Bob Cooper - New Zealand Rally Car Driver

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Aug 21, 2002: I have rallied both 4dr's and coupes for the last 15 years or so with a break in the middle when we spent around 4 seasons in 4WD.
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I certainly don't profess to know everything but I have learn't a lot over the years and are still learning now! I have always enjoyed the Datsuns, especially the coupes...they still look good even today. In the rallying scene it is really hard to compete against the late model FWD cars in our class, but I'm sure that the RWD cars are a lot more exciting and spectacular to both drive and watch.

Welcome Niscoupe

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My current coupe is powered with a 4AGE. Even though it is Toyota, it is a brilliant conversion. Even in standard form it has about the same horesepower as a top 1300 but much more torque. Mine is a little modified and goes extremely well reference

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I did mine around 5 years ago now and can't remember what the exact configuration was. From memory I used a Hilux diff housing and axles and a Surf LSD diffhead. As I said before, the axles would be as big as the ford 9"...the advantage with the Toyota system is that there is a far better range of ratios. I needed to use a 5.3:1 and there is nothing like that in the Ford range.

As far as the brakes go I used Holden Barina (Suzuki Swift) vented disc rotors which fit over the standard Datsun 4 stud pattern and I made up brackets to mount Mazda BFMR front calipers to suit. Using front calipers can be a problem as far as a handbrake goes, but being a rally car we are allowed to use a hydralic handbrake system. I am sure there would be some more decent sized rear calipers available that could be used to overcome the handbrake problem if needed but the above setup works really well for me.
rear diff swap

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