Awesome info Mr G. I’ve been thinking of using a charade as the base of a track car. Just gotta get the wife on board 
(so will probably never happen)
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Jnr speedway Charade for the kids?
I would start with looking at a category of racing and then decide on the car. Personally I am sticking to motokhana, khanacross and the occasional hillclimb. Keep an engine fairly std and perhaps baffle the sump properly and enjoy years of comp. Better to be driving lots than to always be working on a car. I know drag guys that spend inconceivable amounts of money to get like 30min of seat time per year. As compared to a family at our club with a std Gemini that dad and two kids drive and it gets hours of use/fun for prob under $1000 per year.
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This unit looks like an awesome bargain.
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Great reading thanks for that @Mr_Gormsby Totally agree with the bang for your buck mantra. Regularity racing is a great category just run what you bring and nail those times.
A bit of background on my one, it was a private import from the UK in the mid to late nineties, built and log booked not long afterwards. Its seen a fair bit of action in the west aus scene with a few different owners, clubs and series. The cherry in the logbook is a couple of entries to Rally Australia back when it was held in Perth.
I live 5 mins from The Barbagallo racing complex with circuit, sprint, motorkhana, hillclimb and more all being held from there. It’s on a competition permit and was a cheap option to get into a dedicated race car with no need for a trailer.
Its getting a bit older now, don’t get me wrong it was built incredibly well to start with but really needs a cosmetic makeover. With the season being cancelled it might be a good chance to give it a paint hence the interest in the works livery.
Heres a couple of pics of it in its early days in the hands of a different owner.
Incidentally the wheels pictured are Holden Camira and are apparently super tough offroad wheels.
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Fantastic pics. I was over in Perth for early version of Rally Aus and prob saw yours run. Thinking about my earlier comments by 1992 I think we had stopped running the Silvia and had switched to a 280z (260z shell with L28 P80 efi) in the Production Rally Car class by that year. These more powerful cars sent the team broke. The Nissan was horrendously expensive to run ias a Group A normally aspirated FJ20. While the Zed was better, and was more successful outright, I firmly believe the team would have done better with a Charade and then we could have kept tires coming at it when needed and had class podiums each time we ran. Camira rims, funny David J’s (our top driver) wife Helen had a Camira at the time.
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a couple of years ago I found out that one of the factory Detomaso Charade rally cars was still being driven with good success by a young bloke up here near Mackay N. Qld by the name of Wayne Morton, sadly he has moved onto a newer model Corolla. couple of pics from his facebook page
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Geez you have some fun trying to find the edge of some of these cars
“Daihatsu: Changing the World!”
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What suspension and setup do you run for gravel?
Many variables. Gravel needs the best lsd diff control to put power down. Softest frt spring possible without hitting bump stops,lots of travel. Damn good bump stops. Bilstein style damper/shock. Most expensive tires you can afford. Quick steering. So hard to know what you are attempting or need to know.
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Thanks for your reply, currently it is a std GTXX with roll cage ,std engine, std diff, std suspension, std brakes, 185/60-14 rally tyres which is how I bought it. It’s not the flashest or tidiest car just looking to do club sprints and have a bit of fun, learn how to drive on gravel. Hopefully not having to sell my first born to do so. Looking for the best bang for buck options. I figure spending on the handling is better than more hp. Not sure what’s still available for these cars now either. Hope this helps thanks Aaron
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Thanks for the context. I’ve had prior involvement in building fwd cars for the QRC and ARC. I know you have asked handling, I’ll mention suspension first briefly. A good front strut is going to be $1000 or more each, even without a spring. MCA or DMS will make a custom item for you and you may find used ones already from either of those Australian places. At the lower end of the price range would be a Bilstein and it might even be possible to re fab the body of a widely available Bilstein to fit (ie a Subaru Bilstein could have the insert pulled out and the tangs redone to fit your hub and coil over seats added. May even be possible to end up raised to the right height and suspension travel).
I would be very keen to have a coil over spring on the struts and redo your seats in the rear for a coil over type spring. Two and a quarter flat ground ended taper springs in various lengths and rates are “in abundance”. You would be able to have a few different rate springs for each end to experiment with for the price of a custom wound set to replace your factory ones. Speaking of factory springs start with std rate front and double or even triple the rear rate. Experiment You’ll find the stiff rear with soft front will feel balanced. Remember the soft end gets more grip and the drive tires need constant contact with the ground. This and a couple of degree of neg camber and one mm of toe out will have you going quick enough on gravel that you’ll start blowing through the suspension travel in no time and then you will want more travel or more rate front and back.
Next, diff control. The diff in a fwd is like night and day. A good lsd in a fwd has a bigger impact on how the car feels than a lsd installed in a rwd. You feel it through the steering. It can also help braking depending on the diff type since the lsd may reduce brake lock up on ones side. The lsd install is huge on the “fun factor” even with low power.
Check your steering turns lock to lock. 3.9 turns? Look into a Toyota rack that will let you go to 2.5 turns lock to lock. This is also a big transformation and can make one think you have not done a mod but swapped cars.
Sorry forgot to mention I’m in nz. My brother has Subaru bilsteins and we have a mate who plays with them so worth a look into that. Not sure where I might find a lsd, do you know what to look for. I had also thought about welding the diff as an option. What model Toyota rack do you refer to as I haven’t heard of this mod. It has a power steering rack in my model. Thanks again for your info
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Where are you in NZ?
*Sorry not going to be much help with the LSD other than say, “look up Cusco” (they are quite good) and talk to some Daihatsu rally guys. I played with this sort of thing so long ago many of the good bits came from the “factory”. A locked diff on a FWD is a bad thing. It is not like welding a rwd. Even with power steering it will be uncontrollable, may decimate axles and will not feel right. A fwd diff tends not to need to be as tight as a rwd diff for it to be effective. I’ve only done non-power steer quick racks in Dais. You might have to do some research yourself. I’d say start with Toyota but don’t limit yourself. Check the Quaife website for listings. For example, AW11 are something like 3 L to L. That would be one full turn better. And then if that is not enough the Quaift internal brings it to 2.2 L to L (I think they say 2.5 L to L but it works out better). Note if the rack goes in front or behind the axle. You may need to change rack ends which is why it is good to stick with Toyota as it opens up a huge variety of off the shelf parts that might work. You want to keep the distance between the spherical joints on the rack as close to your org rack as possible or if you move your lower control arms out on the crossmember then compensate for that. Steering universals might need to be hybridised to match splines. I’ve altered racks physically to fit Daihtasu cradles but prefer to alter the subframe making new cradles or using ones cut off of what ever frame the donnar rack came from.
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I live in hawkes bay in north island. There is a lsd kit by traction concepts which looks good for the money. There was a couple of daihatsu rally cars back in the nineties over here so might see if I can find out about them otherwise they are few and far between nowadays. All good info though definitely gives me something to look into.
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I have family in Wellington and am usually over ever year or two. Occasionaly we head to Napier to MTB the paper mill trails.
I’ve never used a Traction Concepts but have been told by my associates who are experts in diffs. This very same diff used to be called a “Phantom” LSD. Look up the reviews. They are just a couple of blocks that rub on the pinion gears with a lot of preload via springs. For the effort it takes to install in a fwd I’d spend the extra $1000 and get a Cusco 1.5 way which will be predictable and they are tuneable.
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maybe ask Tim Hart at Compact Motorsports over there in NZ about LSD’s?
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Hey there, honestly if you’re doing club level sprints and a bit of gravel learning I wouldn’t go too much further with it, keep it simple and cheap.
I didn’t build my one, I bought it for basic club events, it was just lucky I found a retired competition car. It took me a few years to find one in my budget and is far more than I need.
Setup is pretty much as @Mr_Gormsby has described, coilovers front and rear, quickrack, LSD etc. Over the years different owners have all contributed to its development, the close ratio box is the highlight for me, someones put some time and effort into getting it right. Once your moving and its on boost its just a matter of how fast you can punch gears, running out of puff at around 160kph which is probably enough for what I’m doing with it.
It has a weld in, integral cage from strut to strut, the shell has also been thoroughly seem welded and gusseted along with alot of the suspension parts (a couple of pics at the end)
I’d say as much if not more time has gone into building it than time it has been driven.
If I were to be starting all over I certainly wouldn’t be going that far, I’d stick with a basic car and learn to drive around its characteristics than spend time and money building a ‘weapon’
If you do decide to go the weapon route, let me know, I’m happy to pass on any specs or detailed pics you need. Best of luck what ever you decide 
Rear end gusseting
Nice touch, wheel scrapers
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2iWWUcR]
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