Final Tuning

Time to head back to the tuner!

I drew up (by hand) a spacer to allow an additional coolant temperature sensor in-line with the factory one. The boys at work spun it up using some scrap aluminum and it came up great. I cross drilled it at home after confirming orientation with a copper crush washer.

Unfortunately, I still cannot get VVT to work. I have confirmed oil comes from the oil pump, up to the solenoid and that the solenoid moves when using the test functions on the Link. Oil also appears to make it to the cam gear however the cam angle (as logged by the Link) doesn’t change. My final test is to connect the solenoid back to the factory ECU and log cam angle, this will rule out anything funky going on with the Link.

Tuning went well. The car made 120kW on 9ish psi, no VVT. The car drives great and I am slowly learning the clutch. It also sounds awesome and has a cute little dose, absolutely stoked with how everything went and am keen to take it back on track. VVT is a problem for another day,

My thermofans don’t work, this will need to be fixed now that it’s warming up. I suspect I have damaged the wiring somewhere and the voltage isn’t getting pulled low enough to trigger the fans. They’re still controlled by the factory ECU and factory ECU appears to be reading temperature fine (verified by ODB2 scanner). More troubleshooting required…

I am writing this from Japan where I have had some great experiences talking to fellow swift enthusiasts at track day(s) and notably, Monster Sport Sendai. The clerk at Monster Sport Sendai also had a sporty ZC32S with a TM Square tuned ECU! I look forward to returning home and getting the car on a track!

Tuning & VVT Problems

Off we went, back to the tuner. I had resolved the list in my previous post (or so I had thought) and was ready for the big day.

Things went fairly well, unfortunately we couldn’t get VVT to work and I had plumbed the boost control solenoid vacuum lines arse about. On wastegate spring pressure (4.3psi – exactly per HKS documenation) we made 103 kW. The car drives well despite the temperature sensor being after the thermostat. This is one of the things we will rectify when I take the car back for proper boost tuning.

One point worth noting is we needed to drill a 3mm hole in the butterfly valve on the throttle body to get the car to idle smoothly while cold. This was a suggestion from the tuner, and it worked perfectly. Without the hole the revs would bounce between 300RPM ~ 1000RPM, sometimes stalling.

VVT is proving to be quite a problem. We can hear the valve move when we give it the signal via the Link however, we see no change in cam angle. The car also has no change in operation.

Pulling the valve cover off, I thought I had found the issue. Silly me had forgot two of the bolts supplying oil pressure to the camshaft and sprocket. I found the two bolts and reinstated them but alas, the problem persisted.

I found a post on Facebook in a Haltech tuning page (you will need to join to view) with someone who was having very similar problems. They advised the issue was due to the sprocket not being bolted “square” to the camshaft, causing the phaser to bind. After some troubleshooting, this was not the case for me, I could unlock the pin and rotate the cam independently of the sprocket with about 40psi of air pressure with ease. This means I either have an oil pressure or supply issue to the cam journals, or the solenoid is not actually moving the spool (despite us hearing something).

For now, I will take the car back for boost control and cold start tuning with my relocated temp sensor and correctly plumbed vacuum lines. Oil pressure is great and there are no alarming sounds, so I suspect the solenoid is just FUBAR. VVT is an issue for another day.

I created a poll on Instagram for power figures, with most people guessing between 120-150kW. Expect around 130kW based on the 103kW at gate pressure.

Finally, I installed my beautiful Monster Sport A-pillar gauge pod (and fancy radiator cap). I had to splice the power and illumination wire on the Defi to get it to light up constantly (as it’s a smoked face). The standard Defi gauge worked via the Suzuki Sport Link Meter as it’s essentially just an old “BF-1” style Defi controller. It took a bit of research to figure that out and I was stoked when it just worked!

I wasn’t very impressed with the fitment of the A-pillar pod, the finish is nice, but it required a fair bit of modification in order for it to clip in and even then, it has some gaps around the factory trim.

Fabrication & Fuel Pressure Woes

I managed to get the car to the tuner for some fab work and the tune prior to a quick 2-week trip offshore. As I arrived, he went through all the wiring and everything looked good, a sigh of relief from myself.

Unfortunately, it seems my modifications to the fuel pump housing failed and we could only build about 3psi of fuel pressure before dropping to zero. I suspect the fuel pump nipple is not sealing in the housing, having fallen due to a lack of support or was never seated properly in the first place.

We did manage to get the car running off brake cleaner – win.

Whilst offshore I ordered a new housing and bought the Denso 265 LPH pump I mentioned in my previous post. The pump is indeed identical to the factory one, going into the new housing beautifully.

The fabrication works looks absolutely awesome. I have a small to-do list before heading back to the tuner in the next week or so.

As you can see, some of the items are already complete, including a catch can.

Coolers Mounted, Crank & Prime.

Short post today.

I tidied up the brackets for the intercooler and oil cooler, rounded the edges etc. Location is looking great, I managed to fluke centralizing the intercooler. I had forgot the factory lower grill is partially blanked on the driver’s side.

With everything mounted, I “put the key in” for the first time in at least 6 months. I did this twice hearing the pump prime both times and no leaks at the rail!

I also cranked the car a few times too, no noises and no leaks. All that’s left is putting the CVs back in, filling the box with oil and delivering it to the tuner!

Broken CSCs and Engine IN!

Following on from my previous post, I got the clutch, flywheel, motor and box in only to realize the concentric slave cylinder was leaking. Now I’m not sure if this was my doing or it was dead out of the box but I’m leaning towards the latter. Taking it apart I couldn’t see any issues, so I think something internal had failed. It was also marketed as an “upgraded’ CSC however it was almost identical to the new one I got. Thankfully, the CSC came in my clutch kit as they are ridiculously expensive alone. I also got an absolute bargain on the kit as part of a sale.

With the CSC problem, I had to delay my dyno day and I wasn’t very impressed with the support from the OEM.

We must move forward though. After a brief break from the frustration, work kicking my ass and waiting on the new CSC I eventually got it all back in with the clutch working.

I also tidied up the wiring, extended some sensors etc. It’s looking good.

Today I dummy fit the oil cooler & intercooler with associated lines. I will get Rob (the tuner) to redo most the piping, but the overall layout appears to work. The dump pipe is going to very tight – he has his work cut out for him!

Not much to do now, need to do fluids, check for leaks and that’s about it. Touch wood…

Engine On The Ground

After mocking up everything I wasn’t entirely happy with the oil filter location. I think with the oil cooler installed, swapping the filter would be a very annoying task. I grabbed a right-angle oil filter adapter/housing common to the base models (without the OEM cooler). The access is now much better, and the oil filter is away from the heat source.

As I didn’t have the o-ring (which commonly fails), I filled the groove with sealant and used the “revised” gasket. It’s very tight to the drain line, but once again – clearance is clearance.

I spent a bit of time making a heat shield too. The embossed aluminum is fairly easy to work with. I will get the cuts I made to fold the outer edges tacked up as currently they are a bit flimsy. Once the dump pipe is made, I may attach a second piece per the pictures below. The injector loom was also a bit loose, so I knocked up a bracket for a p-clamp to hold it.

In more exciting news, the engine is now off the stand and on a dolly. Ready to chuck the clutch and flywheel on! Tune day, Aug 12, is coming up awfully quickly.

Loom Fit & Variable Intake Runners

With the wiring (mostly) complete I went ahead and married up the loom to the engine. I am fairly happy with how everything sits. Unfortunately, I lost the factory tie down points for the injector harness due to the adapters I’m using but I can make something work.

I also wired in 2 relays with will act as reversing relays to control the variable intake runners. I toyed with the idea of just locking them in the long position as they can’t be deleted (easily) with this plastic intake manifold – which I’m praying holds up OK to the boost level I’m running. If I go for a bigger turbo down the line I will definitely need to source a ZC31S intake manifold (cast alloy).

The tuner, Rob, thinks that there will be good benefits in having the link control the runners, especially down low. I am once again thanking KAPOW who made a post on the Link forums detailing how to control it. There’s even a great video documenting the logic from Link staff! I have wired it pretty much exactly per the post – it came up pretty well.

Interestingly, the range of motion is very small, like 15-20 degrees.

I ended up re-routing the water line nearest to the dump pipe following advice from other turbo swift owners. Now both the feed and return are on the cold side. I am yet to nail down the feed point but I have some ideas, the tricky part will be avoiding chafing. I also added some heat wrap to the AC lines.

With that, there really isn’t too much more to do other than get the clutch on, bolt the gearbox up and slap the assembly in. I got the flywheel machined last week and fit the concentric slave – all looks good! I will also fit the factory right angle oil filter housing as I realized my current position will make the oil filter very hard to change, I would need to remove the oil cooler lines every time I change the filter…

Wiring Part 2

Finally… The wiring is done!

My crimping skills continued to grow, as did the cramps in my hands.

After all was said and done, I checked each end where I had spliced into the factory wiring with a multimeter. I found two wires, the TPS signal (GRN) and Ignition 3 (BRN) which I had incorrectly tapped in to. This was easily fixed and happened due to there being multiple GRN and BRN coloured wires.

I also left plenty of extra cabling left for the tuner. Where he needs to weld bungs and install sensors – CAN Lambda and Intake Air Temperature (IAT).

I am quite pleased with the results and have begun to tape everything up. You can see in the images below that I have also crimped on the sensor ends, and replaced the Delphi 3-pin connector mentioned in my last post.

I also finally got some 3/4 UNF jam nuts to tighten down my oil filter stud. Local bolt shop even gave them to me free, bless them. Oil filter sandwich plate is now in, with various fittings tightened with a bit of teflon tape.

Wiring Part 1

I finally broke the back on wiring. It took a lot of trial and error with open barrel splices to figure out the right die and pressure for my ratcheting crimper, but I am very happy with the results. Just look at that crimp!

I currently have half the wiring done, with the remainder being all the OEM signal taps:

  • Crank position
  • Cam angle
  • Throttle position
  • Ignition coil(s)
  • Injector(s)

I have left extra loom for the tuner so he can just cut it back and wire in the sensors that require welded bungs – Intake Air Temp (IAT) and a Link CAN Lambda.

I also mounted the Link with the supplied bracket using riv-nuts, pretty happy with how it turned out.

Unfortunately, I wrecked one of the pins on the fuel pressure sensor so I will need to procure another connector just to steal some pins. To my knowledge, it’s a Delphi/GM connector.

Here is an updated wiring table for what is left. “y” indicates done, “R” is for the tuner, blank is another day…

Fuel Pump & Engine Sealed

Good progress recently. I had a bung welded in the sump just above max oil line by one of the guys at work. The fitting was a little worse for wear after welding but I think it should seal fine. I had to shorten my drain line a little, which I may have overcooked it as it was a bit of a pain to tighten but I think it will be fine.

I also installed the Walbro 255 which was a lot more difficult than expected due to the pump being slightly wider and a lot longer than the OEM pump. I made some modifications to the housing and got it to fit but it’s not the prettiest solution. In hindsight I should’ve just bought a Denso equivalent which would’ve dropped straight in with very similar specs to the Walbro.

I used the sanding wheel on a dremel to remove a small amount of material evenly from the inside of the housing. Then I cut various tabs and screwed in some stainless screws at the 3 factory tab locations to hold the pump up, allowing for the extra height and giving the filter sock about 3mm of clearance from the bottom. You have to be careful doing this as the pump housing has a cavity around it, you can only drill in to the ‘sleeve’ that has the tabs.

Before re-installing the fuel tank and pump I hot wired it to check it ran fine – which it did. Hopefully I am not missing anything!

I also got the engine all sealed up, pretty much ready to chuck back in once I sort out the wiring (which I am procrastinating a little). I also mounted the fuel rail with my 1000cc injectors. I’ll need to do a quick check once it’s in the car to see if they’re sealing properly. I will be adding a fuel pressure sensor, which I’ve added a tee for.

Here is the wiring table, all I’ve managed to do is some practice crimps using open barrel splices and putting a Deutsch connector on my boost solenoid. I have purchased some fancy wiring, including shielded ground wiring and nice heat shrink. There has been some revisions to my wiring/pin table too which you can see below.