1970 Nissan Laurel project

[KC30]

Hi everyone! I'm new, but plan to be here for some time with my current project. I figured I'd introduce myself and the project.

It's a 1970 Nissan (sorry, it's not a Datsun) Laurel coupe (KC30) that I picked up in June of last year. Here it was the day I got it:

 

I came across it in Okinawa and could not pass it up. It had the G18 engine, but was having some problems and parts support was difficult in Japan... and non-existent in the US.

 

So, it picked up something a little easier to source parts for...

 

There's a lot of catching up to do to explain how it is currently, so I'll have to work on that. In the meantime, here's how it's sitting now, it's still a work in progress. It's had a lot done to it, but still has a long way to go.

[spitznoz]

Welcome to ratsun you have a very nice ride more pictures please thanks :lol:

[yello620]

Welcome, and nice car you have there.

[Logical1]

Sweet Ride! looks Like a SR20DET with some aftermarket goodies in there... (small pics) Give us the low down on the whole story and welcome to Ratsun! BTW we are picture whores ;)

[MicroMachinery]

WHENNING

[flatcat19]

Awesome.

Can't wait for more.

[Jester]

SWEET RIDE!

More pics please.

[erichwaslike]

nice ride, but ur pics got flipped, it makes it look like its rhd..... u suck, i want rhd. more oics plz!

 

back story?

[skunk]

such a sexy car, i must have more pics

[WAGON JON]

Awesome! Welcome to Ratsun! I almost thought that was photoshopped LOL. Looks great. Is there any background history on the car?

[]2eDeYe]

Welcome

 

Great looking car. More pics and story :D

[KC30]

Thanks for the interest everyone. I don't have much history of this car, and what I do have is kind of odd.

I bought the car after first seeing it in a local car ad in Okinawa like this: (Yes the front pic is reversed here)

 

I got it on 5 Jun 2010, bought from a tuning garage and as I found out it was the garage owner's car. He had bought it in mainland Japan after seeing it. He told me it was the only 2 door on Okinawa, which I would believe as I have only come across info of two others in Japan being sold in 2007 and 2009. But have yet to come across anyone who owns one. I have come across the owners of 2 european 4 doors, which were more common and produced longer ('68-72).

Less than 2 months after getting it, she was in a container on her way to it's new home. Which is good because even it's short 3 years on Okinawa, rust was getting hold and I don't think it would have survived another year there. Now it's in the desert, dried out and the rust has stopped, giving me some time to save up and have the body restored. Here it is in it's container:

 

Originally I was looking for an old car to do an engine swap with. After seeing this I wanted to keep the engine stock... until knowing it would need an engine rebuild and I started looking for parts. The G18 engine left me having trouble finding parts and was not running good at all. So I caved facing that in the US, I would be screwed trying to find parts as the G18 was never released here and I couldn't find any sources online. So with bittersweetness a friend helped me find a donor car:

 

Using info I gathered from one of the 4 door owners I meet online who was installing an SR20DE into his with the S13/14 front end suspension, I proceeded with mine. Here it is after having the S13/14 front suspension and the SR in (not running at this point):

 

 

 

That's the quick story of my short history with my Laurel. As for the odd part of its history, I came across that when researching the KC30 Laurel. The Laurel was first introduced in '68 as a 4 door (C30). In '70 the KC30 Laurel Hardtop (2 door) was introduced. It was Nissan's first Parade Hardtop (Pillerless Coupe)... just before the Skyline. One of the first things I'd learned was there were 3 model variants, the 1800, 2000, & 2000GX. The ad I found my car in listed it as a 2000GX, which it had the badges and steering wheel badge as a 2000GX. But I knew that wasn't right as the 2000 and 2000GX came with the G20 engine, and this Laurel has the G18, which is what the ID plate stated. Luckily I came across several Nissan promotional pictures which just really add to the mystery of my Laurel's past.

Here's my dash and fender badging/mirror to help show the mix-match of 1800/2000/2000GX designs:

 

 

Here are two pics of the 1800:

From those pics, my Laurel does not share the grill badge, front mirrors, fender badge, the entire dash, steering wheel nor steering column.

 

So on to pics of the 2000:

From those pics, again the grill badge, fender mirrors and steering wheel doesn't match mine. The fender badge of course is closer. But the steering column, dash and center console match mine.

 

So here's the pics of the 2000GX:

From those pics, The exterior badging, fender mirrors, steering wheel and column match mine. The dash is the same basically, but the gauge arrangement doesn't match (I have no tach). I do not have the 2000GX badge and clock on my center console. Of course I don't have the power windows, but I think it was an option, because I have a different pic of the GX that doesn't look like it's got power windows.

 

That's about all I have time to post right now. There's a LOT of info skipped over regarding the swap and other things I've done. I'll be able to post the jist of it later. In the meantime, here's where all the pics I have of her from when I first saw her to now are: 1970 Laurel 2000GX (KC30)

[gokiburix]

VERY COOL!!!

[nismo dr]

so much win. welcome to ratsun

[flatcat19]

Glued.

Such a cool car.

[philcas1987]

It's so great . Bluebird coupe 610 skyline all in one and better. Love the grill and hood lines

[zerow]

I like this car a lot. Especially the taillights...go sequential!

[datto510]

Where shall I send the check and for how much? :lol:

[Gary]

very nice :D

 

love how the rear windows go down like that

[Bob3]

.

 

LOVE IT !

 

.

[rusty12ver]

Nice! Btw are u running no intercooler?

[DREWSDIME]

Nice car!

[KC30]

I like this car a lot. Especially the taillights...go sequential!

Funny enough, it came standard with sequential tail lights! That's one of the things that got me hooked on it when I first saw it. Here's a pic from the brochure for the KC30:

 

Nice! Btw are u running no intercooler?

Yes, right now it has no intercooler. I'm actually driving it very little (once a week if that), and the engine's running very detuned/low boost until I get caught up on everything it still needs done. I had to sort out tires, still working on suspension (have rear coilovers on the way now). The fuel system I'm still finishing to be able to support the SR with no chance of going lean (fuel surge tank w/pump on the way now also). After that, I've got to get a custom 3 core radiator to fit the small area and will allow for intercooler pipes. Then get the custom intercooler that will go behind the grill. I want the exterior to look stock other than the wheels/suspension/exhaust. And I'm going for the same on the interior, I've got a small area I can have gauges/controls which can be covered. I've even kept the stock 4 speed gear knob on the RB20's 5-speed transmission.

 

 

[zerow]

Funny enough, it came standard with sequential tail lights! That's one of the things that got me hooked on it when I first saw it. Here's a pic from the brochure for the KC30:

I am loving this year and model even more...

Are you still in the service? I **assume** Air Force...

[KC30]

Yep, still in.

 

So this is one of those "I'm too excited to wait until I install the parts to post this" posts.

Today some of my needed parts came in. First is the rear coilovers:

They are a set of 510 (not wagon) rears I ordered from Ground Control. I've desperately needed rear coilovers as the front has S13 coilovers and driving with stock rear shocks has been interesting to say the least. This need was made even more demanding when I finally replaced all the dry rotting old tires and put the tire sizes I wanted on with the 15" Watanabes. With that and the rear spacing to match the front, the rear tires started scrubbing the fenders with the stock shock as well. After researching I ended up finding out that the rear 510 shocks luckily about match the KC30's rear shocks and lead me to getting these.

 

The second needed item has been a fuel surge tank:

So I came across this setup from 034 Motorsports. It's a fuel surge tank with a built in Bosch 044 fuel pump. Once together it'll hold 1 liter of fuel and I have several different mounting options. I've needed this due to fueling issues I've been having. It's been sputtering under throttle. Though the current Walbro 255lph external pump is more than adequate for pushing, I think it's having issues with the small feed line from the tank and getting enough fuel sucked in. Though I do intend to change the fuel tank setup, this is a good fix for now and will help ensure I don't have fuel starvation issues. Since even after I sort out the fuel tank lines, I will have to worry about it from fuel sloshing.