jfbrink

@]2eDeYe - The ID of the Geo Metro rotor hat is 137mm. The distance from the inner mounting surface of the hat to the inboard face of the rotor is about 44mm. The rotor is 17mm thick.

Black/Yellow to Start terminal Black/White to Ignition terminal White to Battery terminal The terminals are marked with little raised letters on the black plastic backing.

Sorry, I recently had to change the directory structure on my website, and a lot of links broke. I just fixed it.

This is exciting. Do you think you could provide factory part numbers on the components so that we can see if any of these bits and pieces are available on US market cars? It doesn't seem that any of these models have US equivalents, but hopefully the parts bin knows no borders. I'm very interested to see how the fit goes with the 10" rotors inside 13" wheels. The RL411 rotors are about 8.75" and the Metro/Swift rotors are just over 9". I'm doing using a Metro setup on my '68 Corona Coupe, and they BARELY clear the wheel interior, and I don't really see how one could gain an extra 1/2" in the caliper design. Here's what I'm doing on my Corona, just for reference:

Hi, This detail from my wiring diagram should help with both the plug and the switch. The wiper switch works by distributing ground, as opposed to distributing power. NOTE: You are looking at the wires going INTO THE BACK of the plug. You are NOT looking at the spades from the front of the plug. Also note the locating tab at top. Best, Jesse.

Ken, Knowing what it looks like will probably be of no help whatsoever, because it looks like madness: Jesse.

@raceneelly - Yes, exactly. It is my daily driver, now. I have put hundreds of city/highway miles on it in the two months that it's been back on the road.

The beauty of the G13BB engine is that it is distributorless coil-on-plug. The distributor on the G13A (Samurai) and G13B (twincam) does stick out for miles, and I figured why come up with my own ignition system when I can go stock with the G13BB. I do love those Swift GTi engines, though, and this little Datsun would really scoot with that extra 30ish HP. By the way, all the G13 engines bolt right up to the RWD Samurai transmission with no fuss. Best, Jesse.

To continue the hijack of my own thread, just before I started the swap, I came up with this engine mount solution, using a set of mounts that a custom mount guy wrecked by fusing 90A+ off-the-shelf rubber pads to the stock 411 metal. I went with this approach because it just seemed way easier than fabricating analogs to these ridiculous shapes myself. I have a lot of latent anger about the complexity of these J13 mounts. I don't know how smooth this simplified result would run but I figured it would be in the neighborhood of good given that the rubber pads are from MGs using essentially the same engine. These MG pads are 55/60A. The two metal plates would get two holes drilled in each for the upper studs of the MG mount and be welded into the upper portions of the stock mount at the positions indicated by the red sharpie lines. Best, Jesse.

The engine bay on the 411 is so darn short, front to back, that you find yourself losing the wiper motor, putting fans in front of the radiator and generally getting goofy way too fast, even my G13BB, which is the shortest modern I4 I could find out there, required a 1/2" pocket for the cam end. The right V-6 is way easier, because I find the width far less of a challenge. I've done a lot of Datsun drive train swaps, which always include all new electrical, fuel and brake systems, and each tends to take several years of planning, one year of building and about $2500-$3000. A lot of that price comes from the two things I don't do myself: driveshaft ($300) and exhaust ($200-300). I only buy major components from the JY on 1/2 price day. I fab a lot of stuff. I move very, very slowly to try to avoid having to do things more than once. For people who find my Suzuki G13BB 1.3L swap too tame, let me know that it is relatively easy for less than $1K to add a AMR-500 supercharger to the engine. The blower basically bolts right to the stock A/C bracket. Just add aftermarket ECU and a small intercooler (and plenty of AMR-500 folks skip the intercooler). I was going to do it, but I ended up liking the car tame and gave the S/C to my dad for his G10 3-cylinder. For people who find my Suzuki G13BB 1.3L swap too tame, but who want to stay N/A, I think this K8/KL V-6 swap I'm working on is going to be the sh*t. Test fitting indicated that no body mods will be necessary with a Miata 5-speed attached. I may need to massage the tunnel on my wagon, which did not have factory A/T, now that I am putting an automatic on the V-6. I will have to heavily modify the center section of the crossmember, but that's really not a big deal. Steering will stay the same; heater box and wiper motor can stay the same. I'll use stock 411 A/T shifter components to retain column shift, because that's how A/Ts should be shifted. Best, Jesse.

@SwedishCadillac, et al. - I'm sorry, I replied about the V6 weeks ago, but I must have never clicked "Post". I'm using a 1.8L Mazda K8 V-6, the little brother to the more famous KL-DE 2.5L V-6. It was an upgrade option in Mazda MX-3s. I'm building a custom intake (really just an aluminum box) and running it with a MegaSquirt ECU from Stratified. For transmission, I'm going with a JATCO 4N71B four-speed A/T, sourced from a second gen RX-7, to give me a rear-facing starter. I've designed a 1/2" adapter plate to join the engine and transmission. I was going to use a Miata 5-speed, but my vision for this build became making the wagon a cruiser. I will probably even put A/C in it, if I can fit a Vintage Air mini unit up in that tiny dash space (I think I can). Here is the engine sitting in my mock-up car: @difrangia, et al. - On the topic of motor mounts, I've cast a few of my own, and I've had "professionals" cast them for me, and the durometer (hardness) is a real issue. The stock ones appear to have been about 50/55A and I've found the 411 is very sensitive to anything harder than that. By "sensitive" I mean it's a crappy, vibrating, rattling mess at all RPM with harder mounts.

Hi, I'm thinking about moving the engine and trans from my '67 J13-engined wagon to my '68 J13-engined truck. They seem to weigh the same, and I don't mind losing the insanely low first gear on the truck in exchange for a slightly bored, newly-rebuilt J13 and a trans that has all its synchros working and shifts more tightly than a pot ladle. My question is, can someone tell me off the top of their head if there are any driveshaft length or spline issues I could expect on this move? Otherwise, it seems like I would end up with a truck that smokes less, leaks less and drives like my wagon. Thanks, Jesse.

@MikeRL411 - The battery is in the trunk -- a small AGM unit from a Miata -- with the cable running from a circuit breaker, up the C pillar, along the roof channel and down the A pillar. I moved the horns to clear the radiator, which is wider than stock. Some arbitrary process photos.... 1. The empty engine bay shows the small pocket I had to make to clear the cam angle sensor housing. The engine had plenty of room in front, but the transmission face would hit the steering cross shaft if I moved it farther forward. It also shows the two mounting pads I welded to the crossmember. 2. I mounted the transmission by turning the stock 411 trans crossmember upside down and welding a custom pad to it that fits the oddly-shaped stock Suzuki Samurai mount. 3. This is a 96/97 Geo Tracker oil pan extensively modified to clear the 411 crossmember and steering rod. It still has sufficient capacity below the anti-aeration plate. 4. Cooling hose layout was tough, as this is one of those modern engines that expects constant flow through the heater lines. The valve shown provides that flow without sending continuous water through the heater core the way most modern cars do. 5. Although the "hot" water outlet is out the back of the block on the G13BB as installed in the Chevy Metro, the block has an outlet in the front, which is how it is routed as a G13B in the Suzuki Samurai. Since I had very little room in the back, I modified my intake manifold to make use of the front outlet, with a tube and face that the stock Chevy Metro thermo housing bolts to. 6. Just a cool hook loop I made for the front right of the engine. The stock loop wouldn't fit with my new coolant outlet. 7. The Suzuki Samurai has a cable clutch, so I made a bracket, and push rod adapter to allow the use of a 510 clutch slave and master. 8. The fuel injection pump required a sump, which I successfully approximated by locating the pump pick-up in a sunken part of the stock tank and adding a baffle panel. The little panel mounts to a threaded hole I tapped into the BSPT plug I used to seal the stock fuel outlet bung. You can also see in the lower right that I had to clearance the top of the stock baffles to accommodate the Honda fuel pump carrier. That's it for now... Jesse.

@flatcat19 - I spent a lot of time at the Pick-a-Part measuring engines. The engine bay in the 411 is super short. And, I am not interested in cast iron blocks, which ruled out a lot of options. Two engines I liked were the Suzuki G series and the GM Ecotec. Both are compact, but the Ecotec has a big protrusion in the block right where the steering box is. It also had the hassle of CANBUS delete and expensive RWD transmission options. That left the G13BB in the 1998-2001 Metro, which is OBD-II, but pre-CANBUS, and the Suzuki Samurai transmission simply bolts directly to it (with a Samurai flywheel, clutch and starter). Super easy and affordable. I got the engine, with ECU and harness for $232 at Pick-a-Part and the transmission with output shaft, starter plate and shifter for $200 off Craigslist. @thisismatt - Thanks. I think it's kind of a pretty engine, and I tried to make it look like it belonged in there.

@Draker - Thanks! @Lockleaf - I know, it all sounds ridiculous. Chevy Metro? Suzuki Samurai? Same power and torque as stock? On paper, I'm doing it wrong. But, for the cost of rebuilding my dead 50-year-old J13 sewing machine, I got a car that drives nicer than any of three cars the parts came from. It's like a Datsun 411 manufactured in 2001. Mind you, as much as I love this swap, I'm putting a V-6 in my 411 wagon. Jesse.

Hi, I thought I would share the engine swap that I recently completed. I got a Suzuki G13BB engine from 2001 Chevy Metro, bolted it to a 5-speed transmission from a 1987 Suzuki Samurai and mounted it in the car with custom brackets and three stock Samurai mounts. While I was at it, I re-plumbed and re-wired the entire car, from end to end. The result is wonderful to drive. Super smooth and quiet at all speeds. I can actually listen to the RetroSound head unit I installed, now. The engine power/torque specs are almost identical to the stock 1.3L, but the engine/trans combo weight about 200lbs. less, and neither is 50 years old, so the car is much zippier and gets 35mpg around town. I made three short videos, which are linked below. I plan to put together a build page at some point, but in the meantime I'm happy to answer questions, here. Engine Video Interior Video Trunk Video

I removed the bolts for the rear cab mounts on my newly-purchased '68 this week and found this: The pair in the front of the cab was even worse, and the pair at the front of the engine was not very good. I was really surprised, as this is essentially a rust-free truck with a super clean underside. It seems like the rubber must be absorbent and just rots the heck out of the bolts. Check yours today! I replaced all the bolts with new grade 8 hardware. For under the cab, I used 7/16" x 4". The shoulder where the threads end matches the shoulder on the stock bolt. The front pair was 3/8" x 2-1/2". For lower cushions, I used a quartet of 40mm x 30mm rubber isolators. If you search for "40mm 3mm rubber isolator" on eBay or Amazon they will come up. The dimensions are almost exact to stock (Diameter: 1.6" x Height: 1.2" vs. 1.5" x 1.25"), but I especially like that the durometer, at 55A, also matches stock. In addition, they have fused metal plates at top and bottom, like stock. They do require slight modification. They come with an M8 threaded hole in the center. I drilled this out, in two stages, first with a 5/16" bit and then with a 7/16" bit. You might not need two stages, but I was worried about tearing the plates loose. Hope this is helpful to someone. Best, Jesse.

8. RUBBER PANEL PLUGS / CUSTOM GROMMETS I've had a hard time sourcing rubber panel plugs for all the different size holes in the 411. I wanted to order from one source so that they would have a uniform look. I finally found this guy in Florida who sells on eBay as DanGoodBuy. Nice quality plugs in all the sizes we need, with uniform profiles, if different thickness ratios. Buying the full count needed for engine bay and trunk cost about $42, with free shipping. I did not order new passenger floor plugs, although I probably should have. Here is my count. You'll probably want to confirm this before ordering: (6) 1/4" (2) 1/2" (6) 3/4" (6) 1-1/8" (1) 1-1/4" (1) 1-3/8" And, here is a pic of what I got: Finally, here is a pic of a 3/4" that I punched a hole through to make an air-tight seal on my hood release cable:

Yeah, that's exactly the mess I'm hoping to avoid. I should probably just try to slide the box and shaft forward and out as a unit. Jesse.

Hello, I'm going to remove my steering box and shaft so that I can paint the engine bay before putting my new engine in. Do I simply remove the three bolts mounting the box to the "frame rail" and the three bolts holding the shaft to the box? The linkage is already off, as that makes moving the engine in-and-out much easier. Thanks, Jesse.

The narrowed crossmember looks clean. Do you think you'll miss having rubber isolators between the subframe and the unibody?

I like where you're going with this, but I'm wondering what your plans are for the upper strut mounts. Obviously, there's nothing structural anywhere near where they will end up on the 411. They also intrude into the engine bay a fair amount. I modeled doing this with a Geo Metro front end (light, cheap, narrrow, same bolt patter as 411) and the center of the struts at the top was 18" from the centerline of the car. By the time you have sufficent structure up there, a dual brake master cylinder is getting crowded and the battery is somewhere else. Best, Jesse.

So, I finally ordered this weatherstrip off eBay, based on the quality of the window seals I've bought from these guys and the characterization here that it was "pretty nice". THAT WAS A MISTAKE. The product provided is a completely generic profile that only "fits" the car if you do not use any the front and back kick plates and the rear wheel arch trim. Stock W/S on top: Also, it's so narrow compated to the stock profile that it probably won't seal much. It's at least 1/4" inset relative to stock. I suspect you would be better off with the short-lived JC solution discussed in this thread: http://community.ratsun.net/topic/35766-3-universal-weatherstrip-solutions/?p=549166 Best, Jesse.

I had stock Roadster springs on my '66 411 and it was not dart-y on the freeway or surface streets. I wonder about those two alignment jobs? The only thing I didn't like about them was the high butt. I'm planning to go back to them once I get around to making blocks to lower the rear. Jesse.

I made cardboard extensions to mock up the three different door lengths illustrated above. The stock 2-door door appears to be 40.25" long (RaceNeely care to confirm?), which is 5.5" longer than the 4-door, and seems pretty long when I interact with it in real life. My mid-length door is 42.5", which just seems insanely long in real life, although it makes rear entry a treat. I also did some tests to see if the rear quarter windows had room to retract. The answer is a "barely" yes in all three sizes, either winding down or pivoting in the lower front corner. No luck, yet, in finding a contact at Nissan Heritage or Nissan USA from whom to seek more photos. I wonder if the parade cars even had tops? Jesse.