[Oppanna]

What a brilliant build this is. Ever since i started reading this thread i must admit that i am glued and closely following the updates.

Built but not bought is a true statement in this case. Kudos!

[Ovais]

Originally Posted by BeemerBug_06

Brilliant stuff Ovais
This surely one of the most interesting builds I have seen in a while. Glad to know that you've succeeded with it and all the hard work has paid off. Great going !

Do post a video or two of the car in action. BTW, that's a neat looking Baleno beside the Alto !

Thank you so much for the kind words! I will definitely post some videos of it running. The Baleno is one of the very few clean balenos on the road, it's my father's, very meticulously kept with some nice clean upgrades like bucket seats from a JDM baleno gti hatch, speedometer from the hatch as well, door cards.

Originally Posted by speedmunster

Great work Ovais. A 1.3 Honda engine in a feather-weight Alto
Wishing you many trouble-free miles on the "Holto"

Cheers

Thank you so much and I love the name HAlto! I might even add an H behind the Alto lettering on the trunk lid!

Originally Posted by myavu

OMG! This Honzuki Alto is made to perfection with each bits added. Your knowledge about the bits and pieces of the car is commendable. Kudos!

Eagerly waiting for the Dyno and Road results. Keep going

Thank you so much for the kind words Will definitely share more on the swap and the final results as well. I like the name Honzuki as well!

Originally Posted by apocalypse

Brilliant work, Ovais!! Happy and proud to see this on Team BHP.

I have a question - what changes did you need to make to the interior? Did you need to change the transmission lever and connect that to the new transmission? Did you get rid of the clutch pedal?

It would be great if you could detail out what you've done in the interior as well please.

Thank you so much, it's great to be here on the Team BHP forum! Regarding the changes to the interior, I had to remove the clutch pedal and replace the brake pedal with a wider one from a jdm 660cc automatic Alto. Other than that, the shifter was changed to the automatic shifter from a Honda Jazz and then I made a console to cover the shifter. I'll be sharing photos of the console in the next batch of updates. I had already replaced the gauge cluster to Suzuki Kei one that had an RPM meter and the gear position indicators, so I didn't have to change the speedometer/cluster, I just wired up the lights.

Originally Posted by Phantom 510

Superb stuff man! I really like the way you've mentioned everything in details. I must admit the fact that it is one of the most interesting articles I've come across in TBhp so far. Keep up the great work.

Thank you so much for the words of appreciation, they really mean a lot

Originally Posted by Oppanna

What a brilliant build this is. Ever since i started reading this thread i must admit that i am glued and closely following the updates.

Built but not bought is a true statement in this case. Kudos!

Thank you so much for the appreciation! I am glad that you feel that way! Haha yes, if I was to put a sticker on it that says that, I wouldn't say it wasn't earned

[Ovais]

Time for the latest updates on the project.

The car was now ready for its first test drive. I took the car for a short test drive, it didn’t have the hood and the bumper on though. The car is very stable, even though there is a slight change in the dynamics with the engine being slightly heavier than the previous one and the allied parts also make it a little heavier on the front, but it doesn’t feel that way, feels very even. There are no odd vibrations at all, the car drove very smoothly. I have to say, the power to weight ratio makes for a very quick car! There’s worlds of difference between the performance now and back when it had the F10. The best part is, you don’t have to rev the bolts off the engine to gain speed, it accelerates effortlessly. There were some little tweaks that needed to be done though, and a couple of errors too but nothing major, only minor ones.





Next up is the air-conditioning. Originally, the condenser installed was about 60% of the width of the current radiator. While it worked great for the original ac setup, it wouldn’t be enough for the volume of gas moved with the new compressor and the heat dissipation requirements now. So, I looked around for a condenser that would fit and finalized the ac condenser from a Swift. It has a built-in filter so I didn’t have to worry about making space for fitting the filter. I just needed to remove the brackets on it for it to fit in the space that I have.



Since the original condenser wasn’t as wide, there was enough space for the bonnet lock in the center and its support to be installed. Now that the condenser and the radiator are wider, the hood lock could not be installed in its original configuration. I had to modify the lock itself and make a new support for it so that it clears both the radiator and the condenser.
Originally, the spring mechanism is on the back of the lock. I had to cut off the mechanism and build the mechanism under the lock and towards the front in order to clear both the radiator and the condenser.





This is what the lock looks like after the modification, along with the custom support that I’ve made. The springs are all installed on the front as well. I had to do multiple iterations of this setup for it to work correctly. Now I have enough space behind this to install the condenser.



The condenser fits perfectly with the new hood lock mechanism and its support. There’s about 30mm of space between the closest part of the lock and the condenser. Enough for it not to foul with the condenser.






The car was then taken to the A/C shop to plumb the air-conditioning system to the original evaporator inside. The cabin unit was already clean so it didn’t need to be serviced. Most of the plumbing is done in flexible pipe. About 30% of the plumbing are aluminum hard pipes, the rest are flexible pipes. The reason for this is, there is very little space in the engine bay, in case something needs to be removed, it would be a lot easier to move the flexible pipes around without damaging them compared to hard pipes.

The system is charged and the cooling is excellent. The original ac of the PKDM HA12 Alto was already very good in the smaller vehicle category, now, the original internal unit combined with the Honda Compressor and the bigger Condenser made for some very effective cooling.





The hood lock was then painted. I wanted to have it zinc plated but with the busy schedule, I had to settle with paint. The support is also painted.

[Ovais]

Next up was the gear position indicator lights in the speedometer/cluster. I had already changed the cluster to a Suzuki Kei one a couple of years ago. This cluster has an RPM Meter and was from an Auto Variant so it had the gear position indicator lights in it. In order to make these lights work, I needed to make a small circuit. The reason for using this circuit was, the cluster needs a +12v signal for each gear position but the gear position sender on the transmission sends a ground signal at each position. This circuit helps convert the ground signal to +12v to provide the cluster, without adding any interference to the signal sent by the sender as the same signal is used by the ecu as well.



At the alignment shop to get the alignment done.



Having done all the major things, I took the car out for its first long journey. I took the car to the Peshawar City from Islamabad which is about a 200km journey. The tank is filled up and I’ve attached an elm327 Bluetooth OBDII tool to the DLC and have the important parameters shown on a tablet through the Torque app.







The trip went smooth thankfully. The car drove really well and was very stable even at higher speeds. Possibly because of the added weight, the car feels more planted than before. The car accelerates very quickly. Overtaking on the motorway has now become a breeze. Had fun with some unsuspecting drivers on the way as well. Good news on the fuel efficiency too. On the way to Peshawar, I got 20.8km/l and on the way back, as it’s a constant incline, I got 19.1 km/l. This includes some spirited runs as well. The fuel average was calculated by filling the tank to the brim and then refilling it on both ends of the journey. The Torque app gave very inaccurate fuel consumption figures so I ignored those.

[Ovais]

Next up is to tackle the Air Cleaner situation. I had installed a temporary cone air filter while I tested the engine. As I stated earlier, I tried a few different air cleaners but due to the limited space, none of the air cleaners/ filter boxes could fit. I could install some box from one of the 660cc cars but since they are not meant to move enough air for a 1300cc engine, I didn’t use those. So, I took the filter element from the 5th Generation City and built a filter box around it. I started with making a frame for the box out of ½ inch angle iron.





This is what the frame looks like. There are two parts to it, the bottom half fits onto the engine mounting bracket so that the filter moves with the engine, so as to avoid any flex in the connecting pipes. The top is then mounted onto it and the pipe connects to the top part.







This is how it fits in the engine bay.









The frame is now cladded in 18 gauge steel sheet, prepped and painted. I’ve coated the insides with epoxy resin to ensure that it’s air-tight and it will also prevent it from rusting. I’ve added a rubber pipe at the end of the lower part of the box to route the intake away from the major heat sources. I wanted to use steel clips on the ends of the box but there was very little space around the box so opening and locking the clips in place would’ve been very difficult so I went with 4 bolts instead. It’s not as straight-forward as opening clips and replacing the filter but hey, it only takes a couple more minutes and ensures that the air cleaner seals well.









The air cleaner is installed. I’ve used the previously made Stainless Steel pipe that also houses the Intake Air Temperature Sensor to join the silicone coupler and the rubber elbow. After installing the box, the intake noise has greatly reduced. The cone filter made the intake very noisy; it would start to drone right above 1000 rpm and at around 2000 rpm, it would become unbearable. Now it’s much quieter and sounds a lot refined, plus, it now filters the air a lot better than the cone air filter.

[Ovais]

Next up, was to tackle the gear shifter. I’ve used the shifter from a 4th Generation Honda City. I searched the market a lot for a clean shifter in Grey color and was finally able to find it. Most of the shifters available were in beige color so I’m guessing that the city was mostly offered with a beige interior. I installed the shifter using the same bolt holes as the original shifter except that the original shifter used to be installed from underneath the tunnel on the floor, this one sits on top of it. I made a bracket that adapted the original bolt holes to this shifter. This is how the shifter sits. I took my time to perfect the position. When driving, the height and the reach is perfect.



Now, I needed to cover the shifter with a console. So out came the cardboard to make the template.



This is what the finalized template looks like. I then dismantled it and turned it into digital templates and had the individual pieces cut in 4mm, clear plexiglass. These parts will be fixed together to make the console.











The parts are assembled and the console is sanded and prepped for paint.








I painted it in matte black to go with the center part of the dashboard. Since I like the way Alen Bolts look, I made a surround for the silver portion of the shifter that is held with Alen Bolts. This is what the finished console looks like.

[Ovais]

This marks the end of the Project L13A Alto. The car is now complete. I would like to share my thoughts on the results. I started the project with 3 objectives, 1) Fuel Efficiency, 2) Converting the Car into Automatic and 3) To have good power to weight ratio. Having driven the car a bit, I can say that all 3 objectives have been achieved. The car gets great fuel average, currently around 18km/l within the city and higher on the motorway, it’s very convenient to drive with the CVT transmission and goes very quick too. Overall, the engine swap has been a great experience. I got to try a lot of new ideas and ways of doing things, learned what works and what doesn’t. Major credit goes to my family for bearing with me, hogging the garage for 5 months and working through the nights!

Next, I will be upgrading the front brakes to bigger rotors and bigger calipers and I’ll also be adding a stabilizer bar in the rear at some point in time. With other things occupying me at the moment, both of these things will take some homework so they’ll take some time to do but whenever I do them, I’ll update the thread. Till then, the car will hopefully be responsibly driven and would hopefully serve as a reliable daily driven vehicle.

Here are some photos of the completed car.


































I have uploaded videos for this project on youtube as well. If you are interested, you may watch them as they show a different perspective and show things being done:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2peNMg-FPlc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJkMFCL2d6Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlTFsGCDGo8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-23CqyXg6wc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSTWuQ0L5Bc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SD3zkcSh0Y

[Vikki@Hyderabad]

That's an awesome project - I've been hooked to it since the beginning. Your patience and skill both deserve appreciation. Hope you have a lot of fun miles with your Alty. True 'Funcari'!

[theabstractmind]

If the Engine Swap wasn't enough, the change of Transmission takes the cake. Awesome! Honestly I can't follow all technicalities but the output speaks a volume about the love you have for automobiles! Congratulations!

[raptor_diwan]

Simply wow! I am impressed by the level of detail and accuracy in your blog. You clearly know your stuff, and it was evident that you put a lot of time and effort into it. I am glad to see the final output, and the gear lever and dashboard also look great. Happy driving!

[shibujp]

Excellent project. The attention to detail and the meticulous work was just so fun to read. Lots of tips to pick up too on materials, fabrication etc for one's own diy project. Looking forward to the brake upgrades etc.

Drive on,
Shibu

[Phantom 510]

This thread is my current favourite. The things you have done to your Alto and most importantly the way you have elaborated each and everything in detail is amazing. It is really refreshing to see such articles in the sea of discussions about sunroof, touchscreen and ventilated seats (pun intended). Excellent job brother!

[Jaggu]

One epic build project this was, congratulations you have executed it very neatly. Looking forward to regular updates on the car.

[the.dogfather]

When you started the thread, I was expecting the end product to be having a makeshift hood and gear lever and half the plans shelved during the project, but I am glad to be proven wrong.
The fit and finish looks great and it was quite a nail biting read , with each challenge faced and the way you found your way around it.

[speedmunster]

I have been following this thread since a while now and I have to say that this has got to be the most outrageous Alto I have come across. Reminds me of a certain 'Crio' on TBHP.
Hats off to your patience and commitment to the Funcari project.

Cheers.