Long Overdue 210 Introduction

[FunnyLines]

Alright guys, I've been lurking around Ratsun for a while now and have finally gotten my act together enough to introduce myself, so here's the long story. (I'm currently located in central Texas, but hail from Washington.)

 

I found my little 1981 210 2-door sedan back in late December of 2011 just outside of San Antonio. Gentleman had the smallest Craigslist ad I've ever seen posted for it with simply "81 Datsun 210 Low Miles Phone #xxx-xxx-xxxx" Called him up/texted and asked a few questions, he pointed me to an expired eBay auction for it where, luckily for me, the winning bidder had flaked out. Only had 31,000 original miles on it and looked clean as hell so I went down and checked it out; bought it a few weeks later.

 

He had the original title from the old lady who had paid cash for it back in 1981 from Austin Datsun. She had barely driven it and later traded it into one of the owners friends small dealerships where it sat for five years until this gentleman had bought it, and it had sat some more.

 

The thing fired right up, put a full tank of premium and a little bottle of carb cleaner in it at the closest gas station, stopped at the next closest service station and had the oil changed, and drove it home about 140 miles and got a solid 40mpg. Did some basic maintenance on it: changed the fuel filter, air filter, valve cover gasket, cap, rotor, plugs, and wires, vacuum lines, etc. etc. A month or two went by and the poor little carb went out on me, I don't know what was wrong with it, but quickly failed at fixing it with a rebuild kit.

 

Being naive as I was and not doing all my research, I tore all the emissions off and threw a Weber 32/36 DGEV on it and went along with my business. Found a couple MR2 seats for cheap, had them reupholstered along with the door panels and rear seat, threw a new carpet in there too. Been keeping up with regular maintenance since then, and finally this afternoon re-installed all the emissions along with a re-manufactured Hitatchi for my model/engine/transmission. Also got a set of 6-spoke Z wheels along with some nice Falken tires last weekend, so she is looking nice. Also today I got a center console in the mail I ordered off eBay, basically just need a lower dash half now to install back in with the rest of the good dash pieces I have and the interior will be at 90%. Oh and it has a sweet friggin luggage rack on the trunk lid haha
 

[TLDR] I picked up a sweet low milage 1981 210 last year and it rocks, here are your pictures.

 

Edit: Moved the pictures around on Photobucket not thinking about the links, here they are again all in one

 

 

 

 

 

[j_boy_619]

Why have you been hiding this beauty from us! Nice ride man. Welcome to Ratsun!

[Kirden]

Very nice ride. Just wondering why did you go back to the hitachi? I was thinking of getting a downdraft weber or dual dellortos for my B210 so I wanted to get opinions.

 

I know the hitachi gets better fuel mileage (close to double) but is that the only reason you went back?

[FunnyLines]

Why have you been hiding this beauty from us! Nice ride man. Welcome to Ratsun!

Thanks good sir!

 

Very nice ride. Just wondering why did you go back to the hitachi? I was thinking of getting a downdraft weber or dual dellortos for my B210 so I wanted to get opinions.

 

I know the hitachi gets better fuel mileage (close to double) but is that the only reason you went back?

Well I'm using it as a daily driver right now until I get back to WA this summer, so the gas mileage is a big plus, that and since the Weber was the only modification I had done, the engine wasn't running very efficiently with all the emissions missing, even beyond decreased gas mileage. I tried plenty of different carb adjustments with the Weber, from baseline settings up and down and all that from researching around the internet but nothing really seemed to show marked improvement.

 

It was a reliable runner afterwards, and easy as hell to switch over, but I could tell it just wasn't right, wasn't running like it could/should ya know? Once I put that Hitatchi back in along with all the emissions in there today it was running smooth as hell and drove like new. All I had really done was gain some extra horsepower at higher RPMs, but my engine performance and efficiency at the low end had suffered.

 

From what I've read it seems like if you upgraded more in your whole system, like switching out your manifolds and all that more performance oriented jazz I can't speak from experience on, you probably wouldn't have a problem at all, and you could probably turn it into a sweet little zippy car, I've seen some pretty cool projects/upgrades/builds, just don't know a damn thing about it beyond the stock engine myself. Also if you are smart about what you do with your emissions stuff, I will tell you that from experience (Perhaps not pulling it all out and capping everything that's left bare...lesson learned haha :blush: )

[FunnyLines]

Pictures moved around, they're back up top

[dat521gatherer]

Nice job on the engine bay.

[Kirden]

Haha, alright, I will keep that in mind. Thanks for the response.

 

I think I know what you mean about the weber, my truck just doesn't seem to be "right" with the 32/36, but since I upgraded from some random GM carb that the PO had slapped on the L18, it runs better than it used to.

[FunnyLines]

Nice job on the engine bay.

Much appreciated

 

Haha, alright, I will keep that in mind. Thanks for the response.

 

I think I know what you mean about the weber, my truck just doesn't seem to be "right" with the 32/36, but since I upgraded from some random GM carb that the PO had slapped on the L18, it runs better than it used to.

For sure, sorry I couldn't really provide a more technical answer haha

[FunnyLines]

Pictures moved around, they're back up top

[Kirden]

Wow, that luggage rack looks great on there. Don't see many cars with those around here.

 

Edit: What size are those wheels? I am looking for something similar for my B210.

[FunnyLines]

Wow, that luggage rack looks great on there. Don't see many cars with those around here.

 

Edit: What size are those wheels? I am looking for something similar for my B210.

 

Right? I even picked up an old suitcase at a garage sale to throw on there just for kicks, pretty awesome. And the wheels are 14x6's off an 81 280zx, with Falken Sincera 175/65/R14's, had to order lug nuts for them though since they require different lug nuts from the stock ones.

[Kirden]

Thanks for the quick response. I was worried about going with 14" wheels because I want to do a brake upgrade (280zx front, 200sx rear), but since these came off of a 280zx they should fit perfect.

 

You should do a ratsun photo shoot with the suitcase on the car. That would look ver classy :)

[FunnyLines]

Thanks for the quick response. I was worried about going with 14" wheels because I want to do a brake upgrade (280zx front, 200sx rear), but since these came off of a 280zx they should fit perfect.

 

You should do a ratsun photo shoot with the suitcase on the car. That would look ver classy :)

Yep, I'm looking to do the same, probably going to wait until I'm back up in the NW in a few months though to switch out the suspension and brakes and all that, I don't really have the time or the facilities or the equipment to do that sort of work down here as I do back home. Look up the Z iron cross wheels and swazi wheels too, those fit well too with the right tire without any modifications from what I've read.

 

 

 

 

And I'm definitely going do a set of photos coming up here, probably going to stop somewhere with a nice background on the road trip home.

[10psitx]

pics are gone so i cant see the car, but i'm guessing its the brown one from New Braunfelds? if it is ....that was a very clean car...i contacted the owner but he didnt get back to me so i assumed he changed his mind....repost the pics if you can.

[FunnyLines]

My bad, pictures are back up in the first post, and yep that's the one.

[FunnyLines]

The new re-manufactured carburetor

Half way through install the other day. Took the valve cover off to free up some room and replaced the gasket while I was at it, checked the clearances, along with the rocker and head bolts.

Went ahead and touched up the cover while I had it off

Garage sale find to rock on the luggage rack