Well its a bit embarrassing to call something like this a build or a ride, but its definitely a project.
Thought I’d put in a little bit about the car so the background is there if I’m asking future questions.
It’s a L700 Cuore with the auto 3 speed. Picked it up at the salvage auctions for a measly $250 which I was pretty pleased with, and its goal in life is to give me something to tinker with to keep me away from the other cars that we need to start in the morning.
Anyways, the car itself was in great condition, but have received a hit to the passenger rear wheel which bent the axle, and dented in the panels, plus a secondary hit to the front that had messed up the bonnet latch
The Car
The Damage (I’ve already been working on it a little.)
The Damage Side on
Was pleasantly surprised at the K’s on this thing! Under 100!
And what whaaaat! Yeah full service history on a $250 car!
So what’s happened so far, well its sat around a lot to be honest. Have had a go at the panels, front is now latching securely but I need to work on panel gaps, its on hold a bit though as a Gino conversion is in the works. The side is really teaching me a lot about how I’m not a panel beater. Welding the rear bumper hangers back on has gone well, but the metal has stretched and creased which makes it an annoying job to do without a full respray. I’m thinking flares will be required down the track though so that’s also impacting the amount of effort I’m putting in lol. The rear axle has been swapped out and the car now runs straight and true, with just an unidentified clunking coming from the passenger rear that needs diagnosing. Picked up some parts during a jaunt to Japan, so that’s where the dash, steering wheel and rear lights came from.
Future? Well I’m still right at the beginning of the learning curve for the marquee. At first I was having visions of a lightweight hatch with a highly strung triple (I’ve a triumph speed triple with a similarly addictive exhaust note), but my investigations are not going well as far as the transmission goes. I currently drive a manual in traffic for a 45 min inner city commute each day, and the older I get the more it shits me, so an auto or sequential is on my radar. Also am aware of the number of AWD offshoots in the Daihatsu family tree, and the idea of a warm hatch with four paw catches my interest too… but mechanical losses and the cost of bringing in all of that drivetrain are making the 3 pot shakier and shakier…
Right now I’m trying to learn what I can about the car and the Daihatsu parts bin. If the EJ really shape up as a dead end I’ll probably start looking to the K3VET, and if I’m going there, then will be looking into an AWD conversion. The next trip in sept will involve a stopover in Malaysia, and 80kg of luggage allowance, so I’ve already asked a few of the wife’s friends to try and help me out with the wreckers there. Hopefully can get the parts for a gino conversion (will have to cut the bumpers to get them into my baggage allowance but the bonnet and guards should squeak through) and will also be trying to crawl around under some AWD YRV’s to take some photos and measurements.
There’s no urgency at all with this build, I have a few others occurring alongside and tend to switch between when one is particularly pissing me off or is delayed by parts and the like. I tend to build slowly and cheaply, waiting for the right parts to arrive rather than “overnighting from japan”. As for final goal I’m really not sure atm… keep going back and forth between it ending up a hysterical highly strung track car (supercharged EJ with a manual) or a warm streeter that may become my commuter (warmed up k3 with auto)… see where the researching takes me.