Honda L13A Engine Swap in HA12 ALTO

[Hassan1991]

Insha ALLAH
Yes were rusted out.

[brownrose78]

@OwaisYunus1
Your project as well as thread is going amazing. Waiting daily to see your updates

Research Homework before execution 10/10
Cleanliness of work 11/10

Do share the breakup cost + point of sourcing parts.

[helper_learner]

We loved it 100/10

[nnabeel]

yes, definetly, this thread has set a higher standard for car modifications.

But yesterday, when browsing thru FB videos on watch related to alto 660 cc. i found a random video who was telling about tires replacement. during the video he showed an FX with a honda city engine, its was a short video about the fx but the guy had even extended the front of FX to accommodate the engine. we pakistanis have got a lot of talent but due to lesser sources the talent gets wasted.

here the link. scroll video to 4:34 minutes time and see

https://www.facebook.com/AliiiAkbar12/videos/510164274506108/?sfnsn=scwspwa&mibextid=2Rb1fB

[OwaisYunus1]

Thank you so much for the appreciation I'm glad that you like it!

I'll list some of the major things that I can remember off of my mind. There are a lot of small things that add up to the cost that I'm pretty sure I wont remember but I'll mention the major things here. Please also note that some of the prices would be as old as a year ago because that's when the project started and they might not be relevant anymore.

1. The engine, gearbox, ecu and wiring Rs. 140,000 - Bought from Sultan ka khoo.
2. CNC cut steel parts - Rs. 20,000 - Done from City Saddar Road Rwp.
3. Inner CV joints + Lathe work for adding splines - Rs. 12,000 - Sultan ka khoo.
4. Radiator - Rs. 7,000 - Sultan ka khoo.
5. Shifter + Cable - Rs. 7,000 - Sultan ka khoo.
6. Other metal bits like rods etc + 7018 welding rods - Around Rs. 16,000
7. Stainless steel stuff including all the exhaust - Rs. 22,000
8. Cost on electrical stuff - Around 30,000
9. Master Cylinder / Servo - Rs. 4,500
10. Paint and stuff - Rs. 7,000
11. Fuel pump housing - Rs. 6,000
12. Fluids for the first start - Around Rs. 20,000

These are only the major things that I remember. There are more as well and many small bits that I don't even remember.

[OwaisYunus1]

Thank you so much for the appreciation

[OwaisYunus1]

Thank you so much for saying that I watched the video that you've shared, kudos to the ustaad for installing the L13 in the Fx I wonder if he has strengthened the chassis though. But definitely a very appreciable feat!

[OwaisYunus1]

Time for the latest updates on the project.

The car was now ready for its first test drive. I took the car for a short test drive, it didn’t have the hood and the bumper on though. The car is very stable, even though there is a slight change in the dynamics with the engine being slightly heavier than the previous one and the allied parts also make it a little heavier on the front, but it doesn’t feel that way, feels very even. There are no odd vibrations at all, the car drove very smoothly. I have to say, the power to weight ratio makes for a very quick car! There’s worlds of difference between the performance now and back when it had the F10. The best part is, you don’t have to rev the bolts off the engine to gain speed, it accelerates effortlessly Alhamdulillah. There were some little tweaks that needed to be done though, and a couple of errors too but nothing major, only minor ones.

[OwaisYunus1]

Next up is the air-conditioning. Originally, the condenser installed was about 60% of the width of the current radiator. While it worked great for the original ac setup, it wouldn’t be enough for the volume of gas moved with the new compressor and the heat dissipation requirements now. So, I looked around for a condenser that would fit and finalized the ac condenser from a Swift. It has a built-in filter so I didn’t have to worry about making space for fitting the filter. I just needed to remove the brackets on it for it to fit in the space that I have.

Since the original condenser wasn’t as wide, there was enough space for the bonnet lock in the center and its support to be installed. Now that the condenser and the radiator are wider, the hood lock could not be installed in its original configuration. I had to modify the lock itself and make a new support for it so that it clears both the radiator and the condenser.
Originally, the spring mechanism is on the back of the lock. I had to cut off the mechanism and build the mechanism under the lock and towards the front in order to clear both the radiator and the condenser.

This is what the lock looks like after the modification, along with the custom support that I’ve made. The springs are all installed on the front as well. I had to do multiple iterations of this setup for it to work correctly. Now I have enough space behind this to install the condenser.

The condenser fits perfectly with the new hood lock mechanism and its support. There’s about 30mm of space between the closest part of the lock and the condenser. Enough for it not to foul with the condenser.

[OwaisYunus1]

The car was then taken to the A/C shop to plumb the air-conditioning system to the original evaporator inside. The cabin unit was already clean so it didn’t need to be serviced. Most of the plumbing is done in flexible pipe. About 30% of the plumbing are aluminum hard pipes, the rest are flexible pipes. The reason for this is, there is very little space in the engine bay, in case something needs to be removed, it would be a lot easier to move the flexible pipes around without damaging them compared to hard pipes.

The system is charged and the cooling is excellent. The original ac of the PKDM HA12 Alto was already very good in the smaller vehicle category, now, the original internal unit combined with the Honda Compressor and the bigger Condenser made for some very effective cooling.

The hood lock was then painted. I wanted to have it zinc plated but with the busy schedule, I had to settle with paint. The support is also painted.

[OwaisYunus1]

Next up was the gear position indicator lights in the speedometer/cluster. I had already changed the cluster to a Suzuki Kei one a couple of years ago. This cluster has an RPM Meter and was from an Auto Variant so it had the gear position indicator lights in it. In order to make these lights work, I needed to make a small circuit. The reason for using this circuit was, the cluster needs a +12v signal for each gear position but the gear position sender on the transmission sends a ground signal at each position. This circuit helps convert the ground signal to +12v to provide the cluster, without adding any interference to the signal sent by the sender as the same signal is used by the ecu as well. Huge thanks to @Ghuncha for the design of the circuit.

At the alignment shop to get the alignment done.

Having done all the major things, I took the car out for its first long journey. I took the car to Peshawar from Islamabad. The tank is filled up and I’ve attached an elm327 Bluetooth OBDII tool to the DLC and have the important parameters shown on a tablet through the Torque app.

The trip went smooth Alhamdulillah. The car drove really well and was very stable even at higher speeds. Possibly because of the added weight, the car feels more planted than before. The car accelerates very quickly Alhamdulillah. Overtaking on the motorway has now become a breeze. Had fun with some unsuspecting drivers on the way as well. Good news on the fuel efficiency too Alhamdulillah. On the way to Peshawar, I got 20.8km/l and on the way back, as it’s a constant incline, I got 19.1 km/l. This includes some spirited runs as well. The fuel average was calculated by filling the tank to the brim and then refilling it on both ends of the journey. The Torque app gave very inaccurate fuel consumption figures so I ignored those.

[OwaisYunus1]

Next up is to tackle the Air Cleaner situation. I had installed a temporary cone air filter while I tested the engine. As I stated earlier, I tried a few different air cleaners but due to the limited space, none of the air cleaners/ filter boxes could fit. I could install some box from one of the 660cc cars but since they are not meant to move enough air for a 1300cc engine, I didn’t use those. So, I took the filter element from the 5th Generation City and built a filter box around it. I started with making a frame for the box out of ½ inch angle iron.

This is what the frame looks like. There are two parts to it, the bottom half fits onto the engine mounting bracket so that the filter moves with the engine, so as to avoid any flex in the connecting pipes. The top is then mounted onto it and the pipe connects to the top part.

This is how it fits in the engine bay.

[OwaisYunus1]

The frame is now cladded in 18 gauge steel sheet, prepped and painted. I’ve coated the insides with epoxy resin to ensure that it’s air-tight and it will also prevent it from rusting. I’ve added a rubber pipe at the end of the lower part of the box to route the intake away from the major heat sources. I wanted to use steel clips on the ends of the box but there was very little space around the box so opening and locking the clips in place would’ve been very difficult so I went with 4 bolts instead. It’s not as straight-forward as opening clips and replacing the filter but hey, it only takes a couple more minutes and ensures that the air cleaner seals well.

The air cleaner is installed. I’ve used the previously made Stainless Steel pipe that also houses the Intake Air Temperature Sensor to join the silicone coupler and the rubber elbow. After installing the box, the intake noise has greatly reduced. The cone filter made the intake very noisy; it would start to drone right above 1000 rpm and at around 2000 rpm, it would become unbearable. Now it’s much quieter and sounds a lot refined, plus, it now filters the air a lot better than the cone air filter.

[OwaisYunus1]

Next up, was to tackle the gear shifter. I’ve used the shifter from a 4th Generation Honda City. I searched the market a lot for a clean shifter in Grey color and was finally able to find it. Most of the shifters available were in beige color so I’m guessing that the city was mostly offered with a beige interior. I installed the shifter using the same bolt holes as the original shifter except that the original shifter used to be installed from underneath the tunnel on the floor, this one sits on top of it. I made a bracket that adapted the original bolt holes to this shifter. This is how the shifter sits. I took my time to perfect the position. When driving, the height and the reach is perfect.

Now, I needed to cover the shifter with a console. So out came the cardboard to make the template.

This is what the finalized template looks like. I then dismantled it and turned it into digital templates and had the individual pieces cut in 4mm, clear plexiglass. These parts will be fixed together to make the console.

The parts are assembled and the console is sanded and prepped for paint.

I painted it in matte black to go with the center part of the dashboard. Since I like the way Alen Bolts look, I made a surround for the silver portion of the shifter that is held with Alen Bolts. This is what the finished console looks like.

[OwaisYunus1]

This marks the end of the Project L13A Alto. The car is now complete Alhamdulillah. I would like to share my thoughts on the results. I started the project with 3 objectives, 1) Fuel Efficiency, 2) Converting the Car into Automatic and 3) To have good power to weight ratio. Having driven the car a bit, I can say that all 3 objectives have Alhamdulillah been achieved. The car gets great fuel mileage, currently around 18km/l within the city and higher on the motorway, it’s very convenient to drive with the CVT transmission and goes very quick too Alhamdulillah. Overall, the engine swap has been a great experience. I got to try a lot of new ideas and ways of doing things, learned what works and what doesn’t. Major credit goes to my family for bearing with me, hogging the garage for 5 months and working through the nights!

Next, I will be upgrading the front brakes to bigger rotors and bigger calipers and I’ll also be adding a stabilizer bar in the rear at some point in time. With other things occupying me at the moment, both of these things will take some homework so they’ll take some time to do but whenever I do them in shaa Allah, I’ll update the thread. Till then, the car will hopefully be responsibly driven in shaa Allah and would hopefully serve as a reliable daily driven vehicle.

I have the latest video on the build uploaded as well. You may watch it at:
Project L13A ALTO - FINALE

Here are some photos of the completed car.

[xenerking]

tell us about the Head light modification done, thanks

[ifadey]

What was your avg speed on motorway when you acheived those fuel economy numbers?

[nnabeel]

Masha ALLAH. the car looks stunning and the result achieved is the fruit of all the hard work.
You have made this little car solid and i guess how ppl whould have felt when u have passed them on motorways.

The shifter box looking but just a suggestion, can we make it little less wider. from sides it is looking cool, but from top it seems a little wide as compared to the over all car interior.

the air filter box is awesome.

now ad some cool spoiler and some cool rims. are you planning to put some weight at rear to balance the car?

Please also tell how u have added the drls in the front bumper.

[OwaisYunus1]

The headlights are custom lights that I made before the engine swap. I bought new lights from the last facelift of the Alto offered in Pakistan and then installed Bi-Xenon Acme H1 Projectors in them. Then I made the custom shrouds and stuff, made LED lights in the corners as Parking Lights and added LEDs for turn signals. Then painted the lot and sealed the lights and this is what they look like. The light output is very good as well. These projectors are rated similar in performance to the Morimoto H1 minis. I will maybe upload a DIY thread about them some time if I can find enough photos.

[OwaisYunus1]

The average speed that I maintained was 120km/h but there were plenty of higher speed runs in between for short periods of time. The maximum that I touched during this trip was about 160km/h.