Hi gang, I plan to put all the A series stuff I have into a 1200 as soon as I find one. Although I am tempted to put it into an 86 corrolla that is not doing much but collecting dust at my
place.
The reason would be because it is more areodynamic
and I already have it.Wouldn't that be a hoot?!!
Well after I get the 1200 finished .
I have been looking also for muscle parts again for my A series power plants and found some places to get pistons,I found flattop pistons at Ross Racing pistons in So.California (they're
online) for 359.00 without wrist pins and domed for 391.00 also sans pins . This is not a bad price and they make a good product . Also JE also has pistons about the same price range .
Nismo has some but I don't remember the price range.I think their flattops are made by Wiseco .
Venolia told me on the phone a while back that they would make me any piston I wanted for about $86.00 each but they may be more by now .
I have found an A15 car that will give me a crankshaft to stroke my A14 soon and I plan to put at least 12.5 to 1 compression domed pistons in it.I am also searching for a manifold to
install the 38 mm S U sidedrafts I used to have on a 510 I had . If anyone knows of any parts to help with this project let me know and I'll let you all know if I find any sources too.
C-YA
Steve

Im sorta up to the same stage u r in rebuilding your 1200. Why the SU's? If your going to get all the good stuff and want a good performance A14, twin webers are the go. U said u were
using the A15 crankshaft which gives u a 5mm xtra stroke. A14 and A15 blocks r the same bore size 76mm. What head do u have? I have a A15 oval-port head which im going to port out and
maybe give it some bigger valves and valve springs. I would love to get rolla rockers but there pretty expensive. What shape 1200 r u going to get? I've had 3 coupes, 1 sedan and 1
station-wagon. But im looking for a 1200 ute now. Have u seen my old 1200?

http://www.angelfire.com/sd/datsun1200

Davo.

Well so far I havn't been able to find the webber set up where I am located in utah . I spend a lot of time on the internet searching ANY place to get parts for an A engine . If you know of
a source I'd love to have it .I agree the webber carbies give more than the S U 's I have a set of 45mm's on the LZ2200 that is going in my B210 .
I am sort of a mad scientist when it comes to head configurations . I currently have a milled -ported and polished "75" oval head on the engine right now but will be choosing most likely a
later A15 head and will cut down some L16 valves for it and may even cut and re-weld the ports for better flow . All the trick heads out there off the shelf so to speak are expensive and I
would rather make exactly what I want . So what this means is that I will be fabricating headers just for this set up as most aftermarket units available are for race or GX heads .I am even
looking into a sheet metal intake manifold so I can take of advantage of some exotic downdraft
carbies . Experimentation is the Mother of success
in Drag racing and along the way I hope to share what works with other interested parties.
As far as the 1200 body goes , I would like to find a rust free coupe with no dents and the interior is not important as it will all come out anyway for weight reasons . I don't like full
tube chassis race cars atleast for what I want to do so I fabricate frame connectors and ladder bars and so on to boost unibody stiffness and hope soon to make kits available for others
they work really neat and make it possible to install a narrowed ford diff. making gear choice much wider AND the little nissan diff just can't take all the launch torque .
Well thanks for the feedback it is very appriciated
C-YA Steve

I have e-mailed some other 1200 owners in the US and they all say the same thing. There's not much A-series engine stuff. I do know of a guy in the US that does alot of A-series
work. www.malvernracing.com . If u e-mail him and ask about any datsun performance part or accessory he will send u a copy of the Nissan Motorsports catalog. I have one sitting in
front of me and have heaps of A-series thru to 300zx stuff. Great book and also expensive stuff. I have a 5 speed box and i know the 4 speeds brake easy. What are u gonna use?

Davo

Well Davo it seems we navigate in some of the same circles.
You have obviously been to some places that I have also visited. I have had telephone chats with Malvern's David Weber and It was like two mad scientist discussing building a
Frankenstien's
monster! He is one of the few people that Knows the A series engine and has done some super neat things with them. I am sure we will be doing some business in the future as he has some
great ideas for head building and he has the tools to do it all. His aluminium roller tippid rockers are on top of my list. He does cosworth pistons and I would like to have a set of those
too but it's tough to find all the funding for a project with all the very best stuff.
I think that the latest copy of the Nismo catalog I have came from him and I have ordered some items in the past from them. It is truly a wish book for guys like us!
Now as far as the choice of a tranny It's a mixed bag because once agian the choices are limited.
A four speed box is lighter and for dragracing this type car it works well for me . A closer set of gears is what I would like but Nismo is saying NLA for the ultra close set I would like
to have so I will seek something elsewhere.
I'll post more on that as I get to that stage of the project. For now I am using the stock "77" 4 speed that has amazingly 200,000 miles and 200 quarter mile passes on it!! I do have a
spare just in case.I really like how fast I can pull the shifts with it and know that the synchro ring design is why it works so well for my application.
Great Feed back Davo lets keep it going !
Bye for now , C-YA Steve

Over here in OZ almost every perfomance engine mechanic would have worked with the A series. They are used alot in rallying and circuit. I know of a A14 with 180 hp. Over here there is a
bell housing kit that will allow u to bolt on a celica 5 speed. Very strong unit. I know of people using flat top pistons from a little 85 Ford Laser (ozzy model)which are a perfect fit. My
freind has a stoker crank for his A14 which i want. Apparently stokes it to about 1800cc. It seems like over in the US the little datto's are rare as hens teeth. I see one everyday here,
although good 1200s/510s are getting hard to find because of all the rallying they were used for. I broke 3 diffs with my A15 and would recomend a whole diff swap. I swaped the stock one
with a 510 wagon diff. The ratio was still only 3.9:1 but was an improvement. Another good swap is the Mitsubitshi (Bits-of-shitty) Starion diff(ozzy model). It has disc brakes but will have
to be shortened but FAR stronger.

Davo

Well it sounds like OZ is is truley the place to be for A series enthusiests!
I am really interested in knowing more as I am sure others are about this stroker crank . I bet you will need to modify the block a little to make room for rods to clear the cylinder
bores .
I could handle that!! I am curious to know what Ford engine the flat top pistons are from as I should be able to get those here .
I agree that the 1200 Diff. will need to be exchanged and as it happens I already have a narrowed diff out of a 200sx with disc breaks on it . I got it with a lot of spares and stuff
when I purchased the LZ2200 for the B210 .
Great stuff AGAIN Davo thanks
C-Ya Steve

Another idea for some higher compression is to shave the crown off the std A15 pistons and deck the block. As for the stoker crank, i dont know what mods he will need to do as
its never been together. He says the capacity will be around 1800cc. But i guess he's done the maths for an exact figure. 200sx diff. We have 200sx over hear but im sure its a
IRS rear end?

Davo

Ok, I think my Datsun isn't running at it's full potential. I've got an A-15 with .020" over pistons (stock compression), .286 adv. duration cam (.229 @ .050") .414" lift, rebuilt, milled,
slightly ported oval port head from 78 210 GX w/3 angle valve job. Hmm what else...A14 exhaust and intake manifold with a Weber 32/36 DGV, 2 inch exhaust, the engine has been balaced, crank
micropolished, and all new bearings, gaskets, etc. For some reason it just doesn't seem like it's running as fast as I think it should. It sings sweet to 7000 rpm no prob and runs smoothe.
I've heard that the carb I'm using doesn't do good for high rpms, I think my compression is a probably too low for the setup I have, I heard that I need more lift from my cam???? I don't
know what the deal is, maybe someone can give some advice. My dad's A-14 has more power than my car and the only difference I can think of is that he has a header and I don't. The stock A15
is supposed to have 9:1 compression...the head has been milled about .030" and has the heart shaped combustion chamber is the comp. too low for what I've got? Help

What year and model Datsun did the Z-18 Turbo engine originally come in? My guess is that it wasn't offered in the US just as the CA18DET among MANY others that weren't
brought over. I'm looking for some kind of Nissan Fuel Injected Turbo engine swap to try in a couple years.