Honda L13A Engine Swap in HA12 ALTO

[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.

[xenerking]

i wud say, as far as performance is concerend, this car is mile apart from kei cars having same fuel average. now thats something which is not very common and available off the self, have to go extra mile to acheive this unique object of pride..

PKDM alto VXR only has 2 air bags which can be considered safety features which this lil monster does not have. on the other hand it has everything which former one does not have!

[xenerking]

if the car is built with fuel economy as one of objective, then u can easily improve it by making few adjustments with the weight reduction, even 10/15 kg weight reduction will return u accordingly,

some of the brackets and mounts might have a bit extra metal which can be shaved off, and removing extra accessories or replacing them with light weight alrernative can also be done.

Anyways, the car looks absolutely at the spot and im sure wud be a driving pleasure.

[OwaisYunus1]

Thank you so much for the appreciation and the kind words Alhamdulillah, loving the feel of the car. Yes, I got plenty of surprised stares on the motorway, especially from the newer 1000cc cars who thought they could take on an Alto

Thank you, I agree, the top portion could be made slimmer, this is something that I also believe should have been done. I had planned a lot of things for this console actually and to add USB ports for charging, make a place to hold my phone, pockets on the sides, some other subtle design features but unfortunately, I had very little time to finish this console and had to do it quickly, so I came up with an easy to implement design and went with it. I might make the top part thinner at some point in time if I manage enough time for it.

Regarding the wheels, I do want to upgrade the rims to some Japanese ones whenever I have the budget, with the prices of rims these days, I'll have to save up for a good set. Chinese rims are a no no so I'm using 5JJ 13 inch steel wheels till then which are quite wide. I would also like to put a slim ducktail spoiler if I can find one. Or I may build my own if I get the time.

For the DRLs, I made space in the bumper with fiberglass. I got a brand new bumper from the last facelift offered in the Alto and changed the corner design a little and made space for DRLs. Then I took some 1.5watt leds and lenses and attached them to a heatsink and made a shroud for them. They are connected in a way that OEM DRLs are, they turn on during the day and they are switched off as soon as you turn on the parking lights. Here are some in-progress photos of the bumper and the DRLs.

[OwaisYunus1]

I would completely agree, that is also the reason that I went with this swap instead of going the regular route of the K6 engine. It was a lot of effort but it has Alhamdulillah paid off.

[OwaisYunus1]

The car is actually plenty light as it is. The brackets and the cross-member were made in heavier metal on purpose because in addition to reducing flex in the chassis, I needed it to provide some protection to the engine from underneath as it sits about 1.5 inches lower than the previous engine. Within the city, its getting around 18km/l too Alhamdulillah. I used to drive around a 100km each day in a manual, relatively underpowered car and with the auto transmission now and the power to weight ratio, it is now a pleasure to drive Alhamdulillah.

[xenerking]

can u please share the solution for the pedals u choose?

lis it the stock pedal set from JDM alto or something else?

and how abt the ignition switch? can u take the key out while the gear not in PARK position?

car ECU having errors with respect no data coming from ABS

and how abt that steering, is it EPS and also from a compatible honda?

how does the CVT preforming? needed the calibration after swap?

[OwaisYunus1]

The brake pedal that I've used is from the Auto variant of the JDM Alto HA12. It bolted straight on without any modifications. The one on the left is the one that I now have compared to the one on the right that I had earlier.

The ignition switch however does need to be changed. I haven't gotten around to doing that but I will see what needs to be done to have that work like it should. The cable from the ignition switch may or may not fit directly on the current shifter. Regarding the errors, VABS is the only error that it has which is indeed an error related the speed signal from the ABS controller. I have to do some research on providing some kind of a fake signal to the Ecu so that it doesn't throw that code.

The EPS that I have is also from the JDM HA12 Alto that has bolted on without any alterations. I just wired it to spec. The ecu has no connection with the EPS though, the EPS only takes the speed signal from the ECU, the same signal that is going to the speedometer as well, to make the steering heavier as the car speeds up. The CVT is performing really well with no issues Alhamdulillah. The SWRA gearbox, the one I have doesn't need calibration. It runs without it.

[nfssaad]

@OwaisYunus1

by any chance have you happened to come across deutch connectors?

i am looking for a dt series 12 pin and 4 pin male connector

[sardarg]

deutch connectors

sir these are available at daraz if you please click this link

[nfssaad]

yes.. but not the 12 pin..

i remember daraz used to have such a set before, but now its no longer in stock any where..

[nooire731]

Ma Sha Allah zabardast project, neatly and technically executed, must need a lot of patience and you envisaged it correctly. May Allah Grant this project to serve you flawlessly for long time, Aameen. Your project inspired my motivation to take my dwindled projects of restorations.

[Proverbial_Slang]

Awesome project and meticulous craftsmanship. 2 thumbs up.

[OwaisYunus1]

Sorry for the late reply, I haven't been very active at Pakwheels. I too planned to use deutsch connectors for the body side connections of the engine wiring inside the engine bay but I couldn't find ones that had enough wires and the ones available at Daraz were mostly 4 pin ones and those too would've been shipped from China and were very expensive. I searched pretty much all electronics sites in Pakistan but they didn't have them. So I ended up using a water tight OEM grip from some kabuli wiring.

[OwaisYunus1]

JazkaAllah brother for the kind words, they mean a lot Ameen! JazakAllah for that. I'm glad that this project helped motivate you for your own projects, all the best for them! Would love to hear about the restoration projects that you have underway.

[OwaisYunus1]

Thank you so much brother, means a lot

[OwaisYunus1]

Assalamulaikum everyone. So it has been a little over a year since this project was completed so I thought that I would share how the vehicle is going thus far. It has been functioning very well Alhamdulillah. Fetches a little over 18km/l with the AC on and performs well too.

As I mentioned earlier, the proper test of whether the radiator would be enough for this engine would be done in the summers with the AC on, and it worked really well Alhamdulillah. The bottom radiator tank was changed however at the time of the swap so that it matches the outlet on the engine. While this is working fine mostly, there is slight seepage of coolant from one of the corners of the tank. It's very little and doesn't really affect the functionality, there's just this dried foam at that spot and it doesn't affect the coolant level much, but the radiator is something that I will change as soon as I get the chance. Until then, it is being observed regularly. So lesson learnt, never get the tank of an aluminum radiator changed, no matter what anyone says. I'll have to do a deeper search of the market for a radiator that has the inlet/outlet at the right place and is the right size overall.

The second lesson learnt was about the brand new steering rack that I bought. I knew that it's a Chinese unit when I bought it, but I expected it to last longer than it did. In about two months, it started a knocking sound which got much worse by the 4th month so then it had to be replaced with a kabuli steering rack. It turns out, the bushes inside the steering rack had already worn out. And I would add here that me and anyone driving the car in my family drive any car with a lot of care, so it wasn't even abused. So I would suggest against buying such a steering rack if anyone is planning to do so.

Overall, the car is serving quite well Alhamdulillah. It is currently being used by my father as a daily runner as I'm not in Pakistan at the moment. A brake upgrade is on the cards whenever I'm back in shaa Allah, so I'll share that here as well.