coupe72001

It's time for the world's greatest show and shine again. This year at New Quay Docklands, Vic. Expect all manner of Z's, Skylines, Fairlady Roadsters, 1600s and Princes. There'll also be some more modern stuff - but you don't have to look at it. Short of an act of god, Ill be there with my C210. (last year I had the car painted for the event but threw off the timing chain driving home from the painters.) Hope to meet some of you there.

Agreed; the adapter set up sounds unreal... did you buy it or make it? I read some of the other posts re: s13 conversions, but missed some fairly vital info. Do I need to purchase the S13 coilover spring and shock as an assembly, or will the S13 spring fit over my existing C210 shock? Also is there a spring... tension/weight/setting??? (someone suggested 6kg for the rear) that I need to ask for? Gordie, if your car is handling well, I'll try and copy what you have done to the letter.

S13 coilovers you say, sounds interesting... I have never played with coilovers before, do they/the car need to be modified to fit?

Cheers Ricky, that's a really nice offer. I'll see if I can't first find something a bit closer though - we both know that Vic-WA freight stings a bit! On the topic I've got some seat covers for you... If you're interested PM me your details again and we can ship them over.

The guy that tuned my car (an old-school Datsun rally driver) convinced me that my car was a menace to drive on account of it being too low in the back and having terrible bump-steer every time the rear end bottomed out. He told me that he had some "suitable" springs, and supplied and fit them for next to nothing. I concede that the car does handle much better now... but the height in the rear is back up to standard, and the car looks kind of odd with it's butt sticking up in the air (although apparently the view of my spinning tailshaft when you drive behind me is kind of cool). Previously the car was on Pedders red "low" springs - so they are out. My old rally wreck was on yellow King springs which I sold off cheap before I ever tried driving on due to their diabolical reputation, although they did look to be somewhere between high and far too low in terms of ride height. Also I have heard that cutting a springs to lower the ride height is a really stupid idea because it affects the handling of the car (but I won't even pretend that I understand the physics of why that is). There are springs available from other Datsuns e.g. 240K that will physically fit my car - but the K is slightly lighter than the C210... is this a big issue? Anyone got any ideas or recommendations? It's nice to be finally making improvements to my car rather than just repairing the broken bits for once!

Again, great info, cheers. Anyone know what ratio the 280zx is? i've got a better chance of getting my hands on a 280zx diff than 240-260z.

I am going to experiment with a couple of diffs this weekend. If it feels good, Ill send it off to get the LSD conversion. However, I cant find a page which mentions which ratio came standard with which car! Skyline C210 3.9:1? Datsun 240k 4.1:1? Mr30 ??? Has anyone committed this stuff to memory? Also found the receipt for the gearbox conversion. $1300 from Mammi Motors in Vic, including brass button clutch, flywheel machining, swapping the internals over. The Sr20 box was supplied by the previous owner.

The SR20 box came with a smashed rally car that I bought complete a couple of years back. I swapped the box, diff, L26 and twin carbs, suspension, wheels and tyres into my fairly stock sedan, and all for the bargain price of $4000... most of which has long since been broken or upgraded anyway. From memory, the box was a standard C210 five speed, split, with the guts of a second hand SR20 box crammed inside. Apparently the Sr20 internals fitted in "like lego." 'Cause the bell housing is still L-series, the tailshaft and cross-member remain stock C210 items. From memory my gear lever is Datsun, but a slightly different shape to the C210 stick (it's 260Z or something random - a slight L shape rather than straight). Even the gear knob is stock C210. Ill provide more details ASAP, my receipt file is with the car at the tuners.

Really, really useful. Cheers guys. Anyone else got a fav R180?

Pretty sure its a 720 truck diff with a WRX LSD centre. So that's 2 votes for 3.9 (or 4.1)...

I am going to pick my car up from the tuners this weekend. He says mechanically it came up a treat, but he doesn't like my 4.9:1 ratio R180 LSD at all, on the grounds that the car wants to spend all its time up at a really high rev range, and so it isn't making the most out of it's torque. I don't like the idea of losing acceleration, but he says the diff isn't making the most of the engine's potential anyway. He's pushing me to convert a 3.9:1 diff to LSD, arguing that his Datsun 1600 ran out of legs on the Phillip Island straight using a 4.4 ratio. His diff builder does the conversion surprisingly cheaply. The car is a Skyline C210 sedan, with L28, triples, (making maybe 150hp?) marginally lighter than the 1210kg standard. It has a SR20det 5 speed, with the following ratios (I think): 1st: 3.321 2nd: 1.902 3rd: 1.308 4th: 1.000 5th: 0.759 I would like it to remain a quick streeter, that can do the occasional track day with the NDSOC club without being totally put to shame. Any ideas? 3.9, 4.1, 4.4, leave it alone...

Having looked at a bunch of Jap Nostalgia mags, it seems that everyone has a different idea about what to to with the crank breather; I've seen it blocked off with a welsh plug, connected with a hose to the rocker cover breather and finally allowed to vent to atmosphere via a filter. I'm with Ricky on this one, a little K and N filter tucked out of harm's way seems like the way to go. As soon as I get my car back (this weekend) from the carby tuners I'll post some engine bay pics for you to compare with; as I have deleted as much as possible from my engine! No air con, power steer, EFI, ECU, AFM... it's pretty much bare bones. Once again; it's great to see such an interesting project coming along.

Bidnapper. Only way to get something on ebay if you're serious. It places your max bid in the final second of the auction. Losing out in the final second sucks. Personally, I thought the white car looked like buckets of time and money. Noddle, congrats... your latest 240k looks great! I hear the lovely yellow 240k sedan from the SAU classifieds is off to Kuwait via Dubai (for the LHD conversion and rego).

I recieved your money and spent it at the pub... and I had a really great time. Your Holley manifold went into the post last week, so it should arrive Mon or Tues. Hope it serves its purpose well.

Happy to oblige. It's great to see that at least a few coupes will make it back to Australian roads over the next couple of years!

Ok, I see your point... it sucks that the car is coming to Melbourne. At least your car is even rarer now in WA! The car was originally advertised as going to auction a week earlier, and poor Rabee wasted almost a grand on flights to WA and accomodation only to find the insurance company wanted to delay the auction by a week. The auctioneer felt bad for him and arranged a phone auction so he didn't need to fly back a second time round. Rest assured the car will cop a full-blown resto, which I'll be heavily involved in (rather than being parted out) and it will definately remain in country and be reregistered.

My mate Rabee bought it for $450. Sorry Ricky, I had NO idea that you were bidding, too. It'll be restored and kept in oz. I reckon that it'll end up L28 though...

Im back up and running. From dropping on the head to turning the key now takes me less than three hours!!! Will be taking it really easy for the next few weeks as I recheck everything is torqued up correctly, and will be subbing in better quality timing parts in the not too distant future when all the bits and pieces have arrived. Hopefully will also get a carby tune and dyno within the next week.

Dennis: how did you go with that auction? Rolo: check out Japanese Nostalgic Car magazine, they a restoring what was supposed to be a mint C10 coupe shipped over from Japan. I'm often surprised that the Japanese restore the parts of the car that you can see from the kerb, and leave the engine bay and interior looking like a dog's breakfast.

Also Bobby, you should know that no-one at the factory could stop talking about your car. It's the duck's guts!

PM's away! On the topic of saftey first, I found that some of the bolts that I had torqued to factory settings (cam, crank etc...) were loose when I inspected what's left of my head and timing gear. Plenty of bent valves, more scoring (but not catastrophic - mercifully) on the pistons. I'm kicking myself for not rechecking EVERYTHING when I retorqued the headbolts before giving the car a bit of a trashing, and will certainly be investing in the Kameari crank bolt from the rhdjapan site. You can imagine the disaster of a crank pulley working loose at high rpms!

Errr... not that I'd ever wish that David's (or anyone else's) Skyline ends up as a body shell, I have a great contact for scrap metal removal in Melb. There's usually a bit of beer money in it for the seller.

No, there is virtually no demand for r30's in Kuwait etc. They aren't into the body shape, and all their C210's have L28 conversions. Arabs in Australia may pay up to $500 for R30's which then promptly get cuts to bits and shipped as spares for the C210s. The bodys and L24s get thrown away. While they aren't really popular, some Arabs drive 280zxs, or at least are prepared to pay a little more to strip them for L28 conversions. Oddly, despite the STUPID amount of money they spend shipping, L28ing, converting C210s/240ks to LHD, registering them, smashing and fixing them they don't have much interest in 240zs, 260zs (even US LHD cars) due to higher initial purchase costs. I guess part of the Arab mentality is that they have to feel like they are getting a bit of a bargain, as well as the car they want.

I heard the clatter of valves on pistons, so I'd wager that I have. I'll have the fella's at Motor Improvements inspect for me to confirm/replace any bent valves. They give me a frequent engine mutilator's discount.

Thanks for the ideas and condolences guys. Ill do a really good inspection of the timing gear over the weekend, but regardless of the culprit it looks like Ill be investing in a decent Japanese kit, and possibly a billet chain to boot. Ah well... if nothing else I'm getting really, really effiecent at head, timing and sump work. Only 2 years back the thought of pulling the head off by myself used to terrify me! Bobby, you are welcome to check out the car any time you are St Kilda way, running or not, and hopefully I'll catch you at the factory this Saturday anyway (Ill bring some pics if nothing else). Adam, you should think about turning up for a beer and to meet fellow K nut Bobby.