Another Stateside JDM kei car; ‘95 EA21R Suzuki Cappuccino

Dang, my 1991 Cappuccino looks like a parts car that was pulled from the bottom of the ocean by comparison.

Besides Yahoo Auctions, what other website do you source your parts from?

My car is 97% complete but it's missing the front turn signal assemblies, drivers side kick panel and passenger side door card trim.

Most of the hardware is missing as well; i.e., random bolts holding the headlight assemblies in place. Most exterior parts only have one bolt holding it on.

Mine was silver at one point (paint code of 0DE) but is blue, yellow, white and rust colored now.

In reply to stanger_mussle :

I'm fully aware that my rust could be much worse. I also paid 2.8x more for mine than you did for yours. 
For parts, I use a mix of Megazip for new OEM Suzuki parts, plus I like www.jauce.com for a YAJ buying agent, and then I frequent the Farcebook group Suzuki Cappuccino America, which is great for the interchange parts list that lets you shop on RockAuto for some consumables, as well as being a good resource for group buys, user-submitted links to auctions on eBay and YAJ, plus parts members list on the group, some used and some new homemade/3D-printed/machined/etc.

In reply to stanger_mussle :

For hardware and little stuff, you can use the parts fiche on megazip.net to get a part number, then plug it into a Google search and see if that bolt/clip/nut happened to be used on a Geo Metro, or a Samurai, Sidekick, Vitara, DR650, SV1000, or something more local.

Not my car pictured above! Since I was busy wrenching, and neglected to grab any photos of the brake/fuel line covers in situ, here's a few I found online. They can be seen on the right of the top image of the car on the rotisserie, running down the right side under the floor. They can be seen in the second image, disappearing out of sight, running forward on the right side, looking a bit rust-colored. And for the perfect segue, mine happen to have some surface rust, but should clean up nicely.

Also found online due to the same inabilty to take photos before tearing into E36 M3, here is roughly what the lines look like on the car with the cover removed.

Here's what they look like about 25 minutes after I've torn into them without consulting the manual or thinking things through first. As with all foreign parts-removal scenarios, the first attempt revealed absolutely everything I did wrong, and made it clear how I could break fewer parts and get it done if half the time, but only on my next fresh attempt, and not in way that assists with the current situation. You can see the fuel supply, return, and vent lines in place, along with the single brake line I was attempting to remove dangling in the lower right of the photo. The clip that holds this all together is nowhere to be seen in this image...instead it likely in a jillion pieces on the floor and halfway across the shop. The stud that once retained it can be seen mid-photo....this seems to be welded to the floor...it is not a screw coming through from the interior as I briefly suspected. More on this hardware arrangement shortly. For anyone else attempting the same procedure and not reading the manual ahead of time, the proper way to conduct one's self if to endeavour to remove all lines at once as a four-line unit, by simply disconnecting all brake and fuel connections at both ends, and removing the whole enchilada as an assembly of lines, plus clips all in one go. DON'T think you can just slip one line out, even if it looks like it might be "easy."

Here's one of the more-intact clips after getting everything loose. I broke off one of the divider bits. The top of the photo indicates the exterior floor of the vehicle once installed. From left to right we have ear for mounting the metal cover plate from below, intact divider/retainer, intact divider/retainer, broken divider/retainer, stud-mounting point, intact divider/retainer, intact divider/retainer, and ear for mouting the metal cover plate from below. Oh yes, of course everything is covered in the black undercoating that was sprayed on the car in Japan, and no, it has not adhered to anything very well, and yes, it does transfer to skin and clothing quite easily, and no, it does not smell very good at all, but thanks for asking!

Another view of the same, with the broken clip and blown-out, likely unrecoverable stud mounting point visible as well. I'm rethinking both attempting to reuse these, and ordering new and doing the same asinine assembly as stock another time around. Might have to rewatch that Project Binky episode on line management....

ae86andkp61 (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to stanger_mussle :

I'm fully aware that my rust could be much worse. I also paid 2.8x more for mine than you did for yours. 
For parts, I use a mix of Megazip for new OEM Suzuki parts, plus I like www.jauce.com for a YAJ buying agent, and then I frequent the Farcebook group Suzuki Cappuccino America, which is great for the interchange parts list that lets you shop on RockAuto for some consumables, as well as being a good resource for group buys, user-submitted links to auctions on eBay and YAJ, plus parts members list on the group, some used and some new homemade/3D-printed/machined/etc.

Megazip seems to have a ton of parts available. Would you consider them a trustworthy source?

I found most of the exterior body parts on there for less that I could find used ones on eBay.

I need the OEM airbox as it's missing and has a faux HKS mushroom filter stuck on the intake tube in it's place.

ae86andkp61 (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to stanger_mussle :

For hardware and little stuff, you can use the parts fiche on megazip.net to get a part number, then plug it into a Google search and see if that bolt/clip/nut happened to be used on a Geo Metro, or a Samurai, Sidekick, Vitara, DR650, SV1000, or something more local.

This is a smart idea. I'm not looking for a concourse level restoration but I need easy to source parts that will work.

I think I read somewhere that the brake rotors from a Sidekick are the same size?

In reply to stanger_mussle :

Megazip seemed a little sketchy to me at first (Russian-based online parts store with a warehouse in Japan and another in UAE, selling through a website in English...what's sketchy about that?) but they've done pretty well for me so far. Shipping is....not cheap. They came back on a couple of orders saying that they undercharged me for shipping and gave me the option of doubling down and paying the difference, or canceling. To be fair, the pandemic introduced all kinds of extra shipping restrictions from Japan, so it may have been the pandemic as much as it was Megazip.

Check the interchange parts list (stickied post in the Suzuki Cappuccino America FB group) but I think the front brake interchange is certain years/sub models of Geo Metro/Suzuki Swift. Rears are the same size rotor, only non-vented and seem to be proprietary, but the FB group is always searching for interchange and updating the list.

Here's a photo from under the car attempting to help give an idea of scale, and how comically small everything on this car is. My hand is not a particularly large hand, and here I am holding it up to the tiny transmission. I saw the guy from Garage Kei YouTube channel lifting up a Cappuccino transmission with one finger through the hook on the top of the case, and I can believe it. I just love how cute everything about this car is...it makes me smile.

Given my newfound commitment to tackling some of the bigger projects, like fixing the bad second-gear synchro, and given that I was 90% of the way to dropping the transmisison already, not to mention the fact that the shifter felt surprisingly sloppy (like completely worn-out or missing parts sloppy) I took off the console. This would also allow me to replace the shift boot, and assess the shifter issues. The interior is quite clean under the console (just a few crumbs to clean up) and of note is the non-stock wire questionably spliced into the parking brake indicator light wiring and running forward behind the shifter? I chalked it up to some sort stereo equipment, and left determining the actual specifics for later exploring/troubleshooting.

Here's the old and new side-by-side. Yeah, that will be nice once installed!

In order to drop the gas tank, I needed to drain the gas tank. I dug into the manual, which had dire warnings of an essential need to carefully follow a very specific procedure for releasing fuel pressure from the system via playing with the fuel relay, cycling the power, disconnecting lines in order, setting up a catch can, cycling the power again, then disconnecting the battery, etc. Given that my car hasn't had a battery in it for months (it is on the tender on the other side of the shop) and that I had already cracked the lines at the fuel rail, I dove headfirst into the actual draining of the tank. I was really certain that the manual would contain instructions for opening the system topside, and then loosening the drain plug with a ratchet handle, and got set up to do so. Then I read the manual, "Proceed to drain the tank by siphoning or pumping gas out through the filler.." Uhhh....OK. No drain plug.

I crawl underneath the car....yup, no drain plug. Well, there are some rubber lines with clamps connected to the hard lines below the level of the tank, right on the bottom of the car, and I've become familiar with supply, return, and vent lately, so I figure I am smarter than all of that, and can crack it open underneath and get a self-siphon going. I wasn't wrong. Unfortunately, the original catch basin setup I had fetched didn't reach, and once things were in motion, the best I could do was slightly stem the tide. Thankfully, the *second* gas can/line setup I grabbed *after* opening the system was exactly the correct height/length to reach and catch the gas. In other unrelated news, the shop floor is now clean, and I informed my shopmates of a moratorium on grinding, welding, or smoking at the shop for a day or so.

After a good airing out, I got back underneath and put some matchmarks on the driveshaft. Here's the driveshaft after removal, with dollar bill for scale....so cute!

Yarp, the driveshaft is a bit scabby as well, especially at the differential end. I think a little bit of wire brush/sandpaper and some POR15 will do nicely here.

Here's the inner face of the left rear caliper I removed from the car after my test drive, and yikes! The rust from sitting in the port isn't great, but you can see that the leaky line didn't really allow enough pressure on the pads to swipe that gunk off during the test drive. Fingers crossed that just rebuilding the system will result in a huge increase in braking performance, and my big brake kit in the front will be icing on the cake!

Another part of the brake puzzle arrived. The Cappuccino's rear calipers are of the type where the mounting bolts are also the sliders that the caliper moves/centers on. The main actuation is obviously hydraulic, and the parking brake/e-brake is actuated via cable, and these are a bit notorious for either the sliders and/or the e-brake return springs getting sticky, and then parking brake sticks on enough to drag even when the cable is released, and then the rear brakes overheat and trash pads and rotors. My springs are a bit rusty, and aren't available from Suzuki, but the Japanese aftermarket offers a new stiffer return spring, which I now have on hand to install on my rebuilt rear calipers. I will put all of the gym membership savings from the effort of parking brake actuation towards the car fund!

With the shifter out and transmission ready to drop, here's the shifter rebuild kit, ready for install. I love the way this all packaged together. I also got the parts needed to replace the bushings on the transmission end of the remote shifter linkages, just in case these are bad as well. Should be nice and snickety-snick when it is done!

Here's the inner shifter boot...the bit that is under the cosmetic boot and seals the elements between the tunnel and the interior. First of all, the unfinished stamped steel part is looking prime for my two favorite useless pastimes...deburring parts that nobody else sees, and powdercoating parts that nobody else sees. This will obviously still work if I put it back in as-is, but as I said before, I will know that it is rusty, and that will eat at me. On top of that, it is slightly deformed from being bolted down previously, so I think I will rehab this part before reinstall. Can't accuse me of not being throrough!

The second problem is that the rubber has a little tear. Once again, would probably function, but since it is out, I want to fix it. New ones aren't available, so I have to do some repair. I tried a bicycle inner-tube patch kit, but the bellows is not butyl rubber and won't vulcanize to accept a patch. Searched on McMaster-Carr and Grainger for a while for firewall grommets and sealing rubbers and didn't find a great match in terms of dimensions. Not sure what my next option is, as most of the ways I can think of to fix this don't retain great pliabilty, and will probably result in greater failure down the road. Gorilla Tape?

Could you swap a CV joint boot off of something that is of similar size? 

In reply to Sparkydog :

Great idea! I started musing about what other type of boots or grommets from another vehicle or application might work. (Would a Miata or 240sx inner shift boot be too big?) I'll take some measurements to post up and see what the hive can come up with. 

If anyone knows of a boot that might be close, the keys are a flat base flange in the 5" diameter ballpark, 3" i.d. for the base plate/mounting ring, and a center hole around 5/8ths to 3/4 of an inch. Height is less of an issue, but the current one is around 1" tall.

I haven't made any progress on the shifter boot yet, but I did some Google image searching. Just from what I can see in photos online, earlier Miata models or S13 Nissan 240SX look like possible contenders to trim down and retrofit, and hopefully aren't too far outside the ballpark for dimensions. CV boots all seem to be a little bit too loose on the shifter and little bit too small on the large outside diameter. Firewall and steering column grommets are also either too small, or just don't have any of the dimensions close enough. Many other shift boots are on the big side and/or too tall.

Any Miata owners able to get a measurement of the diameter of the round part plus the diameter of the shifter hole on one of these? Thanks in advance.

Miata Shifter Boot at Flyin' Miata

Here's the 240SX boot, which looks like the right general concept, and nearly identical in basic architecture to the Cappo unit, but seems likely that it might be on the big side. Anybody know or have one they can measure?

Hi dusted off my account here to follow along.

I feel your salt rust induced pain, I have 10 year newer Alfa 147 with only 130k km that can't pass inspection and is getting sold for parts and my 118d needs some new hardlines before it will pass in Norway, at least BMW designed things with a bit more room :) 

In reply to thetortoise :

Nice to see you, virtually. 'Tis a real shame about the Alfa! Is the BMW in Norway, or in France?

As for my rust, once I get the car driving again and get a better feel for it, I can better decide the next step. If I really like it, I will most likely strip it down, have the shell blasted or dipped by a professional, build a rotisserie for the shell and start tackling the repairs myself. Then paint, re-assemble, and enjoy. If I don't like it as much as I hope I will, I will face a decision of the best approach before re-selling the car. The good news is that values for these don't seem to be declining, so even if I pass it along with some rust still needing repair and whatever upgrades I've made up to that point, I don't think I'll be regretful from a money-invested viewpoint.

Now that I was all-in for dropping the subframe, transmission, and whatnot, I kept chipping away at the little tasks required to lower the big (bigger? slightly-less-small?) assemblies. Draining the transmission revealed a little bit of shavings on the magnetic drain plug, and a few shiny non-ferrous flakes in the bottom of the drain pan. Neither seemed abnormal or alarming in their quantity for something with nearly 70,000 miles on it, and a known bad second-gear synchro.

Here's one of the rear swaybar end links, and these little buggers gave me a heck of time with removal. I was hoping to separate the subframe-mounted swaybar from the unibody-mounted rear shock/spring assemblies here, rather than tear apart the trunk to access the rear strut tops and leave them attached to the rear subframe. Fewer total fastners, less weight to lower and raise again, and fewer parts flopping around on the rear subframe assembly.

Finally! The small flats on the backside are really small and seem prone to rounding off. Getting a wrench on there involves abusing the rubber boot in a way that feels uncomfortable and pushes a good bit of the grease out, but what can you do?

Here's the crusty fuel filter, fuel plumbing out of the tank, and wiring for the rear-diff-mounted speed sensor. I can't wait to replace the fuel filter, and I also want to get a close look at the hard lines coming down from the top of the tank, the lower ends of which can just been seen near center of the photo above. I suspect these may be rusty, and I also want to check all of the rubber lines visible here that connect from the tank hard lines down to the hard lines that run along the bottom of the body...the ones that made a previous appearance. Although taking photos for your amusement is high on my priority list, pictures like these also serve a useful function for me when I go to reassemble all of this. They can be really helpful for reminding me which lines attaches where, and which parts are clipped together or attached to which standoff. The factory parts diagram can be somewhat helpful for some of this stuff, but not always...

Although the outer boot was dirty, the inner plug for the speed sensor was immaculate, with no dirt or grease visible on the outside of the plug, and perfect factory-looking dielectric grease inside the wiring pins. I doubt this differential has ever been out of the car, which I think I will chalk up to good news. At the very least, the differential didn't seem noisy when I drove the car, and better to have it as it left the factory, rather than repaired by someone, somewhere, at some point with no documentation.

From this perspective, the gas tank in the top of the picture doesn't look so bad, but I am not counting any chicks just yet. I am morbidly curious to drop the tank and see what is going on with it all around, but I am also mentally preparing myself for a need to deal with tank and or hard line issues in case they arise.

Back on the passenger's side of the rear, you can see how crusty the rear upright is. I can't go after this thing with wire brushes and the sand blaster....it will soooooo gratifying. If you peek at the top of the inside of the brake dust shield, you can see the rust that might relegate these paper-thin stamped parts to the scrap heap. I poked a few holes through the sheet metal, and it is so thin it will be hard to repair. I doubt this car ever had any cleaning of the wheel wells/brake dust done in the entirety of its life so far.

Here's one side of the inner end of the rear upper control arm from the passenger's side. Oh goody; more rust for me to scrape/blast away. If these bushings are good, I will likely just do POR15, rather than destroy the bushings to get them out to powdercoat.

Another view of the crusty fuel filter once I got some more stuff removed. I have a Grand Vitara unit that seems to match the same basic design and outside diameter, but is quite a bit longer, not to mention far more readily-available Stateside. I am hoping it fits, and if confirmed, will share with the American owner's group parts interchange list.

OK, I finally had everything extraneous detached, and was ready to start dropping the subframe. Thank goodness for both my pneumatic impact gun, and for whichever shopmate of mine so generously has a transmission jack! I can see daylight in between...or at least, camera flash light.

Looking good so far up front as well. All fasteners, lines, etc seem to be freed, and daylight is apparent between the subframe and the unibody.

Now we are cooking with gas! A minor struggle flexing the rear struts out of the way, and the subframe assembly is down!

And out! Thankfully fairly lightweight. Once I got it out from under the car, I was able to lift it off the jack fairly easily solo. Better safe than sorry! Totally unrelated, but I just realized that this angle is great for highlighting the poorly-rolled rear fenders! I'll get to those someday. Maybe I'll even have the refined the skills to fix them by the time we get there!

Another view. Fairly complex setup for such a little car, but that is part of why I love it so much. Build a micro sportscar? YES! Well, given that it is tiny and tight on space, should we cheap out on drivetrain or the other details and make it easy on everyone? NO! Let's go for a turbo, intercooled, EFI, multivalve engine, with a five-speed, a configurable removable hardtop roof that allows coupe, T-top, targa, and full-convertible options on the fly, aluminum body panels, A/C, optional power steering and airbags, and fully independent suspension and four wheel disc brakes!

The bolts holding the subframe in have certainly seen better days. These guys were put in dry 26 years ago, into a captive nut that was open to the salt and grit... I think I'll get a full complement of replacements. Might even get fancy and put some anti-seize or grease on the threads....and yes, I know that that will berkeley up the torque values, but if nothing else, it will give me or someone in the future a snowball's chance in hell of removing the now-over-torqued , unnecessarily-lubricated bolts again if needed without resorting to extreme measures.

 Now that we have the subframe out, it is very interesting to assess the condition of everything remaining. Gas tank is still awaiting removal before I get too emotionally invested. The body-side driver's-side upper rear subframe mount looks really good, though! The bottom of the crossmember will need some tidying up, but it is a relief that the pockets up around the gas tank look good from what I can see here from a rust perspective.

This is a view straight upward at the problem rear brake hard line. Doesn't look great, but on the other hand I don't see anything terribly, egregiously wrong either.

This is looking straight up towards the hose between the filler and the gas tank. The rubber line felt hard as a rock, and the clamps looked like they would requite a team of horses to remove. Neither hose nor clamps was a disappointment on these fronts when removal time came. From this angle, the tank still doesn't look too bad, and the body-side, passenger's side, upper rear subframe mount looks downright reasonable!

The body-side, passenger's side front rear subframe mounting point. All will be evident once the schmoo is removed, but at the moment, looks like it could be better, but could also be far worse. These cars are known for rot in this area, so I'll take what I can get!

Same for the driver's side, but far less schmoo and looking even sunnier!

Here's the subframe side of the interface points go, and the top driver's side looks like it will respond nicely to a little clean up and paint/powder coat.

Here's the driver's side forward mounting point, which is a bit rustier, but could be worse. It looks like there might have been a locating dowel midway between the two mounting holes at one point like there is in the first picture, but now it has dissolved away to nothing??? Can anyone confirm or deny?

This is just outboard of one of the rear differential mounts. Can't wait to get these crusty bits tidied up and powdercoated! The subframe is too big for my personal powdercoat setup, so will probably have to be farmed out. I might be able to fit it in my neighbor's blast cabinet, but despite the car's tiny size, I am confident there is no way it will fit in my oven (re-purposed home unit at the shop.)

The stock battery box got a bit melty nearest the turbo at one point. I trimmed it down and smoothed the plastic in preparation for a bit of heat shielding before it goes back together.

There are more parts that cropped up at a good deal that will make a showing soon. Mostly over-the-horizon upgrade stuff, not parts I plan to put on in the short run of getting the car functional and working. They came at prices where if I ditch the project, I could resell without a loss, so I figured I would squirrel some nuts away...

Here's the stuff I've stumbled across/acquired that is going on the someday shelf while I deal with more important issues:

Urethane Differential bushings made by a owner's group member in the UK. He was doing a run of them, so I figured I'd pounce while they were available.

Adjustable upper control arms, both front and rear, from 1uzta40 on Instagram...the same guy who made the big brake kit. Designed and fabricated in the USA! Once again, I figured I better not be caught napping when a short run is done by some dude in his garage after work in his spare time. These will allow camber adjustment, correct minor rear geometry issues if/when lowering the car, and also provide a nice one-stop-shop for fixing my worn-out bushings, worn-out boots, possible worn ball joints, plus rust and flaked-off paint. If I'd ordered new parts, removed the old bushings, blasted, powdercoated, pressed new parts in, etc, by the time I fixed all of those issues independently, the cost difference wasn't too significant.

Once-in-a-lifetime very-lightly-used coilovers that popped up on Yahoo Japan Auctions. I got them for a price I can easily recoup if I decide to resell.

In case you guys are curious, here is the translated text from the Japanese auction:

-----------

The product is a Cosmic Garage bespoke Öhlins suspension kit. Öhlins bespoke suspension kit from Cosmic Garage, which was finally discontinued in 2018.

The exhibit is a good kit that was purchased in 2017, used for a short period of time (about 3,000 km), and then stored. The original purchase price was about 400,000 yen including the pillow upper, which is a very expensive and high-performance harmonic drive. Since there is no distribution itself in the second-hand market, it is a rare part that is extremely difficult to obtain.

Produced by Öhlins custom-made department. Excellent road followability with supple operation. It shows its true value in Gymkhana competitions and circuits.

Designed for springs 8 to 10K at the front and 4 to 6K at the rear.

It is a shock that can fully demonstrate the basic performance of Cappuccino.

Front and rear screw type vehicle height adjustment. Front and rear 20-step damping force adjustment.

It

is OK to overhaul the specifications and change the specifications according to the spring used when ordering .

~ Specifications ~

F / R Screw type vehicle height adjustment

F / R 20 steps Damping force adjustment

F / Swift ID 60mm Spring rate 8k

R / Swift ID 60mm Spring rate 5k

F / R Cusco Pillow upper

-------

Seems like some high-end stuff for what was originally a cheap, disposable car, but I'm excited! I've always wanted some really nice dampers for one of my four-wheeled-vehicles. The spring rates are a good bit stiffer than stock, but not into the realm of most Japanese trackday/time attack cars, and stock Cappos are S-O-F-T when fitted with sticky tires and driven aggressively. Once again, probably not going to put them on now while I deal with things like getting the brakes working and making sure there aren't rust holes through and into the car. While they weren't cheap, comparing what I spent to the price of new stock strut tops, new dust boots, new shocks, and new hardware at all four corners helps in the justification process.

Complete lightly-used Monster Sport (nee Suzuki Sport) K100 kit, plus aftermarket header, blow off valve, but minus the spark plugs (which should be easy enough to source. This kit was originally offered by Suzuki's tuning arm, then taken over by Monster Tajima's tuning shop (aka the nutball who drove that 1000hp Pikes Peak Suzuki) and is supposed to bump the 64-ish hp up to about 100hp! It consists of a plug-and-play ECU, bigger injectors, and an oversized (but still reasonable) turbo to fit in the stock location, plus new plugs. I found mine used here in the US, and jumped at it because these kits are rare, and even rarer in low-mileage shape, and then even rarer still if they are K100 kits (for my alloy-block K6A engine) versus the more common F100 kit (the same thing, only specific to the more commonplace iron-block F6A engine.

Mine also came with an aftermarket tubular manifold, which is a nice treat. I put a dollar bill in there for scale. This car continually makes me laugh out loud. It is hilarious how small everything is, and this is coming from a guy whose bread and butter has been 1.3-1.8-liter cars and motorcycles! The manifold has a nice thick flange, and looks to be of decent quality, but manufacturer is unknown. According to the previous owner (KappyKaiju again) the header gets really hot, so if I decide to run this kit, I will probably take it to the local ceramic coater guy and have him do his famous inside-and-outside treatment on it. There are other aftermarket manifolds that relocate the turbo and/or offer different flanges, but I like the ease of reversal with this setup, plus it avoids all the knock-on problems of relocating/extending/modifying vacuum lines, intercooler piping, oil and water plumbing, not to mention whatever other components under the hood get displaced by moving the turbo.

The turbo looks and feels OK from what I can tell, but this is my first turbo car, so what do I know? I'm also unsure on the aftermarket BOV unless I can recirculate it. Reports from some other Cappo owners indicate that venting to atmosphere results in quite a bit more lag and isn't recommended in many cases. Considering the upgrade is supposed to be about performance, I don't want to do a ricer/tuner/look-at-me-I'm-attention-deprived mod at the expense of working well.

Once again, not in rush to put this stuff on...there's more routine fixing to be done before the upgrades begin, and I could probably resell if I decide against putting it on the car.

At last, fame and fortune! Well...fame at least...the Cappo made the hallowed pages of GRM!

Onward with the project! Now that the subframe and lines are out, it is time to drop the gas tank. In preparation for this operation, I need to tear into the interior and disconnect some fuel lines and wiring plugs and whatnot at the top of the tank via an access panel. At first I would have guessed it was in the trunk, but consulting the manual let me know that it is accessed via the passenger compartment, underneath the storage cubby which resides behind the shoulders of the two seats, but in front of the trunk and where the rear glass window folds down when converting from targa mode to convertible mode.

I took up the driver's door sill  so that I could access the carpet that runs behind the seats. It was good (but not essential) to do this now, because there were some missing fasteners on the plastic trim, some issues with the door light switch seen dangling on the left side, some issues with the clips that are supposed to live in the slots visible here (namely that they were so rusty, they broke apart, and are now rattling around the bottom of the inside of the rocker panel.....AND...there is dust and rust under the plastic tread plate trim, which on most cars is inside the door seal...

Here's the center plastic panel of the rear cubby, which I am proud to say I got out without breaking any tabs. The frame for the optional elastic cargo net (not pictured) was not so lucky. The first side I decided to remove had a screw which I was able to loosen from the topside, but once free, I heard the unmistakable sound of a tiny M4 or M5 nut falling down into the innards of the unibody structure, complete with a gut-wrenching 3-5 plinko bounces along the way. berkeley! How am I going to find that nut? Upon removing the other corresponding fasteners on the other side, and in the center, I found that they all threaded into rubber well nuts, but the first one I started with had been modified at some point in the past by some genius who ruined the well nut and just decided that a regular fastener would suffice. In the end I recovered the offending fastener, to much relief.

As I dug into the interior, I found some treasures/lost items. These were Japanese lost items, which makes them....more interesting, I guess. First up was a pair of work gloves shoved under the interior plastics in the cubby area. The rubberized palms lived up to the Tough moniker, as they were so dried out that they were stiff as metal, and brittle. Someday in the past, someone tucked them there (or lost them there) just in case they were needed, and now they have passed the expiration date.

With the center panel removed, and the elastic cargo net now visible on the right side of the frame, we can see some spaghetti of wiring underneath. Doesn't appear stock at first glance, but I am unsure what this might be. Chasing the end headed for the trunk leads to a cut end of the wiring.

I dug back forward under the carpet under the seats and found....another cut end. Looks like Cat cable. Some 90's A/V install, long since removed?

Weight savings!

Here's the more complete side of the trim. I'm still now sure if Suzuki just specified a half dozen different kinds of fasteners to hold in this trim, or someone in the past who removed and reinstalled it lost the originals and just used whatever they had on hand.

Here's my reference photo on the passenger's side of the sill panel fasteners and door light switch. Mostly for reference, given that this side if far more complete than the driver's side, and hoping that it is more original.

Finally, the main event, or what we all came for...the fuel tank access panel!

Yikes...that's a bit dusty under there! This is the top of the fuel pump/supply side and the fuel sender for the gauge on the dash, as well as the breather for filling.

Getting everything disconnected through this access panel was a frustrating, sweaty, dirty, drawn-out job, highlighted by a total inability to both manipulate the parts in question and see what was going on at the same time, punctuated by some language that might make a sailor blush, and revealing that wearing my work headlamp actually increases the amount of forehead sweat that goes directly into my eyes. In the end, all was disconnected, and the tank was free to drop.

The last piece to the tank removal puzzle was the line from the filler. I got this free from the underside in the end, but the clamps were so rusty that I had to destroy the lower one to do so, and the upper is twisted up enough that I will likely replace both.

I have never heard of, or experienced anything about a vented BOV causing response, lag or boost threshold issues, short of a misadjusted one that was leaking.  Some BOVs will be in bypass at idle depending on the turbo sizing, mine does for example.  But as soon as the throttle cracks open it snaps shut.  The adjustment nut on the top allows for fine tuning for this and also how sensitive to popping off in general.  Sometimes the internal spring needs to be changed, but usually thats in large cam, low vacuum situations.

In reply to malibuguy :

Maybe just one of those "facts" that gets regurgitated around the online Cappuccino community until it gains a life of it's own? I've read posts about it from the USA and Europe, more recent and dating back to the early 2000's. I am still in the infancy stages of learning about turbos, so I'll admit I'm leaning on what others suggest. What tends to get shared around the Cappuccino community is that if you have a stock or mild aftermarket turbo (like mine) and change the factory recirculated setup to vent to atmosphere, it can increase lag when changing up to the next gear. This is typically followed by a mention that if you have a big turbo (double stock power or more) and a more aggressive tune, YMMV. I honestly don't know.

When digging around behind the seats in preparation for dropping the gas tank, I made another discovery. I figured since I was 95% of the way into this area anyway, and it is one of the worst areas for rust in these chassis, I might as well check. The issue seems to be the box section of structure that is on the subframe (aka outside) side of the rear firewall is poorly seam-sealed from Suzuki, and is within spray range of the rear tires. Once wet grime, dust, and salt drip down in there, the tin worm can get to work without much interruption, since it is all snug, invisible from the underside, and hidden from view by the carpet and seats on the interior side.

Although I wasn't excited with what I found, it could be worse, given what I have seen with other examples of this car.

Passenger's side...flakey and scaley with a few little holes.

Driver's side is similar, maybe slightly worse.

I'm debating ignoring these now, fixing the brake and fuel plumbing, and driving it a little, before deciding if I want to commit to fixing it properly, versus grinding it back now, tacking a patch in place and adding a little seam sealer to keep grime and fumes, etc out while driving it some, and then fully cutting out a section and fixing it properly later.