MightyBoy in England.

MightyBoy tech questions and answers.
LeeMB
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Jun 24, 2017 12:08 am

Hi all.
I'm new to the site, looking for some advice on what to look for when viewing a MightyBoy in England. 
There is one for sale which I am hoping to view soon. They were never sold over here and are extremely rare to find, so if it isn't up to scratch I will eventually import from Australia or Japan.
If anyone can offer any advice on what to look out for it would be appreciated.
and a quick (and perhaps stupid) question, relating to the pictures I've seen:
On the sill is it usual for there to be a vertical seam, or does that suggest the sill has been cut and welded? There is only a picture of one of the sills so I can't compare to the other side.
Cheers,
Lee. 
Zuffen
Posts: 72
Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2017 2:45 pm
Location: Warrawee NSW

I'm no expert but rust in the scuttle around the plenum for the heater seems bad and in the tub around the fuel filler cover panel also rusts.

Our's also had rust in the gutters on both sides of the car.

Other than that it was rust free.

The vertical seam is factory.
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Brayden
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Location: Canberra ACT
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Pics would help. ;)
F8B EFI turbo - Three pots and a snail.
LeeMB
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Jun 24, 2017 12:08 am

http://autolink.co.uk/vehicle/suzuki-mi ... dm-pickup/

Apologies if posting links is against the rules.
Keep in mind that this is the only one I know of in the country, and to import one I'd be looking at around £4000 (AU$6765) all in, so the bad paintjob is something I can put up with, but if anything else looks seriously wrong to anyone I will give it a miss.

Cheers.
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Brayden
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Posting links is fine.
What you're looking at is a Series 1 MightyBoy. It has drum brakes all round and a few other things that were upgraded in Series 2.
The body has been modified around the cargo area, which normally has a rubber trim on the factory pressed panel seam. The rain channels on the A pillars and roof have also been modified/deleted. I'd carefully inspect how this work has been done, and whether it is mostly bog, or metal. A fridge magnet will quickly give you the answer. Because it has been resprayed it is difficult to tell how good/bad the body is in general. From what I can see there's minimal rust in the firewall bulkhead (around the engine steady bracket), and only minor scaling underneath, so it looks in surprisingly good condition.
Looking at the pics of the underside all of the bushes and suspension are original, and you can almost guarantee that after 35 years they'll need replacing - ditto for engine mounts, coolant hoses and possibly brake lines. Factor about £500-1000 for that, possibly more if you want to upgrade to disc brakes on the front.
F8B EFI turbo - Three pots and a snail.
LeeMB
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Jun 24, 2017 12:08 am

Thanks for your help.
I'm not sure what you mean about the rain channels as I have never seen a mightyboy in the flesh, have they definitely been modified? Could it be down to a difference between markets as this was imported from Japan? If it's not too much of a bother,  is there any way you could get a close up of how they should look?
But yeah it looks fairly clean,  but spending the first 32 years of its life in Japan is likely why it is so rust free. It wouldn't have survived so well had it been imported to the UK earlier.

Edit:
I see what you mean about the rain channels now. I have a feeling I'd be best importing a stock/closer to stock one.
By the way, is that you at 5:35?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=305IkJveHBI
If so, your MightyBoy is the one that made me decide for sure I want one.  :thumbup1:
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Brayden
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Yep, that's me and mine. :wink:
The primary export market was Australia, but oddly they also found their way to Cyprus, so you might have some luck looking there. At least it'd be closer than Japan!
I wouldn't be scared off the one you're looking at based on the body mods. If the work has been done well it adds to the uniqueness.
F8B EFI turbo - Three pots and a snail.
LeeMB
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Jun 24, 2017 12:08 am

I agree it adds to the uniqueness, but a bone stock MightyBoy would still be extremely unique in the UK, and I'd prefer to start with a blank canvas and modify it the way I wanted over time. Also, I wouldn't have money to chuck at it straight away, so if I could get one with better paintwork, I'd be happy knowing a respray could wait until I knew it was mechanically sound.
I'll still be going to view the one for sale, but I reckon I will end up waiting and importing one later.

As for Cyprus, I had a look the other day and couldn't see a single one for sale, but I did see parts which have far lower shipping costs than shipping from Australia. Most parts from Au the shipping cost the same as the part itself, or sometimes more. Unfortunately we didn't get any cars with the F5a over here. I was hoping to do eventually do a swap using the engine from a daewoo matiz, but after more research, I've realised it would probably be out of my mechanical ability.
Zuffen
Posts: 72
Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2017 2:45 pm
Location: Warrawee NSW

We're in the middle of a Daewoo swap but have taken a slightly different route so we will end up with a Daewoo floorpan with a Mighty Boy body.

The swap (if you do it with the MB intact) isn't that hard and worth the effort.

I rather like the look sans rain gutters and other hang ons!

Sort of reminds me of Minis with their shorn gutters.
LeeMB
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Jun 24, 2017 12:08 am

I also like the gutterless look even though it is quite subtle, and I love the bumpers. I think perhaps the quality of the paint job has me wondering about the quality of the rest of the work.

As for engine swaps, I don't know how true it is, but I read somewhere that a lot of welding and custom parts were necessary for the daewoo swap, can you shine any light on that? I've never done an engine swap and have little mechanical knowledge. In fact, the most I've ever done is change a thermostat, as I've always had newer cars that didn't need much work. Other than that my experience is limited to brakes, suspension, spark plugs etc. I always planned to get an older car I can learn on, but I suspect I'd be throwing myself in at the deep end with an engine swap, unless it was relatively straightforward.
If it came to it, I'd pay someone to do the swap for me though. I know cost Labour varies from place to place and is also likely to be quite different between our countries, but what would you estimate a garage would charge in labour for the daewoo swap? Of course I'd prefer it didn't come to that though.
Zuffen
Posts: 72
Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2017 2:45 pm
Location: Warrawee NSW

Fitting the Matiz engine calls for a bit of chopping on the subframe.

Not wanting to chop the subframe we decided to remove the complete floor, firewall and front end and replace it with the Matiz parts.  Not a task for the fainthearted!

This means the Matiz engine bolts in easily ad also gives you a better modern dash and air conditioning.

The firewall is also designed for assisted brakes (our Engineer insists on them) and the whole front end is much more crashworthy the the original. 

We used the complete Matiz wiring harness so it is quite simple in the end.

The car should be running in a few weeks as we just painted it today.
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Brayden
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It's worth pointing out that we only got the F8C 800cc powered Matiz in Australia, not the 1.0L and 1.2L versions you got in the UK.

If you want cheap new mechanical parts then Maruti Suzuki in India are the best source. They're still using old tech there so parts are abundant and cheaper than ex-Japan.
F8B EFI turbo - Three pots and a snail.
LeeMB
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Jun 24, 2017 12:08 am

Yeah, that seems a lot of work for a first project. However I wasn't aware about the maruti 800, apparently it still uses the f8b? According to the common conversions page it should bolt right in? I think that will be the way forward, providing the cost of shipping an engine and gearbox isn't too extortionate. Cheers.

Eta: we also got the 0.8 in the UK, but it does sound like a bit of work for someone with a lack of experience.
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Brayden
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Sadly you won't get an F8D* out of India. There's a ban on exporting second hand parts.

(* the fuel injected version of the F8B they use in the Maruti 800)
F8B EFI turbo - Three pots and a snail.
LeeMB
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Jun 24, 2017 12:08 am

Do they do new parts for the F5A? I can't seem to see anything but haven't had a proper look yet.
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