Somewhere along the way, I inherited it to use as my daily driver to work. For a 3 cylinder, it got alright gas mileage; nothing too spectacular. If you want to drive like an old woman, you could probably get decent mileage. 

I didn't.

One cool fall day, and I wasn't pushing the sound barrier with it at the day, the car simply stopped running. On my way to work one morning, I was going about 100 km/h. Next thing I knew, the motor just quit.

After getting it home, found that plug #1 literally blew apart. The bottom half of it was just gone. And so begins the journey to my car project.

I knew right off I wouldn't be putting another 3 cylinder motor in the 'vert. That is just too much pain and suffering. I did a few searches on the internet to see what was available to swap in Sprint/Metro/Firefly cars for more power. My searches lead me http://www.teamswift.net, and http://www.joeld.net/metrozone/metrogti.html where I found my information, and much more. I also found http://www1.neweb.ne.jp/wb/culconclub/, and I knew I would be making an identical Cultus convertible.

In essence, it's a Sprint 'vert with a different motor/tranny/trim package. The Cultus is the Japanese version of the Suzuki Swift, and wasn't available here in North America. It usually had a 1.3L 4 cylinder 16v SOHC. I'm taking this a step further and putting in a 1.3L DOHC motor from a donor Suzuki Swift GT. I'll also be swapping the dash, bumpers, hood, lights, etc to make it look like an authentic Cultus convertible.

Step 1: Stripping the Sprint

Working on these cars is a lot of fun. If you have a 10mm, 12mm and a 14mm wrench and socket, you can pretty much strip the car clean.

1991 Chevrolet Sprint CL, 160,000 km. Body is very good, except the rocker panels. Fairly new paint job, but due to the bodyman's apparent lack of enthusiasm, the rocker panels were not replaced; merely scuffed over and painted. (Painted with the 'ever so popular rock guarding to cover up poor bodywork' idea in mind). Lessons learned, once bitten twice shy.

.

One such problem on these cars is the (I'm assuming) lack of drainage and the way the drivers and passenger corners of the car retains water. Overtime, this will develop into rust, and make itself into a hole. Pictured here is surface rust that will need to be ground out with a wire wheel and painted. Hopefully I wont have to replace the floor in this spot. Will update accordingly.

 Since I am swapping the automatic transmission to the 5 speed, the clutch cable will need to be fed through the firewall. These pictures show the mounting hardware factory installed on the firewall. Will have to drill and cut the firewall sheet metal from the cable and bolt holes.

Step 2: The Swift GS

The Suzuki Swift is not a plentiful vehicle in Nova Scotia. My whetted appetite for Suzuki cars grew more and more, my hunt for the GT seemed grew more and more ferocious every day. Since May of 2003, searching high and low, I found nothing local until July, where I found this white GS. Happened to be the car of a guy that I actually work with. So, $250 and a 15 minutes tow job later, I had my first official Swift. 150,000 km, burnt out clutch, 1.3L SOHC 5 speed. It's a 1992 MK3 style. I was originally planning on buying a new clutch for it, and putting the motor and tranny in my convertible, swapping the front and back clips for my retro Cultus convertible project. It wasn't a GT, but it was a start.

Removed and rebuilt up the front end parts, control arms, steering knuckles, new front wheel bearings, rotors for use on the 'vert.

Having a father that is into metal working is a godsend. Here you can see him turning down my rotors on his metal lathe. He also gets credit for removal of my old wheel bearings using his huge hydraulic press. He's been one of the driving forces behind me in this work; as he comes from the old school of auto and motorcycle mechanics guild. His prior work includes mostly VW vans, dune buggys, and Harley Davidson dreams. He also has an interesting BSA project on the go as well.

Step 3: The Swift GT

In November of 2003, I decided that if my Cultus 'vert project was to really begin, I needed to clear out my garage. The only problem was that there was my brother's 1977 CJ Jeep project there. After much debate, I ended up selling it to a guy in Halifax. This really broke my heart to see the Jeep go. But in the process of advertising it on http://pub45.ezboard.com/bnsjeep, I mentioned I was shopping for a Swift GT. In a stroke of good luck, a reply came back that someone knew where there was a '92 GT parts car for sale. One thing led to another, and I ended up selling the Jeep, trading my 1.3L SOHC motor from my GS above, and buying the GT for $500.

 Getting the car was an adventure actually. Starting out, I had to take a Thursday off from work in order to get the car. Wednesday night, I was in the garage cleaning up, getting ready for the car, and finally went to bed at 11:30pm; thinking that I would sleep in a little before starting out for the car (2 hour drive).

I was so wrong about sleeping in.

At 1:00am, I got a phone call from work. Seems the production database went down, and there was a stoppage of work because of it. 45 minute drive into work, found the server needed a quick reboot, 45 minutes drive back home, and I was dead tired.

Next morning, I borrowed my mother in laws truck, went into Bridgewater to get the UHaul car trailer. Finally found the place, and discovered they actually had a car dolly trailer for rent. Bonus! I thought... in the office I went, ready to begin.

Then it all went downhill. It took the receptionist 45 minutes to enter my license into their computer system. "Invalid license?" the receptionist said... my jokes of "It must be all my drinking and driving charges" didn't exactly meet a warm audience. Seems she wasn't entering a date in the computer correctly. Out the door I went, ready to meet the trailer. Finally.

And the skies opened with rain. To counter this, the truck decided this was the perfect time to NOT start anymore. The starter solenoid went on vacation from there on out. I had to crawl under the truck and cross the starter solenoid over to get it going again, all in torrential rains. No problem, I backed the truck to the where the trailers were.

I soon discovered in the pouring rain that the trailer hitch had a 3" ball on it, and would no way fit the trailer. I ended up buying a new one from a local Canadian Tire store.

On my return, I had to borrow a pipe wrench and an adjustable wrench. Since the ball was on the truck for about 10 years, no about of brute strength would budge it. The local mechanic had to get it red hot with his torches before it would move. So, I was in business again. Put the new ball on the trailer, and backed up to the trailers again.

Still raining, I hooked up the hitch, the safety chains, and discovered the truck had no electrical hook up for the lights. This was not my day. In disgust, and what should have been a 15 minute job, I took off for Halifax, with my trailer in tow. No lights.

When I reached the place an hour and half later, driving straight through Halifax and Dartmouth I might add, it stopped raining. Finally. Found the car, but I was concerned it had a ticking valve or lifter. Also, it looked like when he put it in gear, there was a god-awful grinding noise. I made a mental assessment, and if the transmission was gone, I would use the one from my GS. As for the ticking motor, I wasn't sure.

Got the car on the trailer, and as soon as I pulled out of the yard, it started raining again, harder than ever. Great...

2 hours later, got the car in my garage. I had my GT. Finally. After searching since May, I had it.

Looking it over, it's been painted 4 times, had a different roof and cracked frame. I mean, the frame was totally cracked though. 3 days later, I had bought fresh oil for it, (looked like it was never changed before), new filter, new Bosch platinum spark plugs, and a liter of automatic transmission fluid. Changed the oil, put in the transmission fluid in the crankcase, charged up a battery, put the new plugs in it. The motor sparked to life, and fifteen minutes of coaxing, the tick finally was gone. It purrs like a kitten now! 146,000km on it, and it was ready. Though, since my time in the garage is limited from 10pm until 1am or 1:30am, I don't think the neighbors appreciated me revving my DOHC at midnight, trying to get that tick removed... :-)

11/25/2003 ~ Found that the grinding and squealing described above was the exhaust rubbing against the floor panels. Minor adjustments later, it was pretty quiet now. Got the car off the ramps, and found that the it would drive under it's own power. So, at least the clutch and transmission was okay! Things definitely look up!

12/1/2003 ~ What should have been a simple 15 minute job turned out to be ugly. I decided it was time to start putting the front end of the Sprint together with my restored Swift parts; starting with the control arms. Drivers side went on easily enough, but I had forgot the passenger side was still together. Removed all bolts, freed up all that I could. What I didn't realize was that after 13 years, rubber can become seized on metal parts. The bushing from the original control arm wouldn't let go of the mounting bolt. This took me 45 minutes of prying to get the control arm out from the seized bushing. Who knew? Ready to start cleaning the engine bay, prep it for paint before the DOHC finds it's new home inside.

12/7/2003 ~ Majority of the engine bay is now sanded. Still have the front and inner fenders to sand down. Removed the left front transmission mount, (the other mounts are compatible for the DOHC.) Planning on fabricating a new mount from angle iron to be used to replace the original. Should be ready to start priming the entire front clip and engine bay by the weekend.

Also started to begin the removal process of the DOHC from the GT. The engine side wiring harness is almost removed now. The rear engine mount is cleaned and ready for paint, the right engine mount has been dipped in my electrolytic solution for a few days now, ready to be cleaned and painted. Almost ready to start cleaning the little odds and ends, like the ignition coil bracket, etc. 

DOHC should be ready for removal this weekend. Then it gets degreased and cleaned up. New timing belt install, valve cover will be removed so I can paint it.

The MK3 dash uses different mounting brackets than the older MK2. I will be removing my other 2 mounts from the white GS and installing them on the Sprint. Another concern is whether I can use the front assembly from the GS with the GT axles. I already rebuilt the front using the GS parts, (cleaned, painted, new wheel bearings). Both cars are 1992 MK3 models, hopefully they share the same axle/hub spindle gear.

12/22/2003 ~  Not much new to report. The GT put up a great struggle, but by using my father's wisdom (never force, just use a bigger hammer), the axles are out, engine bay harness is disconnected, and the only thing left is to remove is the exhaust. We've been having an unseasonably warm (rainy) winter so far, and I'm pushing to get the motor removed and into a heated garage to work on it. Should be out tomorrow or during the Xmas holidays.

GT and GS axle assemblies are not swap friendly, (GT splined shaft will not fit the GS hub and vice versa). Next step is to see if I can machine and rebuild the GT rotors, and fit the hubs into the freshly rebuilt GS knuckle assembly. If possible, I'd like to get some use out of the new wheel bearings. 

Purchased a AFM housing from TGstring in Ontario. Will clean this up and machine it to 49mm, up from the stock 45mm. 

Other minor parts cleaning and prepping is going according to plan. The GS and GT share the same motor and transmission mounts, so I have those ready. Rust removed and freshly painted now. As well as the mounting brackets for the coil.

12/26/2003 ~  DOHC motor is finally out, ready to take it to the heated garage where I'll be cleaning it up with engine degreaser. The GT axles are quite a bit beefier, but in the process I think I ruined the passenger side axle. But the GS axles will fit perfectly in the transmission. Might try the GS axles, and fix up the GT 14" rotors for now.

12/30/2003 ~  Decided to use the left and right driveshafts from the GS on the GT; so long as I limit the tire spinning and smoke shows, I think the shafts and CV joints will handle it. Trying to source a new center shaft bearing now. I'm not fussy over how the original feels; it's a little sloppy. Finished re-assembling the other GS knuckle/hub/wheel bearing too.

Have the motor/tranny cleaned up a little, at least the high spots. Have 3 broken bolts to attend to from the rear engine mount bolts into the block. 12 year old rusted bolts... not much to say here. Soon as they are out, my restored mounts will go on.

GT rotors are done bathing in my electrolysis. They're ready to be turned down on the lathe, then painted. MAF mounting brackets are now in-process of the cleansing.

Aside from above, basic plan of attack is to put the front steering assembly back on the 'vert and get it outside where I can grind and finish repairs to the engine bay. Weekend of Jan. 3 possibly...

1/3/2004 ~  Got the flu, feeling terrible. Managed to go out and remove the seized rear mount off the motor, and the 3 snapped bolts. Removed center shaft bearing and oil seals, waiting on new parts. Restored the center shaft mount (cleaned and painted). Also installed passenger side steering knuckle assembly. GT rotors are at my fathers now being lathed down. 

1/11/2004 ~  Didn't do much this weekend. Myself, my wife Cindy, and both kids have the flu. Kids were running temperatures of 102 - 104, everyone is feeling terrible. Am converting the center shaft bearing to a more generic brand; will document the process for anyone to look at here. More details to follow.

1/18/2004 ~  The bearing replacement will be built up this week. Depending on it's success rate, I'll document it later. Starting gutting the interior of the GT in attempts to retrieve the wiring harness intact. The transmission mounting is a little trickier. I'm not happy with the way the convertible front frame is turning out, so I am removing part of the GS frame and grafting it on the convertible. Spent this afternoon removing the GS frame, will work at removing a section of the convertible frame this week. This should finalize the engine bay work, and will be ready for priming and painting.

1/21/2004 ~  Tranny mount frame piece removed from the GS, and the convertible frame is cut to accommodate the patch. Need to roll the car out to the other garage and mig weld the patch in place. As you can see, the patch I cut out has mounting bolts welded in the back, the convertibles piece didn't. (Was unhappy with the way the frame looked after I removed the old mount, so this should make it better all around). 

My second GT motor (from Craig in Brampton) will be here this weekend. Saving it for possible turbo application later. Other parts are on the way, more details when they arrive.

1/27/2004 ~ Past weekend was too cold (-35C with wind chill) for any welding. I did remove my valve cover, stripped it, and painted it. (Had to keep busy indoors somehow :) Used some vile chemical spray to remove the paint (aluminum safe), washed it down, scrubbed it with steel wool, and painted with high temperature brake caliper paint. 2 days, picking away at it.

Will be addressing the frame this week sometime. The other motor also finally arrived, as promised! 

1/28/2004 ~ Valve cover put back on, some minor work to the frame patch.

1/31/2004 ~  Bought new bolts for the front end assembly yesterday while in Halifax. Moved the car to the big garage for frame welding. One small patch to weld in place yet, then cosmetics to do before finish sanding the engine bay.

2/5/2004 ~  Grind the patch welds, last minor patch ready for welding, begin interior trim recolor process.

2/11/2004 ~  Both kids are starting to get the flu, which usually means Cindy and I aren't far behind to get it. Since the weather was cooperating too, this was the best time to get the car back into the other garage to finish welding up the frame. Car moved back into the other garage now, waiting further orders. Most of the bay is now lightly sanded, will pressure wash it out and tackle the front. Be a good time to use a seam sealer around the replacement frame piece and the patches. Still working on the interior trim pieces too.

About the interior pieces... lightly sanded with wet 400 grit, 3 coats primer, sanded with 600 wet, now ready for the top coat. Take my advice: do NOT wimp out and buy the El Cheapo brand spray paint like I did. I bought a $6 can, and it shot out like it was diarrhea. It splattered and spit everywhere, made a muking fess of it. After sanding that down, I ended up using my leftover $12 yellow brake caliper paint. MUCH better... no glossy finish to it either. Even spray patterns. 600 wet sanded between coats (3 coats I think I used). Next up, clear coating. 

2/17/2004 ~  Nothing exciting, more interior trim bits done. Getting over the flu, soon to be back out in the garage sanding again. 

2/22/2004 ~  Last phases for sanding nearing completion; washed everything down. Patch is almost completely sealed up with Liquid Metal. Need just a bit more for underneath. Last bit of the interior, (dash mounted vent; driver's side) is proving to be a needle in a haystack. May end up repairing the one I have, painting to match.

Coming up, primer paint in the engine bay. 

2/23/2004 ~  Liquid Metal sanded down smooth, touched up the last parts of the engine bay, (last minute sanding, rust removal from a few seams). Need to bath the whole bay one last time before starting the priming process. 

2/25/2004 ~  2 coats of primer...

2/29/2004 ~  ...and 2 coats of paint later, finally have something to work with here.

Step 4: Putting it all back together...

Various stages of assembly. 

3/26/2004 ~ Time to fish or cut bait. Motor getting put in finally; will have to deal with the new parts when they arrive.

4/5/2004 ~ Good idea: swap fuel pumps. Bad idea: get tank out, pump swapped, bolted back into place, and forget about feeding wiring back up through body beforehand. What a PITA. No wonder I'm hateful at work with only 3.5 hrs sleep.

4/6/2004 ~ New parts arrived! 

4/7/2004 ~ Getting her ass in gear.

4/13/2004 ~ Been working at a crazy pace lately, not much time for updates. I ran into serious problems with my engine mount. Seems that I didn't realize that the 1.0L engine mount is pushed back from the front grill by about an inch or so as compared to the 1.3 mounts. Had to take out the motor again, drill out the MIG weld, move it into place, and MIG it back again. Motor is dropped in again, though it was still a shoehorn fitment. Underdrive pulley was installed when I had the motor out. Engine bay is wired up now, and the driver's side driveshaft is now in. Mechanically, I should be set to fire it up this week. Other driveshaft, shift linkage, gas tank filler tube should easily be done tomorrow night; new fluids, and we'll see what happens after we turn the key.

Pics of the ported/polished intake manifold and filter that will be installed!

4/15/2004 ~ Usual odds and ends done up. A few stray wires hooked up under the hood, rad is now in, passenger driveshaft is in (noticed a sloppy fit on the intermediate shaft. Plan to use Loctite 660 on it to hold it in place. I'll do this when the intake manifold is off and being swapped for the ported/polished one; next week maybe?) New alternator belt, battery charged up, instrument cluster installed, turned the key, and............ nothing. No power at all; did some troubleshooting. Finally got power circulating to the dash now. Just need time for more troubleshooting, nothing too major here.

Also, finally got a pair of GT seats from Ontario! Big thanks to Morgan and Jarrod! Should be here by early next week.

4/21/2004 ~ Loose ends tied up now. Engine fully wired, gas in the tank, battery charged... motor turns over like a champ. Now the fuel lines from the tank decided to let go. Have to drop the tank again and replace the lines. (I *KNEW* I should have done this when it was off before.......)

4/25/2004 ~ Lines replaced, as is a new fuel filter. The filter bracket was a bit dodgy, had to be a little creative getting it back in shape. Once this was finished, confirmed there were no leaks from the new hoses, turned the key and the motor roared to life... it is a good day :)

New muffler is on it's way from Ontario. Will start sand bending up my 2 1/4" exhaust this week, as well as run the rear wiring back in the car. (Replacing old MK2 with newer MK3 wires. It should prove easier than splicing into the older wiring). 

4/28/2004 ~ Front rotors and calipers changed to much bigger GT model. Bought 3" air filter, fenders back on, front clip bolted on. Old automatic transmission mount bracket is interfering with the shift linkage. Time to get out the grinder.

5/2/2004 ~ More odds and ends finished up. Clutch cable hooked up, brake booster hooked up, still have to bleed the brakes. Rear wiring is finished now. There was some 'custom' wiring done to my foglights and rear lights by the previous owner; that is all sorted out now back to stock condition. Have a minor issue to sort out with the headlights, low beam isn't working just yet; and I need to replace a foglight bulb. The UK lights are on, that required a bit of minor surgery, and bulbs crafted up with the right plug. 

As soon as the brakes are bled and working correctly, I'll start the muffler creation, I promise!

5/19/2004 ~  Been awhile, I know. Busy with some other work, haven't had much of a chance to get out to the garage. Still working on getting the piping done, got the last of the odds and ends today. Something should be crafted up shortly.

6/6/2004 ~  New tires arrived from BC (Kumho 195/45/15 Ecsta), mounted on aluminum wheels, lowered springs. Custom yellow instrument dials and needles installed. Cams removed to be built up to similar to a BD10/BD14 hybrid spec, Cultus intake manifold bought from Singapore. Rear UK foglight piece in too.

Yes, have been putting off the exhaust. Will be finished using sand bending technique http://www.teamswift.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7648 Monday night. After which comes Operation Rockerpanel Rebuild!

7/21/2004 ~ Been awhile; have been super busy with more work then I can handle, family stuff, etc. Substituted the 2.5" exhaust with 2" (started second guessing myself a bit). Cultus intake is a no go for now, but I have a ported/polished intake with Nissan 60mm throttle body ready to be put on. Bigger cams are now installed. New Raid steering wheel from Austria, European style instrument cluster (240km/h; 9000 rpm variety). Getting another set of yellow dials for it, as well as an unexpected item, a valve cover plate. Thanks Gerry :)

Given my workload these days, and lack of time to commit to the vert, looks like I may end up taking this to a bodyshop for the rockers, floor and paint. Been quoted at $3K, so I am balking a bit. I think I can squeeze a place for $1.5K, but that would be pushing my luck. In the meantime, I'll continue to pick at it, though progress is slowing down. 

9/13/2004 ~  Ok, after a rather hectic summer, I finally have time to finish the convertible. I have a paint guy lined up to do the convertible; this is scheduled for Oct. 1, to be ready in 4-6 weeks. (Ironically, just in time for winter!) Have been busy this month frantically getting the interior finished up. Have not had time to tune the car with the new ported/polished intake and 60mm throttle body, so I'm back to stock for now. 

The vert saw the road earlier this month for a shakedown test, see where I am in respect to weird noises, vibrations, etc. This week will see new rotors, new CRX brake calipers, new Hawk pads, a rewound alternator and a new battery. Final action items include finding the fog light wiring to hook up the rear UK foglight piece, mig welding the rear sway bar and finally fixing up the rear bumper mounting system. 

Oh, for paint, I am strongly considering 2004/05 Ford Mustang Screaming Yellow/D6: ALBZ-19500-7109A. You can see a nice picture here of the color: http://www.yellowmustangregistry.com/carphotos/05/ylw05GT.j 

10/3/2004 ~ New CRX calipers/rotors fitted on the stock Sprint hubs was a little bit of a challenge. A lot of Honda/Acura calipers will indeed fit the Swift GT hubs, but the Sprint hubs are oh so slightly different. The GT rotors become too big when trying to fit the bigger Honda calipers, and the stock Sprint rotors are too small for the pads. Had to split the difference here. New GT rotors were put on the metal lathe, and voila. The pads needed some ultra fine tuning with the angle grinder, namely the bottom part of the metal bracket needs a slight adjustment. Just don't grind the actual carbon pad itself. Clear as mud? Excellent...

Car is successfully delivered to Stephen Henley in Riverport. (Thanks again Ricky! Appreciate the help on that one!) Stephen is a really good friend of mine that I've known since starting my current work (10+years I think). I'm in no rush for the car, so Stephen is cool to pick away at it with no set deadline. The project has been on-going since May of last year, and I'll end up storing the car in the garage during the winter months anyway. I can be patient a little longer. BIG thank you to Stephen and his family there, had a lot of laughs! Great people! (Mmmm... The deer sausage was most excellent!) 

I'll be dropping in once in awhile to help out if I can, take pics, and show the progress here. Finally beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel here! 

10/12/2004 ~  Bodywork is in full swing now. Driver side rocker panel is being reconstructed, car is semi-gutted once again for bodywork. Trunk lid, hood, doors, wheels are off; antenna mount shaved off, sanding is in progress. Stephen and Aaron are doing an awesome job.

10/20/2004 ~  Passenger side floor, areas around the door switches, rear vent, passenger rocker panel needed rebuilding. Bodywork continues with the passenger door dents now pulled, rear fender and hood dents filled, skirts are fiberglassed up, the sanding continues. She's looking better all the time!

10/29/2004 ~ Stephen and Aaron have been doing a bang-up job prepping the car. 99% of the sanding done, door switch mounting holes covered, side skirt railing welded in, brackets for the rear light center section in, and mostly all primered. Paint is pretty much ready to go on... 

11/3/2004 ~  Showed up this evening to assemble some panels (after an awesome feed of BBQ'd ribs and potato salad... Yum!). Door jams painted up, inside hood and truck lid done as well as the rockers. Everything is pretty much back on and in place for the final spray, possibly as early as next week. Again, excellent work done by Stephen, I can't say enough about the attention to detail he's putting into it. 

11/17/2004 ~  New paint is on, and with a few minor places to touch up, we are ready to re-assemble! Speedy Autoglass put the schedule behind a bit on a rather great play of incompetence; and an early winter storm caught everyone off guard. 20" of snow in fact. 

11/23/2004 ~ At long last, it is time to finish this saga. Final coat of clear coat is on, tape is off, everything put back in, rear sway bar is welded in. 19 months of work, blood, sweat and of course tears has brought us what the Suzuki convertible *should* have been from the factory. Here's the pics from the final photoshoot...

Also added was the rear sway bar from the GT. The mounts were cut out of the floor from the GT, ground to a respectable size, snapped bolts were removed, and was installed by Stephen. An unexpected twist I'm sure he didn't see coming, but I appreciate that he did it for me there. Thanks bro!

12/27/2004 ~ Cultus intake manifold, injectors, throttle body, fuel rail, and stock hoses bought from a contact in Malaysia. Should be here in February.

1/5/2005 ~ Fitting in Cultus extractors, first on spare motor to ensure correctness. Had to make a new bracket to help secure the headers to the motor.

 

8/1/2005 ~ Changing the stock MAF to a larger machined Ford MAF (55mm). Results were not good, car ran very lean and quite boggish when < 3000 rpm. Will have another shot at it after vacation, perhaps increasing fuel pressure or bigger injectors.

8/20/2005 ~ Trip to the drag strip again. This time I mounted the stock 13" steel vert wheels, 25psi up front, 35psi in back, removed the passenger seat. Ended up with a very satisfying run of 15.660 seconds @ 89.64MPH. 

I've a few other things to try, hope to get out to the drag for the final horray on Sept. 10/11. :)