Forum:
I have just bought a 1992 Daihatsu Mira with a blown motor. I am in Thailand where the locals prefer not to rebuild motors as they find them undependable after. I suspect its simply due to bad workmanship although I am not sure.
In any case, I am considering putting a second hand motor from Japan in it. The current motor was carburated but I will go for an EFI replacement motor. A turbo motor sounds like fun too and is hardly any more expensive but I worry about Turbos. I know that some Turbo cars are worth nothing because the Turbos "can" be so problematic, difficult and expensive to fix. Is that the case with these old 3 cylinder Daihatsus? Are the known to develop a lot of problems and be less dependable than a non-Turbo 3 cylinder EFI?
I also worry about how the last owner drove the snot out of this little Turbo. The motor will have a one month guarantee but I'd of course have to pay for the installation all over again if it actually had a major problem. Any tips and advice would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Update:
I went to another motor shop today and they had some better/newer options than the previous one. They have newer 16V DOHC engines that the previous shop didn't offer. After doing a bit more homework, it sounds like the EF-DET is the motor of choice. They also have what I think would be the JB-DET which is the 4cylinder 660cc which apparently has basically the same power but at slightly lower rpm 47kW/110Nm.
They also have the newer 3cylinder 660cc (16V?) DOHC without turbo. Not sure what the specs are on this one or the engine code though.
So I am still wondering about dependability. I would enjoy the turbo but I am just wondering if I will regret it later?
I also read about a couple 1L motors like the EJ-VE 3cylinder DOHC 12V EFI, no turbo which apparently puts out 47kW/94Nm which is just a bit less torque than the first ones mentioned, but it has no Turbo so may be more dependable?
Lastly, I have read that the CB70 is the strongest 3 cylinder Daihatsu out there, 1000cc, DOHC 12V, Turbo producing 77kW/130Nm. I have no idea if this would be an easy install into my old L70 Mira though? Anybody have any idea if the motor mounts etc are the same? If it fits easily, that would be awesome!
Any tips, suggestions, feedback would be much appreciated as we would like to buy an engine soon to get this rolling. Thanks again!
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