'78 B210 - New daily driver

[nukeday]

Been in a bit of a spot with my daily driver, even at my independent Saab mechanic it needs somewhere between $300 - $700 worth of work to get the bugs out of it. Some of the work I could possibly do myself, but I don't have the tools to do the front wheel bearings, or the confidence to do the impending head gasket or the leaking exhaust manifold gasket (it's a factory turbo).

 

After wrenching on the 521, and gushing about how much I was enjoying it, my wife and I got to talking about her first car. Dorothy. I'd been looking for a match for some time, but not with any sense of seriousness. Her's was an automatic, but when I showed her a local ad, she said 'Let's go get it, but you have to paint it blue. And I want those honeycomb wheel things.'

 

The Saab goes on the CL block tomorrow, after I clean it up. Guess I have a new daily driver, and a serious case of 'who wears the pants?'...lol :D

 

Here's our new addition:

 

 

Here's the description from the ad, and after inspecting it and driving it home 50 miles, it's pretty accurate. Hard to tell in these photos, but it's light yellow.

 

78 Datsun B210 2dr cpe. A14 engine 1400cc. 4sp manual trans. Fresh clutch. Fresh head job. New rings. Runs fine. Has matched set of American Race Engineering mag wheels, probably worth more than the car. Reasonable tires. Getting about 32 mpg right now. Needs some adjusting and would get about 38 mpg like it did before. I have too many vehicles and don't have the time. I've been driving it. It's a rat and beat up, but good cheap transportation.

 

It's not quite as beat up as the description makes it sound. It's really unmolested, but a bit neglected body/interior wise. It's got a little bit of rust in the tire well and the passenger floor board and it's going to need window gaskets all over. Otherwise, it did 70 mph down I-5 just fine.

 

I'm still shaking my head. This thing is categorically a buggy cart compared to the Saab. :blink: On the other hand, I actually do have enough skill to fix it if it breaks.

 

More pics and stuff tomorrow...

Edited July 2, 2009 by nukeday

[ggzilla]

70 mph and 32 mpg. Not bad for old technology. Welcome to Ratsun, Sunny corp.

 

My B110 daily driver got 38 mpg at one time, but not now, I think there is a problem with the carb. It runs pretty good so I'm not too worried

[fisch]

Congrats Nuke!

[nukeday]

Tried to clean this bugger up today, but ran out of time. Got it about 70% 'detailed'. I really wanted to put the powerball to it, but it was just too hot, and I didn't have anywhere to do it under cover. So, I did all the polishing by hand. It takes too long, but it came out ok.

 

Here's where I started: (For those of you not in the PNW, that green stuff is MOSS...)

 

 

 

 

 

 

You get the idea.

 

Here it is after about 6 hours of work. I didn't get started until after lunch, and took a break in the middle to jump in the pool with the kids:

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, I cheated and posted the 'good' side in that last shot.

 

Got lots of questions and some other tidbits I found missing/broken. Thanks for checking in. This car runs really well, thinking I may take it out for a spin right now...:D

 

Oh, and one more, I couldn't resist...

 

[b210in]

welcome nuke, cool little bee you got. if you need some extra parts let me know, i got a little of this and a little of that. what are your plans for the car>?

[datzenmike]

...but when I showed her a local ad, she said 'Let's go get it, but you have to paint it blue. And I want those honeycomb wheel things.'

 

 

 

Just for you honey.

http://forum.ratsun.net/showthread.php?t=11717

 

I have a soft spot for the B-210. I bought a new '76 and managed twice to get the mileage below 30! That took some doing. On a trip out west it was in the mid 40s. Alas the Ontario winter salt quickly dissolved it.

Edited July 3, 2009 by datzenmike

[Pacific coast Datsun]

Wow she really cleaned up nice. Good score..what was the final price?

[nukeday]

b210in - I do need a few tidbits, inner cup for inside door handle, the little plastic covers for the bolt on the pop out windows, and a lever or handle for the defrost/heater control...

 

Plans for the car are to recreate my wife's first car. I think we'll leave it a stick, but she had an automatic. Her's was blue, but we can't seem to find a picture of it. We saw an early Luv the other day and she said it was about the same color blue, sort of a light blue. Other than straightening out some dimples and a repaint, she wants steelies with the honeycomb wheel covers. It's going to need either new seats or repair on the driver's seat, front and rear window gaskets, and a bit of rust work on the pass side floor. Nothing too exciting, we just plan to drive it...

 

datzenmike - I've got a PM in on those, thanks. The PO said I should retune the dizzy to get more MPG's. I've got a '78 B210 Factory service manual coming for it. I've been messing with E and J series engines, so I'm not sure what I'm looking at on this one.

 

PCD - It looks better in the pics than it does for real, but the paint did pull up pretty good. I had been saving up to have the Saab fixed, but bought this car instead. I paid $450.

 

More to come. I need to get a really good look at the floors and see what to do about the rust. I know there are leaks around the antenna mounting holes, where the B210 flank badges go, and around the lower part of the rear window. Now is the time to weatherproof the car or it won't be worth having come rainy season. Obviously, there is no sense fixing the floor if water is still coming in somewhere. This car has a complete rubber floor mat, so it should be pretty easy to pull it all up and get to work.

[KELMO]

Nuke,

That looks like it did clean up quite well. The cup behind the door handle, is it chrome or color coded plastic?

Also, you may be able to find the paint color at 1200.com in their wiki, think I remember seeing one and could be a close match.

[nukeday]

kelmo - Thanks! I'm still a bit confused as to the B210's relationship to the 1200 Sunny. I'll do some more research on that.

 

The door cup on the passenger side has been replaced at some point, and it is green plastic. The one on the driver side is missing.

 

Also, there is a chrome trim piece that goes under the rear pop out on the driver's side that is missing, you can see that it's missing in the first photo, and in the quarter panel clean up shot. It's there on the pass side, which you can also see in the last photo. I'm guessing that might be a tough item to track down.

 

I found a heater box on ebay, and it's missing one of the handles for the fan switch. Is this a common 'breakage' item? In this car my suspicions are that just the handle is missing, and the mechanism works fine. I'll have to take it apart to find out. I could do without the defrost being on all the time, especially in 90+ degree heat...

[datzenmike]

The PO said I should retune the dizzy to get more MPG's. I've got a '78 B210 Factory service manual coming for it. I've been messing with E and J series engines, so I'm not sure what I'm looking at on this one.

 

 

There's not much you can do for better mileage. Check and set the timing to stock advance or very basically as advanced as posible without pinging under load. Rev the motor with the timing light on and observe about 30-35 degrees advance at about 3,000 RPMs. Take the cap off and suck on the vacuum advance hose... the rotor should advance 3/4" or so and hold position untill vacuum released. This will check the vacuum advance hose and cannister on the dizzy side for air leaks. That's about it, if all checks out you are getting the max out of it.

[Bleach]

One of those years the B210 advertised 50mpg. I was thinking at 55mph you should be getting 40-45mpg though. 50 is a bit of an exaggeration.

[b210in]

One of those years the B210 advertised 50mpg. I was thinking at 55mph you should be getting 40-45mpg though. 50 is a bit of an exaggeration.

 

 

ratsun member blown310 easily surpassed 50mpg on stock parts.

[ggzilla]

50 is a bit of an exaggeration

Are you kidding? This is a Datsun, don't sell it short. Datsun achieved it with tuning for low RPM and and overdrive transmission. Mike in Canada put his B210 into an "economy run" this spring and got 60mpg.

 

Also consider it wasn't Nissan that said 50, it was the US goverment agency, rated the same way as every other car. The 1990 Honda Civic Hf got 58 mpg, so this is all possible. Why don't they sell any hi-fuel-economy cars today is a mystery. They have them in Europe, but not here.

[Bleach]

ratsun member blown310 easily surpassed 50mpg on stock parts.

Your statement might lead some to think he actually had a stock engine. He swapped heads to acheive over 10:1 compression (high octain fuel) and installed a wideband O2 sensor so he could jet down the carb and tune it just right. He also lowered the car and did some body mods for aerodynamics. Its still good millage though.

 

Are you kidding? This is a Datsun, don't sell it short. Datsun achieved it with tuning for low RPM and and overdrive transmission. Mike in Canada put his B210 into an "economy run" this spring and got 60mpg.

Are you talking about the guy in NY again or did Mike also have a B210?

I'm just being realistic about what a stock engine and stock body on the old car can do without supertuning it and putting on a cardboard bodykit.

 

 

Also consider it wasn't Nissan that said 50, it was the US goverment agency, rated the same way as every other car.

The EPA also revised their standards so that their ratings were more accurate. They had found that accross the board all their ratings were too high. If you look on FuelEconomy.gov you can find info on this and also see the 1991 Honda HF went from 58mpg to 47 by the new standards. 1987-91 the "HF" series started out at 51 and went down each year to 47. Possibly due to increased weight with new crash safety. Most cars seem to suffer in this way.

 

The 1990 Honda Civic Hf got 58 mpg, so this is all possible. Why don't they sell any hi-fuel-economy cars today is a mystery. They have them in Europe, but not here.

I was looking into maybe buying one of those cars. On the Honda forums the owners usually claim mpg in the mid to upper 40's, just slighty under what is advertised. Occasionally you see someone claim to get 50-60mpg. The CRX HF is more aerodynamic and lighter than these late 1970's 210s.

 

He would be doing good to achieve mpg in the 40's on the stock engine in good tune. Not modified.

 

GG, I'm sure your 1200 gets good millage too. What have you been getting on your stock engine?

[ggzilla]

My 1200 used to the 38 mpg, figure adjusted for speedometer tolerance (by the speedometer it would have been 42 mpg). EPA rated it at 37.8 back in the day. Now the carb is not so good, and am getting about 28 around town.

 

I've talked to many owners that said they never got the rated MPG. And to quite a few that said they got 50 or even 60 mpg which I don't believe at all. The speedometer is often 10-15% off from the factory, for one thing.

Edited July 7, 2009 by ggzilla

[nukeday]

I was curious about the speedo. It seems fairly accurate up to about 40 mph, and then I think it reads too fast. My wife followed me home in our minivan and the speedo said 70mph, but she said we were doing just under 65. The tires are factory size, so this is good to know.

 

I don't think I could drive it at that speed for hours and hours anyway. It's noisy inside, a rough ride, and generally pretty unrefined for long distance travel. Plus the driver's seat bottom is crap. I definitely give the little 4 speed serious props though. Even at '70' the engine didn't seem to be complaining a bit. Seems like a really tall 4th gear? I put it in 4th coming onto the freeway doing about 45 and just kept pushing the gas pedal. Kept waiting for the impending wind-up and it never came. I was surprised to find myself reaching for 5th only once the whole trip...

 

I am going to need a trunk lid, does anyone know if the 2dr and 4dr interchange?

Edited July 7, 2009 by nukeday

[b210in]

Your statement might lead some to think he actually had a stock engine. He swapped heads to acheive over 10:1 compression (high octain fuel) and installed a wideband O2 sensor so he could jet down the carb and tune it just right. He also lowered the car and did some body mods for aerodynamics. Its still good millage though.

 

he achieved 61mpg before he lowered it.

[CharlieBucket]

hell yeah, more b210's on ratsun! i love it. they are really great little cars to drive.

[ggzilla]

trunk lid, does anyone know if the 2dr and 4dr interchange

Yes.

[Capital15]

Nice score man!! $450 is a steal!!!

[az_rat210]

I purchased some new window rubber for the front and back but do not need it. The front rubber is the correct one, but the rear one I have says Mazda on it. Get me a measurement of Height/Width on that rear window and I can check if it will fit. The front one has grooves for the chrome the rear rubber I have does not.

[az_rat210]

I forgot to add, the small rear windows, I got new rubber for those by purchasing an appropriate size Trunk Rubber from JC Whitney for about $15.00 I think. For the Door Rubber I found some good rubber from a 79-82 210 Hatchback and mounted it. Some of the Pegs did not line up and in those instances I cut and glued, but it worked like a charm.

 

Window Squeegee Rubber/Outer. I have had NO luck what so ever in finding something to replace these yet.

 

For performance and gas mileage improvement, put on a 2" exhaust, allowing these A Engines to breath better makes a world of difference. That is manifold on back. Also, since its a 78, it has the old charcoal type Catalytic Converter, if you have emissions then a modern converter breathes much better (far less restrictive). If you do not need the converter then just the 2" on back with a turbo muffler will work well. It cost me $160.00 for exhaust and muffler, its bit loud though on acceleration, fairly quiet when cruising.

 

For the rusted areas, descale the rust then clean it well. Apply POR15, no more rust issues, and it will not get worse. You just have to make sure the rusted area is very clean before applying. 1 Qaurt of POR15 covers 96 square feet, thats 2 coats for $44.95, makes a great undercoat. It is UV Sensitive though, so best for hidden areas or underneath a paint job.

 

Welcome Aboard, good luck with the car.

[ggzilla]

Window Squeegee Rubber/Outer. I have had NO luck what so ever in finding

I put genuine Nissan outers on. They don't even touch the glass. Everyone says it's always been that way, they are one part Nissan didn't get right.

 

You will get best economy from the stock 1.5 exhaust piping. 1.75 will sound good and work good if you fit a larger carburetor and keep the engine revs up. 2" piping is way too big ... it will sound good but you won't max power.

[nukeday]

I won a '78 B210 Factory Service Manual on ebay (I think it was a buy it now), and I've been looking it over. The exhaust is not stock now, but I haven't had a chance to look it over closely. I know there is about a 12" section at the downpipe that is brand new. Looks like they just sleeved it, it's also got a good tone, so I think the muffler is probably a high-flow/turbo style.

 

The brakes are a little weak, the PO knew this and included a full set of pad and shoes. I'm not 100% but it actually feels like the booster/master may be the problem. It stops straight, but it needs a couple of pumps and then won't engage the brakes until the last 1/3 of travel.

 

Still tinkering with the 521, so I haven't gotten to work on this yet. The Saab got a reprieve until I can get the rust taken care of in the floors.

 

Thanks for all the info and direction on this.