ZC33S, 970kg Hot hatch
Discussion
Neil1323bolts said:
I like it , good colour choice as well . I love a lightweight hot hatch I have one of my own a Yaris grmn , bit heavier than yours but a little more power so probably pretty comparable . 
here it is next to my new toy a vx220 turbo, which is amazing to drive !
The Yaris GRMN do look pretty sharp. I don't think I have seen one on the road yet, where as the GR Yaris are positively ten a penny now! Initially I wanted my Swift in Blue but am now glad I got white. White just seems to suit Japanese cars! here it is next to my new toy a vx220 turbo, which is amazing to drive ! What is the gearing like on the grmn, nice and tightly stacked I imagine?
JohnnyD1999 said:
Really like this, what specs are your Advans, lovely wheel and what tyres are you running? Brand and size?
Really nicely balance mods. Planning anything suspension wise?
The wheels are Advan Racing RZ 16x7 et+45 5x114.3 flow formed 6kg each. I went for Dunlop Sport bluresponse 195/50r16. As I wanted to maximise the unsprung weight savings I went for the Dunlops as they were the lightest tyre I could find in that size and also got a good write up as a sporty road tyre. Keeping the tread width at 195 was also a conscious decision, rather than going for outright grip. It does not lack grip as it is!Really nicely balance mods. Planning anything suspension wise?
I am fairly happy with the suspension now that I fitted the rear anti roll bar. I know it sits pretty high but the roads round here are pretty crap and lowering it or increasing spring rates will likely just compromise it in some situations I think. I am going to wait and see how it feels after the bracing is fitted and see what I think.
I have contemplated further suspension mods so if I do go ahead I would likely go for B12 kit or maybe just standalone B6 dampers (if Bilstein pull their finger out). Just using an uprated damper though would likely increase the ride height even more which probably would look rather odd! Ohlins coilovers look good, as used by the rent4ring swifts, kinda pricey though.
xu5 said:
The Yaris GRMN do look pretty sharp. I don't think I have seen one on the road yet, where as the GR Yaris are positively ten a penny now! Initially I wanted my Swift in Blue but am now glad I got white. White just seems to suit Japanese cars!
That’s because there are only 77 licensed Yaris GRMN on the roads. And well over 2,200 GR Yaris. They are common as muck now!MiseryStreak said:
xu5 said:
The Yaris GRMN do look pretty sharp. I don't think I have seen one on the road yet, where as the GR Yaris are positively ten a penny now! Initially I wanted my Swift in Blue but am now glad I got white. White just seems to suit Japanese cars!
That’s because there are only 77 licensed Yaris GRMN on the roads. And well over 2,200 GR Yaris. They are common as muck now!Little update time. Not a massive amount has changed. I have done some chassis bracing starting with a c pillar brace. Being a hatchback the rear is a wide open space and quite flexible. Suzuki put some extra welds in the area to address this and I added a Largus c pillar bar from Japan. The benefit of the Largus bar being it does not impede the use of the parcel shelf and comes in matte black so not as blingy as other options. This made a surprising amount of difference. The rear felt better damped and able to handle jarring road defects better. It also gave a slight hint of understeer feel, presumably because the rear suspension was able to do its job a bit better.
Next I fitted some TRD door stabilisers. On initial impression these have a whiff of bulls
t mod about them, but after quite a bit of research they seemed a sound idea so again got some from Japan.
The idea behind these being that the door hinges are effectively solid with the doors shut but the latches float, the door stabilisers create a wedge at the latch with the door shut so acting as a "brace" along the belt line. I installed one on each of the four doors. Again these gave the car a smoother better damped feeling and the car regained a neutral feeling. It also gives the doors a less tinny feeling when closing.
I then installed the obligatory front upper strut bar from Cusco.
To be honest I did not feel any difference from fitting this. Not being a one piece design it will not be optimal, perhaps the two previous mods had taken up some of the slack already? Does look nice though
Other little things I have done include fitting rigid gearshift cradle and bracket bushes to make the gearshift nice and direct and increase the clicky-clackityness. I changed the gear knob to a more comfortable example from R's Racing Service.
I have undersealed the car twice now using Lanogaurd stuff which seems to work well for the underside but for cavity injection did not seem to apply reliably so I used Bilt Hamber Dynax S50 from there aerosol cans, could not be simpler!
I have succumbed to lowering the car. Generally the suspension is very good but when you are in the mood it can be a little soft. I have chosen to go with Bilstein B6 dampers and Eibach Pro springs. This combination should not lower the car too much but firm it up nicely. I am hoping my chassis bracing efforts will will help the shell not become too crashy with firmer suspension.
To get fitted at the same time are a Cusco mid brace (exhaust tunnel), and Summit S-wave front subframe brace, lower control arm brace and rear axle brace. The subframe and LCA brace should make a decent difference. The rear axle brace less so
I will update again when I get this lot fitted hopefully in a few weeks.
Next I fitted some TRD door stabilisers. On initial impression these have a whiff of bulls
t mod about them, but after quite a bit of research they seemed a sound idea so again got some from Japan. The idea behind these being that the door hinges are effectively solid with the doors shut but the latches float, the door stabilisers create a wedge at the latch with the door shut so acting as a "brace" along the belt line. I installed one on each of the four doors. Again these gave the car a smoother better damped feeling and the car regained a neutral feeling. It also gives the doors a less tinny feeling when closing.
I then installed the obligatory front upper strut bar from Cusco.
To be honest I did not feel any difference from fitting this. Not being a one piece design it will not be optimal, perhaps the two previous mods had taken up some of the slack already? Does look nice though
Other little things I have done include fitting rigid gearshift cradle and bracket bushes to make the gearshift nice and direct and increase the clicky-clackityness. I changed the gear knob to a more comfortable example from R's Racing Service.
I have undersealed the car twice now using Lanogaurd stuff which seems to work well for the underside but for cavity injection did not seem to apply reliably so I used Bilt Hamber Dynax S50 from there aerosol cans, could not be simpler!
I have succumbed to lowering the car. Generally the suspension is very good but when you are in the mood it can be a little soft. I have chosen to go with Bilstein B6 dampers and Eibach Pro springs. This combination should not lower the car too much but firm it up nicely. I am hoping my chassis bracing efforts will will help the shell not become too crashy with firmer suspension.
To get fitted at the same time are a Cusco mid brace (exhaust tunnel), and Summit S-wave front subframe brace, lower control arm brace and rear axle brace. The subframe and LCA brace should make a decent difference. The rear axle brace less so
I will update again when I get this lot fitted hopefully in a few weeks.
Edited by xu5 on Tuesday 29th November 08:46
Ahh this is an awesome little thread, like the commitment to weight saving. Very jealous with all the bolt-ons you have available for it! Certainly an admirable little car for being under 1000kg.
How are those tyres treating you? Always considered getting different wheels to save weight but never tyres. Which is weird as with mountain biking its a detail i obsess over.
How are those tyres treating you? Always considered getting different wheels to save weight but never tyres. Which is weird as with mountain biking its a detail i obsess over.
W00DY said:
Never heard of anything like that door latch mod, but I love it! Little tweaks and small gains suit it well.
They were originally designed as a tuning pat for the ae86, then gt86 by Toyota Racing Developments. Some Lexus have them fitted as standard now I believe. They are actually made by Aisin who make door locks for most Japanese and probably more, cars. So if your locks are made by Aisin the universal door stabilisers will probably fit.It is quite nice noticing the incremental changes which all add up!
Scoobydrew95 said:
Ahh this is an awesome little thread, like the commitment to weight saving. Very jealous with all the bolt-ons you have available for it! Certainly an admirable little car for being under 1000kg.
How are those tyres treating you? Always considered getting different wheels to save weight but never tyres. Which is weird as with mountain biking its a detail i obsess over.
The Dunlop Sport Bluresponses have been pretty good, they have only been used for the summer and may been due a change next year. I have had no complaints about them, good in the dry and wet and wear has been reasonable. Compared to the standard 17's which now have winter tyres the 16's save 4kg a corner and you definitely notice it with less inertia in acceleration and steering input. being perfectly honest though I may slightly prefer the steering feel to the heavier setup, though overall the light weight pairing feels better overall. I may go for a slightly more aggressive tyre like Yokohama Advan v701's and see if I can notice the slight weight increase How are those tyres treating you? Always considered getting different wheels to save weight but never tyres. Which is weird as with mountain biking its a detail i obsess over.
Also how cool will I be with Yoko Advan wheels and tyres There are plenty of bits available for this generation of Swift now. The UK is lucky to have CTC Performance who specialise in Suzuki's and now Hyundai N models. Japan however has raft's of aftermarket parts available as you would expect. Indeed I have sourced a fair few bits from Japan my self but unfortunately shipment costs have rocketed this year. I was looking at getting a carbon bonnet which so far I can only find available from the far east for about £450, plus shipping it is now £1k so that is a no for now
These have passed me by. Never realised they were so light (very light for this day and age) and that's a decent amount of grunt as standard for a small hot hatch.
A friend of mine had one of the earlier Swift Sports back in 2008ish when I had my 172 Cup as it happens. It went alright for a NA 1.6 and was well regarded by EVO. Great to see Suzuki have stuck with it.
I'll be keeping an eye on these.
A friend of mine had one of the earlier Swift Sports back in 2008ish when I had my 172 Cup as it happens. It went alright for a NA 1.6 and was well regarded by EVO. Great to see Suzuki have stuck with it.
I'll be keeping an eye on these.
trails said:
Great thread and mods, not sure how I missed it 
My wife had a ZC31S and currently has a ZC32S, we had a ZC33S loaner from Suzuki and it was a cracking little thing. I think I'm going to import one next year as they are also available in silver in Japan.
I was under the impression, probably incorrect, that it is difficult to import a car that is under 10 years old into the UK?My wife had a ZC31S and currently has a ZC32S, we had a ZC33S loaner from Suzuki and it was a cracking little thing. I think I'm going to import one next year as they are also available in silver in Japan.
The JDM ZC33S cars have the gearset from the ZC32S hence close ratio, whereas the Europe ZC33S have the gear set from the Vitara S so are wider spaced. Not such a problem with turbo torque available I guess. Also the the JDM cars are not afflicted with the mild hybrid engine (K14D) that displaced the K14C engine in the UK mid 2020. The non hybrid K14C being lighter and more powerful.
Just remembered, another advantage of getting a JDM car would be that you can opt out of the mostly annoying and useless "safety package", ie lane assist, autonomous braking. Thankfully all assists can be turned of anyway.
Edited by xu5 on Tuesday 29th November 14:51
xu5 said:
trails said:
Great thread and mods, not sure how I missed it
My wife had a ZC31S and currently has a ZC32S, we had a ZC33S loaner from Suzuki and it was a cracking little thing. I think I'm going to import one next year as they are also available in silver in Japan.
I was under the impression, probably incorrect, that it is difficult to import a car that is under 10 years old into the UK?My wife had a ZC31S and currently has a ZC32S, we had a ZC33S loaner from Suzuki and it was a cracking little thing. I think I'm going to import one next year as they are also available in silver in Japan.
The JDM ZC33S cars have the gearset from the ZC32S hence close ratio, whereas the Europe ZC33S have the gear set from the Vitara S so are wider spaced. Not such a problem with turbo torque available I guess. Also the the JDM cars are not afflicted with the mild hybrid engine (K14D) that displaced the K14C engine in the UK mid 2020. The non hybrid K14C being lighter and more powerful.
Just remembered, another advantage of getting a JDM car would be that you can opt out of the mostly annoying and useless "safety package", ie lane assist, autonomous braking. Thankfully all assists can be turned of anyway.
Edited by xu5 on Tuesday 29th November 14:51
Interesting info on the gear ratios, sounds like a significant positive to me...I think I have seen a couple of JDM cars with heated seats too. We won't be going for the hybrid.
First thing I did was switch all that gubbins off after the car did its first lane assist and scared the carp out of me.
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