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I'm confused, though... I thought you said earlier that the ZX struts brought the track in more than the B310 did?

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Was that on the B310 or the ZX? If it was the ZX, then obviously the ZX makes your track width smaller than B310 if the B310 required no spacer to fit.

Here's how everything has worked for me. Originally I had stock 1200 front struts. I went to test fit new wheels like 6 years ago and found a set of front wheel drive offset wheels that I liked a lot (lots of negative offset though...not sure how much exactly). I found that with the stock 1200 struts I would need lots of spacers to keep the wheels from rubbing on the strut.

A couple days later I installed the B310 front suspension, and went back and test fit (and bought) those same wheels...only now with the B310 suspension it didn't require any spacers and it all just barely tucked inside the fenders and didn't rub the strut....so I guess I had it backwards.....the B310 struts gave the widest track (the hubs stuck out further).

Using the same FWD wheels, I installed the 280ZX struts onto the B310 steering arms/control arms, and now I need to run about 23mm of spacers on each side to keep the wheel from rubbing the strut. So the 280ZX struts are much like the stock 1200's track width....I never measured exactly how much the stock 1200 is, but I could find out by trying to bolt one of those wheels onto a stock 1200 strut I have and see how much spacer I need to keep it from rubbing the strut.

I wonder if you could turn down the thickness of the hub (the mounting face) a little bit to bring the track closer. As long as there's enough meat for the lugs to mount into I think you could.

Well, hope this helps!

Yesterday and today were very difficult days with the Datsun. I was unable to get the stock manifold to fit so I had to go back to the header type unit. I built a different heat shield that seemed it would work better, but it still heats the brakes up too much! So basically I wasted about $100 and about 14 hours.

I've decided that I've had too much fun trying to "deal" with the stock master cylinder and clutch setup. This is where a lot of problems come from. On a LHD car it is the pain in our sides that never goes away. Try to mount twin sidedrafts on a LHD 1200....it can be done, but you won't have room for any air cleaners. The same goes for engine swaps, both the CA and SR have the exhaust on the Left side of the car so you'll always have problems with either fitment or heat from the turbo. Also, if you convert your originally automatic 1200 to a manual, you will notice that you have barely any room between the gas and brake pedals and you have to do tip-toe driving to make it work.

The best solution I can think of to all of this is to install a floor mounted brake and clutch setup with the master cylinder INSIDE the car and not clogging up the engine bay. Wilwood makes nice kits, I just have to ensure there's enough room to mount them so that the pedals aren't too far forward. Also a residual pressure relief valve will probably be needed because the master cylinder will now be a lot lower than before, no big deal.

So the next tip for putting an SR20 in a LHD 1200 is to ditch the stock master cylinder locations for a different kind of setup. With the brakes and even the clutch M/C's out of the way the engine bay will be A LOT cleaner and you can then shove just about any size turbo you want on there. I also recommend switching to a rack and pinion setup too, the exhaust side of the turbine and the outlet pipe are SUPER close on a bottom mount turbo, and that's why I couldn't use the stock exhaust manifold, it hung the turbo too low and while raising the engine up more would be an easy fix, I couldn't get more than another 1/2" up due to tranny tunnel clearance.

I recommend starting out with a top mount turbo setup and floor mounted brake and clutch pedals with an in-cabin master cylinder. Messing with the steering box would be just an option then

I won't be able to install anything for a while, I'm moving back to the US so everything's gonna stay like it is for a while. I'm going to go with a top mount T3/T4 turbo and floor mounted pedals as soon as I pick up the car in the States.

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Thanks for the clarification. This actually explains alot. When we put B310 struts on Gil, the wheels went out too far and fouled the fenders, even though they were only 13x5s.

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Awesome, that's what I was looking for.

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My plan now is this, try the 280Z stuff first, if it's too wide, go with the 280ZX. If it is still too wide, I think what I can do is use adjustable lower control arms to bring the bottom "in", and camber plates to bring the top in. At most, I will only need about 1/2" further in than stock to be where I want to be.

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As much as I'd love to have the only RHD 1200 in the US, why not just get the parts to convert while you're there?

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You were supposed to take out the auto brake pedal and replace it with one from a manual.

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Are you getting out? If not, where will you be stationed?

Yeah I replaced all the pedals with ones from a manual, the wider automatic transmission tunnel tightens the area for your feet between the gas and brake pedals. Drive a manual tranny 1200, then drive a converted auto to manual car and you'll see what I'm talking about.

I'm not getting out, I forgot to tell you guys, I'm being re-stationed to Abilene! Only a short hop from Ft. Worth, I'll see you guys soon!

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That makes more sense. I converted my 510 from auto to manual, but all the tunnels are the same on those. Never thought about the wider tunnel hampering you.

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I must warn you, this is going to sound really gay...

This had been a really lousy day... and you just made it better.

Can't wait to finally have another 1200 guy here in Texas...

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lmao, it did too but i understand

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I think its all the smilies that did it.

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It's all good, I've been looking forward to talking with other 1200 fans in English for a while now. I can only speak a tiny bit of Japanese making it really hard to explain things and ask questions. You guys are going to have to help recommend a really good place to do my body and paint work around there...preferably someone with Datsun 1200 experience if such a place exists.

The car won't arrive in Dallas for probably two months from now so I have to be patient and drive my gas guzzling (10 mpg's) Buick around until then.

I'm really excited to be able to represent 1200's again in Texas. I'm sick of Z's, 510's and other cars being the stars of the show, we'll have to show 'em how it's done!

See ya'll soon.