PM sent to liitle dark one about measuring up the vanette

I spoke to QLD transport today about a few things, they said the following:-

spring leaf rear would need to stay spring leaf rear. cannot change to trailing link. :(

The front suspension can be fairly heavily modified if I cannot get parts anymore e.g. balljoints which sound like they are getting hard to get. This means I can remover the transverse leaf and change the suspension to
upper and lower link suspension with a coilover type shockabsorber most likely, similar to what they do on westfields,etc. But would need to get parts from a donor car, which I don't thin should be to hard to find possibly.

As for roll cages they say they are going to most likelt allow a 4 point cage but no longer allow 6 point cages in cars. Probalby can live with that.

Was also told that I may be able to go larger in the rolling diameter if I cannot get the existing brake parts for the car as standard and need to
put larger disks on it for it to work. One win I guess means I may be able to go to 14's or 15's yet :)

Was also told that QLd transport are right onto people trying to tub there cars in the rear and shifting chassis rails in and that they actually measure them now to make sure they haven't been moved, bummer cause there aint much room under there standard :(

Anyways with all the stuff that is going on on QLD transport at the moment I am going to make sure I get it all in writing before I start.
Was given the name and number of an engineer in brisbane so will talk to him about it. Sound like I will need to draw autocad plans though for QLD transport.

For those who know of Mark Ashford "Ashford racing" who owns the 7 second nissan s14 drag car with the FJ20 in it well he is going to help me build the motor he also has flowed bens heads I belive for his a15 motor. Mark said he can probably get me 300Kw at the wheels so you can under stand why I want to change the rear diff and possibly go to a vanette front I have found that the tie rod ends on the vannette front are the same model as the
1600's so it might be a lot stronger front end but I have to try and find vanette in brisbane I can measure up which I haven't had much luck in. I was also told on Saturday that a friend of mine thinks that the vanette has fibreglass leaf springs which are lighter also and have better handling characteristics. Just need to find out widths etc of the vanette front end. Anyway I will be happy to keep everyone up to date once the project starts early next month hopefully.

As for the roll cage well it has to be steel for roadworthy in QLD they also can only be bolt in cages not welded. Last cage I built in a cams approved/ QLD transport approved car we made a large plate on the floor panels which the cage was bolted to and then there was stitch welds around the twin 8mm plates which helped hold them together we got away with doing it this way because the stitched tack welds are only to hold the cage while it was bolted and could easily be ground off to remove the cage. Obviously all the stitch welds are a lot stonger than the bolts through the plates though :)
the cage I am looking at putting in it will be a 10 or 12 point cage so the body will not move and rego will be 2 seater only as you will never be able to get to the back seats. the mandatory side intrusion bars will be made removable for department of transport but will be used at any motorkana, hill climb, drifting or drag racing event. roll cage will also go to major suspension parts (shocks) or as close as legal and practical I want to build this as a all round car.

The reason I want to make it wider is that I have been told they are very unstable and have a good oportunity at rolling, I do not want to build a car that will want to roll when I put it sideways at 100+ clicks around a corner. Especially if I am sinking $20K+ in it

I figure its a rare car and I want people to see it and say that is insane :)

So if anyone has a vannette out there and a tape measure :) can I have some dimensions

As for wheel sizing I want low profile tires to stop some body roll and I figure a 15" tyre on the back you would see rim only and no tyre in a 12" guard which always looks tough on a small car, plus the bigger the tyre the more rubber on the road.

I was actually wondering if I can use the nissan vannette transverse leaf front which I have been told is a little wider more suited to the 1200 datto width which would be ideal as it widens the track and means I can put a hilux rear end in it to suit the same width and re stud hopefully to a standard nissan 5 stud pattern.. Not sure about track width though off the donor vehicle my understanding was it could only be 25mm no matter what. I would love to meet some guy's if any that are in brisbane or near by that have done any improvements to their suspension in the front to know what they are up to. was going to try and make it to the wednesday night meeting at harry's diner. as for widening the body it is only a cosemetic change as I have been told and will not affect road worthy. as I am going to put a cage in it I am also not worried about any weaking it might do. I figure the car could increase close to 850-900+ kg's by the time I wide body put ca and larger diff's gearbox and cage etc in it so would prefer big brakes, everyone knows that you can over size to a point and the car won't stop any quicker but I would rather oversize than undersize and always wonder is I could of had more braking power. I already have the brakes sitting in my lounge to use but if it is to hard then I may go down Bens track and stick willwoods or something lighter on it. Went to the motor show today and it inspired me to be radical and build my mini super car

was actually thinking of pulling the whole side panels out right along the whole side of the car.
basically widen the flat shelf that runs along the windows and across the front guards buy about 30mm on each side which would give me my maximum wider track legally and still keep the 12" tire wells with 15" rims under the back and possible make the arches slightly bigger on the front for the turning circle if required.
The whole job would involve a lot of metal work
as I am not having any bog or fibreglass in the car at all, maybe a little primer filler to finish the project thats all. Do you know if the joints are lead jointed in the dorrs etc, figure it is another problem trying to widen the car also.
Origianlly I was looking at doing the whole flared guard thing but after doing some sketch pictures it wrecks the classic shape to much and there is not many good ones around anymore.
would rather widen it suttially. I also don't want to cut it down the guts because of the front suspension issues and having to get custome screens etc made what a nightmare, and I don't think QLD transport would approve of cutting and shunting like that either.

http://datsun1200.com/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=8187

Are all the front suspension part available off the shelf? and can I just get them through nissan or do I need to get them aftermarket.
as for shock I was just thinking of adjustable konis or something similar.

Hi guy's,

I was just wondering if anyone has done a wide body conversion to a 1000 fastback coupe and registered it. also wondered what people have been doing suspension wise on the front to upgrade the existing suspensions parts. Been looking at 15" mags front and rear so I can put nissan 4 spots under the front and go to a really low profile tyre and mini tub the back shifting the leaf springs in slightly. Also wondered if a CA18det conversion has been done at all cause from my calculations a buldge in the bonnet would be needed and a dry sump most likely for it to work. Any info would be greatly appreaciated as I am going to start stripping the car in the next couple of weeks to start the build.

Hi guy's

I just purchased a 1000 coupe and the multiplier says I can go to a 1.6Litre turbo motor

I was thinking of buying a CA18 motor and box and changing the block to a CA20 block and stroking it, then rebadging the block to CA16


My questions are:

1. has anyone done this before ?
2. Can the engine number be changed easily to CA16 from CA20? so it can be registered and they won't know.
3. is there any major problems doing this conversion. I assume I have to custom make a tensioner for the heads, but Is a cam belt going to be hard to get etc? also heard that CA18 don't have a distributer
4. will any CA box go behind a CA20 e.g. CA18 turbo 5 speed

Any help would be greatly appreaciated.