Yep bearing are the same and i think some early holdens are aswell, there pretty standard,

Another thing you can do is change the top and bottom spring holders,
not sure what the tech term is for them but i think you no what im talkin about.....

thats the word i was looking for ........Pearch!!!

s13 coilovers work with AE86 brakes.

wow....even im slightly confused about what will fit now

this would be about the hundredth time ive typed something like this

if you go bigger datsun stuff

get some later ute late 120y stanza or sunny control arms, sunny or stanza balljoints and steering arms
stanza or sunny tierods and outer tierod ends
late ute or late 120y castor rods

with all this stuff then you can choose from any of these struts, and more coz i cant remember all datsuns

1600, sunny, stanza, 180b, 200b, 240k, bluebird, r30, r31, 280zx

these will more or less bolt in using 1200 strut tops, most need either coilovers or the smaller 1200 sized spring perches welded on to fit in the strut tower

bluebird r30 and r31 sturts need a sheer load spacer at the bottom of the strut so it locates on the sttering arm properly

then you have pretty much and brake combo under the sun available to you

as unfam said ive got 200b struts with 296mm skyline discs and calipers on them....most say its overkill but after driving with these brakes id say they are just right
some accepted brake upgrades that ive driven on are just plain scary when you really want to stop in a hurry

EDIT: HOTROCKET you are talking about bluebird struts not 200b ones....there is no was in hell that 200b struts are the same or similar to r31 struts(which arent way to big to fit in a 1200 anyway)

also i had neg camber on my car when the first gen strut upgrade went in, all stanza stuff, and the car was at a decent ride height

I'm in the process of upgrading my struts and brakes in my 1200 ute, I will also be running a ca18det.

I have used 120Y struts, with a bracket to fit 180SX calipers and a slightly modified 120Y hub to fit the (quite large) 180SX vented disks.
I'm pretty sure I will have to put my 1200 strut tops on - when it comes back from the panel beater.
This was all pretty easy. With some advise from ANGE who has already done this conversion also. He says it stops good as gold.
I have kept VERY detailed step by step pictures as I went... If your interested, email me and I'll get em to you.

The only reason I didn't modify standard or 120y struts is the fear of wheel bearing failure with neg offset wheels and unavailability of decent inserts, + moving to the larger steering gear allows me to buy the parts for longer (how much longer are manufacturers going to make 1200/120y balljoints and steering arms), not to mention getting hold of standard lower arms radius rods etc if something gets bent.

Im runing 280zx struts in the trackcar and MR30 in the daily both with their standard brakes so no modifications needed to hubs, caliper brackets etc. Just buzz off the lower spring seat and adapt strut with late model 120y lower arms etc.


my 2c anyway

yeh... fair call... each to their own.

I suppose it comes down to what your after, what you can get hold of, what your willing to spend and how much your prepared to have a go.

only thing i dont like about the s13 brakes is the fact that you still have to run bigigsh wheels over small brakes

i'll show ange what stopping good as gold is really like on the next cruise

What size are the S13 discs? 280zx are 245mm and MR30 are 240mm, both calipers are pretty slimline but my wheels don't actually need the clearance due to the offset.

The S13 disks are a touch over 250mm

Should stop a little better than the 1200 drum brakes ...Lol