Reno GTI

[lamborgini112]

Okay so i've been buying parts slowly for almost 3 years now, and other than some small things like the intake and a few other things i've been slow to put them on as well leading to a large pile in garage.

After all this time it seems i'm finally at the point where i am ready to begin my project and build a Suzuki Reno GTI.

1. simple factory lip kit they offer in korea
2. bms intake, probablly will get modified by the end of the whole project.
3. a full exhaust system that won't pop a MIL and will have test pipes for the cats and resonators. (by the way i'm doing this in aluminum)
4. bms sway bars (reinstalled)
5. urethane bushings all over
6. coil overs
7. some good old chassis stiffening (via strut bars, under body links, seam welding, seam rivets and a few other tricks)
8. If all goes well a Rotrex C30 supercharger
9. a tuned transmission (i wanna keep the auto in the reno)
10. new leather seats front and rear with blue GTI emblems embroidered in.
11. new audio (nothing crazy)
12. full brake upgrade (lines, pads, rotors)
13. Oil cooler, Tranny fluid cooler, power steering cooler
14. functional duct work for brakes, coolers, and intake
15. a bunch of DIY carbon fiber pieces
16. 200lbs of weight reduction
17. new ecu with new redline and econ, sport and normal modes (this is going to be the difficult one)
18. a bunch of pieces to affect fuel economy, power, or aerodynamics just for shits and giggles.
19. i'm prolly missing out alot of stuff considering how tired i am but oh well

On top of doing all this stuff, i'd like to use this thread to show you guys how i did it. Lots of step by step instruction with proper homage paid to those who taught me how to do it.

If there's anything not on the list that you guys would like to see done, throw it up on here and maybe i can work that into my plan. This won't be done overnight so please be patient but i'll try and keep up as best i can.

Anywho, thought it was time to let the cat out of the bag
Travis

[kittenzuki]

looks like fun! it will be great to see it all come together. be sure to post lots of pics!

[7-even]

why reno gti? also how do you know the exhaust wont cause a mil? wich ecu are you planning to use?

[lamborgini112]

Alot of people have asked me that actually but Suzuki has run some GTI's before in their swifts which was their entry level car at the time. I feel the reno fills that gap as well and there should be more performance oriented accesories available at the dealer level. It's not so much of a performance build up as my own interpretation of a car. Kinda like my own custom made concept car.

The exhaust is going to retain a catalyst with the idea being of making an extremely modular exhaust. Steel header running 4 to 1 with a merge collector feeding into a catalyst that's where the factory flex pipe is now. the old O2 sensor is going to be de pinned and extended to the new cats mounting location. The issue with this is getting the cat up to temperature now, so we will be ceramic coating it and then using DEI's new titanium header wrap for that race look. On top of that i'm going to run the factory heatshield (we have to bend the ends out to fit the 4 to 1 design) to kinda sleeper it all out and give it a more OEM look. (call it overkill but i hate the underhood temps on these cars). All of these careful details should prevent an MIL except for when the test pipe is in, only time will tell.

As of right now i'm going to run the Megasquirt ecu in addition to the factory ecu. The megasquirts going to take care of ignition, fuel, and the other outputs while the factory ecu will take care of the inputs for emissions, coolant, and such. If this starts becoming an issue, as i've heard the megasquirt stuff can be a PITA, i'm going to switch to AEM as the full standalone and convert the reno to manual (i already have a back up auto tranny and a manual tranny just incase).

[vivaaa]

post some pics of ur car and all ur stuff for us so we can really see how much youv got haha

[mohnjanning]

if underhood temps are bringing you down, do the hood prop. i've noticed a big difference since i've rigged mine. no more do i get a blast to the face when i raise the hood. header wrap is believed to destroy the toughest header over time due to it preventing heat from escaping the header-- warping, weld breaks. the ecu and trans on our cars are the biggest walls to power, i look forward to seeing you tackle them.

? have you built this 4-1 header?
what coilovers are you using?
what are some examples of your weight reduction? i've removed everything out of the back of mine, but i'm looking for some major stuff out of the front. the only thing i can think to do is to build a chrom-moly subframe.

[7-even]

the idea behind the header wrap is to not let all the heat escape, helping the exhaust travel faster out of the system. if you over wrap the header it can be bad but iv never heard of a problem if done rite, about a .25 overlap i think. the only problem iv heard is when oil gets into the wrap it can start a fire.
lamborgini112 you are going to have a flex pipe in the exhaust piping rite? oh you are running a cat. i thought you were just going to run a test pipe. with a cat theres probably a 50/50 chance of getting a mil. iv heard of people getting and not getting them with an aftermarket cat installed. if you get a good cat the chances are better. i think magnaflow is the company with high flow 49 state legal cats. there supposed to be really good.

[lamborgini112]

Originally Posted by mohnjanning

if underhood temps are bringing you down, do the hood prop. i've noticed a big difference since i've rigged mine. no more do i get a blast to the face when i raise the hood. header wrap is believed to destroy the toughest header over time due to it preventing heat from escaping the header-- warping, weld breaks. the ecu and trans on our cars are the biggest walls to power, i look forward to seeing you tackle them.

? have you built this 4-1 header?
what coilovers are you using?
what are some examples of your weight reduction? i've removed everything out of the back of mine, but i'm looking for some major stuff out of the front. the only thing i can think to do is to build a chrom-moly subframe.

I've got alot of really creative solutions for alot of the stuff your talking about. Wanna lose a $#!7 ton of weight from the front. press your firewall...it gives alot like its padded. Take all that stuff off, stuff weighs a freaking boat load. Little more noise but i think some dynamat would weigh a fraction as much and block just as much noise and heat.

IAT too hot...i've got cool it tec wrap on the intake now, pretty soon i'm gonna run DEI's gold wrap (heard its a huge diff.)

more examples of my solutions coming. Pics of some rainy day projects in a few hours

As for the 4 to 1 header a company called HTP is designing it. We are currently arguing over the primary pipes... i want 1.5 inch, they want 1.25 inch. Can't decide which. The power curve i'm looking for is linear and meaty all the way through. I could care less about peak power... i want torque.

As for the weight reductions, i have 3 stages planned for this build. First is to make every single factory piece i can lighter... from cheap plastic to sound deadening to whole chunks of metal gone. I want the first stage to keep function of everything within the car and not have a pile of garbage i have to throw out just because i want light weight... in my mind your giving up too much driveability for performance when a few careful cuts could make quite a difference.

Stage 2 is reducing heavy pieces into Carbon Fiber, i recently read one of the best write ups about working with carbon and look forward to trying it on my own. If you want to read it go to the Bay Area Riders Forum and look for the thread about the carbon tank.

Stage 3 is making the interior panels, seats, audio, and a few other bits and bobs easy to remove for track days.

As for coilovers, I'd love to go with KW variant 3 but budget and driveability is going to be the deciding factor, i want to talk to a few guys who run several different setups to see what they think.

[lamborgini112]

Originally Posted by 7-even

the idea behind the header wrap is to not let all the heat escape, helping the exhaust travel faster out of the system. if you over wrap the header it can be bad but iv never heard of a problem if done rite, about a .25 overlap i think. the only problem iv heard is when oil gets into the wrap it can start a fire.
lamborgini112 you are going to have a flex pipe in the exhaust piping rite? oh you are running a cat. i thought you were just going to run a test pipe. with a cat theres probably a 50/50 chance of getting a mil. iv heard of people getting and not getting them with an aftermarket cat installed. if you get a good cat the chances are better. i think magnaflow is the company with high flow 49 state legal cats. there supposed to be really good.

flex pipe absolutely, right after the car probablly before the flange for the cat back. my aluminum bits (the test pipes) are coming from Performance Tube bending. The steel bits are coming from Vibrant performance and being welded together by HTP here in st. louis. I'm really hoping that my attention to detail is going to prevent the MIL. *cross your fingers for me* The Cat will be from Vibrant as well and will be a ceramic hi flow. I might try a metal core later but i think for now i'll stick with the ceramic.

[lamborgini112]

For some reason the pics won't load. I'll try tm.