ddgonzal, point taken, I think I'll head down to the sport shop and get a kidney belt so long.

Whitesedan thanks for the info regarding bobs1200, currently studying it.

The ute is a autocross vehicle/Gymkhana in SA

Yea we learned the hard way.

cheap + fast = disaster - The info gathering time, hell it was fun.
fast + reliable = expensive - All in good time
cheap + reliable = stock - I'll stick to my Honda CBR600 for daily driving.

Luckily we have a Escort MK2 that we also race in autocross, this thing was setup for track racing, stiff front and back, it does very good, about 4 class wins this year, but we learned a lot and need to adjust.

It took us more or less 6months to figure out more or less a good starting setup on a RWD vehicle for autocross is more or less the following.

Eliminate as much body roll as possible only on the front suspension.
Lower it as much as possible, to get the center of gravity lower.
Stiff as hell, almost bouncing around stiff
Learn from RWD rally cars, soft at the back
No Anti-Roll bar in the back
LSD if you can find the buggers
Tighten it up - get rid of as much possible play on bushes

Autocross is not all about power, in my opinion 40% comes from the suspension, 50% from the driver being able to be smooth as hell, 10% horsepower.

We fight for milliseconds on a track layout that is different each time, hell i love the sport.

Hey Dan I just had a look at Bobs 1200 and wow! Looks like he sets his ride hight with a feeler gauge haha and I love his rear suspension setup. Thats one mean datto

Am I right this is an autocross car, not a road race/rally or street car, so you can probably ignore most of what has already been recommended. I think 300-400lb is not a silly place to start, you don't want body roll at all across the front, and you want the rear to squat nicely under acceleration. If thats your ute as it stands at the moment, lowering would not go astray.

Bobs 1200 on here is a very sorted autocross car, have a look at that thing.

The BRE 510s had 150lb each corner but used solid suspension mountings adjustable shocks swaybars etc. And were strictly circuit cars setup with hardly and ground clearance and full slicks.

I have 275lb as a starting point for my car which will be circuit only but I think that is too stiff and coupled with thicker bars better bushings and adj koni's I'll end up with around 150-200lb at the end of the day, but trying these things all costs money, so research away and make the right choice.

I think that shop has forgotten how light a 1200 is. 400lb springs?

Remember the stock springs are 100 lb/in. so 275 lb/in will be pretty rough-riding by comparison

Once you get a 1200gx then you join the fine class. I got all the rules today. Its such a nice class its for any car 20+ years old with road tyres not sticking out of the body line so not to wide. Full interior. Rollbar aloud no rollcage. Brakes no rules no wayout mods like turbos. It must be a road car or have rwc and your good to go!

@racetech
I also do lots of research before doing something. In Cape Town I think you guys have it easier. Here in Bloem there are very few guys that do performance mods. They only race Citi Golfs.
My dream is to one day take the car after I have done my mods to Phakisa to go a couple of laps around the track.
But soooooo much to do first and soooooo little money.

GX you are going to struggle to find in good shape. The ones here the owners don't want to sell or it is in a hopeless condition.

Nou praat jy!

lol, "Do you guys get lots of rust on your dats?" what a understatement. Crap loads sounds better, the reason why I'm doing everything the other way around. The ute has some serious rust popping out. I wanted to sell it last year because of it, kept it and started racing with it, once I'm happy with the performance/handling side, I'll make a call to either get the rust removed or sell and get one that is in a better shape and just swap all my parts.

Fark, I want a 1200GX.

1200GXMan I'm in the same boat, needs to be correct the first time if we are talking of more than R500 bucks. I do one crap load of research before hand.

I can second that! If it wasnt for these guys and their (DOS) DATSUN OBSESION SYNDROME I would most probably never have gotten my datto!

Ek het ongelukkig nie geld om te sukkel nie.Moet eerste keer reg kry. Baie dankie vir die hulp.

Yip, I must agree I thought it is only the Aus guys that gets the nice bits to modify their dats. Seems there in Cape Town things are better for us ZA okes than I thought. Do you guys get lots of rust on your dats?