Hi,
I have a B210 120Y sedan which I am restoring for club autocross, rally sprinting and the odd tarmac event.
I'm looking to build some struts and I have a pair of Sumitomo iron calipers and 200b struts to begin with. Any recommendations on a good setup? Unfortunately most info out there is to suit heavier 510's, though I am planning to run an L20b.
The local track is relatively smooth and my current club car, an LS1 VX doesn't bottom being lowered, so lowering a little is desired.
I'm considering a budget setup of Z31 KYB's, shortened struts and a perhaps King springs (ideal PN #???) or a coil over setup with perhaps a 175lb spring, but I'm wondering if this is 'over shocking' the front?
I'm also wondering about Bilstein setups that work and any info on Commodore strut tube conversions. Any words of wisdom for our light cars is much appreciated.
Rob

I would use the stock 120Y struts. They are the lightest weight, Light weight = faster as long as it doesn't break. And the small struts have proven tough.

There are two 120Y struts:
* Early 1973-1975 with small spindles and big bearings
* Late 1976-1978 with large spindles and small bearings

Either one can be easily shortened. Use the Nissan Pulsar or Golf strut insert shocks for a low-low height. See Shortening Struts section "shock inserts"

The Sumitomo calipers use adapter (Toyoda Hilux calipers, Nissan MK63 calipers, etc.).

If you were to use a B310/A10/810/910/280ZX strut, it has the 3.5" caliper bolt spacing of the Sumitomos already (no apapter needed). See 4-piston Calipers. I would not recommend 510/610/240Z struts as they have less negative kingpin angle. of course with camber tops you can compensate for the older struts, so it is do-able, but the newer ones are better to start with

Quote:Ah, the 200B is Datsun Model 810, it's a good strut although a little heavy for the 120Y it'll work fine. The sumitomos bolt right on the 3.5" caliper bolt pattern. There is some information about swapping these struts, see 810 Strut Swap

If you decide to use the 120Y struts, you can use S13 Silvia or RS13 180SX rotor & caliper, bolt-on, no machining needed

My B210 is an early 1976 Jap spec car with H150 etc. I picked up a late model Borg Warner diff for something a bit stronger and I have a few spare centres to weld up before building a proper shortened LSD diff. I picked up the 810 for the L20b and I will stitch on some engine mounts (from a wrecked Stanza, 610 cross members are not so common any more...). I plan to use the 810 struts as I'm considering club registering the car, and not having adapters etc for brakes simplifies engineering certification in Victoria, Australia. I'm also thinking 2" struts opens up a few extra options for inserts and coil over kits.
What springs are common use with the VW Golf/Rabbit Bilsteins in shortened struts?

If you use the Stanza engine uprights, try & find some engine brackets from a fuel injected R30 Skyline. These are shorter/lower then the Stanza brackets, so they lower the motor & give clearance on the bonnet. I know with my Sunnys , the L20B will hit the bonnet, but the Skyline brackets should fix this. I don't know if it's all R30 Skylines. If you can find a H165 1200 ute, this will be comparable to the Corolla BW centre & a lot stronger than the standard BW housing. A H190 diff from a 720 diff would take anything you could throw at it, but would need a change to 4 studs. One of the fellows at my local Parts Place has a 120Y sedan with an FJ20 turbo motor with a Hi-Lux diff, Maybe you should look at one of these. I always thought that if you were willing, you could use the H190 diff housing from a C20 Vanette with the axle tubes from a 1200 ute housing cut & shut to the correct width. Would get you an alloy centre with the correct centre to centre width. If you haven't found it yet, try & find l18_B110's project build up, or trb012's here & on Ozdat.

Good info on the differing L20B engine brackets. A lot of guys here use the thinner L16 insulator, they are thinner than the L20B insulators

LSD with a Borg Warner? Very rare for the 120Y Borg Warner. Is the one you got a GM or Nissan R31 diff (Borg Warner 78)? that's a lot stronger than H190 -- they came in V8 Camaros here in USA and the chevy guys say they are plenty strong

My longer term plan is to just shorten a H190 from perhaps an S12 or Bluebird. I've considered shortening an R31 BW78 but the factory LSD's are crap - stuck with spending $2500 on a KAAZ and only upto 4.11 gears are commonly available. I worked for a company (PRB/Birkin) that used BW68 diffs in their clubman/Lotus 7 live axle car and we had some LSD's custom built, but that too was stupidly expensive.
I have a lathe so I can clean up axle flanges if shortening a diff by that method. (I hate cutting threads - not too interested in DIY coil overs...).
Thanks for the heads up on engine mounts. I weld chromoly 2WD extreme off road buggies for a work, so I can get a little creative with the TIG/MIG to help the motor fit.
I may consider converting my 810 struts to 54mm Commodore tubes by boring the stubs out on my mill and welding the extracted Commodore tubes in. Considering running Commodore KYB Exel-G's at around $130 a pair whilst saving to buy a set of valved Commodore Bilsteins. I read the larger Bilsteins are great for longer events as they have a larger piston and don't overheat quickly - though currently my longest rally sprint run is around 7 minutes. Hmmm

Interesting.

Someone last week was saying that the Commodore strut inserts fit into Datsun 2" strut tubes ... but they are not very short. See 2-inch Strut Inserts

Interesting fact about some aftermarket Commodore strut inserts fitting Datsun 2" struts. I think the bigger 54mm tubes (probably not disimilar to late 260Z and 280Z struts) are required to fit bigger Bilstein inserts.

I'll take some pics of the KYB Commy shock in a stanza strut tomorrow if you like, I forgot to when I took all the measurements.