LTJ's 1981 DATSUN STANZA (A10) WANNABE RALLY CAR. SOLD and moving.
- Thread starter LukeTheJoker
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Spoke to the automotive engineer a few days ago, looks like changing the Datsun to L20b will require an engineering plate and emissions testing...
Decided the $1000 price tag would be better spent elsewhere on the car, so now I will be fitting the 5 speed to the original low miles L16, still fitting up the bigger radiator and thermo fans though as apparently that can save me 10-15 horsepower.
A little undecided on doing the diff swap now, the L16 will not stress the standard BW68 diff like the L20b would. I might leave the standard diff for the moment and see what I feel when I have driven it a bit with the 5 speed.
Be nice to have the LSD but the added weight and friction of the 8" diff with the smaller motor would actually make the car slower.
The weather has not been kind for working on cars, but I have pulled the flywheel from the donor car as it will be needed now, the L16 uses a 5 bolt flywheel and the L20b uses a 6 bolt, so the ones I had would not have fitted.
Decided the $1000 price tag would be better spent elsewhere on the car, so now I will be fitting the 5 speed to the original low miles L16, still fitting up the bigger radiator and thermo fans though as apparently that can save me 10-15 horsepower.
A little undecided on doing the diff swap now, the L16 will not stress the standard BW68 diff like the L20b would. I might leave the standard diff for the moment and see what I feel when I have driven it a bit with the 5 speed.
Be nice to have the LSD but the added weight and friction of the 8" diff with the smaller motor would actually make the car slower.
The weather has not been kind for working on cars, but I have pulled the flywheel from the donor car as it will be needed now, the L16 uses a 5 bolt flywheel and the L20b uses a 6 bolt, so the ones I had would not have fitted.
Huge bummer. It is ridiculous that the government can juice you for a simple engine swap 
.
Jason
.Jason
Been not well, weather has been cold and my wife has been in hospital, but among all that some progress has been made!
Pulled the donor diff and got it up beside the Hilux diff to see what would be required and it all looks good, so probably will go ahead with the diff swap, I really want that LSD!
Plenty of meat on the axle ends to redrill to 4x114.3 stud pattern and be able to keep the original Stanza brakes, also the centre locating spigot is the same size between the two diffs, so the drums will fit perfectly:
Then things got serious!
Auto is out! As you can see there will have to be some mount changes and driveshaft shortening before the 5 speed goes in.
Pulled the auto pedal box out to compare it to the earlier manual pedal box:
Direct swap, so in it went!
Next step is to finish swapping the manual parts onto the motor (bell housing supports, sandwich plate, flywheel, input shaft bush, clutch, pressure plate, will fit a new rear main seal while I am in there too) and then bolt the 5 speed up to the motor with a jack under the back end to make the mount changes.
There is no direct bolt in mount for this transmission in this car as it is a stronger (and longer) 240K/Bluebird/Maxima 5 speed, not the "Stumpy Dogleg" 5 speed that was an option on these...
Then do the diff mount/brakes swap and bolt it in. I also need to shorten the driveshaft by 130mm and fit a Hilux rear flange, but I have two Stanza shafts and 1 Hilux shaft to work with so that shouldn't be too hard to cut and shut.
Looking forward to hearing that little L16 sing!
Pulled the donor diff and got it up beside the Hilux diff to see what would be required and it all looks good, so probably will go ahead with the diff swap, I really want that LSD!
Plenty of meat on the axle ends to redrill to 4x114.3 stud pattern and be able to keep the original Stanza brakes, also the centre locating spigot is the same size between the two diffs, so the drums will fit perfectly:
Then things got serious!
Auto is out! As you can see there will have to be some mount changes and driveshaft shortening before the 5 speed goes in.
Pulled the auto pedal box out to compare it to the earlier manual pedal box:
Direct swap, so in it went!
Next step is to finish swapping the manual parts onto the motor (bell housing supports, sandwich plate, flywheel, input shaft bush, clutch, pressure plate, will fit a new rear main seal while I am in there too) and then bolt the 5 speed up to the motor with a jack under the back end to make the mount changes.
There is no direct bolt in mount for this transmission in this car as it is a stronger (and longer) 240K/Bluebird/Maxima 5 speed, not the "Stumpy Dogleg" 5 speed that was an option on these...
Then do the diff mount/brakes swap and bolt it in. I also need to shorten the driveshaft by 130mm and fit a Hilux rear flange, but I have two Stanza shafts and 1 Hilux shaft to work with so that shouldn't be too hard to cut and shut.
Looking forward to hearing that little L16 sing!
Thanks Falstaff!
Wow! What a weapon! That looks like too much fun!
Pretty sure that cam will find its way into the L16 at some point, that sound is addictive!
"Next step is to finish swapping the manual parts onto the motor (bell housing supports, sandwich plate, flywheel, input shaft bush, clutch, pressure plate, will fit a new rear main seal while I am in there too) and then bolt the 5 speed up to the motor with a jack under the back end to make the mount changes."
Done all that, will be modifying the mount next.
Done all that, will be modifying the mount next.
5 speed is in and all good! Never done an auto to manual swap before, but it all went well and there were no issues!
Interesting thing was the first drive, I expected the car to have more power, or at least feel faster, but it didn't... In fact it felt like the secondary throat on the carburetor was not opening.
Inspection revealed that was in fact the case, the butterfly was all gummed up and obviously had not worked for some time, so I went and checked the 2 spare carbs I have and they were the same, must be an issue that as the carbs get old the vacuum is not enough to open the second butterfly properly and it just gets worse and worse until it does not open at all.
I came up with a fix though and now the car is a rocket! Watch the video here:
Interesting thing was the first drive, I expected the car to have more power, or at least feel faster, but it didn't... In fact it felt like the secondary throat on the carburetor was not opening.
Inspection revealed that was in fact the case, the butterfly was all gummed up and obviously had not worked for some time, so I went and checked the 2 spare carbs I have and they were the same, must be an issue that as the carbs get old the vacuum is not enough to open the second butterfly properly and it just gets worse and worse until it does not open at all.
I came up with a fix though and now the car is a rocket! Watch the video here:
Nice to see you keeping busy on the few good days we have around our neck of the woods lately. We will have to catch up soon so I can see the progress in person
Updated video with comparative specs versus the Weber DGV 32/36:
How today started, a 2" chambered sports muffler, 3x1 meter lengths of 2" aluminised tube and 2x180 degree mandrel bends:
The day finished with a full 2" mandrel bent exhaust in the car!
Major overkill for a standard 1.6, but leaves options for down the road if I do go to the L20b.
Sounds great on acceleration and at highway speeds but is a bit droney around town, will probably be adding a hotdog muffler in front of the main muffler to help with that.
Original exhaust was 1.75" before the main muffler and dropped to 1.5" over the diff, plus it was press bent and had more bends in total, so this probably flows double what the original one did... Certainly seems to have much more top end and you can feel it pulling in gear to much higher rpm before needing to shift.
Cutting the individual bends out of the 2x180 degree loops was fun, really enjoyed it, but I think I need to borrow someones concrete floor before I do another exhaust job!
Placed the old and new side by side for photos, the extra kick the the front section is to clear the floor as I made it sit up a lot higher and closer to the body for ground clearance:
The day finished with a full 2" mandrel bent exhaust in the car!
Major overkill for a standard 1.6, but leaves options for down the road if I do go to the L20b.
Sounds great on acceleration and at highway speeds but is a bit droney around town, will probably be adding a hotdog muffler in front of the main muffler to help with that.
Original exhaust was 1.75" before the main muffler and dropped to 1.5" over the diff, plus it was press bent and had more bends in total, so this probably flows double what the original one did... Certainly seems to have much more top end and you can feel it pulling in gear to much higher rpm before needing to shift.
Cutting the individual bends out of the 2x180 degree loops was fun, really enjoyed it, but I think I need to borrow someones concrete floor before I do another exhaust job!
Placed the old and new side by side for photos, the extra kick the the front section is to clear the floor as I made it sit up a lot higher and closer to the body for ground clearance:
Thanks Kel!
The exhaust was a bit droney around town, fine on the highway or on acceleration, but annoying in town, so replaced the mid pipe with this today:
12" straight through Resonator/HotDog, I honestly did not think it would make much difference, but it has, much less drone at cruise, but still nice idle and wide open throttle noise.
Very happy!
12" straight through Resonator/HotDog, I honestly did not think it would make much difference, but it has, much less drone at cruise, but still nice idle and wide open throttle noise.
Very happy!
