[Ltinsane]

Originally Posted by Ashtoncastelino

Supervisor Tommy overseeing the work

Love the supervisor.

[ankitsharma]

Originally Posted by Ashtoncastelino

Simple Oil Change

With the last Oil and Filter change done at the 93000km mark in June, it was time for the the same again with the odo around the 102000km mark. Took this work up over the weekend and was quickly over with. The oil filter was removed and oil was left to be drained overnight. Fresh oil was poured in the next day morning. I decided to change the fuel filter as well since it was last changed around the 85000km mark.

Attachment 2512087
Got the Oil filter and Fuel Filter ( Purolator) from Boodmo. Sourced the Engine Oil (Mobil 1 5W40) from Amazon.

Regards
Ashton Castelino

Thanks for sharing. I would be performing a similar oil change for my Swift DDIS when I will be in my hometown this diwali.
BTW do you mind sharing the Mobil 1 Amazon oil link ? I have bought it before but not the triple action power. Although I am planning to get Mobil 1 Delvac 5w-40 but looks like this triple action power might work good too.

[Ashtoncastelino]

Originally Posted by Ltinsane

Love the supervisor.

Thankyou buddy, He's 13 years old so he's got quite the experience in this field. Need to get him a backpack of tools

Originally Posted by ankitsharma

do you mind sharing the Mobil 1 Amazon oil link ? I have bought it before but not the triple action power.

Here's the product link but always make sure you get from reputed sellers like Mini Shopee or Etrade even if the price is a bit more than other sellers.

Regards
Ashton Castelino

[Anuj 6227]

Hi Ashton,
I want to inquire if, the front struts in that generation of Swift/Dzire Petrol are oil filled or gas filled or both, and before replacing them did you feel any discomfort or obvious signs that the struts were worn? I recently got the strut mount changed on my Dzire 2008 (they were making squeaking noise), the mechanic told me that both the struts were completely worn out (he demonstrated by the piston not coming up) although there is no leakage from either of them (unlike your case), and I don't feel anything out of the ordinary when driving, hence I gave it a miss. However, after changing the mounts the car feels much lighter to drive & the squeaking noise is completely gone .

I have heard that the oil-filled shock piston doesn't come up on its own, hence making the shocks still in OK condition.

Originally Posted by Ashtoncastelino

Thankyou buddy, He's 13 years old so he's got quite the experience in this field. Need to get him a backpack of tools



Here's the product link but always make sure you get from reputed sellers like Mini Shopee or Etrade even if the price is a bit more than other sellers.

Regards
Ashton Castelino

[Ashtoncastelino]

Originally Posted by Anuj 6227

Hi Ashton,
I want to inquire if, the front struts in that generation of Swift/Dzire Petrol are oil filled or gas filled or both, and before replacing them did you feel any discomfort or obvious signs that the struts were worn?

The front struts are gas filled in the Swift/ Dzire. The car seemed to be bouncing a lot over bad roads and the leaking struts when opened demanded for a replacement. If you're planning to change the struts change them as an assembly in pairs preferably stick to Monroe suspension.

Regards
Ashton Castelino

[Adityaa4660]

Originally Posted by Ashtoncastelino

The front struts are gas filled in the Swift/ Dzire. The car seemed to be bouncing a lot over bad roads and the leaking struts when opened demanded for a replacement. If you're planning to change the struts change them as an assembly in pairs preferably stick to Monroe suspension.

Regards
Ashton Castelino

What are your thoughts on Gabriel Shocks? Mine were replaced with Front Struts and Rear Shocks with Gabriels also changing the bushings, repairing the steering rack, installing new axles ( old ones did work for 5k after a repair ) and the Arms changed too. Also, Caliper Pins were changed

[Ashtoncastelino]

Originally Posted by Adityaa4660

What are your thoughts on Gabriel Shocks? Mine were replaced with Front Struts and Rear Shocks with Gabriels also changing the bushings, repairing the steering rack, installing new axles ( old ones did work for 5k after a repair ) and the Arms changed too. Also, Caliper Pins were changed

Gabriel Shocks are good, although they take a fair amount of kms before the suspension settles in. My swift is running with entire Gabriel suspension front and back, rear suspension was a bit bouncy, but since I changed the rear springs with the Type-4 Springs along with new rubber pads. Since then I've done almost 14,000kms since the axle change thus the rear suspension has settled in well. My driveshafts are still stock since 2006, I regularly spray silicone spray on all the rubber components to rejuvinate them.

On another note, I noticed you've painted the headlight bezels black like the JDM Swift Sport ! Love the looks. Share some more pics

Regards
Ashton Castelino

[Adityaa4660]

Originally Posted by Ashtoncastelino

Gabriel Shocks are good, although they take a fair amount of kms before the suspension settles in. My swift is running with entire Gabriel suspension front and back, rear suspension was a bit bouncy, but since I changed the rear springs with the Type-4 Springs along with new rubber pads. Since then I've done almost 14,000kms since the axle change thus the rear suspension has settled in well. My driveshafts are still stock since 2006, I regularly spray silicone spray on all the rubber components to rejuvinate them.

On another note, I noticed you've painted the headlight bezels black like the JDM Swift Sport ! Love the looks. Share some more pics

Regards
Ashton Castelino

Type 4 seems the current gen swift or the 2014 facelift ones ?. I have done a max on 9-10k km since the suspension work and i find it all good since then . Even my gearbox died due to low maintenance back in the days so I swapped it out with a 2020 VXI Swift’s Gearbox as mine is a K12 too . Got it from a scrapyard dealer for around 20k .
Also thanks for the remark on the lights . These are the ones that came stock with my car . These were yellow and old so I restored them . But the bezels were done with spray cans and I personally dont like the finishing. Also the reflectors seem off now . I’ll buy new units soon and do the same work with some better experienced people so it comes out even better. Shall I buy UNO Minda units or LUMAX is the way to go . I am also running 120w Led Kit on my lights with Led Indicators without hyperflashing but also not using a resistor. Here are some pics.

[Ashtoncastelino]

Projector Headlights

The Itch for Projector Headlights were on the cards and DBHPian Dr.Naren had a kit lying as spare which he got for his SX4 from Blaze India. It was a H1 Projector Retrofit Kit from AES with 5500K Bulbs. Collected the Kit from him and began the homework. All the information regarding how projector headlight works, wiring and alignment and installation was sought from DBHPian Vigsom, BHPian SudeepG and BHPian ChiranjitP. I don’t know how many times I chewed their head before the complete implementation. Huge Thanks to all three of them.

Since this was the first time I will be fitting projectors onto the headlights, and given the Swift is a daily runner I knew that I cannot ground the car. My good friend ChiranjitP sent me a pair of his old headlights which he had with him from his 2006 Swift. I ordered a Heatgun from Amazon as well. Planned to install the projectors onto the spare headlights and finish the installation onto the car in a day.

I will not be writing the entire procedure of fitting the projector as it is already covered in other threads on the forum and moreover it is straightforward with the headlight opened, Rather I will be mentioning the challenges faced and how I overcame them.

Used the heatgun to open the spare headlights and it was pretty easy. I managed to fit the projector but then I ran into the first roadblock ! The shroud was touching the bottom of the reflector and even with the reflector at the lowest position the alignment was still higher, moreover there are chances that the shroud will fall out of position over bad roads. That was a risk I wasn’t willing to take nor was I willing to cut the shrouds.

Contacted Blaze India and ordered rectangular design shrouds after careful measurements. Shrouds were shipped really quick and packed well.

In the meantime I decided to spray paint just the reflectors back to chrome since they had chrome peeling off and slight burn marks. I sanded them down and painted them chrome as opposed to black since it wont be a magnet for the cops at least according to me. They were given plenty of time to cure and the outcome came as expected.

I also decided to restore the headlight lenses which were yellow. Wet sanded them down using 1000grit and 1500grit sand paper. Called up my Painter Jakeer and asked if he could prepare the clear coat to be sprayed on these lenses. He agreed and got it ready in no time. Applied two coats and let it cure for a day.

Now the main worry for me was regarding how to seal the headlights back properly such that no moisture enters. Now I could not get the headlight butyl sealant in time so had to resort to other alternatives which could be reversible. I decided to order the MGP Butyl Tape which is available as an accessory. This butyl tape is used for the vapour barrier seal behind the door pad in all cars. It costed me 490rs for a 10 Meter roll from my MGP Outlet.

The shrouds had reached me on time and I installed them on the projectors, they were a perfect tight fit.

So I chose the weekend as the installation day, started it around 6pm since I wanted to take the headlight alignment and align the new lights to the same measurements.

After taking the measurements I installed the projectors onto the headlights and made sure to not tighten the checknut at the back completely as final alignment was pending. After arranging the relay wires and ballasts, I adjusted the lights such that they form a good cutoff without blinding the oncoming traffic.

Supervisor Tommy dozed off during alignment

Removed the headlights off and my 16 year old cousin helped me seal the headlights back. Yes he too likes to get his hands dirty with my projects. So the after carefully applying the butyl tape along the headlight casing , heatgun was used to heat the butyl and installed the headlight lens after cleaning it properly using IPA. I also made a special tool to hold down the headlight to the casing with the help of my local engineering shop.

Tightened the checknut at the rear of the projector onto the reflector and also installed the H4 locking clamp down in a manner that prevent the checknut from movement due to vibrations.

Now since the sealing was done perfectly from the front, it was time for the dust caps as well, Contacted BHPian Sunnyboi and he gave me his inputs. I ordered two of the dust caps from boodmo with PN:-35125M74F00. The H1 bulb wiring as a rubber grommet that is used to seal along with the H4 dust cap. Modified the dust cap in such a way that it creates a proper seal and used a bit of silicone RTV.

Installed the headlights and checked for any change in alignment but all was well as planned.

Low Beam


High Beam


Alignment






Looks of the car after installing the Projectors

After driving for more than 5000kms with these lights, I’m happy to say that these lights have greatly improved the visibility and has made driving at night a breeze, I felt initially the high beam isn’t strong like the H4 bulb but now I’ve gotten used to it and seldom I need to use the high beam because the low beam itself is superb.

A couple of videos showing the output.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6JYiBLkOlA

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

[Ashtoncastelino]

Activation of DRL’s.

I initially thought that I would get a DRL controller which would be connected directly to the battery which would be activated when the battery voltage goes above 13.5V and the controller would switch off the DRLs when the battery voltage comes below 13V which means car is Switched off. While I liked this setup, Dad told me to connect them to the parking light so I agreed as well because of lesser wires running here and there.

Issue was I couldn’t find any male connector for the parking position socket. I wasn’t willing to cut any wires so I came up with another idea, I planned to change that 2 pin connector to a different two pin connector(speaker connector type) using the same pin so it is reversible in the future. Used my depinning tool kit and swapped the connector to the new type connector. Passed the wires through the rubber grommet of the headlight and to the shrouds. Apologies but I seem to have lost pics of the DRL wiring. Will post it at an later stage.

DRL's Activated

Got a set of Tri-color H11 LED Fog lights from CNSUNNYLIGHT Store and a friend hand carried them to India. 3000K,4300K and 6000k is what these LED’s output.

LED vs Stock halogen Fog


6000K Fog


4300K Fog


3000K Fog

They too have added good output to the existing setup and its been a breeze so far. Maybe I will upgrade to the IPH M617 LED Projector Fogs later this year but for the time being these are more than enough.

Alignment on point even after throwing it on bad roads




Until the next update and Happy New Year !

[Cliff9091]

A long pending update to the thread thanks to MIT's tight exam schedule.

Still remember the evening we tested the projectors on the perampalli switchback roads, the addition of the DRL's has certainly accentuated the look since then. Flush fitting and looks OEM+.

The projectors really help with the poorly lit roads here in Udupi/Manipal (seen the close call video)

This ownership thread is constant motivation for my ongoing "project car". Hopefully MIT gives you enough time so you can get the new bumpers on

Wishing you safe miles on G13B this year

Cheers
Cliff

[lemedico]

Ashton, your ideas and the execution are staggering! Always a top job on your car. You're a true DIYer

[shiv11bhargava]

Absolutely love what you've done! Beautiful indeed.

[RD410]

Lovely modification. I am a big fan of such subtle and functional mods. But I can only wish to do something like this here in KL. I added 2 basic LED Fogs to my WagonR and the cops caught me and made me remove them

[Ashtoncastelino]

Originally Posted by Cliff9091

A long pending update to the thread thanks to MIT's tight exam schedule.
Hopefully MIT gives you enough time so you can get the new bumpers on

Yess sir, I have a lot of updates to be posted. Was a rollercoaster journey to get the bumpers and hope to plonk in the new bumpers later this year.

Originally Posted by lemedico

Ashton, your ideas and the execution are staggering! Always a top job on your car. You're a true DIYer

Originally Posted by shiv11bhargava

Absolutely love what you've done! Beautiful indeed.

Originally Posted by RD410

Lovely modification. I am a big fan of such subtle and functional mods.

Thankyou for the kind words

Cheers !
Ashton Castelino