A non-starter to start with

Hi my name is Martin and I am about to pick up my first Copen this weekend.

As per title, it is a non-runner that allegedly has "a problem" with the cylinder head.

The diagnosis is questionable as the inspecting workshop is said to have taken three days

"to take the cylinder head apart".

They got as far as the valve cover - inlet, turbo an all of the ancillaries still connected.
No clue what those fools actually did.

Otherwise it seems to be a nice car (I enjoy a bit of welding).

My plan is to quickly fix the engine, get the car registered and then spend loads of money on shiny go-faster-bits from Japan.

I'll keep you updated.........

 

So, here's what happened thus far:
I went to pick up the car on June 30th. Saw it and started smiling.......
Trailered it home and had a first look.

I kept smiling.
Engine bay was as expected: Nobody actually had taken the head apart.


Battery was dead as the car had sat garaged since November.

Charging was not possible (it's been a while I dragged a steaming battery out of the garage) so I ordered a fresh one
along with a set of spark plugs which the fools in the workshop had managed to lose.

I spent the next day sorting the box of nuts and bolts and turbo piping that came with the car and miraculously, nothing else was missing.

Hence, I kept smiling at the little car and got it registered.

Set to work installing the new battery and spark plugs the following day only to find that a 3/8" spark plug socket on a 3/8" to 1/2" adaptor does not fit into the cylinder head.
Also, the mighty expensive German compression tester I've been using for the best part of 30 years was too short for the little Daihatsu engine.

So, 3/8" extension and cheapo ebay compression tester ordered.

While waiting, I had look inside the combustion chambers (endoscopic camera) and couldn't find anything suspicious. And so I kept smiling at the car......

 

Today, the compression tester and wrench extension arrived.

I found a fair bit of grime in the valve cover and on certain parts of the cylinder head, especially on the caps holding the camshafts in place.
Cams looked fine, though.

So I carried out the compression test and was surprised to see an even 4 to 5 bar on every cylinder.

I don't know much about these engines, but that seemed a bit low.

I squirted a bit of oil into one cylinder and repeated the test to see if there was an issue with pistons or rings.

Readings changed to 6 to 7 bar.

The next cylinder now also showed 6 to 7 bar. Although I forgot the oil on this one......

I checked the others and they also gained readings.

Now I got brave and put the spark plugs in and connected the loom.

Guess what: The engine fired up after two turns producing a massive white cloud from the exhausts (the oil in the one cylinder burning off, I suspected).

And yes - I smiled at the car.

The smoke (maybe also steam?) disappeared after the engine warmed up.

To be on the safe side, I also performed a CO test to exclude head gasket issues >> cue smile on my face as the result was good.

Tonight, I'll reconnect the turbo piping and take it for a test drive.

I'll keep you updated.......