Hey everyone. I just drove about 1,200 miles in my 1200 and halfway it started chugging oil and smoking badly. I pulled the spark plugs and the #3 one was covered in oil so I shined a
flashlight in there and the piston is cracked. It hasn't separated apart yet, but I'm sure it will if I drive it any more. Anyways, what would cause a 4 year old piston to crack like
that??? I'm running stock compression, and I know that the car was not leaned out too much. Any thoughts/guesses would be appreciated. I wonder if I could get away with just replacing
that one piston with the exact same kind (assuming the cylinder walls aren't messed up). It'll probably throw the balance job up a bit, but should fix it temporarily right???

-Andy

Malvern Racing sells roller rockers for about $600, I'd go with 1.6 ratio. I went through valve guides on my last head after only a year.

The hot resistor by the coil is not good as mentioned earlier. I had the same problem with my A15 in my 1200, misfired everywhere and I couldn't figure it out for the longest time. All I
did to fix the problem was bypass the resistor all together and the car ran great. I have an electronic distributor from a newer 210 in my A15 though so I'm not sure what that might do with
a stock points distributor.

I tried to order Nissan #16101-10400 which is supposed to cover all non-emissions SU's...the part number you mentioned is supposedly for the SU's with emissions junk on them (not that it
makes a difference on the needle/seat valve). So I will try the other part number after this weekend sometime and see what happens. Just out of curiosity how much did you pay for them???
The two that I ordered that are NLA came to $23, just FYI.

I have a copy of the NISMO Schematics Catalog and it doesn't specify whether you can use 40mm carbs on a 44mm intake...so if anyone knows please share!!

Take it easy everyone,
Andy

I'm trying to piece together a dual 40mm Solex PHH kit for my A15. I just got the carbs, and I'm wondering if the intake meant for 44mm solex carbs will work with the 40mm carbs as I
may upgrade to 45 DCOE's in the future. Anyone who knows let me know! It's a good time to switch from SU's to Solex's...I just tried to get a new needle/seat valve for the SU's from the
dealer, a pretty common part....NLA!!! There's a lot more aftermarket support for the Solex's so I think that's a better way to go. See ya!

-Andy

I'm not going to buy one of those huge expensive A/F ratio meters, just an in-dash one that tells you if you are lean, rich, or pretty close to stoich (perfect). You have to install
an oxygen sensor in your exhaust pipe for it to work, but when all is done should cost less than $100 for everything (guage $30, O2 sensor $50, mounting $20). That's what a lot of SU
guys on the net were saying was the only way to truly tune those carbs. See ya'll later!

-Andy

Nissan recommended 20WT oil for SU carbs, but straight 20 is hard to find anywhere. It's a GX setup that has all stock springs/needles. Using a thicker oil like 20W-50 is supposed to make
it run richer, so I figured since I my motor has more work than a standard GX motor, that it would need to run a little richer to account for the oversize valves, cam, etc. Going to a
lighter oil gave me worse performance and my plugs aren't all blackened up so I think it's as good as I can get without "tuning" it the right way.

-Andy

When I was at the dragstrip I had switched to 10W-40 engine oil for better throttle response...it didn't run any better, actually felt weaker, so I went back to 20W-50 which I have been
using for a while now and it has performed the best with this weight. I wouldn't mind messing around with needles and springs, but first I'd have to get an O2 sensor and air/fuel mixture
guage installed to really "tune" it. Maybe a few weeks down the road I can play with it when I have some money. I have a copy of that book, but it recommends tricks that I wouldn't want to
do as they wouldn't really get you much. If I could tune it with a A/F guage using the right needles it would perform good enough for now. Later!

-Andy

I want power but I also want reliability with my A-15 I'm building up. My plans initially were to turbocharge it (10-15# boost max) with EFI, cause that easily adds the most power. But a
nicely built NA motor could also kick but and would probably turn out cheaper, but wouldn't be able to match the gas mileage (potential gas mileage anyway if I can stay off the gas). I think
I'll stick with the turbo idea, I want it to rev to 8,000 which isn't asking much,give at least 180hp, and run 13's. With what I have planned I don't think that will be hard to accomplish.
That one turbo 1200 sedan in the photos section doesn't have as much work to it as I plan to do, and he's putting out 180 hp and running high 13's in the quarter mile!! That is what I want,
but I'm looking at at least a year before being able to pursue that project.

Oh yeah, I took my coupe to the drags the other day...first time since I replaced my head. My previous best was like 17.5, and I improved quite a bit. First off I was running the wrong oil
in my SU's, and I only got two runs in. On top of that when I tried to warm up the tires, my clutch decided to slip instead of grip. In any case, on my first run I totally bogged it out at
the start, didn't rev it high enough before dropping the clutch, and ran 17.7, I knew I could go a lot faster. On the second and last run, I revved it up too high and smoked the tires
through all of 1st gear and ran a best of 17.0 So whenever I get a chance to go again I think it will be no problem busting into the 16's. The mods I have done is rebuilt/balanced A-15
(stock rotating assembly and compression), street cam, dual SU's, headers w/2.25" exhaust, and oversize Si valves, not too bad I think.

I wonder what other 1200's in the club are running in the quarter mile and what mods have been done?????

-Andy

I've heard that A-12's are really easy to get over 10,000 rpm. A good rebuild/balance, raise the compression, race cam, beefed up head, headers, and DCOE's supposedly will do the trick.
I wonder which would be more fun a built A-12 that can rev over 10,000 rpm or a built up A-14/15 that goes hard to 8,000 rpm. I wonder how hard it is to get an A-15 to rev to 10,000 rpm?
Probably quite a bit more work with the increased stroke. I'm trying to decide if I will stick with my stock style EFI setup or a full blown quad DCOE throttle body setup. The quad
throttle body style should be able to give more power no matter what, right (Turbo or N/A)? See ya!

-Andy

The 1200 auto is a really stout little transmission, really heavy duty, and actually shifts pretty strong, however it's no match in performance against a 5 speed or even a 4 speed
manual. I have a auto tranny for a 1200 that I would like to get rid of, but it's located back in Washington state at my friend's place, if anyone really needs one let me know.

-Andy

The tach should work on the L18 because it works off of the ignition
coil.