Hilson's Move L900 Showcar Project

[hlsn]

Hi!

My journey started not long ago in march 2025, I was scrolling facebook for cheap Daihatsu’s as a daily for my civic. Saw a two-tone Move L900 that was just posted for 650euros with only 73.000km ! no rust, fresh oil changes, new clutch and timing belt.

I had to take a look at it as it was only 20min away from me. Just the next day i drove there with a buddy of mine and i saw that it had been rear ended. The owner explained that he was braking for a pedestrian at night and a huge Ford SUV wasnt paying attention and rear ended it. The engine and suspension was in too good of a condition to skip so i took it off his hands and drove it home.

And here it was:

A slow monstertruck that felt like it was going to tip over at every corner but i loved it, and it needed some love too. The clearcoat was rough, didnt idle all too well, windows didnt go down and wasnt serviced a couple years except oil

I immediately changed all the fluids and filters that week, just to be sure all the maintenance was up to date.

Next up, the base upgrades to give it some shape !

[hlsn]

The plates were almost falling off and it needed an upgrade as the plates itself were rough too.
Got myself some custom plateholders, with the text “rage your dream.” IYKYK, including a square one.

new fresh plates !

final result, the square fits nicely as the car is also boxy. And i have better cooling now so hehe tooning.

I was doing some research on the JDM L900 Moves and noticed they all have those huge wind deflectors on them and i thought “I NEED those”. I hopped on Buyee and found a nice smoked OEM full set for 20eu, with shipping total 70euros.. They came in after a few weeks and were packaged nicely.

Panicked a little as i thought they slide into the window gap at the top and didnt fit, but they fit directly on the frame on the door. The previous owner used some liquid adhesive to stick them on, that was a nightmare to scrape off. I just used some outdoor tape and its holding up well still.

They give some nice shape at the sides to not make the mirrors and windows look all to big. They also reduced wind noise significantly, and i also added some weather stripping around the doors and bonnet.
Civic cameo

Nice little Move branding.

It was still a monstertruck and handled like a boat so i did some research on coilovers but i couldnt find any 2nd hand. I only saw new BC racing ones for 1000eu+ or for 500eu from japan without taxes and shipping. So i resorted to 120eu lowering springs

Even though the springs are shorter ofcourse and small, it was still a nightmare to replace them without spring compressors so be prepared.

This is how she sits, the reduced bodyroll is lifechanging and not very low unfortunately but its a nice step to fill in that gap !

Installed an ETC card reader for fun so the car talks in japanese everytime i start it up. Got it from a friend that prepared japan imported cars for the road in NL but u can get them on Ebay.

installed a little audio system too. but not going into alot of detail unless requested ofcourse.

The next step are probably some nice 14" 3 spoke rims, or anything that crosses my path..

I have to say its going to take some time as the Civic needs a suspension rebuild. But small steps are also steps.. stay tuned !

[hlsn]

Hi yall,

the Civic got its suspension rebuild so i managed to pick up some 14 inch 3 spokes that came across for a steal. (although they are a bit damaged and tires need to be replaced)

they appear to be a Toyota OEM rim as Toyota is stamped on the back. Specifically from a Yaris XP10, but i cant seem to find any yaris with these on online..

Wheel spec is a 4x100 5,5J x 14’“ ET:45

I testfitted them on the car and took it for a drive and the tires are way too big unfortunately. These are a 175/55/14, Yaris OEM size, but they were rubbing in the front and rubbing against the mudflaps in the back when going over bumps. The car was also a monster truck. So im gonna need some new tires. I was thinking about 165/55/14 as this is the Move Custom OEM size.

So now im just waiting for a deal on tires or till my old tires need a replacement.

[evilhighway]

very cool and yes I used to run 165/55/14’s or 155/5514’s. (we cant get 155/55 14’s in Australia anymore)

[Butch_Butcher]

@hlsn

…with only 73.000km ! no rust, fresh oil changes, new clutch and timing belt.

… it had been rear ended. The owner explained that he was braking for a pedestrian at night and a huge Ford SUV wasnt paying attention…

A new clutch at only 73.000 kilometers points directly to an elderly previous owner.

Even though a timing belt replacement was unnecessary at that low milage, I would inspect its tensioner bearing, in order to see if it was replaced with it or not. Replacing only the belt isn’t unusual anymore.

Rear-ending has become an epedemic, here also, since cellphone use has become a trend. Aging persions with generous pensions have been buying S.U.V.s, supposedly because of ease of entry and exit. One of the hidden reasons is likely to be the sense of security provided by an unnecessarilly-large and heavy vehicle of which has no business being driven in populated areas where pedestrians are endangered by these monsters whose owners often can’t even keep them in their own lanes around curves. For the first time in history, I ended up paying more for insurance, despite having clocked one additional accident-free year. The usual policy was to reduce the yearly amount paid, because of not having had any accidents. I’m assuming that the true reason for why they’re “solidaritizing” costs is because the epedemic in recklessness’s costs superceed an affordability threshhold for average drivers.

If I were you, I would invest in a quality dashcam. If ever you yourself get rearended, you could then negotiate an immediate cash settlement with the rearender, especially if he’s caught texting on camera. Over here, insurance companies compensate according to a chart they all share (https://schwacke.de/) which dosen’t take into account a vehicle’s true value or even current used car price averages which have increased because of collusive hoarding agreed upon between used car lot proprietors

[hlsn]

Its been some months between my last post, i want to spread the messages because 1 whole post for a small upgrade seems unnecessary so here are the done upgrades till now!

Found a junkyard Move in exactly the same red color as mine (R27) and immediately messaged to order the trunk door and they would ship it to me. It was cheaper than driving there so got a deal on that

Swapped some parts over and here it sits:

I wanted to get down the driving noise more so i got these draft strips i applied around all the doors. It was also necessary for the trunk door as the mounting points are not really straight because of the accident it had…

Stripped down the whole interior to add soundproofing literally everywhere. Floors, roof, pillars, trunk floor, firewall.

Upgraded the audio system with it too with 70w 6 3/4 inch pioneer component speakers because the JVC 50w, as we say Jammer Voor je Centen (too bad for your money), broke and was crackling like crazy. Used the same speaker covers because i didnt get pioneer ones lol.

In the meantime the rear engine mount bolt vibrated loose and the whole engine dropped against the firewall, tearing up the engine mount rubber. Spent a whole afternoon trying to get the engine back on its spot and after i got it installed, the vibrations were still there. Thats when i knew the mount needed to be replaced. Called up the local dealer and they still had them in stock for 140eu.

Heres the part number, but after trying to install it, i noticed its not a small job like on hondas so i still have it in storage.

To cope i got some cheap things from aliexpress to spice the ride up xd. I think im going to install the stock intake again, as this one is really loud ofcourse and that was not my goal with all the soundproofing and all. But im still considering it
-shiftknob, oil catchcan

Next step is probably maybe some more lowering, fitting the tri spokes with new tires or window tint.

Sorry if my storytelling skills are limited, english is not my native language and this is my first forum im writing for haha

Stay tuned!