Do you need the stay like mentioned above or the lower bracket that goes between the bottom of the alternator and the block?

I may have a source for either part.

Gary

If the seller agrees to pull the valve cover, also look for double valve springs.

Quick summary: A A12GX should have large oval ports and dual valve springs.

It makes me wonder about the claims of being a GX motor when they don't show the port side of the head...

Gary

Dodgeman's got it right. The A15 is the way to go. The A12 with auto is functional but not performance minded at all.

I had an auto equiped sedan many years ago with the same setup that Dodgman is building now. Was an A15 with a mild cam and had a GX head with the SU carbs and GX exhaust manifold. This car was lots of fun but still slow off the line. Didn't get going untill you got over 20 Mph, then it went great. You could power break the car and get the right rear wheel to spin. Kind of silly but fun.

In that time frame the 16V Volkswagon GTI's had just come out. From 30 Mph up to maybe 80 Mph or so the Dato could keep up with the 16V GTI's and pull away from the 8V GTI's. Opened quite a few eyes...

I had looked into the 4N71B trany also. Looked like it would work with the exception of having to have a short tailshaft made. In the larger cars the 3 speed autos came with the long tailshaft housing. When the 4 speed came out the over drive unit was the same length as the difference between the short and long tailshaft housings. The 4 speeds came with the short tailshaft housing so they were the same length as the 3 speeds. In the 1200's the auto already has the short tailshaft houlsing so the 4 speed is longer...

Have fun!

Gary

Yea, the turnout of 1200s was on the lite side yesterday. We toped out at 5, 3 sedans and 2 coupes.

My 1200 was the dark green sedan at the start of the row.

2 years ago there were something like 9 1200's at the event.

Gary

If you are not doing redline clutch dumping drag race starts and banging the tranny hard between shifts the H145 should hold up just fine.

I've never broken one even with a mildly built A15 (A15 block, midrange torque cam, A12GX head and Su carbs).

The thing that has caused me to trash 3 different H145's in autocross is lack of oil. The axel housing does not hold enough oil for sustained high G cornering. The oil exits stage left (or right) up into the axel tube leaving the gears high and dry. The gears run out of oil causing the the gears to spall. Keeps working but howels like a banshee.

Nissan sold a set of baffles to go in the axel housing to help keep the oil in the center of the axel. I went for the low brow fix and over fill the axel housing by a good margin.

One way to over fill is to jack the right rear wheel as high as you can then fill the axel. This fills the left axel tube plus the center dif section.

Last time I did the trick when the long studs were installed in the axels. Put 1 axel in, jack up the other side of the car and fill the axel housing via the open axel hole, then put the axel in. the oil level is up to the axels, maybee slightly higher. with lots of turns it gives you the effect of a differential cooler as the oil sloshes back and forth in the axel tubes...

Gary

Based on my experience of just reciently swapping out the auto for a 60 series 5 speed, don't even think of the auto for performance.

With the 5 speed (4 speed would be good too) the responsiveness of the car is magnitudes better.

You can get so much more performance with the manual tranny as you are in control of what happens. The auto just wants to get in hi gear as soon as possible. Also won't drop back into 1st very well either.

An adjustable vacuum modulator helps (mine was cranked all the way up for highest shift points) but you still have an old technology auto tranny that just does not do justice to the small engines.

On the fuel economy front, with the auto in the car 26 MPG was about the best I got in mixed driving. With the 5 speed I'm getting 35 MPG while driving harder than with the auto.

All in all, the manuals are much more satisfying than the autos.

Gary

Highest speed achived during a rally was 102 Mph, 164 Kph.

To set the stage it was 2:00am in the morning on a 2 lane gravel logging road running down a ridge top in the Olympic peninsula. The dato was at 8000 rpm in 4th gear and I was chicken to go for 5th!

This was back in 1986, and still puts a big grin on my face!

Gary

Personally, I think the choice of what engine to swap in comes down to your choices of what compromises you want to choose.

Like any project, there is no "best" way. Any project is nothing more than a selection of compromises. You need to decide what you want the car to be when done, then choose the compromises that get closest to your goal.

As my interest is autocross if I go beyond the current A15 project for power, I'm leaning towards the CA18DE. Handling is the most important measure to me followed by engine response. Turbo lag and adding weight to the front of the car are not compromises I'm interested in.

If you are more into straight line speed then the heavier engines may be what turns your crank.

Gary

I mean the bearing inside the transmission that the driveline yoke runs in.

The only way Nissan sells the bushing if available is to purchase the entire tail shaft housing for the rear of the transmission.

I wan't to come up with a way of replacing the bushing that is in the existing tailshaft.

Gary

Anyone come across a replacement tailshaft bushing that we can use in the A series trannys?

I'm chasing down a couple of leads but have not had luck so far.

Back in the early 80's a local tranny shop replaced the tailshaft bushing in a 4 speed with a bushing he cut down from another manufacturer. Said it was from a Chrysler... I'm trying to get him to try and locate the part again. He's busy though and doesn't want to spend much time on a low bucks project.

Gary