for a road 1200
awesome handeling is piss easy in a 1200, new shocks, little bit harder and lower springs and ya sweet, put in some camber and castor and itll feel like its on rails

tyres are always important, buy cheap ones, they are softer and have more grip

for a race 1200
spend ####ing #### loads on adj this and that and calculate this and that, and maybe handle a little bit betta???

Thanks guys, I get the sense that ddgonzal knows a ton of info bout these datsuns. Have any of you guys had a look at the "Datsun 1200 Development Program's - Datsun Competition Department Performance Suspension Modifications for the SCCA C Sedan"? What did you think of it? Would that be a good way to go or too extreme? Are there better options out there for getting sweet handling from a coupe? I stopped in at the Van Isle Dat Club and yakked with some guys on saturday. They say the 280 suspension (front) would be the way to go, but one guy was building a 510 with 240 struts modified with fully adjustable coil over kits. I know its not a 1200 but it did open my mind up some. What do ya think?

Oh Datsundonnie, I live on Vancouver Island just outside of Qualicum Beach.

Maybe it was a b310. It was a 1980 though. And rwd. And at the junk yard. With an a15/auto. And a wierd lookind rear end setup-coil springs and trailing arms. I'll stick with leafs, thanks!
Thanks for the correction, I bow to the king!
-Donnie

I think you mean B310 (Datsun 210). The Datsun 310 was a front-wheel drive model.

SaltwaterCowboy: I've used the struts from a 1980 310. Fit right in. Used the 1200 springs and top plates, the 310 control arms(and ball joints) and castor rods. The benefits are bigger brakes. The only set back is that the hubs are wider. They will position the wheel outwards about 3/4", so wheel offset may be a factor. Hey, you're in Canada eh? Where?
-Donnie

i dont think u will get the same strut in US sorry,

i forgot to say welcome to the club abyss!!

new notelthane/urethane bushes do wonders also, good time to swap them in aswell (a front set is around $70 for all of them)

SaltwaterCowboy, the "Stanza" they are talking about is the A10, which is most similar to the North American HL510 (1978-1982 Datsun 510). These are rear-wheel-drive cars. I'm not sure if our "new" 510 has the same struts as the Aussie Stanza.

In North America, people have often used Z-car struts on 1200s.

So I was sniffin around a wrecker yesterday and the Stanza's I saw were front wheel drive cars. Do you use those struts? Would struts out of a 200sx work, they are rear wheel drive and have similar size?

thankx

Thanks for the replies, I'll get my hands on some King springs before I do the swap. I also plan on redoing the bushes while I'm at it.

I have noticed a rear lowering block mentioned on a few pages, can someone please explain what they are?

Just a little bit of history on the Ute that I got, 9/1984 1200 Ute, I am the second owner with 86,000 original km's there are 3 bits of rust in it but apart from that it is pretty straight. With the log books. I got it at what I would consider a very good price and it's yellow.

i used 1200 lowered springs from King springs the were perfect.