i race a 74 datsun 1200 and the brakes are crap, i here old holdens or falcon disk can be put on is this true????
im thnk bout putting disks on the rear as they are the origanal drums would this be very difficult to change over??

Welcome to the Datsun1200 site. Fill out your profile and mabe we can help out.

what class do you race in? if it's an appendix J car, you can only run what was an option at the time for manufacture - ie if your car had a 3 on the tree and 4 wheel drum brakes, that's what you have to run.

if you're in IPRA, then i don't think (from memory) that there are any limits on brakes size, only limits on tyre size (which effectively limits your disc diameter anyways).

how do you race it? rally? circuit? drags?

i'd suspect that changeing rear driven drums over to discs might not be terribly easy. Fair bit of machining and modifications to be done there. Much easier to get a complete disc brake axel and modify that to suit i'd say.

As far as front discs are concerned i havent heard of an easy swap.
Personally i worked through a bloke who'd sort of made up a "kit" (ie: he'd done it plenty of times and new what machining to do and what bits would fit on).

I used 180B struts which also required mod's to the spring mounts and machining to the shock insert.
the late model 180B strut i used allowed any caliper with a 2.5 inch mounting bolt spread. In my case he supplied me with a single piston commodore calipre.
Easy on the parts.
the disc is ventilated and taken from an Audi.
It had to be machined for the correct offset and then he also trued up the match between the stud piece and the disc itself. This eliminated possible issues with the disc being out of true.

Anyway just relating what i was told by The man.
All a bit beyond me at home with no lathe thats for sure.

Good luck, Start saving cash!

easy front disc upgrade: B310 struts with discs

easy rear swap: 1200 ute H165 differential, bolt on Bluebird rear discs (at least I think that's what I heard)

easy front disc upgrade: stanza square headlight struts and brakes

easy rear swap: 1200 ute H165 differential, bolt on Bluebird rear discs, done it to a h190 and h165 should be the same

check my www below for details on both

Yeah dd you're pretty close there ! I have just fitted bluebird rear discs to my coupe with a H145 diff. Not yet hit the track to test them out but the only challenges of note were :
Stupid Datsun idea of retaining axles with the brake backing plate means removal of bearings !! (Bluebird having longer axle means no swappy to 1200 housing)
Disc backing plates bolt straight up
Solid brake line over housing has to be shortened and changed to a single flare end - drum set up uses double flare.
Unless I am mistaken (I cringe at the possible wrath of the dattomasters) the restrictor has to be removed from the drum brake master to allow the necessary increase in line pressure.
USE 14" wheels or better !! I managed (after much searching and stress and cussing) to use 13" but probably out of the realm of any sane person .
Will post some pics soon and let you know how it went.
P.S. Used stanza struts and brakes so it is all a matched set so to speak.
Cheers

Quote:

would that H165 go under a 120Y?

cool, havent heard of them on a 145, yeah your right bout that master cylinder thing, and the rest

you will most likely find you have rear bias, good for rallying but not much else, i found myself pointing 45 degrees to the left today after jumping on the brakes,

someone decided to turn across two lanes when there was a truck stopped in the first lane blocking there view, i was driving at the speed limit down the other lane as it was free and they must have done the ol' "i GUESS no one's coming", lucky i reacted in time or my new gaurds would be toast

moral of the story, the back locked up and tried to overtake the front, need to find me one of those volvo's with the adjustable brake bias valve

well as you will see in the other post (we posted at the same time), you can get the discs on a 145 anyway, but, if your still intrested

im not 100% sure on the 120y but from what ive seen,

the 165 from a ute will be the right width,

if you already have a borg warner the diff locaters on the leafs are diffrent,

if the 120y and 1200 tailshaft are the same length, then a ute tailshaft will work, if not you need to get one made

that said the 165 is a good upgrade

no changes will be required to brake lines etc