LTJ's 1981 DATSUN STANZA (A10) WANNABE RALLY CAR. SOLD and moving.
- Thread starter LukeTheJoker
- Start date
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Don't know what I'm doing, gonna do it anyway.
Good thinking on making that diagram easy to find, I'm sure someone else will need it. I know I was thankful to the guy that posted one for Indian mopeds.
Went in for it's first roadworthy check today, got knocked back on two small rust holes in the mufflers, contaminated brake fluid and a scratched windscreen.
Not too bad I suppose for such an old car, I was surprised by the windscreen, as you could barely see the scratches, but driving home into the setting sun, I see the point!
Welded up the mufflers when I got home, it is booked in for a new screen tomorrow ($260 fitted, not too bad) and the garage quoted me $60 to change out the brake fluid, seems reasonable, so I will let them handle that, better than me lying on my back and getting my wife to pump the brake pedal over and over!
Should be all passed by this time tomorrow! Was great driving it into town and back today, drives really nice!
Luke.
Not too bad I suppose for such an old car, I was surprised by the windscreen, as you could barely see the scratches, but driving home into the setting sun, I see the point!
Welded up the mufflers when I got home, it is booked in for a new screen tomorrow ($260 fitted, not too bad) and the garage quoted me $60 to change out the brake fluid, seems reasonable, so I will let them handle that, better than me lying on my back and getting my wife to pump the brake pedal over and over!
Should be all passed by this time tomorrow! Was great driving it into town and back today, drives really nice!
Luke.
Sure would like to find a solid old car like yours, Luke.
With our winters and all the salt - many cars rot away before the mechanical s quit.
Would be expensive keeping some of my old vehicles going if I had to pass such a thorough inspection as you have...
With our winters and all the salt - many cars rot away before the mechanical s quit.
Would be expensive keeping some of my old vehicles going if I had to pass such a thorough inspection as you have...
Thankfully in our state it only has to be checked this one time while I have it, when the time comes to sell it, it will need to be checked again before being re-registered.Sure would like to find a solid old car like yours, Luke.
With our winters and all the salt - many cars rot away before the mechanical s quit.
Would be expensive keeping some of my old vehicles going if I had to pass such a thorough inspection as you have...
It is in surprisingly good condition, really got a good one, old Datsuns are usually pretty bad for rust over here too!
Cant wait to drop the L20b and 5 speed into it, going to be nice!
Luke.
Everything fixed! The car now has it's roadworthy cert, and I have an appointment on Friday to do the rego, so all good!
Luke.
Cold start video:
Luke.
Luke.
Amazing how most Datsun 4 cylinders sound similar, no matter what engine family they come from!
Luke.
Luke.
It is registered!
Went in to do the rego stuff and I have to drive it up to the inspection bay to check the numbers, so I go to get the car and see a nice puddle of coolant under the motor, split pump bypass hose, no big issue only a small split but annoying.
Drive it up to the bay, they check the numbers, I go and pay the bill and then fit the plates to the car and then it wont start!
I jumped the starter with the spanner I was using for the numberplate bolts, a quick trip to the parts store for a hose and some coolant and a stop in at @kelvin hahnel's place to change out the hose, then Kel fiddled with the wire to the starter and it is all good again!
Annoying that it happened, but actually it was fun... This is a car I can actually work on and enjoy it!
Luke.
Went in to do the rego stuff and I have to drive it up to the inspection bay to check the numbers, so I go to get the car and see a nice puddle of coolant under the motor, split pump bypass hose, no big issue only a small split but annoying.
Drive it up to the bay, they check the numbers, I go and pay the bill and then fit the plates to the car and then it wont start!
I jumped the starter with the spanner I was using for the numberplate bolts, a quick trip to the parts store for a hose and some coolant and a stop in at @kelvin hahnel's place to change out the hose, then Kel fiddled with the wire to the starter and it is all good again!
Annoying that it happened, but actually it was fun... This is a car I can actually work on and enjoy it!
Luke.
My first car was an early 1970 240Z ("240Z" on the C-pillar and "DATSUN" badges on the lower front fender) and I later had a small-bumper 1974 260Z (about mid-year in the US, they switched to the bulky 280Z-size).
I didn't go through all the pages to find about the LSD, but is yours a solid axle? If it's independent, Subaru used the same rear ends, which may help you. They have 3.545, 3.7, and 3.9 VLSDs. The 3.7 came on GL/Leone RX Turbo, 3.9 on the Legacy/Liberty turbos, and various 3.545 and 3.9s on WRXs and there may be other combos as well (I think there might have been 4.11 or 4.44 in Japan). The earlier diffs may be easier as the later changed the inboard axle connection from internal to external (or the other way around, it's been a while since I've followed this stuff).
I didn't go through all the pages to find about the LSD, but is yours a solid axle? If it's independent, Subaru used the same rear ends, which may help you. They have 3.545, 3.7, and 3.9 VLSDs. The 3.7 came on GL/Leone RX Turbo, 3.9 on the Legacy/Liberty turbos, and various 3.545 and 3.9s on WRXs and there may be other combos as well (I think there might have been 4.11 or 4.44 in Japan). The earlier diffs may be easier as the later changed the inboard axle connection from internal to external (or the other way around, it's been a while since I've followed this stuff).
This one is the later model with the solid rear axle. I have sourced a Toyota 'G' series diff for it that I can easily get a 4.1 ratio LSD for, but after doing research on my current diff I found my car has the Australian BW68 diff and it is strong enough for what I want to do anyway, no LSD's available for them though, so with probably do the engine swap and drive it around for a bit before deciding on the diff change or not.
The Toyota diff is much heavier and uses more power to push, so if I don't need it, I wont bother...
Luke.
Interesting, I burned out my corporate gm 1/2 ton axle in my 84 Suburban pulling horses and thru in a 1 ton dana axle from a 76 chev pickup. Awesome ! better traction, quieter and upgrade to bigger brakes, rims and tires!
Been doing more research on brakes, turns out I have the model with the better front callipers than most, in fact these are the callipers most 'upgrade' to!
Might just pick up some slotted discs and some kevlar pads and call the front end brakes done! Still thinking about discs for the rear though...
Luke.
Might just pick up some slotted discs and some kevlar pads and call the front end brakes done! Still thinking about discs for the rear though...
Luke.
Test fitted up the rims that came with it:
They look pretty good, think I would still prefer to run 15" black steel wheels though...
Luke.
They look pretty good, think I would still prefer to run 15" black steel wheels though...
Luke.
Something special turned up while we were out today:
I have plans for this!
It is a tailgate from a Datsun 720, they are surprisingly hard (and expensive) to find, I guess the rust kills most of them. The NISSAN stamped ones are available after-market, but not the DATSUN ones. As you can see this one is pretty rusty anyway, but it is only the raised letters I want from it, but with it being so rusty I don't mind cutting it up...
This will be a bit of a longer term project, but it should be good!
Luke.
I have plans for this!
It is a tailgate from a Datsun 720, they are surprisingly hard (and expensive) to find, I guess the rust kills most of them. The NISSAN stamped ones are available after-market, but not the DATSUN ones. As you can see this one is pretty rusty anyway, but it is only the raised letters I want from it, but with it being so rusty I don't mind cutting it up...
This will be a bit of a longer term project, but it should be good!
Luke.
Just going to leave this pic here:
Updates sometime in the future...
Luke.
Updates sometime in the future...
Luke.
