Many car enthusiasts love to mod their cars. A Cappuccino is a popular choice for many, but what could be the best way to mod a Cappuccino? From Suzuki Capuccino engine swap to fitting injectors and other parts can make a great impact to your existing Capuccino.
The Suzuki Capuccino is a great car, cheap and fun. However, it’s not the most refined vehicle in the world (you could probably fit an elephant in that engine bay) so its owners like to modify them. A little modification adds a great value to the Capuccino.
Before delving into more details, it is recommended to know the basic details about Suzuki Capuccino models.
Models of Suzuki Capuccino
The Capuccino was made in 3 models:
- GT (1992-1996)
- RZ/M (1997-2000) and
- the new model released in 2000
The basic car remains similar throughout with some minor changes such as a different bonnet or headlights. A lot of the parts for modifying these cars are interchangeable so it doesn’t matter what model you have.
Ways to Mod Suzuki Capuccino
A variety of modifications can be performed to Capuccino for advanced features. Here are some of the things I’ve done to my own Capuccino and want to share with all of you.
The first thing you need to do is find an engine that fits your vehicle. Some common engines are the 1JZ-GTE and the 2JZ-GE. These engines will give you an increase in horsepower and torque. You can also install different air filters on your engine which will help with fuel efficiency as well as acceleration response time. Lastly, if you want some extra power then adding nitrous oxide should do the trick!
Let’s discover a few ways to mod your Capuccino!
i- Fitting Bigger Injectors:
As with most turbo charged cars, the Capuccino has very little torque below 3000 rpm and boost cutting at 3500 rpm, so there is usually a need for performance mods such as an intercooler and intake kit but this can be expensive if bought new.
That is the reason, my first modification was fitting bigger injectors, these were bought from a late model Capuccino and were the same size as those fitted to the turbo version TVR. The originals were .45 with 80% duty cycle (equivalent to .75mm) and I put in .82’s (which have an equivalent flow rate of 1.0mm).
The larger injectors were good and pulled the turbo in nicely when climbing hills or moving off from a standstill for example, however around 40 mph there would be a slight misfire which only got worse the faster you went.
What I didn’t like about them was that they were a bit harder to start after being turned on. And the car would sputter until the computer could adjust itself, this was more noticeable when turning off at traffic lights as it would usually stall or nearly stall.
ii- Fitting Ice Intercooler:
The next modification by far my favorite, was fitting a dry ice intercooler. This is basically just two corrugated plastic pipes from garden center with aluminum ducting on either end and cold air being pumped through them, one of the easiest mods you’ll ever do. Some people say that this gives no real improvement to performance but I disagree, it makes a massive difference even though it is cheap.
This was my first modification, fitting it made the car much smoother and improved performance up till about 70 mph when you would start to loose boost again however not as severely as with larger injectors.
Fitting a dry ice intercooler also has some drawbacks such as being quite loud and initially making the engine more difficult to start (although this improves over time) but these are a small price to pay for the performance increase. I would recommend fitting an intercooler as your first modification, it is cheap, simple and makes a massive difference.
iii- Replacing Seats
For the interior part, I decided to replace my standard seats with Recaro Speed seats and a Prodrive P3 wheel (Prodrive now produce them for sale). My personal opinion is that they look much better than the standard items, especially coupled with the deep dash.
The one thing that isn’t great about this is that the Prodrive wheel is quite a bit smaller than the Capuccino’s standard one, so you lose a little of the feel. It also means that if you are fitting them to an older car (which you had better do!) then your spare tyre well will be a bit smaller.
You could probably get away with just removing the lip from the well to give you more room, but doing it properly would require a bit of modification.
When it comes to the engine I went for a standard one-off set up; running twin 45mm Weber carburettors with K&N filters and deleting the air injection system (which is both unnecessary and takes up space). Whilst I was doing this, I upgraded the exhaust to a three-inch system with twin four-into-one headers. This is by no means the height of Capuccino engine modification, but it should be enough for my purposes and keeps things simple.
iv- Fitting Bigger Turbo
My next idea was fitting a bigger turbo, there were several options which include:
- TVR RZ/M turbo – available from a scrappy or on ebay, this is rated at about 280bhp and is larger than the original Capuccino one.
- Another similar option to this one is fitting a VR6 turbo which are found on some VW Golfs/Polos etc. and can be found for quite cheap off ebay or through auto jumbles.
- A more expensive option would be the fitting of a turbo from a Rover SD1 which are commonly available on ebay for a decent price or through auto jumbles. This is rated at 350bhp and should definitely bring an improvement in power if you have the money to spend.
Conclusion
So, these are the best possible ways to modify your Capuccino and come up with more advanced features. Modifying your car regularly makes it much better in terms of performance, appearance and other respects. How you have been modifying your Suzuki Capuccino, share with us in the comments section.
I am Jones Smith and I am here to share my experience and expertise in writing. I’ve been writing articles for different publications for more than 6 years. I have a varied range of interests and that’s why I love blogging about different topics. In my opinion, blogging is a lot like acting, and I consider writing blog posts as an acting job. I am an entrepreneur by heart and there is nothing big or small when it comes to starting a business.