I like black coupes myself... though with it being a non standard colour they tend to become easily recognised. I had a black coupe years ago and inherited the legacy of hooning that the
previous owners had done in it. I was getting pulled up by Mr Plod all the time. There was a guy not far from where I was living who had a GX 1200 coupe from Japan factory black and he
started giving me sh** for all the stuff my cars owners had done because he was getting hassled by the law as well!! The previous owner was hard core with a few high speed chases to his
credit and a midnight escapade onto the airport runway being chased by airport security. I sold it in the end and bought a poo brown coupe, I chucked all the good gear in it and was never
hassled once. Moral of the story don't buy a distintive car with history... and whatever colour you paint your car it will be instantly recognisable in a sea of belly button Mazdabishis so be
careful when you give it heaps. Oh yeah, the guy who bought the black coupe rang me a couple of times asking what the hell I had done to piss the cops off as he was getting pulled as well!!!

Hi Eddie,
I've never seen a Salisbury type diff under any 1200 models before. Does it have the Datto bolt pattern? Your ute sounds like it has the H165 which means the Silvia /200ZX should fit it.
Change of subject , did you track any LZ1600 pics down? Brian Roycroft has his running in his 1200 now and I will be posting some photos as soon as they are developed. The block is most
definately an A14 with a bore and stroke ending up under 1600cc for the old Formula Atlantic/Pacific open wheeler series. The same motor was dropped into the works Stanzas for a couple of
the WRC rounds and it appears that a few motors ended up being left here. I have found another one and I'm still negoiating a final price.....twin cam A series here I come!

Supercharging an A series sounds like fun, I have always planned on doing it but haven't got there yet. I am currently making patterns to make a blower for a 1930's MG I have and I may
make a 2nd one for my toy GX. I have posted a pic of a blown A14 in the "More engine pics" folder for inspiration. I would'nt go for the GM style blower myself, I'd run an underbonnet
stealth style like one of a MR2 or a Lancia Volumex. The cranks in the A series are forged so you can't really improve on this. Superchargers will add power but are also big power users,
with a blower on a 1200 using up to 40 hp to drive it. Their advantage is that the power delivery is right though he rev range. Bob Cooper whose rally coupe features in the club gallery is
now running a supercharged Toyota 4AGE and it flys, in the long run this may be a good way to go. It will be a costly project no matter how you go so building it correctly and getting it
certified by an engineeer is a small price to pay. Also it it far easier to sell a certified vehicle than one that is'nt and often an uncertified car gets split up for parts and your hard
work is wasted.

All this talk of turbos and E15s reminded me of an old article on a Kiwi 1200 sedan I had tucked away. I have added it to the Kiwi race cars folder. It may answer a few questions
for you guys, and more than likely create a few more!

The pressure plate is a bolt on, the clutch plate spline suits the dogleg 5 speed usually!!
I used a Centreforce clutch in my racecar 10 years ago, after 20 minutes of running it failed. The evidence of it's failure are in the Kiwi Race cars photo file. I would never recommend
using an alloy flywheel on the street, the life of these parts are short and should be treated as race only. The same for a triple plate clutch, they slip like crazy on launch and are
better suited to endurance racing not cruising the streets. Over the years I have tried all sorts of combos and genuine factory Nissan parts work really well, Brand X parts are often
rebuilds with lower quality control. L series clutches have also been used on A series with good results. Sintered bronze paddle clutches will handle big horsepower but can be a bitch
to drive with and the flywheel faces really need to be hardened to avoid fast wearing and/or hard spots which kill the clutch pucks.

A couple of things might help your problems. When you fitted the new clutch plate did you get the flywheel refaced/machined? It may have some hard spots and the clutch plate may be slipping
on these. I use the E15 Turbo pressure plates on all my big A series and have no trouble. The B110 ute pressure plate for the A15 engine has a higher clamping pressure but does'nt have the
rpm rating of the E15 turbo. Another trick we used to do when I was younger and short on cash was to machine a step on the flywheel face 1.5 to 2mm deep no more, where the pressure plate
sits on the flywheel. This gives a higher clamping force and may help solve your slipping problems.

A word of warning when modifying your struts, they will be oil filled if standard and pose a fire risk if you weld them assembled. Undo the top nut it's usually an awkward octagonal shape
and drain the oil out. Use 2 containers 1 for each strut and then you don't have to guess the correct amount to put back in. Unless the inside of the strut tubes is clean the heat from the
welding can burn the oil residue into flaky hard pieces of crap which can block up the valving in the bottom of the strut assembly. If you have gas inserts the same rules apply they will
happily explode when heated. I seen on two occassions, "experts" welding on assembled struts catch them on fire, and its quite impressive!!

The earlier model utes were drum braked on the front, the later model 1400 and 1500s got the discs. A long time Datsun rally driver over here built a 1200 ute for rallying as the
homologation for the cars had long run out for international competition. He fitted discs to it and discovered they were considered a homologated Group B mod, so he had to compete in the
same class as the Lancia Delta S4s and MG 6R4s !! His ute was probably the last 1200 to compete in a round of the World Rally Championship. Over the following years it was further
modified and ended up with VG30 twin turbo squeezed under it's bonnet. Sadly it was destroyed in a very high speed crash a couple of years back. I will dig up some photos of it.

Hey you lucky bugger, along with the camera take plenty of film for detail shots and a tape measure? Could you measure the wheelbase for us? For years I've heard stories of extended
wheelbase factory cars, apparently it gave the cars added stability in the fast straights. Try measuring between the firewall and the strut towers this may be where the difference
is. If it's the car I think it is most of the factory gear has long gone and it was used as a rally car but I would still love to crawl over it and more importantly under it to see
how things were mounted etc.

That would be awesome, I have an original owners manual in a Datsun pouch with a extra brochure on running in and things like that. I have some Datsun promo items like
jigsaws, stickers and flags. I look forward to seeing your collection.