Silver Copen (better name coming)

[Aaron]

Last week i realized how hard certain parts for the EF-VE are getting. So i decided i want to engine swap my green Gino after all. So i started looking for possible swaps. Then @marc0tjevp found a copen that could be perfect to use for the engine swap.
I started talking to the seller. But quite quickly i just couldn’t bare see it get scrapped. Despite it being quite rusty (mainly the sills) i just wanted to fix it up and make it my daily/project car. After a bit of talking she showed interest in the Cuore Classic.
So we arranged to meet yesterday (Friday) at 9pm at her unit.

@marc0tjevp and i drove a couple of hours across the country to go see it.

And there she stood…

After a bit of talking the deal was made.
I was so excited that i wanted to take it home right away. Which was a pretty big surprise to her, so much so that it took a few minutes for her to process it.
Shortly after i registered the Copen to my name and the Cuore Classic to her name Marco and i drove all the way back in the Copen.

Immediately after leaving we found out the windshield was very greasy and dirty and the wipers only made it worse.
So we made a quick pitstop to fuel up and clean the windshield and wipers. It got a little better but still not great. Luckily it stopped raining before halfway.

We made it home safely. Marco around 2am and i around 3am.

A couple of known issues are;

• The shifter bushings and such
• The wiper blades
• The very rusty sills

I still have to take a good look all over, but that’s a nice job for next week.
Tomorrow i’ll be giving her a good wash.

My plans (apart from the known issues);

• Restoring the paint or a different color (at some point)
• Different wheels (don’t know which yet)
• Putting new badges on her (after paint)
• Taking off the bumper protectors

I believe that’s it for now. But i’m confident my plans will change a bit along the way. But we’ll see how that goes.

Here are some more pics of the Copen and the rust.

Hopefully more updates soon.

[marc0tjevp]

Welcome to the Copen Club

[Aaron]

A little progress, and a big setback

I was planning to take the Copen to the nurburgring at the end of the month. Unfortunately that’s not going to happen. Cause i won’t get her done in time for inspection. And without it she’s not allowed on the road .

Yesterday i thought i made a lot of progress because i finished the drivers side sill and footwell.

Instead of fixing the rust properly one of the previous owners or their shitty mechanic decided to literally use ducttape, caulk, expanding foam and bog to fill the holes. Barely anything was welded. But this side is now “properly” fixed (on this side at least).

Today i was planning on fixing the other side. But then i noticed a little hole in the rear inner arch. So i started looking all over the rear inner arch and immediately lost all motivation to do the passenger side. I knew the sill was bad just like the drivers side.

But as mentioned i noticed a little hole.

And another small hole

And then a bigger hole

And then this

Then i looked on the drivers side…

So began the painful task of removing the rear bumper and taillights.
And oh dear…

And inside the trunk.

So all motivation lost i decided to drive her outside and park her.
This is too much work to get her back on the road in less then 2 weeks. This is going to take a lot of time and patience to get fixed.

As for the shifter… it’s a miracle I’m even able to shift.

The upgraded parts for the shifter will have to wait .

The bright side

Luckily i should be able to fix the rust without breaking the bank.
And because the Copen won’t ever be the same ever again I’m thinking of modifying it quite a bit.
So suggestions are always welcome. No expensive bodykits though.

Hopefully another update next week.

[Aaron]

1 step forward, 5 steps back
Made some progress by blasting the rear of the Copen. It’s not perfect, but it’s good enough for now.

The little rust bubble on the arch kept bothering me. So stupid me decided to wire wheel it away. That was a absolute nightmare of a decision. What did i get myself into.

It’s that I’ve got too much invested into it otherwise it would’ve been crushed most likely. Maybe I’m crazy for even attempting to save rusty money pit,
Let’s see what i can make of it.

After all this messy work it was time to push her inside (cause stupid me disconnected the roof ecu’s and closed the boot and without those apparently the boot won’t open and she won’t run).
From a distance with the zinc paint on she doesn’t look all that bad.

stirring the soup
When i bought her she was so sloppy i had to remove the trim to get her in gear.
But no more! Now she’s is so tight that at first i thought i could only shift into third and fourth gear. But because of the precision bushings I made there’s just so litte movent that the gears are insanely close together now.
I’m curious what the person was thinking who “tried” to fix the shifter before me.

New cup, grommet and bushings. And plenty of new grease.

This is not the way to “fix” it!

Sorry! I forgot to take photos and a video of the “new” and improved shifter.

Tomorrow more grinding and welding. I’m going to do my best to get her inspected before next Friday. But I’m doubtful.

[Aaron]

Ugly Betty

Been a busy day of grinding and welding again. Not all rust is gone yet, but everything that would fail the inspection should be fine now.
To fix the outer wheel arch i used a piece of the left front fender from my old Move. The radius is pretty much perfect. But the overall shape definitely isn’t.
I didn’t bother doing it nicely as the whole quarter panel needs replacing.
With all the temporary repairs she’s pretty ugly now unfortunately.

Light at the end of the tunnel?

Tomorrow I’ll build her back up so i can bring her away for inspection.
While building her back up i hope we won’t find anything that would fail the inspection. Especially major issues. Some small issues are no problem as i probably can easily fix them

Let’s hope I’ll get her done before Friday. Cause friday I’m going to the nurburgring with @marc0tjevp and someone else.

[Aaron]

inspection time

With a bit of help from @marc0tjevp the Copen is back together even though he kept playing with my shifter half the time.
I think i did a good job on those bushings.
After putting her back together we took her for a quick little drive and dropped her off at the garage so they can hopefully give her a clean bill of health.

[b_hoves]

Awesome work! Big project to save it. But, you’ve done really well.

[Aaron]

Thanks!
But the work is far from done.

[Aaron]

Unfourtunately she didn’t pass.
A few dust boots from the ball joints and outer tie rods are damaged and broken.
One of the brake lines apparently is almost rotten through.
And one of the rust holes i’ve left that should pass is apparently questionable according to them.
And the seamsealer i’ve spread out all over the left sill was too thick so they ''weren’t able to inspect it properly and is therefor a fail.

I’m going to try to get a day off to fix all this, but i’m pretty sure she’s not making it to the ring for quiet a while.

[Aaron]

And she’s back inside. This time in our storage facility. Cause i (hopefully) found a decent donor. Tomorrow i’ll be going to pick it up literally on the other side of the country.
I’m going to try to fix and swap everything over in a week as i’m free from work next week and because i want to drive it ASAP. Cause even though i only drove it a couple hundred km’s in total i’m already hooked. And the noises it makes…

I’ve seen a lot of things as a (former) mechanic. But i’ve never seen a airfilter rust before.

I hope to start work on the Copen this Sunday.
I’ll let you guys know how it goes tomorrow with the ‘‘new’’ shell.

[Aaron]

foreign land
As mentioned before… I went to look at a donor body today. I drove to the other side of the country. But it felt like a totally different country. Cause the city names were so weird and didn’t make any sense.
There are a few minor rust spots, but nothing that’s not a easy fix.
Overall i’m very happy with it. Unfortunately it’s filled with wolf spiders. Even though i’m not a aussie it still doesn’t bother me.
Mechanically there isn’t much left, but that’s not why i bought it.

I had to take off the X brace to get it on the trailer.
Getting it off the trailer was a bit of a challange by myself. The sills kept hanging up on the edge of the trailer while unloading.
But the fun can begin. I’ll probably start disassembly tomorrow.

[Aaron]

first things first

So i decided to take apart the donor first to see the exact state of it. Of course there were a few visible little rust holes and some surface rust, but i found nothing else other than minor surface rust which was quite the pleasant surprise.
Of course i started attacking the surface rust first (the holes will come later as they’re very small).

Despite it being one of the “complexer” Daihatsu’s it comes apart very quickly and easily. Before i knew the original Copen started looking very naked and parts scattered everywhere. So out came the boxes to put the stuff in I’m not going to use.

for F sake Daihatsu
While taking the roof off of the original Copen i was faced with the challenge to get 8 bolts out that looked like this. Either Daihatsu was afraid of the roof flying off or someone in the factory was having a bad day.

In Rust We Trust

I found a treasure in the original Copen from it’s life in the UK. Apparently not only their cars rust to hell.

the right way and my way

It might sound weird, but to get the interior finished the engine needed to go back in.
So more time spend getting rid of surface rust and treating it.
And of course a nice time to service the engine. (Side note! This is technically not the right filter, i had a few for my Gino laying around and it fits so why not).
Lots of new bolts, copper grease and paint later everything is coming together nicely.

Then finished the interior.

time to stop?

A while ago i bought loads of new genuine parts for the Gino. Cause it’s often cheaper than aftermarket and definitely much higher quality. Some of those parts were brake hoses and clips. They fit perfectlyon the open. However… as it turns out i accidentally ordered the rear hoses for a 4WD. These are slightly longer but still fit. I will order the right ones soon though.
The correct part number for the rear hoses ends with a 5 instead of a 3.
I will also have to get new drums and shoes as some moron decided to grind on the surface the shoes ride on.
Luckily i managed to bleed to brakes on my own.

While i was underneath i mounted my brand new D-sport antirollbar as well. The brackets aren’t new. They’re just sandblasted and painted.

Also fitted new genuine dust boots cause they’re cheap and last must longer than aftermarket junk (in my experience at least).

One the rear lights wax connected with horribly crimped blue and red amp connectors. And these lambda connectors were the only ones with a close enough pin count that were sealed that i have.

Also made a new exhaust gasket because i didn’t feel like trying to find one that fits. It looks bad but all i care about is that is leak free for the inspection.

There’s a lot I’ve skipped over and that needs doing.

Hopefully she’ll pass inspection before the end of the month.