Been offline for a few days but wanted to comment:

On track I don't think I ever use more than a 1/4 turn on the wheel maybe 1/2 turn in reeeeally slow hairpins. As for feel, yeah a rack would probably offer some better feedback but on "dreaded treadeds" you're drifting the car pretty heavily to fast........so we concentrated on chassis rigidity. Besides that 70's box is part of the fun.

Fro Rally: well having driven a stock 1200 about 75-80 mph down gravel roads....umm yeah a 90" wheelbase tippy econo box starts to get floaty, so faster steering might help OR just encourage you to have a bigger crash.

Tom

that's all well and good for low power 1200's - I didn't find the steering a problem even with the 146rwbhp L18 I had in my previous 1200. But with 300bhp at the wheels you quickly find the slow steering ratio is not your friend!

bob cooper was on this site, has/had his own webiste and was on the now defunct nz datsun site. he rallies a 1200 coupe with 4age. google him. and let us know how you get on.

Cheers, I will try to contact him and I'll let you know what the results are. I'm planning to be producing 210 - 230kw so responsive steering and good feel would be nice... (plus if you wanted to get REAL picky a rack and pinion setup will reduce a bit of weight and drop it lower helping centre of gravity and weight reduction wouldn't it?...)

OK a 300HP 1200 given the 90 inch wheelbase and 48-49 inch track ummmmmm yeah a racing rack would be a must.

If folks are running 300 hp 1200's I sure would like to how much caster and toe they're using.

On a differant note 300 HP in a 1700lb car is darn near Group 4 Specs............at the very least it would be a match for 70's Grp 2 machines.

Tom

I'll check my alignment sheet for you tonight then that's power at the wheels too btw, closer to 400 flywheel bhp but also probably closer to 1900lb

alignment is not much different to my old 146bhp at the wheels L18 engined 1200. You want as much castor as possible in any track car.

Yea I'm of the same school of thought about caster, while fitting my flares to the front guards I've moved them as far forward as I can to allow for the caster I want (also trying to stretch out the wheel base as much as poss). However caster does make the steering heavy especially when you push it to far... Hey L18_B110 I too would love to know what your front end setup is (oh and your rear as well while your at it :) )

well my old coupe handled better so I'll start with that:

6deg castor, 4and a bit camber, 0 toe static which would be a little bit of toe out dynamic. I used to tweak this a little at the track if I felt I needed to, with the old string-line method. flares and gaurds were cut to allow as much castor as I could get.

the white coupe has 5deg castor, 3.4camber and 0 toe. It would be a little more now since I lowered it to get the roll centre down a bit. with the +12 offset 15x7" front wheels it didn't have any real need for flares to even be fitted on the front. I plan on fitting 8" +4 fronts shortly, and have trimmed the flares to suit

Thanks for the comparison it's interesting to see what other folks run. Belting out the maybe 95HP after recent head work my alignment varies as I would expect. Running about 5 degrees of castor 0 toe and only 1.6 camber (running a 185/13 tire)

Well we've strayed a bit off topic but I've often wondered at what point is a 1200 no longer a 1200. At my buddies fab shop we joke about a Cosworth DFV pushed back just beyond the front axle centerline, a Hewland transaxle and pull rod suspension...............but for me it always seems easier to just go back to a single seater rather than start spending serious dollars on the 1200. So I'm curious at what point beyond adding a rack and twin cam engine would most folks realize that XXXX dollars would be a purpose built race car? OR is it a case of lets see what kind of fire breathing 1200 can I build?

Not wanting to diverge from the original topic but I think you have a very good point Rallytwit... I love the 1200 shape and style and I raced a 1200 coupe with a hot a12 in it for a few years before moving on. This current build is a perfect example of the snowball affect when someone starts a project with out a clear goal in site. Originally I planed to strip and rebuild the 1200 with a worked a15, 5speed and H165 diff... Due to another project going pear shaped I happened to have a spare 4AGZE sitting around. One thing led to another and I changed course, so I need a new box and I had to freshen up the motor as it was in an unknown condition. I'm not a huge fan of the factory supercharger set up so I decided a turbo would be a nice upgrade. Over the time of ownership I got to know Lynn Rogers well and he pointed out while refreshing the motor it would make sense to "tweak" it a bit. So now I have a fully balanced worked forged 4AGTE with a T4/T3 hybrid turbo set up to push 210 - 230kw (depending on boost settings) so I have to cage the car and seriously think about suspension/traction/brakes... I've been loving this project and I've decided to stick with no strict goal and see where I end up, probably in a lot of trouble... fun trouble. But back to your point, my 1200 is now a Datsun shelled Toyota on steroids. Not a Datsun 1200...