Meet Karl

Opel Karl that is.

AKA Vauxhall Viva, AKA Chevy Spark, AKA Holden Spark.

Have you ever started out looking for one thing and ended up with something completely different? I was initially looking at 9C1/9C3's, the ones with the 300hp 3.6. I thought it would be fun to pick up a no frills ex cop car and have a little fun with it, see how low in the 13's I could get it on a budget. But that didn't pan out. Everything I drove was either a POS, or had a story, and not usually a good one. So I ended up on the opposite end of the spectrum, driving a little bit of everything else along the way.

I took the train into downtown Toronto yesterday, and picked this up from a young guy who just moved here from Quebec to go to school.

2016 Spark. 87k (km)

I'll get better pics when I can, it's kind of filthy right now, it rained all the way home.

I wasn't sure how good the fuel economy would be so I zeroed it as I was leaving Toronto. About 110km/h the whole way home. I've driven cars like this all my life and I'm accustomed to gas being a non-issue. I sort of got away from that for a while, but I'm glad to revisit it. That's about 43 miles per US gallon

There were 3 choices for lowering springs, all European, though one may have been Chinese, I decided to go with what I know and ordered the H&R's from Germany. They were the most expensive option, but I have no concerns about the quality, and the 30/30 drop will be about right for me. Next up, wheels

See Bob, I told you you'd be disappointed.

I've decided on 16's for the car and as luck would have it, I already have a set. What are the odds? They're a little scabby, the clear coat started peeling and they've discoloured rather quickly, but they're König's and they look nice. So I'll take them into work and have the guys in the blast booth blast them up for me.

So the question is, what colour do I paint them? I'd originally said no  black wheels, and thinking back to my Swift GT days, they looked really good in white with white wheels. Not sure how that would look on a more modern car. The kid I work with was over today and voted black. I then started to think, you can get these cars with a black roof option.  I may actually do that, either paint or wrap, and since the hood has a few paint chips and one small dent (that I was able to use for a healthy discount) do it as well. What if I do a 35 tint, black roof and hood, black wheels? Too much black?

The black spray booth at work is practically right beside the blast booth. Black is free - with zero effort on my part. It's beginning to look more palatable all the time.

I'm looking for suggestions. Silver, and bronze are also on the table.

And that leads to tire size. Stock is 185 55 15. The snows on it are up a size, 195 55. I normally like to drop a size on cars like this, they usually seem to like picking up a little gear. So the two sizes I had in mind are 195 45 16, and 205 40 16. Sizes are limited, but there are a few options. The 205 40 is even a little smaller diameter, and I can get some nice Nitto's for a decent price. The rims currently have 205 45's. I'll try them for fit, but want to avoid going up on diameter, even a little bit, if I can.

Power is not horrible, and it feels like there's potential. There will be more on that later.

Dude, bronze. And 20% tint. And carbon hood.....

Im i  for the thread! I love econobox games!

Smart buy given what gas prices are, especially in Canuck-istan!!!

Another vote for bronze, and 205/40 for the tires. All these recent econobox threads are putting ideas in my head. 

Wheels: pink on one side, teal on the other, Jazz cup graphics down the side.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Diggity!

Somewhere between these two

In reply to Keith Tanner :

It was actually a pink wheeled one we saw in town that made me take a second look. 

It was the four door thing that kept me away before, but there's no escaping it now. I guess I got my manual trans and hatch, I can be happy with that. And if you look at it right, it looks like a two door.

Pink and teal graphics like a 90's Sidekick or Metro would be pretty sweet though.

I think I figured out the hood. I'll paint, or wrap the center raised section of the hood black or carbon, white on either side. That will cover the dent and most of the stone chips. And look good. Bronze was initially my first choice, and I have to do 35 on the windows. Anything darker is too dark for me.

EDIT:  John beat me to it as I was posting!

Very cool!

My daughter and I did a 1300 mile road trip in a Spark last summer and it was a terrific little car.  I'm a fan.

How about have your guys paint the wheels all black, then mask and paint the face and spokes bronze (or other color of choice)? That way you get black barrels that should hide some brake dust at little cost and you minimize the painting that you have to do.

In reply to ShawneeCreek :

That's not a bad idea. All options are still on the table, even different rims if I see something I like. 
Ordered this last night. I was going to make one but for $26...

I have an new K&N cone filter Left over from the Forte that I can hang on the end which should help a lot. The stock intake is small and looks very much like it's designed for quiet. 
 

These things are supported by HP tuners, which was not an insignificant factor when I was looking, and should make a huge difference. It's very mild mannered now, and I hope the change that. 

This week I'll order an exhaust manifold gasket so I can get started on a header flange, and I have a Borla muffler, and proper high flow cat in 2", new in boxes, from a previously aborted project that should slot in there perfectly       

Springs  are supposed to be here Monday, and I'll take measurements for a SkinnyG style  sway bar while it's up in the air.  I do have a bunch of possible donors from my Suzuki days. Pics to follow. 

Bronze, charcoal....

1.4T? I love those motors

Plans to mod

I wish It was the 1.4T. These didn't come with that option, which is a shame because it would be a riot. Mods at this point will be simple. Intake, header, exhaust,  a big TB if I can find something that will work, and a tune, along with some suspension. If I really like the car I may turbo it in the future, I should have everything to do it in the shop already. 

These are built on the Gamma II platform, same platform as the Sonic (that's a good thing), but this is not a non turbo 1.4 engine from the Sonic. These were developed later for the Spark, the 1.4T in the later Cruze, and the 1.5T in the Malibu, as well as a few 3 cyl versions we didn't get. I don't think they share anything with the earlier 1.4T

Karl is about to get closer to the ground.

 Credit where credit's due, Brown was by yesterday, mostly on time. Three days from Germany and customs clearance charges of $10, not at all what I was expecting.

These are the two smallest diameter sway bars I have but both are probably a little big at 21.5 and 23.5 mm, though the width is actually pretty good. I measured the car on the weekend and the distance between the spring pockets is about 36" on the inside. If you can see the measuring tape, I could probably just cut the bottom one where it drops off, weld a bracket on and be done. But it's the larger of the two and probably too big. Somebody knowledgeable about such things can comment?

Maybe I'll should see if we have anything at work I can bend up, probably closer to 3/4"/19mm?

There is an aftermarket bar and I think I read somewhere that it's 19mm. Duh! I just noticed it on the website

You can see the design of the rear beam, and sway bar in this pic. Shouldn't be too difficult, and the flat plate method would probably be easier, though it would take some experimentation. Suspension is not my forté, so I'll keep it simple

Max Bore(maxbore.com) can port your throttle body for a pretty reasonable price. He has done 4-5 of the cars ive owned and never had a single issue with his work.

Sometimes I look at it and think, it's kind of ugly. Why did I buy an ugly car?

Ok, busy week, but a little progress. 
I took it in to get the windows tinted  Tuesday. I like white for the simple, clean look, and ease of repair, but it got some desperately needed contrast with the tint. 
 

Thanks to my son and his "rare" Sidekick that's perpetually in my shop, now for paint, masked up with the glass out of it, I decided it was just easier to do it outside. It was a nice enough day after a brutal winter, so I sucked it up and got it in the air. The tint, 35 all around, doesn't really look dark enough in the pic but seems ok  in person, and plenty dark for my tired eyes  

I drove Firefly turbos and Swift GT's for the better part of 20 years. Rabbits, Jettas, Pony's and Skoda's before that. It's a testament to my intelligence that it took so long to even look at a Spark.

Look at that spring. The tension it was under was crazy. Kinda looks like it has Peyronie's


Pulling  the struts was a bit of a pain. They're so close to the firewall you have to have just the right little extension, or pull the hood, then have to be really careful not to contact and break the windshield with the impact gun. Add to that how rusty the nuts and threads were because they were not protected form water ingress, and it was a little nervous .  
I thought for sure I'd have some of those rubber cups some cars have for precisely that purpose but didn't. So I found a solution, if only temporary. 
I buy these little takeout containers for taking hot sauces to work. Fit perfectly. 

The rear's were pretty normal and straightforward, though It's the first time I've ever had to pull the wheel sensor cable clip out  of it's mount to get a spring out. 

More later

Sorry for the multiple posts, I've been doing these posts between calls at work.

Springs in, and hot sauce containers on, I aired up the tires and gave them a test fit with the new suspension.  Go a few posts back, it doesn't even look like the same car.

Looking at the wheel gap before I started, I was sure the 30/30 drop wasn't going to be enough but I'm very happy with the way it looks and even happier with the way it drives. It sits at a proper height now. I no longer feel like I'm sitting way up in the air, and the car doesn't feel awkwardly tall anymore. It feels... normal. It looks low but unlike the last two cars I've lowered it doesn't ride like it's lowered. You get the occasional feeling like it's a little under damped, but it really feels better in every way.  I wonder if the difference in ride quality is the springs, or just the application? It did sit pretty high before so there was plenty of room, but this time I spent the bucks and went with the most expensive option, H&R's. 

Yesterday's activity was to get the rest of the paint and finish up the wheels.

I settled on Titanium, probably my second choice after bronze, and after all the running around trying to find paint, and making dinner I didn't have the energy to follow through on the wheels, so they're still battling for space with Mrs. P's shoes in the foyer. Covid sucks.

But they blasted up really nice.

When I was building machinery in the 90's I used to do all the painting in blue, silver and green hammer tone paint. I've always wanted to do a set of rims in hammer, but never did. Because paint was so hard to get in the colours I could use I did the back of the rims in hammer just to ensure I'd have enough for the front. It looks really good.

The fronts turned out well too.

Because I couldn't get the wheel paint I would normally use (no stock anywhere) I used a Rust-oleum product I used in the past. I'd forgotten all about it but it has very high metallic and it paints quite nicely. The gloss is not as high as I would like but it's only wheels. I guess I could always clear coat it, but I don't think it matters that much.

The colour is Dark steel. Functionally the same as titanium, I think. I'm happy with them.

I wish I'd ordered the rubber when I started looking. No 205 40's were still available so I went up to a 205 45 and ordered Indy 500's. The Nitto's I'd originally planned on had gone up so much they were only a few bucks less than the 500's, and I decided against the inexpensive Anteres.

I have been eyeing these hard for a new daily since my commute is beyond short now and they are getting in my radar price wise. 

The paint on the mounting surface if the wheel might create problems. Please clean that off before using the wheels.

Same goes for paint on the lug nut mating surface.

That is turning into a great looking commuter. After running cheap coilovers on my TDI and swapping to H&R Super Sports I've vowed to only buy their springs from now on. They just ride so good. 

patiently waiting for more updates on this.