Considering how hard/expensive it is to get a 5spd for an A series, is it practical to use a 5spd from another Datsun/nissan such as a stanza.

I would suggest a toyota celica box with a dellow conversions housing adapter, it woes cost a little bit to set it all up but it hass been done easily with great results.
When compared to A series 5 speed gear boxes the toyota box has a closer ratio through out the gears, but if I found a 63a gear box today for under $550 in good nick I would have to snap it up considering how strong they are and how much I would save on conversion costs

I recall I reading something on another thread a while back about this. My friend Ian used to use L series boxes way back when he was more into the speedway. He would make his own alloy adapter plate and sort out the other problems. Apparently it wasn't overly hard to do.

Maybe you could change the diff housing to something with a 3.5:1 - 3.7:1 ratio, Then you'll get practical highway speed if thats what you are looking for. But I suppose that would be at the expense of low down performance and would probably cost the same if you didn't get some bargains to keep the price down.

the thing about the l series 5spd is they have a different input shaft, both bigger diam and more splines. so your clutch would need to be fabricated. also it has been mentioned that the bell housing is different stud pattern on the l series, which means you need to make an adapter plate.

and while we are on that issue, how do they work? wouldnt adding an extra piece of metal to the bell housing move the input shaft back?

do you cut off part of the old one and then weld your new one (of same thickness) to the housing?

also the speedo drive will hit the tunnel with l series 5spds.

none of these problems with a Dellow/T50 Toyota conversion.....