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Before I get started, this isn’t your typical “make the most of your fuel economy” article for the average person. This is geared more towards the car enthusiast… if you’re the type of person to make changes (mod) your car, this may be helpfull to you.

I’m assuming you’ve already read the typical “make the most of your fuel economy” articles, which have probably given you tips like changing your driving habits (non-aggressive driving, keeping to non-excessive speeds), keeping tire pressures up, changing spark plugs/performing general maintenance/tune-ups, buying a more fuel-efficient vehicle, keeping the air conditioning off, keeping windows up at high speeds, etc. These are all well-known “tips”, and while they do help, I’ve always looked for more. And here’s what I’ve come up with so far. continue reading…

Yet another how-to that should apply to most 1989-1991 Sprints, Fireflys, Metros, and Swifts. This was done on a 1.0L 3-cylinder, so those with the 1.3L are out of luck. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to take pictures during this procedure, but I’ll try and be as specific as possible. This was not performed on a vehicle with air conditioning or power steering. If you have either of these, there may be more steps involved. Oh, and as with all vehicle work, it may be a good idea to disconnect the battery. After all, you don’t want to lose your hand/arm/life because the car tried to start at the wrong time.

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If you find yourself driving down the road and hear a “crunch crunch crunch” coming from one of the back wheels of your car, there’s a good chance you’ve got bad wheel bearings. Actually, your bearings probably went bad long before you heard the crunching, but as with many other parts, they were nice enough to make a really awful sound to let you know they were preparing to leave you stranded.

Replacing the bearings isn’t a particulary difficult job. If you’ve ever replaced the brakes in your car, you’ve probably got the ability to do the bearings. It’s a job I recently tackled, and I thought I’d share the steps I took in doing so. This was done on a 1991 Chevrolet Sprint, but the process is very likely to be extremely similar (if not exactly the same) for a 1989 or 1990 Pontiac Firefly, Suzuki Swift, or Geo Metro as well. continue reading…

An all-too-common problem in Chevrolet Sprints, Suzuki Swifts, Geo Metros, and Pontiac Fireflys occurs when the key breaks in half in the ignition. Unfortunately, almost every one of the keys created for these cars has a thin point in the key, where inevitably, at some point during the key’s life, it splits in two. If you’re lucky, it’ll break in your pocket. But more often than not, they decide to fall apart within the ignition switch. continue reading…