Daihatsu “Midget II” evolved into a driving car

Mr. “Nekomanma” enjoys circuit driving as a hobby after modifying his Daihatsu Midget II, a unique one-seater ultra-compact car. He has evolved the Midget II, which was designed for small-lot deliveries, into a “driving car” through extensive tuning, and despite its cute looks, it delivers tremendous power.

With his experience in car tinkering, he started his tuning project

Mr. “Nekomanma” purchased the Daihatsu Midget II because of a serious parking problem. The house he was renting for work only had a parking space the size of a slightly larger bicycle parking space, so he searched for a car that would fit in the space and chose the Midget II. However, he describes his feelings at the time of purchase as follows.

“When I first bought it, it was so slow that I regretted buying it, and I had the impression that it was the worst car I had ever owned, with a very uncomfortable ride.”

Then, he started a tuning plan to do something about it. He has always loved tinkering with cars, and using his experience, he began searching for tuning parts for the Midget II and parts that could be used in other cars.

Double wishbone rear suspension

The first step was to replace parts without changing the structure of the stock suspension. However, this had no effect at all, and in fact, the ride quality worsened. The suspension was also upgraded to a 3-link system, but the results were not as good as they had hoped for.

After much worrying, he felt that his ideas were not enough, so he consulted a tuning store he knew. He asked the store to look into tuning the Midget II, and to his surprise, they found out that there was a way to transplant the suspension of the Suzuki “Cappuccino” based on past cases.

And since the stock suspension of this Cappuccino is a double wishbone type that is known for its ride quality, we were confident that we could expect more than before. It was not an easy transplant, but we still succeeded in converting the rear suspension of the Midget II to a double wishbone with great success.

Handling and ride quality have improved, and the car is now in a pleasant driving condition

For detailed specifications, the front suspension remains stock, while the rear suspension is a fully transplanted stock double wishbone from a Cappuccino. One-off machined ENNEPETAL E12 dampers are installed front and rear with SWIFT springs and CUSCO pillow upper mounts for Daihatsu “Mira” and Daihatsu “Move”.

In addition, D-SPORT lower arms, MP pillow bushings for Daihatsu “Naked” and SDM urethane reinforced sway bar end bushings for Daihatsu “Storia” are set for a major renewal. To further stabilize the vehicle’s attitude change, a pipe frame for increased rigidity was also added under the cargo bed. This has improved both handling and ride comfort, and has made the vehicle more pleasant to drive.

Maximum output achieved 100 hp

On the other hand, if the suspension is so good, the inefficient engine is of even more concern. The EF engine from Daihatsu’s “Atley” was modified and installed. The transmission was also changed from the factory 4-speed MT to a 5-speed MT for the Daihatsu Heizet, and the gears were changed to those for the Atrai 7 to improve the stalling that occurs when upshifting due to the gear ratio difference between 3rd and 4th gears.

After all these modifications, the Midget II is now running much better. Then, we got information that a meeting where only light trucks gather was to be held at a circuit, so we decided to attend the meeting to try out some sports driving. He thought the car would be fairly good, but the results were not as he had imagined. He says that he was too slow anyway.

Then he decided to further tune the engine. A car store advised him that the JB-DET engine installed in the Daihatsu “Copen” was the best engine for the space available if he wanted to increase power, so he had it installed by the store. For more power, an HKS DX30 turbine was installed to achieve a maximum output of over 100 ps.

It also won first place in the annual series ranking

After increasing the power, he became completely addicted to sports driving and now competes in the “K-Truck World Series” sponsored by “GT CAR Produce,” a specialty store for kei-trucks in Shizuoka Prefecture. In the past, he was crowned first place in the annual series ranking.

I saw Mr. “Nekomanma”‘s Midget II on the circuit and was amazed by the vehicle’s stability and the way it ran powerfully without stalling even when climbing hills.

And above all, it has light footwork and turns well. The exterior is also circuit-tailored but retains the cuteness of the Midget II, so this machine had a tremendous impact both in terms of its speed and appearance.

Nobody would have imagined that the Midget II would become a car that could be played with on the circuit. Moreover, because it was so fast, one could only feel the great potential of modern tuning technology.