Damn... Thought all my dreams came true. oh well back to car pporn.. even if It's a why

I'm thinking of selling they 120Y and getting a different Datsun.

I've wanted a 620 ute for a while now and found one that looks like a good basis for a project. This one would serve a different and more useful purpose than the 120Y which is really just for a bit of fun. A ute to carry all my palm tree fronds and tree prunings to the dump, as well as being a cool cruiser that I could also use for some road trip holidays - heaps of room for camping gear in the back, and the seperate chassis 620 could get off the beaten track a bit as long as I don't lower it too far.

There'd be no temptation to track it, so there'd be no on-going costs of upgrading suspension and shocks, custom made swaybars, better grippier tyres, more power, more dyno tuning, upgraded clutch, swapping in bigger gearboxes etc etc. It would just be a case of making it a neat road car. A reasonable paint job, lowered with a nice set of old school wheels, and some sort of engine conversion - which I haven't decided on yet, but probably L series like they came with in the states. Just build it and cruise. Doesn't even have to be fast. Stock L series with a little cam for some attitude and twin Hitachi SU's would do nicely. I think I've convined myself!

Anyone want a mean little 120Y? It's hard to put a price on it, but I'm thinking about $7000.

Nice plan I've been thinking similarly. Dual cab 720 though to cart kids around In too.
Good luck

7g.... Bargain!! If someone wanted to have a crack at some track days etc it would be a steal. I'd be suprised if it lasts long if u do decide to sell.

what a fantastic read full of info and sounds like you had so much fun doing this thanks for the info on the spring rates and part numbers will try this in my 1200 ute im running stanza front legs and lca's should be great just ordered maddat front swaybar so keen to try these spings Thanks guys well written

Fitted one coil without cutting it first to see where it would sit. New springs are 300lb, old springs were 175. Both sets are 280mm free length. So they're 1.7 times stiffer. They should compress by a factor of 1.7 less under the body weight. The old springs compressed 95mm - they're just captive at full dropp with no seat real pressure. So 95/1.7=55mm. That's how far the new springs should compress. So the new springs should sit 40mm higher (95-55). Put it all together and on the ground it sat exactly 40mm higher :)

I was aiming for 10mm higher than before, so I need to lower it 30mm. I know the free length is 280mm and the compressed length with the car sitting on the ground is 55mm less than that, 225mm. 280/225=1.1. So to lower it 30mm, I need to remove 33mm from the free length of the spring. Out with the angle grinder! hehe

I wired the spring in at two places on the base 180deg apart usign 2 drain holes already there. And driled two holes in the top to help hold it to the seat there. Still needs a little care when fitting the the car to ensure the spring is seated properly. And it's not legal, but that's not really an issue for me anymore. You can also see how much I cut off the springs - it's really only half a coil - the top coil is a 'dead' coil, just designed to sit on the Gemini spring seat.

Attach file:

---

  20150328_091903.jpg (136.06 KB)

And this is how it sits now

Attach file:

---

  20150328_114721.jpg (176.20 KB)

The ride is alot firmer, but it's not too bad. I was expecting it to be alot worse than it is. A rough calculation makes it only 1.6% stiffer from having cut half an active coil off, which is SFA: 305lb/in

FYI

Cutting coil springs does not reduce the spring rate,

In fact it increases the spring rate.

As there is less material able to flex in order to achieve the same amount of deflection (travel) more pressure is required.

It will however reduce spring preload as the spring is now shorter.

I guess that's why I said it made it stiffer...

And I mentioned above there's no preload on the 280mm free length springs anyway. They just remain captive in the spring seats with no seat pressure. So there's no change in spring preload. If there was spring pre-load on the old springs, the above calculations to work out ride heights and how much to cut would not have worked.