This little beast was purchased for $200 from my fathers friend. It was intended to be a grocery getter…and still is!
It’s a G200 HC-E (1.3L) 3dr equipped with zero factory options.
So to cut a long story short; the engine was running well for about a year then died during the summer.
We proceeded to change the head gasket and radiator + all hoses, when my brutish father snapped a head bolt off in the block.
So there it sat for a year with a blanket over it, until a few months ago we finally got around to removing the engine.
The machinist assessed the engine and said it needed new pistons, rings, all bearings, crank polish and a re-bore. The head also needed work.
So we threw the cash at the machinist for a full engine machining and head refurbishment.
After all that I got to reassembling and tidying up the engine. But I came across a head gasket sizing problem and end up purchasing a custom copper head gasket.
Then on to ordering all new original Daihatsu parts, seals, gaskets, etc, etc…Here’s the rebuild thus far:
Hi @ohmsy , the copper gasket was created from a HC-E Terios blueprint through Ridgecrest Engineering in Southern VIC.
It has been made for 0.5mm oversized bores. I forget the thickness…I just asked the boss man to recommend based on the head having been decked slightly.
The fit was perfect. Slightly larger than the bore to allow for crush as I’d hoped for.
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Here’s the first start…
WARNING: Open headers so turn down your volume.
2" Exhaust installed. (Video taken 550km into engine break in)
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Had some ignition issues and went through the troubleshooting process. Found that the ignition leads, Dizzy cap and ignitor were all out of spec by a long shot…no.4 lead didn’t even have solid continuity!
A set of NGK copper coil leads, OEM dizzy and chinese ignitor later and we a have a respectable little engine bay!
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There are a few things still bugging me regarding drive-ability, but overall it has been very satisfying to see this build finally come to fruition.
I am very much looking forward to improving Little Blue in many ways as the years go on…maybe even a turbocharger added at a later stage.
(Video taken 550km into engine break in)
