JP's 180B SSS

[jp147]

Bought this 1974 180B SSS. Last registered in 2009. 452,000km on the clock. Brakes stuck on, runs kind of but not really, has a single carb from a 200B fitted instead of the twin SUs. A bit rusty but not too bad for a Datsun.

[datzenmike]

Pull the wheels and free the bra brakes. It’s just rust holding them. You may need to replace a lot of brake parts. If running try moving to snap them lose then remove the wheels. 

[jp147]

Brakes were pretty old and crusty. I replaced the rubber hoses, master cylinder, rear wheel cylinders. Front calipers I freed up and they are working now, I am not going to do much with them yet because I might be doing a brake upgrade later on.

[jp147]

 

 

[jp147]

 

First and most importantly, fitting the Datsun badge on the rear

[jp147]

 

Straighter front bumper without the rubber (came with the car)

 

 

New radiator (also came with the car)

[datzenmike]

'79-'83 280zx struts are good. Monster size calipers and rotors. May need 14" rims to clear calipers. Cut both 610 and zx lower spring perches off struts and swap the 610 spring and perch onto the zx strut tube. Use the 610 top hat to match the 610 spring. Hold the spring perch in place with 2" split collars. A side benefit is the ride height is now adjustable. The larger caliper will make the brakes feel spongy so swap in the early '79-'81 15/16" master. 

[banzai510(hainz)]

2doors down under is pretty rare in anything

 

dude fuck that Datsun that Landcruiser is the SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

kinda runs your almost there anyways. It will run

 

time it ,rocker arms adjaustment

fuel fileter

make sure intake carb tight and adjust the mixture on base of car.

 

points ignition  make sure you still have ballast and stock coil.

 

 

simple fix

Edited September 13 by banzai510(hainz)

[jp147]

7 hours ago, datzenmike said:

'79-'83 280zx struts are good. Monster size calipers and rotors. May need 14" rims to clear calipers. Cut both 610 and zx lower spring perches off struts and swap the 610 spring and perch onto the zx strut tube. Use the 610 top hat to match the 610 spring. Hold the spring perch in place with 2" split collars. A side benefit is the ride height is now adjustable. The larger caliper will make the brakes feel spongy so swap in the early '79-'81 15/16" master. 

I will consider this. I live close to Mad Dat Motorsport and was planning to use their coilover and brake kits. They sell a DIY front coilover kit, adjustable rear springs, DIY adjustable rear crossmember kit and various other things. Is there an OEM brake upgrade that will fit onto the 610 struts?  
When I replaced the master cylinder I put a larger one in already, since I was planning to do a brake upgrade.  
 

 

4 hours ago, banzai510(hainz) said:

2doors down under is pretty rare in anything

Yeah I was glad to get this for a reasonable price, most 2 door Datsuns are very rare. The 610 especially since the coupes were made in Japan, there was a large import tax making them cost about $2,000 ($20k adjusted for inflation) more than the locally build sedans and wagons. Not many were sold and most of those got turned into race cars or rusted away.

 

4 hours ago, banzai510(hainz) said:

dude fuck that Datsun that Landcruiser is the SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1984 HJ47, I have had it for 10 years now and it it the best car I have owned. I would like to take it off the road for a bit and do some bodywork on it, which is one of the reasons I have bought a second car.  

 

4 hours ago, banzai510(hainz) said:

kinda runs your almost there anyways. It will run

 

time it ,rocker arms adjaustment

fuel fileter

make sure intake carb tight and adjust the mixture on base of car.

 

points ignition  make sure you still have ballast and stock coil.

New spark plugs, adjusted points and timing. Carb didn't run good, probably just old fuel in it, but I CBF with that crusty old thing when I had a set of SUs in the boot. Got them on and tuned up, runs pretty good.  

 

Rockers were noisy, but after adjusting it is very smooth and quiet.
 

[Rustbin]

That car is sweet, and it came with all those good parts in the boot, can't beat that. The front left fender? wing? looks massageable. I would loose the rubber bumper thingy. My first car was a 73 610 coupe so I like what your doing, cause I have a sentimental attachment to these cars.

[jp147]

Gear stick was very sloppy, so much that it would hit the interior panel on both sides. I removed the pin and used an M7 bolt with locknut instead, much better. And got a boot for it too.  
 

 

The lid of this box was broken off so I found a hinge for it  

 

Dash was a bit cracked, fixed with some tape which should get it through the inspection.  

 

[jp147]

10 minutes ago, Rustbin said:

hat car is sweet, and it came with all those good parts in the boot, can't beat that. The front left fender? wing? looks massageable. I would loose the rubber bumper thingy. My first car was a 73 610 coupe so I like what your doing, cause I have a sentimental attachment to these cars.

That is a cool first car. My friends and I dreamed of 2 door Datsuns when we were in high school but they were hard to find or too expensive. I had a 910 Sedan.  
 

Rubber bumper thingies are gone. I don't know exactly which ones you are referring to but I have removed all of them. The ones on the bumpers, also the strips down the sides of the car. The new front bumper didn't have them and I have removed them on the rear and installed carriage bolts instead.  
 

It came with some spare panels. I need to do some rust repairs on this fender and paint it first

[Rustbin]

Your first car was nice too. I meant the bumper rubber, but I like that you deleted the side strip too. No need to go shopping when the needed pieces come with it. 

[jp147]

13 minutes ago, Rustbin said:

Your first car was nice too.

It had a nice high compression, cammed L20B with all the good stuff. Electronic ignition, 5 speed, welded H190 diff. S13 coilovers, steering and brakes. This engine would be nice in the 180B, maybe I will try and find out where it ended up. I sold it when I got a CA18DET but I always preferred the way the L20B drove. The turbo on the CA was too big and too laggy.

[jp147]

 

Seat fixed up by one of the neighbours.  

 

And some new custom made front seatbelts. 

[Rustbin]

5 minutes ago, jp147 said:

Seat fixed up by one of the neighbours.  

 Nice neighbour, I did upholstery for about 20 years, I'd have fixed them for you too.

[jp147]

Next thing before getting it on the road is to fix the worst of the rust  

 

 

[jp147]

Bog and paint removed  

 

 

 

Surprise dent hidden under a large amount of body filler

 

[jp147]

Inner layer needed repairing too

 

 

 

Many layers rusted though, many days of welding. 

 

The large dent popped out easily from the inside, there was no need for it to be filled up with bog like that.

 

 

There are small dents all over the body and most of it appears to be skimmed quite badly. But I will just tidy up one section at a time.  

 

The other side

 

 

Repaired section painted. The pillar and roof have been repainted before and it is not very good, but I didn't have enough paint to do all that plus I don't want to keep opening cans of worms. I just want it good enough to start driving.  

[banzai510(hainz)]

Im still liking the FJ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jp147]

4 hours ago, banzai510(hainz) said:

Im still liking the FJ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Here are some more pictures of the HJ for you

 

 

 

 

[Rustbin]

The 180B is looking good, Did you make your own patch panels or are they available in Australia? 

[jp147]

24 minutes ago, Rustbin said:

The 180B is looking good, Did you make your own patch panels or are they available in Australia? 

 

I bought some patch panels but they were not very accurate. So I cut them up and only used smaller pieces from them and even those needed a lot of modification to fit.  

[Rustbin]

I just resorted to making my own for the 710 Violet wagon, there are some for the 510 bluebird I needed to make some that aren't available. 

 

I found this channel inspiring for that.

 

 

[jp147]

On 10/1/2026 at 12:19 PM, Rustbin said:

I found this channel inspiring for that.

I would never take on a car needing so much bodywork, but it is nice to watch because it makes my bodywork problems seem small in comparison. 

 

 

I have taken the car through inspections and it passed easily, most of the time the guy was talking about how he had one in the 70s and what a good car it was.  
It probably would have been fine without doing the rust repairs first but I didn't want to take chances and if I started driving the car I would have been too lazy and put it off for years.  
Now it is registered and on the road, over 300km done already.  
Drives pretty nice. Not fast, I think the engine is quite tired. But still much faster than the Toyota. Had a flat tyre (leaking bead and valve stem), exhaust leak (at the join to the muffler, now wrapped in exhaust bandage), battery died and there are still some fumes getting in when the windows are down. But good enough for daily driving.