Small DATSUN Mods

Hi I am Glenn,Im 24 and I live in Perth Western Australia. I decided to dedicate this page to Small Datsun modifications because currently I own 2 small Datsuns. One is a 1972 Datsun 1200 Coupe and the other is a 1976 Datsun 120Y Coupe. At the moment I have stopped doing any more mods to my 1200 so I can concentrate on building the 120Y. The mods listed below I have already completed on the 1200 but I will be taking alot more technical route with the 120Y as I will be fitting an SR20 engine and even more modified suspension and bigger brakes all round.

Suspension
The front suspension on the 1200 was replaced with a good condition Datsun Stanza front end. I used the struts, brakes, lower control arms, track rods and steering arms. The only modifications that had to be done was to increase the threaded portion of the track rods so that the hubs were located in the correct position. The other mods were to increase the size of the holes in the strut towers and the holes in the subframe for the lower control arms. I used the standard Stanza springs but shortened them by about 3.5" to get the required ride height. Also a 22mm K-Mac swaybar was added in place of the original swaybar. Nolathane bushings were used to replace the original rubber ones. The rear suspension required new shocks and the springs to be reset. I added a 16mm K-Mac swaybar using ther complete fitting kit and added a custom made panhard rod which mounts on to the left hand chassis rail and the right hand bump stop rubber plate which had a mounting pin welded to it. All the rubbers were replaced with nolathane bushes.

Brakes

The front brakes were replaced because I found the Stanza brakes were just not up to the job for circuit racing for which I use the car for. The discs were replaced with Toyota Celica vented discs which are bolted to the Stanza hubs. The calipers are a Mercedes Benz cast iron single piston caliper. I used these because I found the aliminium calipers were flexing too much causing the pads to wear on one edge only. The next item to be replaced was the Brake booster and master cylinder. I added a Subaru Sherpa brake booster as there wasnt one fitted and I found that to be the correct size to fit into the tight space were it was going to be fitted. I changed the master cylinder as the internal bore size was too small for the new calipers. I used a Holden Kingswood item as it had the 15/16" internal diameter that I required not 3/4" that the Datsun item had. It is mounted to the booster using a custom made adaptor plate. Using the Holden master cylinder also meant I didnt have to change the brake lines as the fittings use the same imperial thread. The wheels that are currently fitted to the car are 15" Bluebird TRX rims as I now need 15" wheels to clear the brakes.

Gearbox

I currently have a steel case Celica 5speed fitted to the 1200. I changed to this gearbox for the 5th gear and because I destroyed 2nd gear in the original 4speed. The modifications I had to carry out to get this gearbox to fit were numerous. The first thing I did was to remove the old rear mounts from the original gearbox then hammer the left hand side of the transmission tunnel for clearance. A custom bellhousing was made up by cutting the bellhousing off the 4speed and welding an adaptor plate to the bellhousing to suit the 5speed. A new gearbox crossmember was made using a piece of 3"x2" steel tubing. This is mounted to the floor, with a double skin added to the floor to stop the bolts pulling through. A new clutch was fitted but I increased the size from 7" to 8" and lightened the flywheel. The gearshift was shortened so that it didnt sit so high and because if reverse gear was selected the shifter would hit the seat.The shifter also came out in the original hole so no cutting was required. A new tailshaft yoke was fitted to the original tailshaft but a little mishap happened and the rear universal joint sheared 2 lugs off. This meant a new tailshaft had to be made so I used 2 universal joints from a Toyota Hiace van and I havnt had any troubles since.
Engine
I bought the car with the current engine already installed and that is an A15. It had been a very rough conversion so I had to tidy it up a bit. The first thing to be changed was the engine mounts, The left hand mount was the easiest one because all that was needed was a plate welded to the side of the original mount so that it could be brought forward to line up with the crossmember mount. The right hand side was a little trickier because to get the mounts to line up meant removing the fuel pump as it was in the way. I didnt mind because I wanted to fit an electric pump anyway. A plate was welded to the back of the original mount to cover the hole left from the pump being removed then sealed to stop the oil from leaking. The engine it self has only recieved a mild porting job. The original carby was found to be too small so I found a 32,36 DGV Weber and welded an adaptor plate to the original manifold to suit the new carby. While it was being welded I had the water jacket welded up in the manifold as well. A set of Hurricane extractors has been fitted also. A new radiator was also fitted and that was from a Jap import Skyline. The original fan was removed and a thermo fan fitted in front of the radiator.
Misc
I have added a few things that arnt really in any catergory and that is a 14" Momo steering wheel and as Momo dont make a boss kit to suit a 1200 I had to make my own. I cut the splined adaptor off an original steering wheel and added an adaptor to suit the Momo wheel. Ive also added a Pricol Tacho into the original location as the original one decided it didnt want to work any more. Also added were a Pricol electric oil pressure gauge and electric water temp gauge. The battery was relocated to a position behind the passenger seat and a kill switch added. Ive tried at least three sets of wheels until I decided on the 15" TRX rims mainly because there the only ones that now fit over the front brakes but also because they look good. Minor trimming of the front gaurds was required to get the wheels to fit but that did not worry me. A 2" exhaust is now fitted to the car also. I am after some information on a sports version of the 120Y coupe which had round tailights. I have seen a picture of one but it didnt give any details about the car so if anyone has some information such as what engine was fitted and if there are still any around please contact me.

I can be contacted on peaker@geocities.com for information

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