Last week on Saturday i went to look at a special little nugget.
I immediately started planning on how to get her.
She has quite the history… She was delivered as a standard Cuore in 1998 and build into a Gino (even the interior) at a dealership. After that she went to the AutoRAI in 1999 (one of the most famous car shows/exhibitions) as a show model.
It was named the Daihatsu Cuore Classic. Later she was sold new to a lady named Ilona. After Ilona traded her in at the same dealership (for a Subaru Justy (Sirion2)) they sold her and lost track of her.
She’s been sitting for the past 10 years in a lot with other abandoned cars.
As you might have guessed already… I bought her (without properly looking her over ).
But (so far) i don’t regret it.
There’s A LOT to do to get her back in decent shape again. But first i’ll get the APK (MOT) done. After that the ‘‘restoration’’ begins.
My plans are nothing special. Basically just near show model condition again. No real mods or anything. I will mount a D-sport Copen rear swaybar and probably a stock Move front swaybar. As for anything else i don’t know yet. I kinda want to keep her as close to ‘‘original’’ as possible.
And also a special thanks to @Remconieuw for driving!
First thing tomorrow is changing one or two wheels and quick wash. Maybe i’ll do a oil change while i’m at it, otherwise i’ll it next week.
I’ll probably bring her away for a pre-inspection next Friday so i know what is wrong and needs fixed to get her back on the road.
She’s supposed to become my daily btw.
So wish me luck.
Last week (the day after i bought her) I gave her a well deserved wash. This was the second time in my whole life i washed a car by hand.
The first time was my first Gino.
She looks so much better already!
With some warm soapy water most dirt and moss came off without much effort. Still need to get a detailing brush to properly clean the grill and other nooks and crevasses.
Of course the interior got some love too.
Unfortunately i didn’t take many photo’s and some that i take disappeared.
I truly love this foaming all purpose cleaner. It can be used on literally just about everything. Paint, plastic, rubber, glass, metal and fabric etc. … It cleans it all.
Yesterday i wanted to replace the timingbelt and do a general service. oil, filters and plugs went well. But the crankbolt and 2 bolts for the belt cover didn’t wanna come out. So that’ll have to wait until i can legally drive it.
So instead of replacing the belt i decided to start trying to clean the engine bay a little.
And damn the foaming cleaner is even much better than i expected.
Washer reservoir before…
This stuff is a true miracle in a can!
Here i cleaned a small part of the valve cover, the ignition coil cover and the PCV hose.
Once i saved up a little i’ll buy a whole box, Maybe even 2 seeing how dirty the rest of the engine bay and underside still is.
Oh and she decided not to start anymore yesterday. The fuelpump gave up.
But luckily i should have a spare somewhere and otherwise i have a donor waiting to be torn apart.
Recently bought a brand new OE grill suitable for fog lights. It wasn’t overnight but it came from Japan.
I also had a ton of OE and OEM stuff collecting dust so i decided to finally use them.
The strut tops are practically new OE. The strut top bearings and nuts are new OE. All 4 shocks are new OEM. The rear spring seat rubbers are also new OE. The front bump stops/dust covers are aftermarket (because i forgot to order them OE and had these laying around.
The brake parts are for a brake upgrade i’m planning to do. But they need to be cleaned up and painted first.
However… The new grill wasn’t as bolt on as i thought. I did have to do some cutting to get the grill to fit. It hurt me so much cutting into the bumper, but the grill cost me too much to let it collect dust somewhere at home.
For the people here that have a Gino with a regular grill…
There are differences between grills with and without fog lights. But also between generations.
My Gino is a early model and i believe (for a couple of reasons) the grill is a later model.
But it’s definitely doable.
Before and after changing the grill. (You can also see some of the differences in the grills between both my Gino’s. My green Gino is also a early model).
I knew the engine bay and the underside had a bunch of surface rust. But this is too much for me.
So it’s time to get my JDM Gino on the road so i can restore this one.
I’m afraid it’s going to be a FULL teardown restauration.
Went to hollands favourite wrecker (venyard) yesterday and picked up a couple of shifter linkages. One is to make a shift kit for the M300. The other one is to experiment with.
The top one is from a L650 (second gen Gino).
The bottom one is from a M300.
The linkages from the L650 should be the same as from a L250. And from what I can find, it should fit a L700. I’m going to experiment with this one with a improved shift kit, short shifter and a pillowball bearing in place of the original plastic ball and cup.
Wow. Hope the m300 kit will be for me as well. But might not solve the issue.
Found out my main issue is the link thats left at the gearbox.
When the rod stays still, the linkage can move sideways, creating the feel that when in gear, it feels its in neutral.
But will be fond of all options you can put on your kit, like extending the part unerneath the ball, to create a short shifter.
I saw that in the video. Next weekend I’m going to measure everything up. So i hope to have a bolt on solution for you soon.
As for the short shifter. There are 2 options, a complete custom lever with pillowball or a stock lever altered to be adjustable.
The custom lever will take a little longer as it’s still in the design stage.
About a week ago i stopped by the old dealership that transformed the “classic” from a Cuore into a Gino. It’s probably obvious, but they’re no longer a dealer (service point) of Daihatsu. They completely stopped in 2022 after they moved to their new location.
As you can see from the photo it’s pretty clear why they build it.
Unfortunately he was very busy, but we talked a little bit about it.
Like why there’s a Vanden Plas badge on the back (more on that in the near future) and car shows and some other small stuff.
He also told me he build only one. So the rumour that he built more is false.
Which makes this little gold nugget extra special (probably the only dealer delivered LHD Gino in the world). All the more reason to restore it when I’m done with my JDM Gino.
I’m staying in contact with him. As he might have some more tales to tell and because he might still have some photo’s from back in the day.
Even though i no longer own the Cuore Classic, she came back for some maintenance and mods.
The timing belt needed doing as it’s at least 11 years old. But also some minor rust removal and adding AC and powersteering.
I started with the AC. Yes it’s a brand new factory kit . No it’s no longer available unfortunately.
After fitting the AC i started on the timing belt. Unfortunately I broke 2 bolts for the timing belt cover. So out came the engine. While the engine was out i also fitted the powersteering.
).
have fun with it!
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