CON360's Suzuki Cappuccino '93

[con360]

Thought I would make a thread for those interested.

Here is the story of my Cat C Cappuccino.

Here she is when I picked her up in July 2016 for a total of a whopping £1500. (England, it rains 105% of the time!).

Even got the roof down in August with my manager (yup, I was a learner and this was my first car. Talk about jumping off the deep end!).

Fun fact, the designer of the Cappuccino loved and had a collection of MG Midgets!

And here is the underside and rear bulkhead during September 2016!

After getting her floor pans and rear bulkhead completely remade I finally got to drive her daily. (October 2016)

December 2016 I had a full stainless exhaust system made up as the original had so much rust it looked like it had sat at the bottom of the ocean for the past 5 years. This plus a K&N air filter means the car sounds wonderful!



I eventually passed my test June 2017, but not in my Cappo as they said that they couldn't see out of the back properly.
The same day, I had my wheel refurbishment finished. The month before I got my number plate at an auction!

Unfortunately the wheel caps were lost during the refurb...

Not too long after, GTPlanet represent!

August 2017, I entered her into her first show! Kent Chrome & Cruisers in Faversham. (I know I look like a muppet!)

Quite a size difference compared to my rear neighbor!

And I wasn't the only small Japanese car there. I felt like maybe I should have been over there...

October 2017, I found a 355 in a nearby car park. Ignore the Ford Fusion in the hedge.

And here is the last couple of days (Nov 2017). Took her in to get a few bits done. Radiator has seen better days, will be sourcing a new one along with an upgraded fan.

And here is how she sits at the moment with full BC Racing Coilovers, new cambelt, spark plugs, Black Diamond vented & drilled brake discs, EBC Greenstuff pads, Suzuki Sport front strut brace and a TM Garage rear spoiler. (Yes she needs a clean.)

I hope you have enjoyed reading and looking. After I get a few more bits (Radiator, adjustable suspension arms and possibly carbon door inserts) I shall be getting round to tracking her.

Cheers for looking!

Edit: More Up to date photos!



















Obviously I've also been collecting memorabilia from the last 30 years, which includes these Japanese Suzuki dealer models!



And where she currently resides, waiting for me to do some body work on her. Which as per usual means rust! But at this point she is 100% mechanically sorted out at least!

 

[Matej]

Great thread, grab a photo of the boot when you have time! I wonder how small it really is from a close-up.

 

[Rage0329]

Must be a fun little car! Best colour too.

 

[con360]

Great thread, grab a photo of the boot when you have time! I wonder how small it really is from a close-up.

I have a photo with the roof in the boot, you'd be hard pressed to get a loaf of bread in there.

Must be a fun little car! Best colour too.

It definitely is fun! And the photos don't show it well, but the paint has faded in multiple ways so there is about 15 different shades of red on it!

 

[Katiegan]

Brilliant little car! I'd absolutely love a Cappuccino one day. I imagine it'd be perfect for me since I'm only 5 feet tall.

 

[con360]

Brilliant little car! I'd absolutely love a Cappuccino one day. I imagine it'd be perfect for me since I'm only 5 feet tall.

I'm 6" and lets just say it can be a little snug sometimes.

 

[homeforsummer]

And like that, one of the coolest members' rides on GTP...

 

[con360]

And like that, one of the coolest members' rides on GTP...

Thank you! That means an awful lot!

 

[GDII]

I've only ever seen maybe 2 of these in real life. So small but so cool. I'd love to hear the engine with that exhaust.

 

[con360]

I've only ever seen maybe 2 of these in real life. So small but so cool. I'd love to hear the engine with that exhaust.

There should be a SoundCloud link in the post, just under the rust.

 

[GDII]

There should be a SoundCloud link in the post, just under the rust.

I thought that was just an ad on my mobile... Ah yes, that 3 cylinder sound, love it!

 

[Lilium]

Sorry to ask this, but how tall are you?
I want to eventually importante a Honda beat, or a cappuccino, and i always wonder if i'll fit well to daily it.

Fantástic car m8, keep it for a looong time

 

[con360]

Sorry to ask this, but how tall are you?
I want to eventually importante a Honda beat, or a cappuccino, and i always wonder if i'll fit well to daily it.

Fantástic car m8, keep it for a looong time

6" exactly, it's snug but there is still a bit of headroom. On the bigger bumps it is definitely possible to bash your head off the roof.

Don't worry, I plan on keeping it for a very long time!

 

[G.T.Ace]

 

[GDII]

6" exactly, it's snug but there is still a bit of headroom. On the bigger bumps it is definitely possible to bash your head off the roof.

Don't worry, I plan on keeping it for a very long time!

Being 6' could mean you fit or do t fit. I'm just t over 6' but I have a very tall body so when I sit down I hit the roof of most smaller cars from the 90s. Even in my MR2 I hit the roof. So it's all about leg:body ratio to check if you can fit or not.

 

[con360]

Being 6'coyld mean you fit or do t fit. I'm just t over 6' but I have a very tall body so when I sit down I hit the roof of most smaller cars from the 90s. Even in my MR2 I hit the roof. So it's all about leg:body ratio to check if you can fit or not.

To be fair, if you lived somewhere like Death Valley, where it never rains; then you could drive everywhere with the roof down like so!

Even November isn't cold enough to warrant me keeping the roof up on a sunny day!

 

[Tornado]

How has maintaining it over this period been? I want to get a Kei car next year (not one of the ABCs, but an HA21 Alto Works) and I've never really heard much long term from people who've owned them after the initial few months.

 

[con360]

How has maintaining it over this period been? I want to get a Kei car next year (not one of the ABCs, but an HA21 Alto Works) and I've never really heard much long term from people who've owned them after the initial few months.

Honestly the mechanical side has been absolutely perfect, and it was always more than happy to go up to it's nearly 9k redline. It's just the rust protection from factory was literally nothing, and combining that with a hardtop convertible with multiple water drains means there is always somewhere for water to get stuck and start rusting the car away.

I'm currently in the process of dealing with the sills rusting, along with some of the front bulkhead! So it does always seem like a never ending battle.

As long as you can get one that you know has been looked after, and will do the due diligence with re-rust proofing every year or so then they are a lot of fun!

The only other point is that consumables can be a pain to source. Like the Cappos rear brake discs and pads being a got and not being a shared part!

 

[SVX]

How has maintaining it over this period been? I want to get a Kei car next year (not one of the ABCs, but an HA21 Alto Works) and I've never really heard much long term from people who've owned them after the initial few months.

Hope you don't mind me adding my 2c - I dailyed a turbo kei car for a year or so.

For my Japanese car parts, I've always used https://partsouq.com/ which just requires the chassis number and will direct you to the relevant diagram to find the part number. Being that you're wanting a Suzuki which doesn't have an American dealer network - finding a JDM parts website with proper Japanese contacts will be a good idea as they can often order the parts on your behalf. If you get the car through a dealer, I've seen some offer parts importing too.

https://www.megazip.net/ is good for some cars as you can input the part number and it will bring up which cars have the same part number. Useful as you can find that cars that have American models share some parts. I do this for missing screws/bolts on my cars that I don't want to order new.

As for ordering, Amayama is tried and tested - not sure what freight wait times are like to America though. Often it will also provide an aftermarket part number too which is a bit cheaper. Yahoo Auctions also has plenty of aftermarket offerings if you find a good importer, or want to use proxies to do it yourself. Good for upgrades too, if you want to get uprated brake pads or filters, etc.

As for reliability, at the end of the day that is entirely dependant on the example. They are an old 90s turbo car, and usually the ones imported have been sitting around for yonks, so suddenly dailying it or driving it more than twice a year will cause problems. My experience on the 'complain about American importers page' is that blown shocks, belts, cracked bushes are absolutely shocking for a 30 year old car that's been sitting. I would budget a full service incl. cambelt unless you have solid proof. If you go the route of buying your own car at auction, importers such as Pacific Coast Auto offer services to get the car worked on at a local workshop which can save the issue of parts sourcing and freight - unless you're wanting to do it yourself, the amount you save on freight & time sourcing the part outweighs any labour cost.

My Minica had simple problems which was easily solved - worn out thermostat, which is good preventative maintenance anyway. The parts were all kei specific but I ordered them from Japan from Mitsi Japan and there was nothing discontinued. The biggest headache was the intercooler pipe had worn out, and been replaced with a radiator hose which restricted airflow. Unfortunately that was discontinued, but would've been an easy fix with a silicone elbow which I didn't want the aesthetic of.

What caused the failure of the car was a broken cambelt tensioner which I took the previous owner's word, after the cambelt had been replaced 40,000km, had been done. Unless it was a low quality part, I would say it wasn't replaced with the cambelt replacement due to not being able to get it out of Japan (or not wanting to deal with the cost). That's a big reason why I recommend getting stuff done unless you have specific proof it has been done.

If you have questions about certain importers, places to look for cars, websites to source etc please feel free to reach out as it's a big part of what I do.

--

@con360 - let me know if you need the centre caps part number, might be able to order it at your local dealer 👍

 

[con360]

@SVX Thank you for adding all that info! And thank you for the offer, but I currently have two sets of the black centre caps from the limited Japanese only Swift wheels, which were just the Cappo wheels but black with a machined rim 😁

Thank you though!

 

[SVX]

@SVX Thank you for adding all that info! And thank you for the offer, but I currently have two sets of the black centre caps from the limited Japanese only Swift wheels, which were just the Cappo wheels but black with a machined rim 😁

Thank you though!

No problem. My friend had a New Zealand delivered one (I think one of 11 that were officially imported). Was great fun to drive, though not the best example.

I found it like the turbo response of a V1/V2 WRX (TD04 EJ20G), the interior 'cocoon' feeling of an SW20 and steering response of an NA MX-5. Really can't go wrong there.