It's a Sunny Excellent bonnet, not a GX one.
The Sunny Ecxcellent was a different car that was based on the basic B110 & later, the B210 bodyshell. The engine bay seems to be the same, but the guards & bonnet were longer in the front to make the car feel bigger.

The Excellent range was powered by an L series engine, initially an L14, but late in the PB210 [120Y body] model run, the L16 was offered in some models, & it was also offered in a twin carb GX version.

The trim level was much higher than we are accustomed to seeing in the 1200 & 120Y models too.

Why don't we see them more often? They seem to have been a 'Japan only' model & they were never common, even when new.

The South African 140Z & 160Z seem to be S.A. built versions of the PB210, but with a different model name & a different, sportier image. They only made a few of these too.

the whole front of the car is actually longer to give plenty of L series room... thats why it looks different

EDIT: beat me to it

What makes you think the front of the car has to be longer to fit a L-series engine? Many of our club members have done so without lengthening the front end. All we know for sure is that the front of the car (in front of the radiator) is longer.


See all the details about these cars here: PB110 Datsun Sunny 1400

well yes ive done it to mine, but it has far from factory amounts of room around the engine
i cant even fit the standard fan on the front of the engine and only have about 10-20mm of room behind the engine

so i think it is pretty much right to say that then engine bay may have been made slightly larger to get a factory look for the engine fitment

dd's research shows that the wheelbase is the same on the pb210 and b210

i'm not sure if that's also the case with the pb110 and b110

anyways, the human eye wants to believe the car has a longer wheelbase, when it's just the stretched out guards and bonnet that give that impression

Quote: The 1200 radiator is spaced back towards the engine by the design of the radiator support panel to get it closer to the engine fan. I'm guessing that the PB110 Excellent's RSP positions the radiator further forward, up against the flat part of the panel, thereby giving more engine bay room without actually having a larger engine bay.

It's obvious that the L series engine fits in a B110 chassis, so it doesn't need more room to get it in the hole it just needs a little more room at the front, & since the RSP is unique to this body anyway, it would be easy enough to simply design-in some radiator re-positioning.

Anyway, that's my theory.

I'd agree with that

Quote:Thanks for that.

This is the big question. The PB110 wheelbase is 40mm longer than the regular B110. Question: Is that space used in the engine compartment, passenger compartment or a little of both?

None of us really know. We need to find somebody with a PB110 and have them measure it. In any case, It's less than a 2-inch difference.

The traditional place to use a larger wheelbase is in making a larger rear-passenger leg-room, with the Supra being one of the most obvious exceptions. So an automaker might do it either way.

A factory 1200 L engined must be a treat!!!