Hi guy's,

I was just wondering if anyone has done a wide body conversion to a 1000 fastback coupe and registered it. also wondered what people have been doing suspension wise on the front to upgrade the existing suspensions parts. Been looking at 15" mags front and rear so I can put nissan 4 spots under the front and go to a really low profile tyre and mini tub the back shifting the leaf springs in slightly. Also wondered if a CA18det conversion has been done at all cause from my calculations a buldge in the bonnet would be needed and a dry sump most likely for it to work. Any info would be greatly appreaciated as I am going to start stripping the car in the next couple of weeks to start the build.

Are you talking about spliting the car diwn the center & widening it, or do you mean that you want to add those bulbous side panels that never seem to look right?

There is not a lot you can do to the front end apart from replacing all the wearing parts. A shock absorber upgrade is always recomended & you may want to remove & reset the spring a little lower, but moderation is the key to success here if it is to be used as a road car.

was actually thinking of pulling the whole side panels out right along the whole side of the car.
basically widen the flat shelf that runs along the windows and across the front guards buy about 30mm on each side which would give me my maximum wider track legally and still keep the 12" tire wells with 15" rims under the back and possible make the arches slightly bigger on the front for the turning circle if required.
The whole job would involve a lot of metal work
as I am not having any bog or fibreglass in the car at all, maybe a little primer filler to finish the project thats all. Do you know if the joints are lead jointed in the dorrs etc, figure it is another problem trying to widen the car also.
Origianlly I was looking at doing the whole flared guard thing but after doing some sketch pictures it wrecks the classic shape to much and there is not many good ones around anymore.
would rather widen it suttially. I also don't want to cut it down the guts because of the front suspension issues and having to get custome screens etc made what a nightmare, and I don't think QLD transport would approve of cutting and shunting like that either.

http://datsun1200.com/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=8187

Are all the front suspension part available off the shelf? and can I just get them through nissan or do I need to get them aftermarket.
as for shock I was just thinking of adjustable konis or something similar.

Sounds to me like you are heading towards an ICV (individually constructed vehicle), which means fairly big $$ for engineering. If you want to go with a CA conversion You are probably going to want to throw away the front end and start from scratch. Some of the racers around may know better, but I seriously doubt if there is anything you can do for that transverse leaf setup for it to work ok if you are going to dump it and put on extra wide rims.

You are also limited to 25mm total track increase, so if you are planning 30mm extra width externally on each side you will also have to find 17.5 mm internally on each side. This probably will not apply if you go for ICV tho.

I'm sure it can all be don, i'ts just a matter of how much you want to spend!!

Looking at that pic you mentioned that wouldn't be too hard but then again I'm not the one doing it. As for the bubble flares I think they look pretty good myself, seen the first pic on the linked page?

The Datsun Cherry Website

Hmmm.. I'm not sure you're qualified to own a KB10!

Why do you want to butcher it?? 15" mags will look like clown shoes on it! Further to this, the 4 spot nissan brake you want to put on it are suited to a RB25 turbo'd 1500kg+ car. Your KB10 weighs in around 700kg ish. Ok, maybe 850kg after the meat works. Why not use Dattoman's KB10 brake upgrade kit and put some 13's or 14's on it ???

Quote:

it does sound like overkill!!! like the stoppers etc

like most things if it was reasonable easy , cost effective chances are it would have been done but if you want to do something different then i say go for it

Clowns shoes is a personal opinion.
Personally I think 15's fit the arches just right.


Wide body would be cool but dont over look good looking flares either.



Regardless of the replies this will receive from the uneducated who like to tell you what you are allowed without themselves even knowing, I will tell you.

Body Mods;
The wide body mod of which you describe is allowed in modified production rego (simple) Body mods of this kind only become questionable for registration when it can not easily be determined visually what make and model the vehicle is.
Wheel Track;
In stock form you can only increase wheel track by the above stated amount.
Change stub axles and diff and then wheel track limit is taken off the donor vehicle wheel track minus how far the components are brought in when fitted to the new vehicle. So you can legally have any wheel track you like registered in mod production aslong as you follow the guidelines given by the DOT.
If you think this is incorrect, I recommend you read the guidelines clearly. If you still have trouble reading it, I can cut and paste it to show you.
Transverse Leaf Front;
Rob Souter,
Greg Sutherland,
Jeff Taylor,
John Taylor and the list can go on.
All these people have raced 1000's with this fronted design and seem to have done well.
I believe Qik1000 also still uses this design.
I also believe there is infact little that you need to do to this design to make it work good.
The above names speaks for itself to me.
No ICV class rego required.
The 1000 below runs a CA18 and QLD seems to be able to mod plate any size motor.




At the end of the day, its only a car, and its yours. Start cutting it up. Dont be a sheep.

woah! chill out big guy, lets be friends.

like I said some of you may know better. ICV was in reference to starting from scratch with the front end. If the stock setup work well then that's bloody brilliant!

I was actually wondering if I can use the nissan vannette transverse leaf front which I have been told is a little wider more suited to the 1200 datto width which would be ideal as it widens the track and means I can put a hilux rear end in it to suit the same width and re stud hopefully to a standard nissan 5 stud pattern.. Not sure about track width though off the donor vehicle my understanding was it could only be 25mm no matter what. I would love to meet some guy's if any that are in brisbane or near by that have done any improvements to their suspension in the front to know what they are up to. was going to try and make it to the wednesday night meeting at harry's diner. as for widening the body it is only a cosemetic change as I have been told and will not affect road worthy. as I am going to put a cage in it I am also not worried about any weaking it might do. I figure the car could increase close to 850-900+ kg's by the time I wide body put ca and larger diff's gearbox and cage etc in it so would prefer big brakes, everyone knows that you can over size to a point and the car won't stop any quicker but I would rather oversize than undersize and always wonder is I could of had more braking power. I already have the brakes sitting in my lounge to use but if it is to hard then I may go down Bens track and stick willwoods or something lighter on it. Went to the motor show today and it inspired me to be radical and build my mini super car