hi all,

like the other guy ill-minded, i too am building a handivan. why? 2 reasons, for sh*ts and giggles; and because i can.
i bought it off a local sydney guy from ebay for 300 bucks with 6 months rego. i picked it up on june 30th last yr. i remember this date because it was my last day at my previous employer; out whole team got made redunant due to GFC. i've been tinkering with it from july through to the start of this yr.
its been sitting in my garage doing nothing since because i found a new job, have family committments, and because daylight savings ended and it was getting too cold to work on the car.
now that daylight savings is coming back and a google search found ill-mindeds handivan, i think i should get out in the garage and do something.

anyway, this is a fun car to drive being so small but it is pretty embarassing when you get weird looks.

this is what it looked like when i bought it




if you look closely my car has a sunroof (which isnt standard); i plan on removing it.
it was lowered (springs cut) by the previous owner (p plater kid who used it as his daily driver to and from work).

the plan at the time was to fix it up so it was more driveable and just have fun with it. as we all know, that goes out the window when you start searching on the net for parts.

i started tearing the car apart to reduce the weight as much as possible and i ended up removing the aircon assembly and all sound deadening material from the interior



i thought it would be a funny/stupid idea to buy a ramtube/trumpet from ebay and replace the carburettors airbox like this





heres a video of what it sounds like


some various pics of the car throughout various stages (in no order)

things i plan to do

660cc pistons into the 850cc block


replace rear windows with sheet metal. this guy (random who once in a while parks in my street) did it to his car and its got rego, so it'll pass for me too?


upgrade the crap 210mm solid brakes to daihatsu applause 234mm vented brakes. this is a straight swap, no mod required.
i also picked up sirion rear drums to keep the stud pattern the same as the front so when i find rims.

while unemployed i had the luxury of spending 8 hour days (no joke) at a wrecking yard where we can pull off car parts ourselves. there was a handivan in the yard i used as a test mule for interchanging parts from all of the daihatsu line up.


threw out the old handivan seats for applause seats. seat rail swap required.


cut the bumper to widen the hole. just felt like doing it


rolled the guards with a bamboo pole (insert jackie chan saying 'chinese bamboo vely strong' joke here hahaha). i'll have to do this properly later on

bah, pics of before the rego ran out and i stripped the car back again





at the moment it has a thick coat of dust on it; its on jackstands with the wiring removed, engine ready to be pulled out and half of the brake swap completed. its been like that for 4+ months

ahhh nice. someone else with a handivan

your's looks to have a a better shell than mine (few minor fender benders on the drivers front and rear corners). handy knowing that applause seats will fit. mine are looking a bit ragged looking. i have to say though, it's great working on one of these given how simple they are and how little there is in them haha.

regarding the engine, do you intend to use the EF head off the L200/L500 mira as well as the pistons, or just the pistons by themselves?

also, what's still left on the handivan in the wrecker? i'm still chasing a few small parts for mine which i may look into if i can't find one locally. parts i can think of off the top of my head: steering column surround, radiator, dizzy.

anyway, if you've got any questions, gimme a buzz. i'll do likewise if i run into anything good to have someone to refer to, as i've found that there isn't really a lot of interest/support for these.

cheers

I actually think your shell looks better than mine. There dings, dents and cracked paint in lots of areas. I found rust on the bottom of the windscreen when i pulled out the dashboard so i'd have to fix it.

The applause seats are so much mokre comfy than the handivan seats. I remembered that with the rail swap, it was more than i could do myself so i took it to an upholsterer to do the work and retain the fabric (if i did it meyself i would have torn it). For a small fee they did a great job.

That white handivan at the wreckers is long gone, but i'll be on the lookout for any spares you need. A charade radiator fits into the handivan, some guy in jamaica on another forum did it.

As for the engine, like you i plan on keeping it carburetted. I was thinking of using the 660cc head but then you'd have to use the efi intake manifold.
I'll use the 660cc pistons but i know i need to shave the top of it off otherwise the valves would hit it.
All of my research was done about a year ago and scribbled on pages cause my memory isnt the best!

I pulled the carb off my engine and the manifold ould use alot of port and polish work done to it, but youre going to use motorbike carbs? That would be pretty cool.

It looks like we're the only two handivan owners in australia that are keeping the engine carb'ed, good luck!

haha, i had rust in the top around the windscreen, and rust along the channels in the roof. roof has dents, drivers door was sagging (fixed that though) and has dents, both rear corners have dents, hatch is pretty bent. front right drivers seat mount has been torn out previously and fixed. previous accident damage on the front and rear drivers quarters, cracked windscreen, both window winders/regulators borked, engine not running, gearbox leaking oil... the list goes on at least you've driven yours haha.

no problems bout that handivan at the wreckers. i'll make do with what i can with the two L200s at the local wrecker and swap and change parts out of other daihatsus. i'll probably grab a radiator from an L200 and zip tie it in since the top mounts are different.

i had plans to use the EF 12 valve head, cut out a steel flange and weld some pipe to it and attach some snow-mobile/ski-doo carbs (similar to this) and attach them with silicon joiners. i have a mate who can tune and modify carbs, so that's not too much of an issue. for the time being though, the standard motor with a fresh rebuild is all. modifying comes later when i have the money to justify it haha.

Haha you win. The car is definitely fun to drive no doubt.
You're lucky to have a mate that can help; i have mechanic/sparkie friends but they have their own business to run and they live too far away now (i moved away from my home town).
I need to learn how to weld, it'd definitely help me with experimenting with some under body braces and DIY exhaust.

I think my future plans for the car is to build it for circuit use. It wont break records but it would be good to improve driving skill. I just hope it doesnt limit driver skill. Later on i'll register it for the road or probably sell it.
Do you have a budget for the car? I initially gave myself $2000, so far i'm at $1700... Buying unnecessary junk always gets the better of me.

welding is a great skill. i'm far from good at it, but i can do it well enough to be reliable. though, that's what a large part of this car is for. it gives me something to practice skills on before i go and attempt anything on my celica, so i don't muff it up

current budget is as cheap as i can go. i think current expenditure is around about $200-250 including the price of the car itself, so with any luck, i can have it running for under $1k, then rego and drive it daily

I really wish we got cool kei cars here in america.. so lame that we didnt..

I want an awd turbocharged tiny monster in my garage..

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In Indonesia this kind is called Daihatsu Ceria KL. and appear in 1999.

I never heard of that upgrade. Could you be more specific if that really fits ?
Upgrading to a 4x100 PCD would be a great improve for everyone with a L70/L80 or L201/L501 Mira/Cuore.

Cheers,

Daniel

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Current cars:
Daihatsu Hijet S85
Daihatsu Charade G11 + G102
Daihatsu Cuore/Mira L201 + L501 + L701

http://www.Hijet.de/

im also intrested to what fits? 4x100 would make life alot easyier

Sorry guys i forgot to reply a while ago. I've only just started working on the car again recently after putting it off for a year due to family committments.

Well the front brakes never did go on my handivan cause it never fit. I domt know how/why they fit on another handivan but not mine. Apparently the inner cv joint from the applause and mira fits but i havent tested this out. Anyway if i want them to fit i think i need to modify the spline and applause hub.
If i dont go that route i've located vented front brakes from the L200s mira but then stud pattern will remain 4x110... Which i also dont want. I'll keep you all posted with progress...
I'm going to fit the rear sirion brakes on the car and it should fit. again i'll keep you posted.

I've managed to source an L200S mira head and looking for some other bits and piece to put it together.
What i'm not sure is if i use the L200 or L80 cam gear sprocket????
I know i use the L80 timing belt and EF-CL head gasket. I've got the EF pistons and brand new piston rings.
I'm going to pull the ED engine out this week and take the parts to a shop to hone the block and fit the pistons soon. I have a shop in mind that can do it but i havent confirmed the price yet.

Other things i need to do is fabricate an exhaust manifold and look for the IM and carb from the EF-HL 12v sohc carb engine... Looking through the asian websites for this.

Check your head for cracks between the exhaust valve seats and the spark plug hole.

Also, I'd say the EF head cam gear would be more appropriate. The timing marks should be the same between the two though. I can't see why they'd change it.

Keep a look out on ebay for early Mazda or Corolla wheels if you can't find any 4x100 hubs to use.

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The kei
The Celica

I have a 12V EF-JL and serveral ED heads at my garage. You can not use the ED cam gear sprocket on the EF head. They have different ETs.

I would suggest to use the original sprocket ( cam pulley ) of the EF or use a sliding pully to make final alignments to your modified engine.

I bought sliding cam pullyes from following guy: http://openuser.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/user/masa_917jp ( At the moment there are no offers, but they are added regulary ). The cam pulleys are in a very good quality.

Cheers,

Daniel

_________________
Current cars:
Daihatsu Hijet S85
Daihatsu Charade G11 + G102
Daihatsu Cuore/Mira L201 + L501 + L701

http://www.Hijet.de/

Oh I forgot.
There is an auction for a SOHC 12V exhaust manifold (EF-JL) on Yahoo at the moment:
http://page9.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/k16299660

The fit perfectly ( even the ED catalytic system can be used on them).

Daniel

_________________
Current cars:
Daihatsu Hijet S85
Daihatsu Charade G11 + G102
Daihatsu Cuore/Mira L201 + L501 + L701

http://www.Hijet.de/

Ill-minded: thanks for the tip, i looked at the head thoroughly after i cleaned it and theres no cracks or scars. The engine i pulled the head from tore a hole theough the block and the conrod was sticking out! The valves appear to be fine too. If theyre bent i can get another head. how are you going with the carburettor route? I cant find anything suitable apart from the EF-HL.... The malaysian guys mention the weber dncf40 carb a few times but they all seem to stick to turbo efi.

Hi-jet: thanks, i need to grab the camgear sprocket for the EF, i left it behind at the wreckers
I didnt grab the EF exhaust manifold because it has a cat converter hanging off it and my handivan doesnt have one standard, so i didnt want it.

Too bad! Grab the exhaust manifold as you can exchange the cat with the standard muffler they are interchangable. Hopefully you still can grab the pulley and the manifold at the wrecker.

Cheers,

Daniel

_________________
Current cars:
Daihatsu Hijet S85
Daihatsu Charade G11 + G102
Daihatsu Cuore/Mira L201 + L501 + L701

http://www.Hijet.de/

thanks daniel. i can still grab the rest of the parts