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well, as adam said, a stock(driveline wise) aus 31 will be wikid to slide.

they are relatively cheap. but in the end, if your gonnaslide it, things will come up and it gets a bit more expensive. but hey, my RB30 has copped limiter bashings on 40 degree days and she is still going strong.

only mods to my car are shocks, springs, front sway bar and strut brace, minispool, intake pipe, muffler.

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  • 1 month later...

Just a piece of advice, the bigger/heavier the car, the dearer everything else will be. Tyres, a diff to take the punnishment, the power needed to keep the car in a slide, gearbox, everything.

If you want to go sideways in a car pick something fairly light to begin with. 4 cylinder will keep things cheap. When you look at AE86's and even sivlias to a degree they are a perfect example. If you only have $5000 I doubt you'll have a decent 31 ready to drift if you also don't have much experience with cars yet.

The other unfortunate thing is that you'll probably have to compromise with a road/drift car. Most things you'd do to a drift car wouldn't be unsuitable/legal for the road.

I've had a turbo silvia which was great and currently own a 31 wagon, which I can tell you now is no nimble piece of equipment especially when close to standard form

If I had to do everything all over again I would get an AE86 or Dastun stanza if you can handle the looks. The AE86 has obvious potential, the stanza is the lightest shell a L20b series 2 bluebird motor will drop straight into, bang a webber on it and spend the rest of your money on wheels/exhaust etc...

For a compromise car I'd say a series 3 bluebird TRX with the CA20 engine. Pleanty of room for mates, reasonably well appointed, not too heavy. The possibility to easily upgrade to a CA18DET down the track would make it a good choice.

I love my 31 but I only chose it as a tow car for my stanza race car and not as a drivers car. That said you can have fun in just about anything if you want to.

R31 as a tow car isn't a great idea - the maximum towing capacity is 1100kg. You won't get a Stanza and a trailer under that. Worse problem is that Hayman Reece class 4 towbar for R31s are only rated at 850kg... it must only have been the factory towbar rated to 1100kg. I wouldn't like to pull that much weight in one - I towed my car trailer unladen (~500kg) in my old SIII R31 and it wasn't nice - you could feel the car being pulled around by the trailer, although my ride height might not have helped that.

L18/20 into 1200 isn't exactly easy, but its dead simple into a 120Y or Sunny. You can use 180B or Stanza crossmembers in those for a bolt-in fit.

you should pick up a decent r31 for around 2-3k

if ur lucky see if you can get a silhouette with a man tranny

but watch out, my cuz bought an r31 sill with a man tranny, and he had 2 spend big on getting it fixed up (it wash shot...it dropped fluid, the gears were rooted, in the end he spent about a grand getting it properly redone and getting a full service on the engine diff and gearbox

and if you get a auto make sure it doesn't get stuck in certain gears ... if i hammer our r31 when rolling (like pulling into a parking area when wet, and getting the back end to go sideways...hehehehehe) it will get stuck in second gear

to get it out again i need to shut down the engine and then start her back up again

but there is no need to worry, just make sure you spend a little while looking 4 a good quality one cause as has been said numerous times, these cars can cop a lot of shit

even though they have relativly low power (compared to like the new 1.8l corolla that has 145kw compared to the 114kw of the r31) the torque of these beasts will leave a corolla in the dust

they take of relativly quick and can be redlined no worries (when mum drives it she often redlines it on take off ... hehe)

they are fun as 2 drive, and especially when turning right from a stop they can leave a nice big black mark (that is without lsd ... the engine rotates, when in the car, clockwise, applying more power to the right hand side, making it easier to leave smoke when turning right)

hopefully all the pros and cons of this car make you buy one, cause they are fun as 2 drive, can cop a lot of shit, and leave a lot of other cars on the road in the dust

dad has pulled in excess of a 1500kg with our r31 (and so have i) and yes the trailer makes it pull around a bit, but as a tow car i reckon they are awesome

the midrange to topend torque means that you can pull around a tonne, and still manage to overtake cars at around 130kmh (from about 90kmh)

we have had our car fully laden, towing a trailer (around 800-900kg) and still managed to overtake cars easily

I really wouldn't recommend exceeding the maximum towing capacity of the vehicle or towbar. Its illegal and unsafe. Its only a matter of time before physics and metal fatigue catch up with you...

but I still miss my R31 as a daily driver. They're a good car, especially for the price.

The type of trailer and positioning of the load is a major factor on a cars ability to tow. I use a light weight trailer and a stripped out stanza and never have any trouble. I would say manufacturers would be more than a little conservative when rating a vehicle's towing ability.

Regarding the L20B into 1200/sunny/120y. I've heard the crossmember thing for the sunny's but I think the L20b is too tall with standard engine mounts. I heard it just hits the bonnet but L18's are OK as they are smaller stroke. Could be wrong but that's what I was told.

Go little datsuns I say!

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