Hello again from New Zealand. My 659 cc turbo stock 4 cylinder engine for my twelve year old L880K has been brilliant. However, it now has 165,000 kms on it and I know it is just a matter of time before the engine needs a rebuild or replacement, so it is time to plan ahead. I was intrigued by the guy from Perth who put a k3-ve2 105hp 4 cylinder Sirion gtvi engine in his Copen. However I am not sure I want to lose my Kei car legacy. Is it possible to use a second generation Copen KF I3 turbo engine in a L800K? Would there be any advantage in doing so? I can see a potential disadvantage as no mechanic in NZ has ever seen a KF I3.
How can you tell the engine needs a rebuild? If it still runs great I would suspect it will still run great in the future, given that you service it correctly. The new Copen engine does not have more power and it would be quite hard to source parts for it, so it might not be a good idea
I don't see any advantage unless it's easy to get parts from Japan in New Zealand. If you want to stick with Kei, how about the Suzuki K6A? It's 658cc, was used in the 2nd generation Cappucino so has good Kei car cred, and best of all it's still in production and being used for the current Caterham 7 160, Suzuki Alto and Jimny so parts should be reasonably easy to come by, as should the actual engine.
@Salieri, Actually, I have no idea how much life my engine has left in it. I have serviced it regularly and it is running sweetly now. But thinking in USA terms, the engine has over 100,000 miles on it, which used to be considered a good lifetime for an engine. Any idea how long the engine could go?
@Vin Petrol, Toyota NZ will (reluctantly) order Daihatsu parts for me, they come eventually. Also there are a few original Copen 659 cc engines in wrecking yards here. So if the new 3 cylinder Copen engine isn't improved from the 4 cylinder version, I guess there is no point in switching motors. As for the Suzuki kei car engine, I am not familiar with it, but I am thinking if the power and torque are about the same, probably not worth the extra trouble to have one mounted.
I'd expect most modern motors to run well past 160k, I'd be thinking 300k should be closer to the mark. Rings, bearings, oil, filters and the blocks have all improved vastly since the 70-80s when rebuilds where expected more often. The only thing really going against the copen is the higher revs than your average car and being a city car more start stops could reduce life somewhat. A simple compression test should be the best place to start if your worried.
I used to live in NZ , still miss the jet boating on the rivers I would love to put a k3 vet engine in my car , so in your hunt for an engine let me know if you find one of those . take care lex
Daihatsu engines are usually quite durable. There is one Copen for sale in Germany with 256k on the clock (~160k miles) and its still going strong. However, its got the 1.3l K3-VE engine. The 0.66l JB-DET engine needs more TLC, especially when it comes to oil changes (every 7500km, use synthetic oil like 5w40), otherwise the turbocharger might go. But I really do not see why you should invest into the engine when its still good
I'd echo what most have said here in that you've still probably got plenty of life left in the engine. Although, if I was deciding what to replace it with, 100% be going for the GTVi (K3-VE) motor.
How about this? I'm not sure how they manage reverse gear. The 1199cc bike engine puts out 178 bhp, restricted electronically.
That guy ended up selling his Copen. He had to go to a LOT of effort to add in reverse gear functionality. I think it ended up going for something like $18k?
Reverse Box - Elite Racing Transmissions Seems the problem has been solved, plus I found a few threads with tons of different ways to get reverse - apparently one guy used an electric drill motor, I suppose you don't need to go very fast as long as it does go backwards for the test. Hard to find the legislation but apparently you require reverse legally if your vehicle is over 400 or 410kg.
old thread I know but...regularly serviced that engine will last for many more Kms. The turbo is the weak spot on these cars not the engine. It can handle very high revs no problem. HKS used to make a kit with manifold and all which increase hp to over 100. Expensive though. A guy in Holland I think it was put a Storia motor in. That is another engine the same as the copen but with a longer stroke. It was 713cc I think and that went really well. Much easier to fit. It was called a JC-det engine where as the Copen is a JB-det engine. Fits straight in. Of course its not that straight forward as you need the ECU & boost controllers etc. Mine is pretty much as quick as I can get it now after a lot of mods. Mostly simple ones but it pulls really well.
