4x4 Converted 1200 Ute on Ebay Oz


http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1985-Datsu ... ba4&_uhb=1#ht_1882wt_1139

What never heard of the 180B SSS E variant with 125PS instead of 115 PS,THe Fuel Injected Nissan Stanza Coupe I once owned was ex Howard Marsden and George Fury and ran one of those setups plus an L20 B ex Factory.

180B SSS E used a A 87 spec head with the extra cutout up top for the injectors plus extra studs for the inlet manifold but all doable on a Carby Head as a Conversion.

I Modified a 219 Head to suit and on top of a Japanese L20 B Block fitted with FIA Pistons it made a real nice road engine with stump pulling torque.

A good 610 SSS with the injected engine would be real nice and ultra rare as it seems I am one of the few aware of the Model ever existing.

Here is a Link about someone doing basically what I did but 20 years later,with the ever so rare L18 EGI system,Hope he knew about adapting an FJ 20 TB to it the L18 one is quite small.
http://www.z-car.com/blog/cars/adding-efi-to-the-datsun-l20b

Very Few of these aftermarket pumps are suction pull style most are Push type pumps so need to be close to the tank and down low so the Tank will Gravity feed to the pump.

You may find issues when the tank runs low in picking up Fuel and an airlock will play havoc in getting fuel with less than a quarter of a tank,Follow the leads above usually just near the back of the cabin area and down low for the normal square Facet type pump is the go.

In Australia all 620's were 1500 motors and ran a 4.625 ratio centre.
720 Models depending on whether they were 4WD Diesel 4WD Petrol or 2WD ditto variants engine wise could be between 4.1 and 5.1 ratios but most in Australia were either 4.375 or 4.889

Ok 11 pages with no real conclusion what you want and all for different vehicles.

May I suggest seeing as in general the only information is very dated factory Nissan or US Datsun Comp Department stuff,Follow this lead to first figure out roughly what you are looking at,Then order one set only for one car and test with real feedback.

As a general guide to leaf spring setups with something similar but very common with lots of information have a google search on Mk 1 Escorts the specs they use for different models will be ballpark close for a 1200,Remember a stripped competition escort will only be maybe 10% heavier than a B110 and very close to a B210 so rates for similar applications will be pretty close.

Escort Mexico with the 1600 Kent will be about 10% heavier than a A series 1200,A Mk 1 RS2000 will be close to a car running a L series or similar weight drivetrain in a 1200 coupe shell so the wealth of available information on these vehicles will be a fairly good guide for 1200 suspension.

Fibreglass Leaf Springs with Alloy ends have been around for ages,I remember Kevin McIntyre showing me one about18 years back when he first started looking into them.

Reliability they are stock in transverse form in the front of many mid 90's on Urvans,Common these days as OE in many full size US Pickups so should handle a 1200 Ok.

Similar to Parabolic leaf springs first pioneered on old Series Land Rovers,with much the same benefits,Compared to a conventional leaf spring they act more like a coil spring of the progressive style.

This will equate to two main things they will be softer and more compliant on small bumps than original multileaf springs building more progressively as travel increase occurs.
Secondly they will not have the very effective friction damping effect inherit in Conventional Leaf springs,Therefore will require Damping settings more like a Coil Spring vehicle,But not a Coil over setup think something like a 180B or 610 where the coils are not on the same plane as the dampers.

An educated guess for a 1200 Coupe would be somewhere around a rate of 150~165 in/lb in a fibreglass composite spring as they work in the real world softer than a conventional spring the equivalent of which would likely be somewhere around 130~145 in/lb in Steel Multileaf.

Damping rates not as heavy as many think,Japanese Aftermarket Suspension as is so common in Silvias etc is Waaay too hard as an example my first L18 engined 120Y back in the early 80's used Bilstein 200/110 rate Escort Mk 2 Spec group 4 rear dampers and composite springs fron a Galant GB Model Wagon with some leaves removed leaving only three and it worked a treat with no tramp in forestry stages,Well at least after the Bilsteins were added with Tokiko Prodra G green it was skittish and tailhappy,a little better going back to Tokiko Prodra G Silver but a different Car with the Bilsteins alone and no other change such as ride height etc.

These cars are critical when it comes to Damper settings even more so than Spring Rate,Do not go too stiff even for circuit use if roll is an issue use well setup adjustable anti roll bars for Tarmac,I repeat do not over damp anything from a B110 to a B310 or you will have something not very nice to drive requireing constant fighting of the steering wheel on either Dirt or Tarmac.

This link will give you an Idea of how much has gone into Escort Development a B210 is really a Japanese Escort so take advantage of their research to educate and inform if not borrow some stuff.
http://www.grp4fabrications.com/index.php?cPath=23

Early alloy centre H190 models such as the Datsun 2000 Sports do not forget were Imperial thread bolts unlike later H190 models,That difference can trap people,They were also 25 spline axles unlike the steel centre H190 models which were with a few exceptions 30 spline axles.

The Works Diff's used in the Stanzas were another thing altogether being based on a home market Datsun 180B Panel van housing and centre,These were 27 spline axles.

Much the same applied to the IRS centres where the Works centres used in the 710 Violets were actually R190 Centres another Works Special with basically R180 size but R200 Strength and axle stub size.

My advice stick with easy to source later stuff,The exception is actually the 620 Ute assembly as the 30 spline axles were used with an alloy carrier.

The six stud axles are not an issue they use a nice preloadable tapered wheel bearing setup that is perefect for rear disk conversions as it can be adjusted so there is no axle float and no pad knockback.

Another very important aspect of these axles especially with the narrower 620 models is you machine the end removing the 5" pcd six stud setup and end up with a blank axle end that is perfectly suited to converting to either standard Nissan 4x114.3 pcd or even a later Silvia spec 5 stud to match a silvia type front end conversion.

This flexability of being able to add your own stud pattern in an axle that has seen no welding or required no shortening and resplining makes for a bulletproof setup.
I advised Vinnie Rigoli to go that way years back for a very sweet Mark 2 Escort he was fitting an RS500 Cosworth Sierra Engine to and it has proven utterly reliable behind that 500 HP engine so I think they are fine for most any intended use.

Gasket thickness has nothing to do with why MLS gaskets are used.

Multiple Layer Metal gaskets have a very thin sprayed on silicon coating for Oil sealing and the very nature of a Steel gasket makes it superior to a composite gasket for boosted applications.

Nismo or Nissan Motorsport Composite gaskets differed in generally two ways from stock gaskets they were often Bigger bore for overbored engines and they all had a Stainless steel ring behind the fire ring area embedded into the Gasket.

That embedded ring directly at the back of the visible fire ring is why with Nismo or FIA gaskets a requirement was always a light reface when using them because they left an indent in the alloy of the cylinder head unlike stock composite gaskets or for that matter MLS style gaskets.

Modern useage of MLS gaskets by manufacturers is simply to remove any necessity to retorque an Engine after initial useage thereby saving time and money plus adding reliability for the manufacturer.

The one I liked was the L18 because few realise that with minimal work and 40 thou under mains a Cosworth BDA crank drops into an L series giving you the ultimate bottom end upgrade,then put a KA head on top and you have a very tough engine.

When I boughyt My FIA Head an early one it came complete and for $700.00 in 1989 I was not complaining with some carefull mods it ended up being on a par with the later ones.
Was particularily good on a stock stroke 2200,The nice aspect of the early heads was the Fine thread rocker arm adjusters much easier to get valve adjustments spot on and any FIA head was head and shoulders above normal L series heads as far as coolant flow went for even head temperatures.

Personally except for being an all datto conversion I would build one with the Suzuki G13B as power to weight not only helps in straight line performance but handling and braking.
I own a Mark 1 GTI Suzuki and stock with 100 HP it weighs 683KG dry and absolutely kicks ass when compared to the 4AGE engined Toyotas,That shows what a difference overall power to weight makes as the right 4AGE makes between 110 to 125 HP ex factory. No slightly hot L series gets near that,The most powerfull L series ex factory was the Injected 180B SSS in Japan with 125 HP.

Finding a good L series is becoming an issue as well with corrosion of the Heads causing potential problems,A later Suzuki Engine is modern,Light and available for a good price and suits a light car like a 1200 Coupe and is a bolt up RWD conversion thanks to the Sierras being compatable and using a separate Transfer case setup for the 4WD.

The Mark 1 used a Distributor and Fuel only Computer so these allow a twin weber conversion quite easily and that really makes them crack,The later engines had upgraded timing belts (Wider and Stronger) but went to a full management system,The Mark 1 Dissy can be retrofitted and with twin Webers would be a cool conversion with great power to weight.