1992 Suzuki Cappuccino Car Show

Project Cappuccino: Blitz DTT and Wrapping Up The Interior

Cappuccino Interior Light
Our last electrical mod was to replace the interior light bulb with an LED bulb. Like most roadsters, the Cappuccino’s interior light is located between the two seats, so a few more lumens here are really helpful. This LED was actually leftover from our old Mazdaspeed3 project.  I don’t remember why this bulb never got installed in the MS3 (it might have been the wrong size), but that’s what I wrote on the package in 2017, so that must have been what it was for.
Cappuccino Finished Interior
We reinstalled the rest of the interior and topped things off with a brand new Tomei Duracron shift knob. The original shift knob had stripped threads and the vinyl felt gross and sticky, so it needed to be replaced. I really like the Duracron knob because it’s discreet and doesn’t get insanely hot even on sunny days like an aluminum knob. I have a tendency to leave the roof off the car on a sunny day so not melting my hand to the shift knob on a sunny day is pretty important.  I have a tendency to leave the roof off because, as cool as the 3-piece roof is, removing and installing it is a bit of a pain.  When running errands, it’s easier to just lock the glovebox and center console and leave the top down.  The Duracron knob is also unweighted, something I personally prefer in my shift knobs.
Suzuki Cappuccino Wiper Motor
One problem we spotted during our drive from California, was a bad windshield wiper motor.  The original motor was very slow and had issues with the intermittent setting.  We were able to find a used motor from a fellow Cappuccino owner on Instagram.  This wiper motor was installed in Japan, driven in Germany, removed in Austria, and re-installed in America: the internet is amazing isn’t it?  The German Cappuccino that donated this motor failed its ADAC inspection due to a terminal case of chassis rust.  Happily, its parts go on to save other Cappuccinos’ ’round the world.  Replacing the motor only took 30 minutes and our wipers now work beautifully again (or as beautifully as early 90’s wipers can ever work).
Suzuki & Snyder
On one of our first post-repair drives, we found someone selling a Snyder ST600-C and had to get the Cappuccino with it. The Snyder is a three-wheeled, four-door, four-seat “car” that is actually a motorcycle. These were designed in Ohio, but built in China. Think of a Reliant Robin, but somehow uglier and less reliable. This particular Snyder was for sale for $4500. Not only is the Cappuccino smaller, faster, and better looking, but I don’t need a motorcycle permit or a helmet to drive it. It took around 6 months for this Snyder to sell and I’ve actually seen it posted online recently.

During our first test drive, we set the default cooldown for the DTT at 30 seconds.  The DTT has a default cooldown time and will extend this cooldown if you’ve been driving for a while (or it records high boost readings for an extended period of time).  We also checked out the boost gauge function and set the overboost alarm.  The DTT is a neat little device that should serve us well to ensure we don’t burn out the diminutive turbocharger in the Cappuccino any faster than necessary.  With the Cappuccino repaired, we can now start turning our attention to performance.  Before we even left California, we knew we wanted to replace the crappy commuter tires with something much more aggressive, both in terms of size and traction.  We’ve made our choice and you will be reading about that soon!

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3 comments

  2. Hmmm. So that’s what that little gizmo is for. My Cap came with one, and I consider myself generally knowledgeable about all things car and mechanical, but I wasn’t exactly sure what that was for. Guess I’ll be using it from now on.

    Reply

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