Fanny's Rusty-Charmer

Fanny is a good friend of mine and fellow Charmant enthusiasts that i met while i work in Lampung. He emailed me early 2012 asking about Charmants after he saw my blog and was interested in getting one. Apparently it was my busy moment and i replied his email a bit later. It seems that he already got his mind set on getting one as he already got his Charmant when i finally replied. I wish more people are as easily convinced on Charmant as Fanny.

Anyway, as i mentioned, we become good friends and he decided to join Daihatsu Charmant Community as well. As time goes, it was obvious that he has very different preference from me in building cars as you can see in just a bit.

Fanny is less on performance and all about styling. He got his ride for a bit more cash than you would pay the average Charmant but then his car isn't really what you'd call average condition as well. I'd say he got what he paid for. The interiors are like new, all the emblems are there, the lamps are original parts and the engine purred like a kitten. Perhaps if i got The Dog with the same condition, i wouldn't even think of thrashing it and throwing away stuff from the interior just to make it lighter. It's just too good to be ruined.

I am not really familiar with this Hella-rusty thingy styling that he's got going so perhaps it's better that i just write the details i know so that you'd cringe less at my explanation of his car.

The wheels were just like my first ones, a set of Work Equip 03 replicas called Axis OG 15x8. He had them painted red and fit 185/55 for that mandatory stretch.

The stock side mirrors were kept safe in his closet while a pair of fender mounted ones take on the vacant position.

Knowing the history on how he got most of the stuff he put on the roof rack, i'd say Fanny is very dedicated in getting his style correct. Some of the stuff you can find there are traffic cone, old suitcase, spare tire, fishing rod and a gallon of drinking water.. A fishing rod?! Really? Man, i seriously really don't understand you Rusty/Rat guys LOL..

Interior-wise, it's near mint with the exception of some sticker-bombing on the dash panels and Nardi replica steering wheel.

A pair of Recaro "fish-nets" add to the comfort of the cabin.

Inside the trunk, you can see the nicely made shelves for wrenches and to hide that ugly spare tire well and jack. That is where he also keep his 10 inch sub and power amps.

His engine bay looks mostly stock with the exception of some custom strut brace and painted valve cover. Fanny isn't too mechanically inclined on engines but he's learning. He still sometimes contact me to ask about some problems on his car as i'm no longer working in the same town as Fanny. I guess the pic below just shows himself admiring the engine without really having any plans for it.

Here's Fanny!

More from T&T

Just got these pics in my inbox. They're from Rishi from Trinidad and Tobago, just like my friend Dereck. The gold one below still has its original paint. I can tell that it's in a very clean state judging from the interior shot. That steering wheel is not something i see often in Charmants as well. Perhaps because it's the 4K engine version? Rishi's plan is to get rid of the 1300cc OHV and replace it with an SR20DET. Brakes are planned to come from a EVO1 Mitsu while the rear LSD axle will be from a Nissan E24.

The red one is of Rishi's cousin Vedesh. He'll be taking a slightly different approach by going for 3S-GTE with Skyline suspension and diff. Love that white lettering tyres!

Both Charmants above look mint, that's for sure! Do us a favor, will you Rishi and Vedesh? Keep the altering to a minimum, at least exterior wise. You don't often see Charmants looking as good as yours nowadays.

Tito's 4A-ZC Charmant

Having your own workshop sure comes with many benefits. One of them is that you can do whatever you want to your car without worrying about mechanic labor costs. Tito, the owner of Monster Auto Garage, knows this well and took advantage of it to the fullest for his Charmant. He got this white Charmant sometime earlier around May this year and has since then been slowly building it. This is what it looks like on June '12.

Since then, he's added a few accessories and new wheels which made the car end up looking like this.

Curious with what he can do with all the stuff piling up in his workshop, he decided to plant this..

..on the stock 4A-C engine. I can't say this isn't the first time i have seen a 4A-ZC, if we want to stick to Toyota's engine coding, being built so watching his work in progress is eye-candy for me as well.

Tito decided against the risk of damaging his SC12 rotary vanes from blow-back and go for a draw-through intercooler-less setup. With this setup, it's only common sense that he has to put the charger as close as possible to the intake ports. Thus, here was where he decided for the supercharger's location.

He ditched the magnetic clutch and fabricate some extension for the pulley to reach the engine belts.

Add a pair of 90 deg bents and some flanges for his twin-throttle carb..

.. and here you have the engine on below video.. Enjoy!

Christoffer's Low Budget Shakotan

Christoffer emailed me some time around August last year. He had just bought a stock LC Charmant and was in need of a right headlight as the last owner broke the glass. Sorry that i couldn't help you get one with all the work lately Christoffer, but i noticed from your email a few days ago, you managed to get one finally! Good for you.

Anyway, Christoffer hails from Sweden and so does his sweet Charmant.

He didn't send me any specs of it but i managed to squeeze some from his page in Garaget.org. His Charmant is an LC trim that went out from factory in 1985. This is interesting actually as i thought those bumpers and side moldings weren't out until late 1987s. Were these stock bumpers Chris?

Oh and that front lip is from a Golf MK1. Nice touch!

This one is still running the stock 4A-C but Christoffer decided to upgrade the exhaust to 2 inches. His future plans include swapping the carbs using R1 or Weber 32/36 carbs and welded diff. That should be enough for some weekend fun. If budget allows, however, he'll be saying goodbye to the 4A-C and go for the old-yet-reliable 4A-GE.

What you see below is Nankang 180/45-15 wrapping an 8-inch wide XXR 002. Funny tire size. Pretty sure it's nearly impossible to get that size here in Indonesia.

Sadly, Christoffer might have to sell this beauty to make space for another project.. If that should happen, make sure it falls into the hands of another Charmant enthusiast, will you Christoffer? Save the breed, mate!

Nanung's 4A-GE 20v Carb'd Charmant

Nanung, i believe, is the owner of an autoshop called Ennergi Motorsport, situated in Jogjakarta, Central Java. This Charmant is a fine proof of what his workshop can do.

First, some specs:
- Fully restored body work
- Sikkens paint and clear coating
- 4A-GE 20v Blacktop head over 4A-C engine block. Fully rebuilt internals.
- Weber 45mm 4-barrels carb
- Crane Cams PS91 ignition coil
- Crane Cams HI-6 ignition module

Though going for carbs instead of retaining the EFI doesn't really tickle my fancy, i can honestly say i'm drooling all over the body work result. As a proof of how good the restoration work is, this Charmant won the "Best Retro Car" on Auto Black Through contest in 2010.

BFRD

Brunei Fire and Rescue Department or Best Firefighters Ride Daihatsu (Charmant)

Charmant In The Build

Gery's Charmant is For Sale

It's been a while since my last feature of fellow Charmant. Saw this ad on modifikasi.com forum by Gery, a fellow facebook fan page member of Daihatsu Charmant Community Indonesia and thought i'd help the sale by featuring. Hope Gery's okay with that.

I believe this was built as a drifter as Gery indicated on his ad that he's giving an extra axle along with it, which has been fully locked by welding.

Specs are as the following:

- 4A-GE with Weber DCN carb

- Ported and polished head

- Custom exhaust

- TRD spark wire

- Bucket seats

- Roll cage. Give me a shout if you're splitting this Ger!

- some Turbocharged Daihatsu steering wheel

- TRD wheels

- Custom front "lips" and ducktail

- Fender-mounted mirror from a Corona

Asking price is IDR 38 millions. Contact him on +6285720049165.

Paul Breheny's Sparkling Champagne

I've been enjoying this build regularly on Facebook and ae86irl forum and decided that now is the best time to share it on the blog. Meet Paul Breheny and his recently finished champagne gold Charmant. Paul contacted me about a year ago asking me to help him find some Charmant parts and we've been friends ever since.

Paul started the build around mid-July last year and targeted to finish by March 2011. As like most of us, he missed the target and it was just finished recently this month, or at least got it running on the roads again as a car build project is never truly finish, right Paul? Although he missed the deadline, as can be seen below, the result was all worth the extra time spent.

More details on his build can be found here so i'll just post some highlight pics below.

Here's the lads enjoying some champagne goodness.

Care to share any interesting story about the build, Paul?