Hi Everyone,
Just trying to access the workshop manuals before asking anything too stupid but need to earn my stripes first it seems.
I’ve got a salvage auction L700 ($250 with just a bang on the bum, bargain!) in Perth, Australia that has been bought for tinkering with, Missus is hoping that’ll stop me messing around with my daily commuter. I head over to Malaysia and Japan generally once a year so am hoping to pick up bits and pieces as I go backwards and forwards.
Outside I’m thinking a gino kit for shits and giggles, after that I’m researching to see what is possible in the gubbins.
200hp would be heaps for me, perhaps 250 if my mods add a lot of weight.
Pondering a frankenstein motor. I like the sound of 3 pots, so am wondering about an EJ-VE with the pistons of a K3-VET and if necessary maybe the crank of an EF-DET to drop the CR. Have always been very taken with the sprintex supercharging approach of integrating laminova tubes into the intake manifold for water cooling with a short intake tract, then something cheap on top, SC12 or 14 perhaps. Need to look into heads as well, seen on here that we have a few versions with different flow characteristics so that’s now on my reading list.
Ahh what else… the base car is an auto which has caught my imagination, thinking of hooking in an arduino to try and override the solenoids, then see what the manuals have to say about upping line pressure. Cant help noticing that the 710’s rear axle, gearbox, driveshafts etc sell for only a few hundred in Japan which has me wondering about what’s involved with an AWD conversion. No idea about the strength of those parts but that said the videos of the drifting gino I’m sure we’ve all seen does give me some hope.
It’s a project I’m not really in any hurry with, its a second car with no real purpose other than keeping me out of mischief and there’s no rush to prep it for a race series or anything. I’ve got a reasonable setup, 3d printer, cnc and the usual workshop tools for fabricating, but unfortunately am currently in a house with no garage which means the wet months are generally the research months 
. If anyone has any answers or opinions on the stuff I’m pondering would be keen to hear your thoughts.
Cheers,
Dave
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Welcome Dave.
Seems like you have some good plans there that I will be interested in seing how you go with them. Yes as we are a dedicated daihatsu community we have made it so not just anyone can come and access the manuals as we want to help provide and learn from each other with the different directions we take in out projects. It also has taken some of us quite sometime to find the manuals. It also helps weed out some of the people that are too lazy or just assholes. So far we have only seen one (that I know of) that has been barred from the manuals as they were just plain rude. @FrAsErTaG has put a lot of work into the forum and its is nice to be able to say hi to people coming in and hearing about projects.
Your project sounds a very good one that I have heard of before so please do keep us updated with how it goes
Ah sorry if I came across as complaining, can be hard to convey emotion online sometimes no problems at all with having to waiting a bit before accessing, and certainly is an impressive forum design.
I just generally try to find out what I can independently before asking, know it can get tiresome for the experts on the forums when the same questions just keep popping up.
Just amusing myself reading about @Mr_Gormsby 's L200, what a brilliant build and write up, and it looks like there’s plenty more to discover in the forums. Very impressed at how the Daihatsu brand attracts more of the innovators and folks that are don’t balk at the unknown, speaks volumes for the advantages of a low-cost modular platform to work from.
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ah no sorry you didnt come across like that at all. Once I start typing sometimes I just get carried away and blurt whatever is in my head to the keyboard so you will have to get used to all my spelling mistakes haha.
Yeh Mr G’s build is unique and very awesome. I have had the privilege of being a passenger and driver yrs ago and that was before alot of the current mods were done. I also went out and watched him rip around on a motorkhana and man it went really good and so fun to watch the inside wheel lifting right up.
Welcome.
In my opinion the better way to go is the full K3-VET transplant. Despite the initial consideration of cost and difficulty of such a challenge it will be a cheaper way fo getting anywhere near 200hp. A 200hp EJ will not be the same animal as the K3, you’ll end up with an on-off switch for an engine and you’ll need to put aside $6000 after you have bought a top notch Motec (or similar) and after you have a fairly big Sprintex. For your power figures in an EJ dropping compression needs to be through careful opening of the combustion chamber and by having a bowl in the piston top and maintaining good squish around the pistion/head perimeter. Just shortening the stroke and you’ll find you have to run much more timing advance and will have to rev it harder to make power. 180hp at the front wheels has been seen from a std block and head, with the same configuration being used as a daily driver with a more conservative 150hp. Damo has gone the EJ route in his L700 and you find images buried within the Facebook. Not to doubt your skills, but Damo has fabricated manifolds that are world class, forged pistons,… and all the other good stuff. He could give an idea of what it’s cost to go high end EJ. My advice is go the 4cyl. It will be a fraction of the cost and time doing the 3cyl and it will have a useable power band and excellent torque.
Others here will know more about the AWD conversion, but suffice to say they are more part time AWD since some power goes to the rear. Have a look here at some AWD Sirion info, esp the images that show how the transfer case comes off one drive shaft. Such a job is perhaps best saved for when you have a lock up workshop.
Happy modding.
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Welcome to the forum Dave.
I own a Kuor3 with the intention of fitting a k3-vet that I imported… One day I’ll get there, securing an engine was not that simple…maybe getting one from NZ would be easier then what I went through
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Thanks folks, some great advice there. Could I ask about damo, is he on this forum? Have been searching for his name with Daihatsu but the leads I’m finding seems to more style focused modifications and I don’t think I have the right guy.
Ah the 200 isn’t a firm figure for me, depending on how the car shapes up I might settle for a lot less, haven’t ruled out the k3 if the EJ does start does start shaping up to be hopeless, but this is really just a fiddling about kind car and I’m a little sick of building four pots. The EJ appeals as it’s such an easy engine to pull out and chuck in and at its price point I can afford to have a few blocks on hand. Plus a roomy engine bay in a light chassis definately helps later down the track. I do have a few bits and pieces from other projects that might help but yer, would be very lucky to get to were I’m thinking for 6k, but it’ll be a slow incremental kind of project and I’m in no hurry 
Sorry that should have been Jono M. My mind was on two things. Damo built the manifolds for the 150-180hp EFImira. Both guys do amazing work but Damo only does really big industrial machinery for export these days and his buisness is no longer cars. Jono works on high end consumer stuff, domestic race car and international race car stuff for a local global company. Look for his pics on the livetodai facebook stuff. He’s a modest guy with amazing talent, ask well thought out questions and be satisfied with any help he gives. A lot of stuff he knows I just accept without question.
Ah thanks again, just realised there’s a Facebook group as well. After some digging can see why your recommending the k3 so strongly…
Have access to the manuals now and have realised the A3L series auto is fully hydraulic… I like a challenge but not when there’s no payoff. I could bump line pressure easily enough but controlling it is gonna be a lot of effort to end up with a small and possibly weak 3 speed.
There’s the sequential in the sirion gti, but if I’m going to the hassle of sourcing that then I’m tempted by the sequential AWD in the yrv, and if I’m going to the hassle of that then I might as well get a whole halfcut and transplant the k3vet… Wonder if it could run on a factory ecu in a l700…
Will be visiting malaysia this September so I’ll need to bring a tape measure and crawl under some YRV’s. Front end is a goer I believe, will run wider track because a mini (Gino) without flares makes me sad, so am hoping a K frame transplant (sirion=✓, YRV=?) then messing with upper mounts to bring the geometry back in will sort the front, but the rear is a mystery that I can’t seem to find manuals on. Am making the guess that the JDM AWD K3VET’s drivetrain would be similar to the AWD K3VE they exported, so am hoping there’s an English manual out there.
The Hunt for info continues!
That is a lot of work there you are looking into. With all that tinkering forget the factory ecu. Anything between a Megasquirt and basic Motec is going to pay huge dividends as far a “bang for buck” goes. The K3vet needs the right ecu to be reliable.
While I’ve not driven an awd Daihatsu I have driven the equivalent Suzukis, there is no go fast advantage to such awd. In fact we found, even for rallying, that the fwd was faster than the awd. If you want to be up and going some time in 2018 just get an NA K3VE, lighten the flywheel, give the cart 2deg neg camber, put some Konis in it, double the rear spring rate, add some race radials, an M100 GTVI gearbox (same as 3cyl version but with lower final drive), an 1.5way lsd and you’ll be at the chassis limit. Go the AWD route and I be game to bet it won’t be going even by 2020 and it will be a dog. Get it going and enjoy it. Take that advice from someone who is in way to deep with mods and whom would like to be out using it.
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yep your very right very easy to over plan and under-deliver. May I ask about the 1.5 diff? Its a consideration for me having previously encountered a 90s starlet that had all kinds of understeer and traction problems once it weight started to transfer. I’m not planning this as a rally or off-road vehicle, so if there are fwd solutions for the make I’d probably rather avoid the weight and power losses of AWD.
Are there compatible LSDs in the parts bin that slot in or are you running a quaife or the like? My reading so far is turning up open diffs on everything up to the gtvi or lsd conversion kits which look interesting but do raise a whole new set of questions for me.
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I have a few of said gearboxes but have not done as I suggested with the 1.5way (my e sereis box I use has a factory lsd so I’ve not been pressured to use the stronger boxes we are talking about). Some time ago I did some research into whether a Starlet TRD lsd will fit, I may get around to it (I pulled a box apart last year and have it sitting in a cupboard at work. I just need to mesasure the diff and compate to the trd drawings - alas I have to many other projects). There may be a Quaife style around and if you search the writing of 601to602 as he spoke somewhere about a mechanical lsd delivered from factory and he’s the guru of Yahoo Japan auctions.
That Starlet you spoke of, had much been done with the suspension? Some here will think I am a parrot with the following comment, but, fwd need really stiff fairly short travel rear ends and on cornering limits should be lifting a rear wheel to get max traction to the front.
No worries, my preference will be parts bin solutions for this one. Its a bit like a dog box over a factory auto sequential. Definately does the job but also starts getting very serious compared to a parts bin special.
Got a handy lead on the jbdet engines and their four speed sequentials, hadn’t been taking them seriously due to the number of requests in England on replacing with the k3ve, but digging deeper in Japan they prefer going the other way. Sourcing a full jcdet is a bit much, but in addition to the stroked jc’s I’m finding traces of a full suite of DRS factory team upgrades from the x4 storia’s.
Will mean giving up on 200hp, plus being at a disadvantage in almost every race category I can think of in WA should I get a sudden rush of blood to the head, but weight savings and the availabilty of after market options in Japan certainly holds appeal for a Streeter. Have bookmarked and will be begging some friends in Japan to keep their eyes open for Copen and Move tuning catalogues.
The acquaintance with a starlet was back in my teens I’m afraid, and I didn’t really know what to look for. Back then it was crazy sik powerful and lighting tyres in third. In hindsight I’m guessing an agressive boost curve meeting up with probably at best some lowered springs leading to the inside front lifting and spinning. After it understeered off into a tree we all took the easy out and went RWD, which is where I’ve been one way or another almost exclusively since.
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