the pads, resulting in amazing stopping distances, repeatable over prolonged use. (Assuming the tires are not the weakest link.) Of course, model-specific brake upgrades can be wildly expensive.

Is it all really even necessary? It’s true stock brakes can more than handle slowing a car down quickly for normal day-to-day traffic. But repeated, quick, and harsh stoppages in extreme conditions as found on a racetrack or even on a long touge mountain run, the brakes “fade” and squeak in agony due to warping from heat and pressure, potentially leading to spongy, inconsistent braking feel, weaker pressures, or failure to stop.

It sounds strange to say brakes “fade” because they are still there. It actually just means brake pressures fade or weaken to the point of failing to stop as expected. Assuming the pads and discs are otherwise properly maintained, the most common fault of brake fade during spirited driving is fluid fade, the boiling of the brake fluid itself due to heat transfer. This increased heat in the fluid leads to air separation and loss of pressure. Typically, one can feel the fading gradually from a “spongy” brake pedal that requires more pressure than usual to slow the car.

The commonality of all modern brakes is this brake fluid. The standard OEM-supplied brake fluid is acceptable, but DOT4 or synthetic fluids allow much more heat transfer before the liquid reaches the boiling point, allowing consistent brake feel during aggressive use.

But I digress… it’s time to change the brakes on my Swift Sport!

[ Alto Works ] Saito Safety Roll Cage, Part 2

Brands
According to all my searches online, I could only find two brands currently offering roll cages for my old Alto Works, Cusco and Saito Cage. Cusco has two sub-brands, Safety21 which is made out of heavier but cheaper steel and D1 which is their lighter chromoly design. Saito Roll Cage is more of a custom builder, as they make cages to-order, but offer a plethora of custom options that Cusco does not, including varying cross brace designs, materials, colors, and even additional bolt-in mounting points.

None of the options available are weld-in cages, which for my intents are purposes is more than adequate. This will make installation much easier and is adequately safe for what I need. Further, bolt-in cages allow simple transplantation for when I will eventually move it to another Alto.

Am I planning to get into a rollover? Obviously not, it’s highly unlikely that I will get into an accident of that sort. And since I will not be doing wheel-to-wheel racing, it is not for abiding by racing rules. Honestly it might just be for the look, but I am also buying one because I don’t trust the safety of the car, even if I am only driving it at 5/10ths around town.

With so many “points” available, I thought about my needs and narrowed it down to either a 6-point cage that can still allow 4 passengers or a “10+ point” cage with some side bars for side impact protection.

With all the options available on the internet, what did I go with?

While new prices are fairly reasonable for Cusco, starting at around 50,000￥ ($460 USD) for a six-point, ever the frugal person, I looked for used options online. I found some 4-point roll bars for as little as 20,000￥ in rather poor condition, but I held out past a 30,000￥ 6-point one til I found the exact model I wanted: A Saito Roll Cage that went for 70,000￥ ($645 USD), unfortunately located all the way in Iwate, 12+ hours away from me and the seller was not willing to arrange shipping due to the size and bulk.

As it just so happens, I was planning a summer road trip to Hokkaido and I would be driving back, passing through Iwate. (Check out my recent Instagram posts to see my adventures.) I contacted the seller and arranged to meet him at his home in the beautiful mountainous countryside, picking it up and squeezing it into my Swift Sport. I drove it home like this, cramped with two weeks’ of clothing, camera gear, and camping equipment.

Why did I go through all the trouble to buy a bar that was nearly the price of a new Safety21 steel cage of similar design? This cage has virtually every single option that Saito offers (and even doesn’t offer) on their website. The bars are made of lighter chromoly, the X cross brace is made of super light aluminum, the bar is a true 8-point brace with two points of mounting by the front seat belt mounting points, and it also has side bars. For all these complete options, the bar would easily sell for well over 110,000￥ new, so in this respect, the price is quite reasonable.

Time to get it installed! Of course, this necessitates striping out the interior. I knew eventually the seats had to go, but I also had to remove the rear quarter interior panels and pull up the corners of the carpet.

I also spent a bit of time cleaning up the mounting plates of the surface rust and the silicon residue leftover from the previous owner’s installation.

Read on next week for the final progress!

[ Alto Works ] Saito Safety Roll Cage, Part 1

Safety is always a concern when driving, especially if you take any “spirited” drives around mountain touge roads. One way to protect occupant safety is to install a roll bar or roll cage which will add rigidity to a car as well as protect the people inside in case of an accident or rollover. In my accident, I especially discovered kei cars are made of cheap, light metals, so having some protection in my Alto Works will be especially important.

Overview
A roll bar is a simple bar that prevents the roof of a car from caving in, in case of a rollover. You can find aftermarket bars most commonly on open-top convertible roadsters or mildly-modified sports cars used on tracks in non-wheel-to-wheel racing events. In fact, a roll bar is a legal rule requirement for open top cars, as the chance of rollover and roof cave-in are quite high. Certainly, a front windscreen will definitely crush with the weight of a car.

Roll bars are typically simple 2 or 4-point bars that go behind the driver and mount to the chassis of the car. An overly simple 2-point bar is a hoop. While this might be cheap and light, it can be dangerous as it can fold over given enough lateral pressure. It may also be referred to as a “style bar,” as it is essentially more style than safety function. A 4-point roll bar also adds to legs that mount further behind a 2-point hoop, creating 4 points of hard mounting, which will strongly resist any folding should the worst happen. Some roll bars have cross bars that add strength to the whole system.

A roll cage is the next ultimate step in ruining a perfectly streetable car. They are so-called a cage because it essentially surrounds passengers with a metal cage that can protect during a roll-over or from impacts.

Roll cages start at 6-points and increase in complexity and cross mounting points based on safety needs. 6-point roll cages add two arms that go in front of the driver, mounting near the footwell. There are two variants of this, bent arms that follow the curvature of the front dash and through-dash arms. The “standard” bent arms are easier to install, but eat into the cabin space a bit, making ingress and exit a bit more cumbersome. The through-dash cage requires permanent holes to be cut into the stock dashboard or removal of the dash entirely.

While there are nearly infinite designs and options, many cages also offer some cross braces that add rigidity. Some more serious folks who may do wheel-to-wheel racing will add side bars that protect the occupants in the case of a side impact. This isn’t even including the cages that are completely welded in to the chassis.

Material Types
There are two primary materials used in bar construction, mild steel and chromoly. Essentially, both are steel, but have differing weights and strengths. Mild carbon steel is much heavier, but is cheaper to produce and low alloy chromoly is lighter. There are some arguments that claim because mild steel is “softer,” it is more durable after stress or impact, but I don’t know the real facts about that. Racing regulations typically allow either material to be used in cages.

Western or Japanese Differences
In addition, there are further important options to note between “western” and Japanese roll cages. (I am defining them as “western” and Japanese simply for the sake of brevity. There are western companies that follow the primarily Japanese design cues of roll cages and vice versa. Note this also typically only applies to off-the-shelf bolt-in and not custom-designed weld-in.)

Image from www.cusco.co.jp

In all English standard safety guidelines, the “points” of a roll cage are where the cage is mounted into the chassis. However, companies like Cusco also define those “points” of a roll cage as points where bars cross and connect. Here is a chart from their website. I definitely do not agree with their way of counting points, but I suppose we’re just nitpicking semantics here.

Western companies often minimize the number of bolts used to assemble the cage. Some off-the-shelf companies still require some welding to connect the major hoops of the bars. Unless you are doing professional wheel-to-wheel racing, most Japanese circuit racing rules still allow multi-piece bolted assemblies, which also eases production and shipping costs.

Probably as a result from the more solid design of Western cages, harness bars are often integrated into the cage itself. This results in the more proper harness angle of < 20 degrees from the shoulder, according to many safety harness manufacturers (more in a later post). In the case of a multi-piece bolt-in, I would definitely not trust mounting a harness to it. Hence, typical Japanese harnesses are installed via eye bolts to the rear passenger seat belt mounting points.

Many current racing regulations for cages in the west require 45 to 50mm diameter piping, whereas Japan still commonly uses 40mm. Whether the additional strength and width of the pipes are a necessity is also arguable.

General Advantages
So all these bars are great, but why would anyone want to add a cage? Besides the aforementioned safety advantages in case of a roll-over, having protective bars could prove a literal life-saver in the case of an accident. Keep in mind that kei cars in particular have a thin, sheet metal chassis which will no doubt crumple completely in any higher-speed crash. I’ve seen some post-accident and they don’t look pretty. Undoubtedly the newer models are better designed, but not my Alto. A 21+ year old, lightly rusted car based on a 1980s body will definitely not have such protection.

Beyond the safety aspect, a roll cage will definitely add body rigidity, essentially more than compensating for all those interior braces offered by various manufacturers. This should theoretically aid in handling and minimizing torsional stresses of a flimsy frame.

There is a ton of properly employed safety methodology here. Two guesses as to who the manufacturer of the base car is…

General Disadvantages
Unfortunately, roll cages have plenty of drawbacks themselves. On the flip side of the beneficial safety aspect, a poorly designed roll bar could potentially result in additional injury because exposed bars are extremely dangerous compared to softer plastic interior panels.

Even through-dash types of roll bars compromise interior space and make getting in and out of a roll caged car more difficult, not to mention some cages eliminate the rear seats entirely. This not only reduces passenger and interior space, it is also an issue come shaken time, as the number of passengers can not be changed. (Unless the paperwork is redone, but that is a several hundred-dollar proposition.) Shaken with a roll cage also requires it to be well-padded to pass inspection. (According to sources online. I’ll update this information when I have to shaken again.)

Lastly, a roll cage adds weight, even if it is the lighter chromoly type. This will negatively affect fuel economy, speed, and braking distance. In reality, this weight is probably pretty negligible given that most Cusco cages only weigh 30kg (67 lbs) or less, but in racing (as well as to my little 63 HP kei car), every ounce counts.

For me, the pros definitely outweigh the cons.