Just thought I would pop up one of my recent vehicles, It is a fairly rare car in the grand scheme of things in the united kingdom. This particular car is a GXi trimmed manual Daihatsu Applause. As far as I can find out, this car is the last Gxi in service on U.k roads and possibly one of 9 road going examples left on these shores at present!
The car was offered on another forum that I am a member of for FREE as it had fairly severe head gasket failure. Not one person seemed to want to save the old thing due to it's problems, so, on a whim I agreed to collect the car so that I could repair and put in to daily use!
I borrowed an A-frame from a friend and set off from Stockton-on-tees in the north to somewhere south near Cambridgeshire (I think, or East Anglia, can't remember) a total distance of above 150 miles each way!
Upon arrival, this is what I was presented with ...
Didn't look anywhere near as bad I was expecting it to be. Especially as it was free!
After a bit of a chat and a coffee (it was totally freezing outside) we hooked up the A-frame and I set off with the car!
Got some really funny looks as it was going dark by the time I got half way home with it and not daring to go over 50mph the going was slow indeed!
After I got the car back over here things kind of went south for a while financially for me. Because of this it sat in a yard (outdoor storage) from November until the beginning of February when I was finally in a position to start work with the car!
I finally sourced a head gasket locally for the massive sum of £29 (we have a trade account with ecp) and set to work stripping the engine. The only information I could find on this engine (Daihatsu's own HDE 1.6) was the torque and bolt tightening sequence ... very handy, especially as it doesn't use stretch bolts for the cylinder head because I can't buy them anyway haha!
With the cylinder head removed, this thing that was posing as a head gasket had to be scraped out of place ...
That was most definitely of no use as a head gasket anymore!
After it was all assembled, to my surprise, it ran perfectly
Insurance was secured at a massive sum of £138 for the year with an agreed value of £1500 ... happy days!
I haven't really got enough time to add more photo's at present and since using it I have managed around 180 miles without so much as a hint of anything mechanical being a problem.
Parts are very hard to come by for it and body panels might as well be made from poor quality wobbly children's play pony pooh! Plans are to leave it completely standard as I like it just the way it is. Give it a good clean up, repair the water ingress into the boot area, repair the rust on the rear arches and front wings and just enjoy it as it was meant to be used!
If I lowered it the ride would be ruined and the super light controls of the car spoiled. Likewise if I put a stupid exhaust on it, the noise would be too intrusive!
I'm guessing that there are very few, if any other Applause listed on Retro Rides, This one is still very much alive!
The car was offered on another forum that I am a member of for FREE as it had fairly severe head gasket failure. Not one person seemed to want to save the old thing due to it's problems, so, on a whim I agreed to collect the car so that I could repair and put in to daily use!
I borrowed an A-frame from a friend and set off from Stockton-on-tees in the north to somewhere south near Cambridgeshire (I think, or East Anglia, can't remember) a total distance of above 150 miles each way!
Upon arrival, this is what I was presented with ...
Didn't look anywhere near as bad I was expecting it to be. Especially as it was free!
After a bit of a chat and a coffee (it was totally freezing outside) we hooked up the A-frame and I set off with the car!
Got some really funny looks as it was going dark by the time I got half way home with it and not daring to go over 50mph the going was slow indeed!
After I got the car back over here things kind of went south for a while financially for me. Because of this it sat in a yard (outdoor storage) from November until the beginning of February when I was finally in a position to start work with the car!
I finally sourced a head gasket locally for the massive sum of £29 (we have a trade account with ecp) and set to work stripping the engine. The only information I could find on this engine (Daihatsu's own HDE 1.6) was the torque and bolt tightening sequence ... very handy, especially as it doesn't use stretch bolts for the cylinder head because I can't buy them anyway haha!
With the cylinder head removed, this thing that was posing as a head gasket had to be scraped out of place ...
That was most definitely of no use as a head gasket anymore!
After it was all assembled, to my surprise, it ran perfectly
Insurance was secured at a massive sum of £138 for the year with an agreed value of £1500 ... happy days!I haven't really got enough time to add more photo's at present and since using it I have managed around 180 miles without so much as a hint of anything mechanical being a problem.
Parts are very hard to come by for it and body panels might as well be made from poor quality wobbly children's play pony pooh! Plans are to leave it completely standard as I like it just the way it is. Give it a good clean up, repair the water ingress into the boot area, repair the rust on the rear arches and front wings and just enjoy it as it was meant to be used!
If I lowered it the ride would be ruined and the super light controls of the car spoiled. Likewise if I put a stupid exhaust on it, the noise would be too intrusive!
I'm guessing that there are very few, if any other Applause listed on Retro Rides, This one is still very much alive!
Can't say I've noticed them around here, but then I don't have any particular interest in these.
