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| 92 Droptop Funmachine!; track oriented build and metro life jazz. | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Nov 14 2015, 06:11 PM (647 Views) | |
| Sterling | Nov 14 2015, 06:11 PM Post #1 |
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New Member
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![]() Hi my name is Sterling, and I have a reoccurring Geo problem! So it begins, after many years of absence from Metro ownership, I picked up this gem for $800. Well, it's not really a gem, but the bones are solid, lightyears over the last Metro I owned when I lived in Illinois. ![]() In high school and the years that followed, I owned about 4 of these (owned a lot of cars, hard to remember exactly) and was a part of the online community at that time. I think I had ownership of a Geo Metro Yahoo Group in that time as well, I do recall I transferred it at some point and then it was merged with another or locked afterward, but it was during this time I learned a good deal about the performance enhancements these fun little machines were capable of. During those years I went under the handle of turbogeo1, if anyone else has been around that long. I do recognize some names still on TeamSwift, not sure how many of those guys float between forums. ![]() So the plan with this one is simple: Build it and flog it. Full suspension and chassis upgrades (including simple cage) for some amateur racing fun. Eventually a motor swap, but for now, keeping it as-is with the super automatic!! Outright speed will never really be the target, just a fun car to haul around in. And by golly I live in California, I should own a convertible right??? It's been so many years since I've wrenched on one of these... gotta keep reading the forums to get caught up on what works and what's out there now. I've seen some pretty spectacular work on this forum, great to see people pushing limits still with these old Suzuki cars. The simplicity and light weight are tough to beat. Thanksgiving weekend has half off sales at many of the junkyards here in SoCal so I'm going to go surfing, so I'm starting this thread to get a handle on what I'm shopping for and what others think I should be after. Handy that the convertible already has the larger brakes, I always wanted to upgrade from the non-vented trapped units on the cars I owned before. In no particular order, Red hood Red front bumper (neither of which are absolutely necessary, but it would be nice to have ones straight) Trunk lid, any color, prefer red Driver's seat extra convertible parts (seals, trim, latches, etc) Swift rear suspension. Boy, do I want something better than the drum's tiny bearings. Changed those more times than I care to remember. anything Swift GT/GTi performance, really. I'd consider a G13B swap if parts happen to be available. FOLDING SWIFT MIRRORS. I'd love to have these as the car will fit better in the garage. late model Metro/Swift sway bars, front and rear with hardware. glove box lock (mine drilled out) side glass that isn't scratched pass clear lens for turn signal (has hole) '88 CRX Si calipers *high-torque starter *lower Metro door section from car with retractable belts New parts to get excited about!! feel free to add suggestions, I'm still researching to find out what is out there. Konis. custom rear adjustable spring perch and shorter spring (need to research spring rates). any coilover components I can buy for the front, before going custom on the rest. ALL poly bushings, starting with Whiteline caster kit and anything else they make. trans mount. OEM filled to poly, previous owner said it was shot. front lower brace- I see Turbine Tech does/used to make one, ties in front horns side to side. If it's not available, I'll build one. Very sticky tires in whatever 14" size is commonly available. I have some light 14s with the right bolt pattern. all lighting. LED as much as possible that makes sense. new convertible top. preferably something of higher quality. *parts or kit to replace rear lower toe links with solid components I'd like this thread to be an engaging discussion on the car and build but I'm not particular at all if we get sideways on certain items (IE somewhat off-topic on various bits) as this to me is as much a build thread as a reflection of enjoying these little cars. I'm still learning the scope/rules of your particular forum, but I myself am not picky at all to the discussion content of this thread. It's meant to be an enjoyable read! In all, I'm super excited to get going on this project. It's gonna be great starting off where I left off, only with more money and a hell of a lot more knowledge!! And less rust!!
Edited by Sterling, Nov 15 2015, 04:25 PM.
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| Sterling | Nov 14 2015, 06:28 PM Post #2 |
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New Member
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Metros of Years Past (newer one was my brother's ride through college)![]() I drove the green one for years while I rehabbed my first house, saving as much money as possible. Rust took it's toll on it, fixed the floors before selling it to a friend... a few months later got smacked hard in parked in front of his house. Those cars did us well. Just because it happens to be in the same Photobucket account, here's an example of work I've done on another platform (Nissan S12 200sx, previous generation to popular S13/S14)... ![]() Coming from the midwest, I understand the obsession with strip/clean/paint/stainless EVERYTHING to combat the inevitable rot experienced in that part of the country. ![]() It's so much easier in California. This car has been missing it's rear window for almost a decade and this is what the floors look like. Blows my mind. People here do not understand how fortunate they are to not spend 60-70% of their build time replacing metal!!!
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| rocknrollron | Nov 14 2015, 06:42 PM Post #3 |
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Obsessed
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Welcome Sterling! I've got a few convertibles I'm working with right now also. I may have some extra parts should you need some...PM me anytime! Ron |
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| CAMI MAN | Nov 14 2015, 07:53 PM Post #4 |
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CUSTODIAN OF THE MR.SUZUKI CONVERTIBLE
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Welcome Sterling Looks like a great project
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| aaronvincent | Nov 14 2015, 08:03 PM Post #5 |
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Mr Mojo Risin'
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Man I love California (I'm from San Diego) and there's just something about it that's very hard to find anywhere else. Amazing place. Love the convertible too Does it shift normally or does it have to be manually shifted? I know automatics of this year are very prone to the tcm malfunction |
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| t3ragtop | Nov 14 2015, 08:20 PM Post #6 |
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Turbo3 and Twincam Tweaker
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i checked the teamswift archives and the closest member name i found was turbogeo91 residing in illinois. 3 posts, joined aug 24 2009, last visit aug 25 2009. are you that guy? welcome back to the metro world.
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| MR Bill | Nov 14 2015, 09:37 PM Post #7 |
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Welcome to GMF |
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| idmetro | Nov 14 2015, 10:03 PM Post #8 |
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Welcome! |
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| Sterling | Nov 15 2015, 01:51 PM Post #9 |
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New Member
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Thanks for the welcome everyone! T3: I hadn't recalled ever signing up for TeamSwift, though perused the forum from time to time... so I looked up that guy's posts... and oh goodness, that's definitely not me. I wrench on my own cars and he's out of his mind thinking he could buy and have a turbo vert built for $1500. They regularly go for $2-3k if mostly clean. I figure I'll have about that much in upgrade work done to it before it's anywhere close to what I'd like to see it be. Aaron: I've not heard of the auto trans issue, interesting! Mine seems to shift fine, though I haven't driven it much. It does not drive very well as it sits given totally blown suspension and brakes that feel as if they are made of wood, so I have yet to really take it out and stretch it. If the trans does act up, well then I'll just have to get a-swapp'n! It's been interesting in the years I've been gone these various issues that have shown up as patterns... when I owned mine (I think 3 92s and one 93) they were dead reliable. Truth is, I don't know much about the engine control systems on these cars because I never had to fix them. Only performance upgrades and maintenance items. If you think it might be a good idea to grab an extra TCM though- if that's all it is- then I'll add it to my list. Going to add a 'high-torque starter' from a '93 vert (if I'm correct on all those details) to my list, I recall reading those are a nice rare item. |
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| Sterling | Nov 15 2015, 02:20 PM Post #10 |
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New Member
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At work last week and this seat is chilln next to the dumpster! It's fairly clean and not worn out real bad, will work nice to replace the factory one in terrible shape and missing headrest. I think I'll mount it fixed to save of seat rail simplicity and general lack of use, I rarely have passengers. Most of the time it will probably be out of the car anyway.![]() The real purpose of this picture though is to discuss mounting a speaker in the door panel likely closer to the driver, as the cage will interfere with the center portion of the door. I'm considering a location above the bar around where the driver's arm will be. I'll have to add dimension to the panel to make it fit, not a problem. I don't want the acoustics to be terrible, but they don't have to be stellar as to be quite frank my hearing is not the best. This is another spot that could work for a speaker, I suppose... though it points to the back of the seats...? Looks like it was designed for it, in a way. ![]() I'm rather partial to the door panel location though as I could pack stuff back in that space and not worry about damaging the speaker or blocking the sound, as the dinky ones in the dash pointed at the floor are not much in creating great sound. I was pleased to find most of the missing interior plastics (and hardware too!) was located in the car often buried under garbage. I cleaned out the car and collected the bits in the trunk. I also removed the factory appearing lift rods and let the lid loose. I think I'll install a nylon coated cable as a limiting strap and use a prop rod like the hood has so the trunk can open further for better accessibility. But for now, Homer has my back!! ![]() The only part I think I'm missing is a center plastic cover when the roof is down. Seeing as I will not be able to use the side pieces with the roll hoop installed I'm not too concerned about finding it at the moment. |
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| t3ragtop | Nov 15 2015, 03:32 PM Post #11 |
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Turbo3 and Twincam Tweaker
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the flat door cards on the verts aren't great for mounting speakers. there are issues with speaker depth and interference with the side window glass. what found convenient was to modify the door cards from a hatchback with the seat belt mechanisms in them. the trim panels are bumped out to cover the retractors and make excellent pod areas for speakers. i mounted a set of 5 1/4" mid-woofers in the doors of my project vert to extend the range of the 4" component speakers i used in the dash. the interior of my 91 mk2 vert is dark so i used the door panels from a gt with the upper plastic trim from the vert. you can get the lighter gray door cards from a 92 - 94 mk3 metro to match your interior. |
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| Sterling | Nov 15 2015, 04:20 PM Post #12 |
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New Member
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That's right, I do recall seeing your mod there and I can use the lighter colored lower section out of a Metro. I had planned on building something to bring it outward, given the clearance issue with the glass/mechanism. I'm a little concerned about whether they'll fit with the door bar in place, but half off sale so why not?? Adding it to the list.... I'm on page 54 of your red car's build thread, pretty exciting stuff there... at the point I'm at the car looks pretty complete and there's still 20 pages more to go! I haven't even gotten to the blue car thread yet!! |
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