New to Ratsun, '78 B210

[Kisor]

So been here for a little while, started posting a little so figured I should do an intro thread.

 

Picked up my first Datsun a few years ago and have made a little progress on it so far. I used to run a automotive performance shop in Cincinnati, OH and one of my customers had this B210 in storage for years. He picked it up in Cali while in college and drove the wheels off it for probably 20yrs.. lol He then moved around to Michigan and then back to Cincy to finish his masters in the mid '90s. Still driving the B. Somewhere around '95 the old A14 was tired and he removed it to have it rebuilt. Don's Crankshaft in downtown Cincy did the work rebuilding the bottom end and head.

 

Flash forward to 2005 and the car had never been put back together, I had been working on his other cars and he mentioned an old Datsun he had but needed the engine put back in. I said bring it up and lets get it back on the road, but by the time everything was there I was closing up shop due to overhead and economic issues. So, a friend purchased the car from him and moved it to the back yard of the house he was renting..... it never got worked on due to him buying a house and no drivetrain decisions. So, when he moved in to the house he bought it was traded to another friend... that never did anything with it..... long story short, and through many hands I ended up with the car. I sat on it for a year or so before i started any major work and without an engine and no budget, wasn't sure what I was going to do with it.

 

One day, along came Larry the original owner, hadn't seen him in years. He needed some help with another car so I ask if he still had the engine and parts for the car and sure enough he did. $300 later I had the OE A14 and a few boxes of parts for the "Bob Datsun" thats what we called it.. lol. here it is when I took possesion in 2009:

 

 

I would tinker with it from time to time, it sat under the carport half disassembled for a year or so before i got serious about getting it running. Going through parts and sizing up what it would take. Front fenders are done, it had a board sitting across the top holding the trans up for 10yrs. The front of the floors are gone, my guess id the cowl drains clogged and it started leaking into the front pans... I have "extra" panels in it now so i don't drag my feet down the highway.

 

I got the engine put together, the outer ears of the intake were broken off, had them welded back on, no brakes, new master and rear wheel cyls. Front struts were shot and the front calipers were sticking so I did the S13 front struts,spindles,and lower control arm swap. Wasn't too bad, with a lift it was done in a couple hours. MUCH better brakes than the little OE solid disks. Plus I didn't have to use spacers to fit the wheels anymore.

 

 

This is how it sits now. :

 

 

 

More to come, Probably start a build thread when I get something else to drive, lol, its my daily as of now.

[RedBanner]

I like this, those wheels are sick on there, usaly not a fan of big wheels on a sunny but youve changed my mind, any pics of the strut swap? Any rub on the front wheels?

[ninjabortion]

that thing rules man, i would daily drive the shit out of it

[Kisor]

No and yes, haha... I can and will take pics and post them next time i have it on the lift. And the wheels i had in the shed off a '90 240SX I sold. Didn't want to buy new rubber for the 13's and didn't have the $$ for an all new setup so I ordered some spacers and got the 17's to fit.

 

Yes the do rub in the front, not bad though. Hard corners but not parking lot speeds. The rear will bite over a smooth dip in the road and i've rolled about as much as possible back there. I wasn't crazy about the look but it has really grown on me.

 

I have the short leaf flipped to the top of the pack in the rear and a bunch of coils cut in the front. Plan is to go S13 coilovers front and rear. I have the rear subframe and everything associated to do it. need to narrow the IRS at least 4" but prob go close to 6" so I can use better offset wheels in the rear. I like more lip out back.

[Kisor]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8qIr_SRJOw

 

Dey see me rolin.....

[Wide14u]

looks good to me welcome to ratsun

[Kisor]

Thanks for the welcome's guys!! Hope to be here for a while, my B needs a lot of work and I'll keep updating and like I said probably start a build thread this winter.

[king bee66]

no need to start a build thread, just add to this one.

 

those are big rims

[Kisor]

Didn't include an engine photo, its just the stock A14 but bigger better plans for it.

 

 

 

And snapped a couple pics of the S13 front suspension, I followed the write up on Datsun1200 but something must have been different because the way the lower control arms mount to the cross member seems to be described as a through bolt instead of a stud type like mine.

 

I used the S13 lower control arms, spindle and all brakes, strut, and brake hoses. I reused the OE strut tops, springs and tension rods for now.

 

If you use stock style S13 struts you have to cut the diameter of the lower spring pocket down to fit inside the B strut tower. I installed the B springs onto the assembly and used them as a guide. Note that I am running 7 coils of B spring on my setup. There are 10 or 11? total, I had cut a couple coils to lower the front on the original setup. The lower control arm bushing collar where it mounts to the cross member needs to be "drilled out" to fit over the stud... and I had to grind the width of it because the S13 bushing is wider than the B bushing.

 

Next you need another right side inner tie rod end, its left hand thread. redrill the S13 outer ends to accept the B adjusting rod between the tie rod ends. I think its 14x1.50? Pop that stuff on and where the tension rod mounts to the lower control arm i drilled new holes and used the B 8mm bolts to attach it.

 

I'll do an official write up on this swap when I upgrade struts, with a video so others can see how easy it was.

 

[RedBanner]

Aswerd most of my questions right there, ill check 1200 too. +1

[Kisor]

Be advised this will increase front track about 2" flange to flange... I am running +45 offset 17x7 wheels in the front and its flush with the fender.

[ggzilla]

something must have been different because the way the lower control arms mount to the cross member seems to be described as a through bolt instead of a stud type like mine

 

North America B210s have different suspension to most other markets. We got the heavy-duty suspension, identical to the Datsun 610, which was also used on the L-series B210s. All other B210s including A12 and A14 use a light-duty suspension.

 

Some guys fitted the S14 suspension, dunno how different those are from the S13.

[Kisor]

S14 is basically the same setup, I think the balljoint and strut are a little different plus the option of 5 lug on the SE models.

 

I didn't know there were L series B210's??

[king bee66]

the sunny excellent had an l14 and l16 model, they were jdm ( and sadm?) only

[RedBanner]

A

the sunny excellent had an l14 and l16 model, they were jdm ( and sadm?) only

or more comminly called the 140z and 160z respectively, but dont look it only makes you want things that are near impossable to find such as tail lights hood and grill, ive only seen coupes tho am I wrong¿?

[king bee66]

im 90% sure that the pointed front ends came standard on 120y sedans in south africa, but im not sure if any were equipped with l motors

[ggzilla]

Nah, all 120Ys were fitted with the A12 engine -- hence the name 120Y.

 

 

But they did have L-series B210:

 

B210 140Y

 

B210 160Y

 

140Z & 160Z were special versions of the 140Y and 160Y.

[king bee66]

what i meant was they had the gx front ends on standard 120ys in south africa

 

 

so there is a chance they could have made a sedan 140z or 160z, but i dont know because ive never seen one

[ggzilla]

L-series GX

or

A-series GX

 

They came both ways. The "pointed" front end was not necessary GX, but was on the L-series models for Japan market (even on non-GX). But ZA may have used the pointed front on A-series too. They also sold 1979 and 1980 B210s, so there were unusual things occuring there.

[Kisor]

Yea, forgot about the 140/160Z cars.

 

Had some fun tonight, got about 8 passes in at the track :frantics:

 

I'm pretty sure thats the slowest time I've ever ran... LOL

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWzph_Qcnec

 

PS, not my choice of music, crappy DJ in the background

[dez]

how do the brakes feel with the factory b210 master

[ggzilla]

What was the time? A stocker runs about 20 seconds flat.

[Kisor]

how do the brakes feel with the factory b210 master

 

Brakes are actually really freaking good. Pedal travel is just a bit more with the bigger volume calipers up front but still right in the middle of the travel.

 

What was the time? A stocker runs about 20 seconds flat.

 

 

And actually the best time tonight was 19.43 @ 70.5mph

2 other 19.4x runs and the rest were 19.60-70's

 

Not bad for an auto with 25" tall tires. It left a ton better just stepping on the gas rather than torquing it up. Seems as if it didn't like the secondaries open at that low an rpm.

[Kisor]

I botched the slowest run because the car has sat for a couple hours in the 45* weather, carb was still on the choke and it hiccuped. And pay no attention to the reaction times, its all hand flagged at this event. As soon as you stage it goes green then the girl actually drops her arm for you to go.

 

 

Photobucket is being a jerk tonight, it cropped my pic and i can't get it back, the best time

 

 

[frodo70444]

kool beans man..most people measure 0-60 in seconds but 0-60 in 1000 feet might just sound better in this case