Is it a manual gearbox?

I've got one. Got all the goods you need for an Auto conversion. Pedal box and the lot included, you'll need a tailshaft tho, but I'll swap you for your manual gear.

This auto is fresh out of a B310 and is in perfect condition. Let me know, I'm in Adelaide.

Thanks to all who helped! The car is finished and on the road again :)

B310gx and ddgonzal were on the money, the "stopper" was getting in the way. I took to it with a large hammer and drift and it came apart nicely. I then slid the tailshaft in and it cleared by the 15mm minimum we needed! I was so happy, we tested it with a full load of passengers and me jumping on the tow bar and it barely moved. We had no cover for the gear knob and I watched it while we drove and it didn't scrape either so it works!

The car is fantastic fun to drive. I'm a Toyota enthusiast myself but I must say that I have grown quite fond of this car. The comparison of worn engine automatic to renewed engine manual is enormous.

Thanks again to all for their help.

Thanks for the reply.

Okay well today what we deduced that it is indeed too long (and there's nothing we can do otherwise) so we are sending the shaft away to get shortened.

My question now is, would it actually be possible in this case to cut off some of the oil seal dust cover to allow the shaft to slide in more? That or cut off the "stopper" possibly?

Thanks again.

Thanks for your kind words oh great one. :)

It seems that we may have been mistaken. The tailshaft seems too long, but only by a small amount (~1 inch at the most).

This only became apparent as we tried to install it, it was a little tight. However it did go on and this issue only cropped up once we tried to drive it. The problem is that the little cup on the gearbox oil seal is grinding against the "stopper" on the tailshaft, in fact it begain lathing itself quite nicely. The car also shudders from this so we concluded that it's too tight.

My question is, how much free space should be allowed for it to move? It seems we may just have to get the tailshaft shortened.

I find it really dodgy that only this 1 - 2 cm difference needs modification. I'd much rather move the engine forward but I won't.

Thank you again to all who helped out. With a bit of luck today we returned to the wrecker in question and actually found a tailshaft that does match!

The length and width of the shaft was that of the 120Y manual shaft but the flang on the diff side was precisely that of the auto. Upon cleaning the shaft we found the words "Dat Sunny" written on there indicating that it was indeed directly from a Sunny.

Saved ourselves $150.

Excellent. Thank you very much fellas.

The girlfriend (a.k.a Datsunny80) and I undertook a manual conversion amongst other thing on her B310. The car is an A12 powered factory Auto and we collected all the goods for the conversion, most of the stuff coming from a wrecker's 120Y.

Now we have a problem that the manual tailshaft, which is noticably thicker has a larger diameter hole pattern on the yoke for the diff side, meaning it won't bolt onto the Auto diff. The thing is the tailshaft is also from the 120Y which I was under the impression was the same running gear as the Sunny.

Does this mean that they run a different diff on the manuals and if so, does anyone know of a tailshaft that will match the Jap end "Auto" diff with a 120Y 4-speed? It's just that we got the tailshaft for free and it'll cost $150 to get a hybrid tailshaft made (yoke swap). We can get ny tailshaft swapped for us at no cost from the wrecker.

Forgive me I'm new to all of this, first Datsun, first RWD car I've dealt with.

Yes you can drift without an LSD. In fact a lot of people who teach people wanting to learn drifting will say you can find the car is a little more forgiving without an LSD (i.e less likely to spin). The only time you'll find it becoming something you need is if your compete and/or you are wanting to link several corners in one drift.

As for wear and tear, this will rise exponentially, if you're going to drift, you WILL break things. Engine wear will be the first of your troubles, but your gearbox, diff, driveshaft (not quite so much), clutch, tires (especially!) and brakes will all wear out a lot quicker.

I don't drift myself, but I have close mates who do compete in the Drift Australia/Toyo Drift Nats and I see how much work they put into maintenance.

A word of advice, you really should know/be prepared to put a lot of work into your car to keep it running. Otherwise, it's a great friendly sport and tons of fun so good luck!

This is indeed an interesting problem...

We'll see if someone can shine light on this, because it's a tough one.

Good luck getting it working there.