Meet Karl

Median said:

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.

QFT

In reply to dannyp84 :

My apologies, I've not been here in some time. I will update when I get a chance, but at this point I am very happy with the car

Looks good!

You need to order some Holden emblems for it.

Just because.

The wheels turned out great, but I was not enamored with the look. A little too polite looking for my tastes.

So I pulled them off, masked them up, and repainted them with a different Rust oleum colour in the same series, black stainless steel metallic. What I would refer to as gunmetal. I'll let you be the judge

I was not really happy with the brakes when I bought it. They were OK, but just OK, and I suspected that the pads had been changed at some point with a budget set. They just had that vague pedal feel that you get from cheap pads. They were adequate, but just barely, and I didn't feel comfortable if I had to make a quick stop at speed.

When I removed them it was obvious they'd been changed. The rotors were fairly worn with a decent size lip on the outside, and on one side the pads had been installed backward, which you can't do because the squealer tab interferes with the caliper if you try to install them the wrong way. So whoever did it bent the tab out of the way.  Well done!

So I replaced the pads and rotors with parts from a local brake supplier, Max advanced brakes, or as we call them, Max Brakes. They work, and stand up well, and are competitively priced with jobber stuff from the local parts houses. I opted for the highest end parts they had in stock for this car, their Premium XDS and Carbon metallic pads for a few bucks more. The brakes are much better now.

Those rotors sure look small inside those 16" wheels, but they do the job

I prefer the more silver color, but I've never been a fan of black wheels. All the mods look great. I was about say I'm jealous of the 3-door hatch that I don't think we got in the US, but the hidden door latch fooled me!

I also prefer silver on the rims, just not on this particular car. And they don't look nearly as black in person. Black was the last thing I wanted.

On my way to see the car I got a message from the owner. The car was hit and there's minor damage to the hood, are you still interested? My phone is silenced in the car, and I didn't see that message until I was there. It didn't change my mind and I used it to get the price down another $1000. Yes, that's a lot of stone chips. I touched them all up with a little piece of sandpaper and a white paint marker from work.

I've since touched it up and it's hardly noticeable but I found a hood deflector that covers it. I just can't decide if i want to put it on, or fill the dent and cover that center section with some kind of wrap.

And I'm still working on the rear sway bar idea. I've found 3/4" HR round bar at work so that's an easy option, but I wouyld prefer to use an actual OEM sway bar, assuming the OEM would use the proper material. I've found two possibilities. Mazda 3 rear bar is a little narrow, though I might be able to make it work, but it looks like a Honda Element has a bar that's just about right. There's a pic n save yard across from work, I may go back over there this weekend, take some measurements, and pull the bar off the Element. If not the 3 bar can probably be made to work. Best part? They want $13.50 for a sway bar.

Mazda 3, and somebody already did the work for me

The MAF adapter I bought came in and it was the wrong one. So I had to wait for the correct one to arrive. In the meantime I found a genuine K&N filter, brand new in the box, for $25 on Marketplace. It looked perfect, and even though the dimensions were in the ad, when I saw it in person, it was a lot smaller than I thought it would be.

I bought it anyway and it seems to be working just fine.

63mm/2.5" adapter is the perfect fit for the MAF, though I had to open up the housing a little bit where the MAF sensor bolts in.

The fit inside the filter and inside the OE inlet hose wasn't as tight as I would have liked, and I was going to machine an adapter for the adapter, but had an idea. I fixed a flat on one of my bikes the night before and had a punctured tube hanging right beside the bench. The size was perfect so I cut a few strips and slipped them on either side of the adapter. That's the black ring you see above. Perfect!

Filter looks a little goofy, but it seems to work fine. I'll try a larger one when I have time and see if it's any better, but this setup made a big difference over stock, so the air box and inlet must be pretty restrictive. But it was quiet, which was probably the priority, though stock, there was a bad resonance between 6000 and 6500 RPM that's now gone. I have a pile of 2 1/2" SS exh tubing that I could use to extend the intake and get the filter closer to the front of the engine bay, but I'm not sure it would make any difference. Maybe one day when I'm looking for something to do. I'll look at the IAT's when we tune it and see if it's worthwhile.

I saw SWG's post about his car and it reminded me that I hadn't posted anything lately. Mostly because there's not much to post.  I don't recall ever being so consistently busy, but I have a number of fairly big projects on the go right now so the car has taken a back seat lately.  And speaking of which... I've been looking for winter wheels and missed out because I've either been too busy to go look at them, or I've waited for the price to drop, and they sold. So I saw these on Marketplace, had the time after dinner so I made the 45 minute drive. He had a bunch of stuff for sale and I didn't want to take the truck because of gas prices, so I did what I've wanted to do for some time and removed the back seats to make room.

I got the wheels and two step ladders for $150, so it was worth it, though the wheels are 15 X 7 +40,  exactly the width and offset of the wheels on the car now. Not ideal for the 195 50 winters I want to run, but should be OK.

When you drive Fireflies and Swifts you learn very quickly that the fastest way to better performance is light weight. I used to take heat for removing the back seats in those cars but I always justified it by saying, these are my parts runners, it only makes sense to remove the seats, I can put almost anything in here. Which was true but once you feel the difference, those seats aren't going back in.

 I really liked how quiet this car was and now I have to find a way to reduce the noise, with the seats out, without adding much weight. I was planning to hit the pic and save for a rear sway bar Sunday (It's right across the road from work) and figured I'd get a rear carpet and under pad from a big SUV, cut it to fit and use a piece of 1/4" plywood for the spare wheel well and see if that works to restore the quiet. Unfortunately Sunday turned out busier than planned, so maybe next Sunday. Anybody have experience/comments about noise reduction/noise reduction in a hatch? The weight reduction is definitely noticeable. Not as dramatic as a Swift, but enough that I would really prefer not to put them back.

That's a fair bit of room for how small the car is. I like it.

I'm often on the road before 5AM, and the stock lights were not great so I upgraded to Phillips xtremevision bulbs, hoping they would make a big difference. I've used them in the past, noticed a huge difference, and been very happy with them. That was not the case this time, I found the upgrade a little underwhelming. They're better, but not as much as I was hoping, so maybe the lights aren't aimed properly and the reason the stockers were so bad. It's on the list.

We had a pretty good storm come though here yesterday that put my outside jobs on hold, so I thought I'd see if I had material to cover the spare tire well, and take a few measurements. I did and made up a cover

It's only a trial piece and I thought after that I'll probably remove the seat bracket (in the cutout) and extend the cover all the way up to the lower seat bracket mounts, the four pieces you see up near the front seats, and cover it with either a carpet from a big SUV,  indoor/outdoor, or subwoofer cabinet carpet. It should then look more OEM.

I wanted to leave as much of the bracketry in to make seat re-installation faster and easier, but it's only two more bolts, and I'll probably never put them back in anyway

The angle of the rear section meant there was a gap at the front, so the cut down 2X4 pieces fill the gap and make it stronger. They tuck in nicely behind the buckle brackets and it doesn't move at all. The middle piece sits on the bracket that holds the spare wheel and adds more strength

The good news? Even without any insulation or sound deadening material the road noise inside is almost back to stock.

Brief update, it's been about 9 months and 30k. Through commuting, playing pickup truck while gas was crazy,  being T-boned by a Civic, and getting dive bombed by a hawk at highway speeds, it's been pretty much flawless.

Dare I make the comparison, but after driving it this long I've come to the realization that this thing is, in almost every way, better than a Swift GT, which, if one were available, is probably what I would be driving instead. The only two things it does not excel at are speed, where it's actually a little, though very little, slower, and looks. I like the car, but I cannot get over the 4dr thing, which is really a shame, because it's otherwise perfect for me.

Nonetheless, I'll keep driving it, and I've decided, if I can find a clean base model, or one that needs engine work, I'll probably buy it. While they are too heavy, they're not as ridiculous as a Fiat 500, and the base is even lighter with manual widows and no air. If I could get it down to 2000lbs, I think that would be a riot, though it won't be easy to find 200lbs.

I have not tuned it yet. The intake made a very significant difference, it pulls to red line, and past like my Swift GT's did, and I'd like to do a few other things, but I need to get the tune done. It's supported by HP Tuners, and judging by how it feels,I'm pretty confident it's going to respond very favourably to a bunch more timing.

I ended up with 205 45 16's because the 205 40's were not available at the time and I had a nice set of 16" wheels, but I really wanted to go smaller than the stock 185 55 15 size. Stock final drive is 3.91, and I'd really like to see 4.10 or even better, but there are no options other than playing with tire size. So I'm going to probably put some 205 40's on now that I can get them, but... I did see that there are some Chinese 185 55 14's now available - and cheap. That would give me an effective 4.08 final drive compared to the 4-1 that the 205 40's would give. 14's will fit. I need to see how it reacts to a tune and think about this, maybe kick it old school on 14's.

So that's it. So far so good, it really does remind me of my Swift GT's, and until I see it from the side with those ugly rear doors, I really like it.

In reply to Peabody :

i like you enough to advise against buying tires made in China.

I've had excellent results the few times I've used tires that were made in China, and it's not like they're uncommon these days.

Do you know something I don't?

In reply to Peabody :

China recently revised their definition of "rubber" to include a lot more carbon black and a lot less actual rubber. I've heard that this revised recipe can lead to shorter tire life and more "rapid air loss" type failures.

Well, it's been a little more than 1 1/2 years, and over 60,000 trouble free kilometers of serious abuse and excellent fuel economy.

The car's been great, and I love it. Unfortunately I've been so busy on other things I've not really followed through on many of my plans, but I do have a few things on the go, and I pick away at them when I can. I replaced the little K&N filter with a bigger one I had lying around from the Forté days. I had to make an adapter, but it was a trial to see if it would be any different and it is! The home made intake made a very noticeable difference, and then again, with the bigger filter, it's much more responsive and pulls harder in the lower to mid RPM range.

I bought a stock throttle body from a local wrecker thinking I was going to bore it. Stock is 44mm, and comparable to the Swift GT (45mm), one of the first things we'd do is a bigger TB. I have 52mm throttle plates and thought that would be about right, but when I saw the design of these DBW TB's, there's no easy way to bore it. The bore is not straight, I assume to get an easy, consistent seal when they're closed, but there is a big offset from the inlet to the outlet side, you can kind of see it in the pics. So I looked at other options and found some of the GM 2.0T engines use the same motor/layout, same plug and pinout. Unfortunately they list as either 62 or 65mm. I bought one anyway thinking I'd come up with something, but also knowing that there were lot's of Swift GT's with 65mm Nissan TB's in the day working fine. Fortunately they're actually 58mm, not too far off what I'd initially had in mind. Bolt distance is the same top to bottom, but a lot wider.

I'm holding off on drilling and boring the adapter, not knowing the bolt size, or what the intake opening is going to be. I read it's only 44mm, same as the TB, which is what I've seen with every other car I've done this to, but I don't know how much I'll be able to open it up, and may have to taper the adapter bore. Today would have been a perfect day to do that. Too bad I'm being lazy and posting on car forums instead.

And finally, the rear sway bar: I decided, after reading a bunch on here and elsewhere, how well the flat plate design can work. It was an attractive option for me, I just took a measurement, asked the kid on the laser to let me know the next time he was cutting 3/16" sheet, and had him cut me one. I grabbed a piece of 1/4" x 1" out of the scrap bin and that's what I'll use for the mounting tabs. A 3" exhaust clamp can be used, but I think I'll make my own bolts in the shape of the axle. It's funny, I think in the SWG Accent thread, it was mentioned how twisty these beam axles can be. I looked at the design of this one, double walled, and looking pretty stout, I thought, not this one, probably one of the reasons it handles so well, I don't think I even need a sway bar. While I had it in the air one day I grabbed one wheel and pushed up. Boy was I wrong!

So I guess over winter I'll decide what to do with the exhaust - I still think there's some free power there, and get my buddy to tune it. When you've grown up doing a lot of manual tuning you get a feel for what something wants, and I get the feeling tat some premium fuel and a bunch of timing is going to make a big difference. I read about one Spark owner making 119 hp with a tune and less mods than I'm planning.

Oh, one more thing. We used to have a 92 Jetta, and I really liked those 14" steel wheels. I didn't know why, but they seemed to just look right. Well I found a set on MP for $70 and bought them for my winters. They're 14X6, about an inch wider than most steel 14's, and they have a pretty aggressive, for stock, +38 offset. That's why they look so good. So I blasted and painted them black, and I'm painting the original plastic trim rings metallic silver. If the rings look goofy, or the wheels don't look right, I'll either paint the outside of the rim with aluminum tremclad Like I used to do with all my stock cars, or re-do them in metallic silver like stock.

Well, this is cool. I saw a Spark just a couple of days ago & wondered what was up with Karl.

Stealthtercel said:

 I saw a Spark just a couple of days ago & wondered what was up with Karl.

Karl is alive and well and bouncing off the rev limiter. Seriously, when nobody's around I drive this thing like a 16 year old who just got his license. I'm Already shopping for a lighter base model to have a little fun with

When you painted the wheels the first time, did you use the Rutoleum Wheel paint? If you did, did you have to scuff before the color change? Im about to repaint some I didnt like the Argent silver I used and dont know if the new color will bond with the older painted surface as is like another coat or if it needs prep

Scuff them, but I wouldn't use that paint again. It didn't hold up very well. Over winter I'm going to blast them again re-do then with a higher quality industrial enamel

Well, if SkinnyG can do it, so can I. Just don't expect a build thread

Meet Karl jr.

We went out for dinner a week ago, and on the way home the Sonic started spewing coolant out of a cracked reservoir. The fuse box I ordered still hasn't shown up,  it's no longer driveable with a coolant soaked fuse box, and it's 10 years old. So I made an executive decision. 

Discussing the lack of non-SUV options, and the fact she won't drive Japanese (regardless, all the Civics I looked at were garbage), and the general retardation of the market these days, to my surprise she said she didn't mind my car and would drive one if that's all we could find. I paid her back by finding the nicest, newest, loaded model I could find. It wasn't cheap, but it was the best combination of new (2022 - last year), low mileage (10k) and price I could find. And we were able to get them down almost 5 grand from their very optimistic pricing.

CVT, I know, but it drove remarkably well, and I'm not seeing any reliability problems with them. I will change fluid, and cross fingers accordingly

I am guessing the list of mods planned for Karl Jr will be... limited?

Get some Karl family pics when you can :)