Names squeeker from the burbs of Melbourne Australia
Well a little while ago i did an online bid at a car auction “just for shirts and giggles lol” $1005 was the price i paid
Anyway i did one bid and won the thing. The car is a 2003 diahatsu sirion m100 manual. And then the shock and disbelief of not viewing the car first came over me and by that i mean? As you could have guessed it that the car might have been a dead set lemon, i was unsure if the engine blew smoke or had a knocking bottom end?
So the car was drivable and i got a permit to drive it home, surprisingly the car drove really well and blew my mind in how zippy the little 1.0 went.
So i had the car checked out for a road worrhy and proceeded to replace the mentioned issues.
Brakes all round
2 lower control arms
A new radiator off ebay for $85
Gear box mount
Small oil leak
The clutch was slipping , now replaced
Headlights i polished with a rag and toothpaste
Total cost me like $650 to get it back on the road plus 6 months rego.
I bought some gtvi wheels and cleaned them up
Bought $25 front seat covers from supercheap auto
And i also purchased a central locking kit with alarm for $74 and its now my daily driver and i would love to convert this to a 1.3 with a turbo, and if this car died tomorrow? I would gladly purchase another diahatsu now that i have the bug
Thanks for me
Welcome to livetodai forums. Yep it really sounds like you caught the Daihatsu bug. Just FYI you could turbo the ejde 3cyl. There is a guy around the Hervey Bay area in QLD that has a turbo sirion that puts out about 140-150hp and fairly reliably from what i know.
Just a thought!
The Hervey Bay guys are all running turbo EJs. Yea, I think one is about 130hp atw and the other is 100-110 atw, but is a certified daily on stock internals. Standalone ECU is the key I believe.
Welcome. If you are going to keep it as a daily driver, I recommend keeping it NA but going with the 4cyl K3VE and a light flywheel. I’ve driven a 130hp EJDE and…not a daily. The best daily Dai I’ve ever driven was a K3VE Cuore. Plus a reliable turbo 3cyl is going to end up five times more expensive than a K3 with factory ECU swap since the former must have a fairly good ecu, custom manifolds and so on (oh my clutch for this sort of power was a custom unit which was $1000 maybe fifteen years ago). Without smooth power delivery (the monster EJDE aren’t smooth compared to a K3 that pulls from idle) they become a horrid thing as a daily due to constant wheelspin of the inside wheel and really need an LSD. Plus 130hp will show how ordinary the brakes are and you’ll be wanting at least a Copen front end and Applause rear discs.
Well right now i am on the look out for a cheap car with a k3ve and i wouldnt mind converting that with a turbo. Even your idea of a k3 NA would still be pretty awesome too.
I think you said this was going to be a daily. A big power turbo K3VE will be a horrid thing for anywhere but short straight lines with rolling starts. It will feel so unbalanced overall. It will need a brake upgrade and suspension work just for going to the 4cyl. Even if you have an engineering workshop and fabrication skills you will put a huge amount of money into it with increasingly diminishing benefits. Here are two things I’d want to add to a turbo K3VE besides brakes and the normative suspension upgrades, quick rack with at least 2.5 turns lock to lock and proper radius rods instead of the sway bar doing double duty. On the other hand if you want project car go for it, but a daily? Hmmm.
