Rear disk brakes

[Z chopper]

I am looking at picking up a 1200 deluxe sedan and read they only had drum brakes. I figure swapping to disk brakes is fairly straight forward. 

I want both front and rear disk brakes. Other than sourcing the front suspension from a 1200 coupe, what other models can I source front disk brake conversion from? I remember reading years ago about a late 70s/early 80s Datsun having a solid axle and rear disk brakes, I just can’t remember what model it was, I think it was the 210 or 310.

 

I’ve read as much as I can over on the datsun1200 forum but it seems most of the info there is for Australia. 

Edited December 26, 2019 by Z chopper

[datzenmike]

Eugene? Where have YOU been???

 

FRONT

 Disc brakes on the front were optional so ask or take a look, it might have them. The 1200 has a 12" rim so check carefully for clearance when swapping in disc brakes other than the optional ones or maybe you plan to replace the rims with something larger? The 1200 morphed into the B-210.... maybe the B-210 struts and disc brakes will fit? If they do, the zx struts will also.

 

REAR

The '80-'83 S110 200sx has a solid axle and rear disc brakes. The '80-'81 was an H-165 and the '82-'83 was a whopping H-190. I should imagine both axles are going to be wider than the 1200 axle. If you get the caliper and rotor you could make a mount for it to fit the 1200 axle. I would place this way down on the 'to do' list and just keep an eye out for a set and collect them for now. Rear disc are over kill on a 1,700 pound car. They are nice but the drums are more than enough.

[Morrisun]

Datsun 1200's, both coupes and sedans, imported in US and Canada had factory front disc brakes.

 

If you have been on the 1200.com site there is a whole section on front disc brake swaps.  Listed in there is a bolt-on Datsun 210 79-82 (model310) front brake swap

 

Most of the brake swap do call for larger wheels, most require 14" or larger wheels.

 

Klotz and I came up with front swap using 240sx rotor and Sentra calipers, for A engine series powered cars! (A12 thru A15)

 

IF you are planing on a larger engine, the 280zx front strut/brake swap in highly recommended, this is/was done by many Canadian 1200 owners, as the 280zx struts were plentiful.

[datzenmike]

Good shit!

[Z chopper]

The 1200 I’m looking at the engine is shot, so plan on a ka24 swap I figure a brake upgrade would be nice for safety reasons.

 

mike I have been hidden in southern Alberta.

[datzenmike]

So I see. Well good to hear from you!

[Morrisun]

Since you are going KA2.4, you MAY want to talk to other 1200 owners who have gone down that path, it tends to be a bit nose heavy, but great in a straight line.

 

The amount of torque that engine puts out, you may be looking to put H190 rear axle assembly under the car, unless you are considering a narrowed Ford with more gear ratio options.

 

Good Luck!

[Dguy210]

9 hours ago, Z chopper said:

The 1200 I’m looking at the engine is shot, so plan on a ka24 swap I figure a brake upgrade would be nice for safety reasons.

 

mike I have been hidden in southern Alberta.

 

9 hours ago, Morrisun said:

Since you are going KA2.4, you MAY want to talk to other 1200 owners who have gone down that path, it tends to be a bit nose heavy, but great in a straight line.

 

The amount of torque that engine puts out, you may be looking to put H190 rear axle assembly under the car, unless you are considering a narrowed Ford with more gear ratio options.

 

Good Luck!

 

Just because I have to say it every time this topic comes up the, KA24 is a big engine crammed into a little car and requires quite a bit of work to get it to fit. I somewhat regret doing this swap, I may even be done someday.

 

Maybe consider a rotary instead? Bit more common swap.

 

Edited December 27, 2019 by Dguy210

[Z chopper]

The KA is very plentiful and cheap to get, which is the main reasons I’m looking at a KA swap.

[Dguy210]

15 hours ago, Z chopper said:

The KA is very plentiful and cheap to get, which is the main reasons I’m looking at a KA swap.

 

If you must, save yourself some trouble, cut the firewall and transmission tunnel out then. 

[afracer]

A non turbo KA is kind of a pig, there's so many better options out there; SR20DE and VE turbo or not, Toyota BEAMS, even a S2000 Honda engine would all be better choices. 

[datsuntech]

I did the Klotz brake swap on the green 1200 and no regrets it stops amazing and looks good. Had to upgrade to 14" rims though. 

I'll ad that I feel no need to put discs on the rear... fwiw

Edited January 31, 2020 by datsuntech

[Z chopper]

If I could find an SR20de for under $500 I would definitely go that route, but so far no such luck and I don’t have enough knowledge of rotary engines to feel comfortable with installing one myself. I plan on doing most if not all the work myself.

Edited January 31, 2020 by Z chopper

[njoz1200ute]

Sr20de, Sr20det, Ca18de, Ca18det have been done to death so many times.   In my opinion why not try something different?

4g63?  Honda K-series?  Suzuki?   Thats just my opinion.   I have a Ca18det 1200 sedan and there is barely any room in the engine bay to work on it.  Adjusting things and maintenance is a pain the ass.

[afracer]

On 1/31/2020 at 12:46 PM, Z chopper said:

If I could find an SR20de for under $500 I would definitely go that route, but so far no such luck and I don’t have enough knowledge of rotary engines to feel comfortable with installing one myself. I plan on doing most if not all the work myself.

If your engine budget is only $500, you probably shouldn't even be looking into any engine swaps besides another A series. A warmed up A15 is plenty fun and easy to work on/cheap.

[njoz1200ute]

On 12/26/2019 at 11:00 AM, datzenmike said:

REAR

The '80-'83 S110 200sx has a solid axle and rear disc brakes. The '80-'81 was an H-165 and the '82-'83 was a whopping H-190

 

Theres only 2 listed for sale in the whole entire USA.

 

There must be another way.   I have heard RX-7 rear axles are a candidate for swapping but I don't know which years are the correct length and come with disc brakes.

[Mattndew76]

RX7 GL-SE rear axles are really great swaps. 

 

Run the A12 with EFI and 20lbs of boost. www.Datsun1200.com has a couple write ups on the work. Depending on the person you have make your manifold stuff can really make this setup nice to look at.

 

I am currently doing a job for a customer that is putting 240SX brakes on his UTE front and back. So I will have a recent model "soon" for our coupes/sedan stock axles. BlueHands has done some brackets before too. 

[datsuntech]

1 hour ago, njoz1200ute said:

 

Theres only 2 listed for sale in the whole entire USA.

 

There must be another way.   I have heard RX-7 rear axles are a candidate for swapping but I don't know which years are the correct length and come with disc brakes.

The 1984-85 RX-7 GSL-SE is the one you want.  It comes with LSD and disc brakes, along with the proper 4x114.3 bolt pattern.  The GSL non SE version is slightly smaller has all of the goodies, but has a 4X110 bolt pattern.  Both are unobtainium where I live. Not sure you're going to find many in the rust belt.  

[pdp8]

Having driven my 1200 for a little bit now I have the following observations:

The car is SO light in the back, fancy brakes in back are pretty pointless and would just be cosmetic unless you plan to carry a couple large adults in the back seat or a box of bricks in the trunk.  A bigger engine could actually make this worse.  Of course you need a different differential than the factory one, but just the pumpkin swap gives you a much stouter setup.

The light weight of the car is a huge part of it's charm, adding a heavy motor is going to detract from that and negatively affect the suspension. 

Consider a turbo, minimal weight and it will get you a pretty fast car with a minimum of fuss.

I did an A14 swap since I had one sitting around and I'm planning to do the turbo thing when I get a minute, but even just going from the A12 w/slushbox to A14 w/5-speed is such a huge step I haven't gotten tired of the car in its present trim yet.