Datsunrides

Care to share the source kind sir? Mark

Now that's how to solve availability problems. Just make it yourself! What led you to choose Delrin for the control arm bushes instead of urethane? I'm no expert but it would seem the urethane would give a little compliance for a somewhat smoother ride than Delrin, which is pretty solid. Where did you soure the raw materials? Mark

I posted in a different thread about my "collection" of old school japanese cars and said I'd post up some pics. Well, here they are. First the runners. 1966 Datsun SPL311 Roadster. This was a 6 year frame up restoration just completed about 6 months ago. 1973 Datsun 240Z. Almost all original. I'm the 3rd owner. 1972 Datsun B110 (1200). I have owned this car since 1994. Was "freshened up" back in 1996. I plan on doing a full resto on her after I finish the other projects. 1977 Honda Accord. Bought this last Dec. from the original owner. 1975 Mazda REPU. Bought this a couple years ago from the original owner family. 1975 Dodge Colt Wagon. I have replaced the engine/trans with a 4G64/5 speed from a 1992 Mighty Max pickup. Fuel injection is nice! 1972 Dodge Colt Coupe. Got this last summer. It's in real nice near original condition. Now the projects 1972 Toyota Corolla Wagon. It's getting a full restoration along with a 6G72 Mits V6 conversion. 1971 Datsun 510 Wagon. This one was saved from a wrecking yard. So there you go! Mark

Thanks for the comments so far. As best as I can figure from pics, the DL glass is different, more square in the back vs. tapered for the coupe. It's interesting finding out what will interchange between the various models/years. I can tell you guys one thing, I have gotten more offers of assistance in the month or so I've been here than I have gotten in over 2 years on a certain Toyota forum. You guys ROCK! Mark

That may be an excuse to get a video cam! I have never even owned one. I was listening to it a little after posting, trying to come up with a description of the sound. It has a definite 2 stroke tone to it, but is more raspy than sharp. Usually Subaru's seem to have a flat tone to my ear. The 4 port head must have something to do with the sound, or should I say the exhaust header arrangement. It was a bummer about the brakes. When I saw the problem, I was like, piece of cake, I have those parts sitting inside. Alas, it was not to be. Mark

So, first order of business was to get an exhaust system installed, as the PO had cut the old system out, leaving only the open header pipes. Loud little sucker! Supposedly the PO was planning to do some sort of dual exhaust and abandoned the project. Took it down and had a new system made up. Got a new Y pipe welded up to the stock header pipes and flanged right after the Y, so I would have a spot to break the system when I eventually will make new headers. Sorry the pic is kinda cr*ppy Decided to run 2" pipe back to a Magnaflow SS muffler with dual outlets. From the muffler outlets, I ran dual 1 1/2" tailpipes. I am pretty pleased with the sound. It's a little on the loud side, but could easily tone it down if I wanted with some resonated tips or a resonator before the muffler. Definetely has a nice tone. Quite different than what I'm used to hearing WRX's sound like. Now that I could run it without all the neighbors wanting to kill me, I could set off and see whats what. The PO told me it had an issue with hard starting and dying out so I figured I'd start there. Gave all the fluids a quick check and started her up. Basically figured out in short order the accelerator pump is not working at all. There is the hard starting problem and the dying issue also seems to be carb related. Basically it won't idle without the choke 2/3rd on. If you release the choke, it dies and is hard to restart due to no accelerator pump. So, I will start with a carb rebuild and see what happens. I just hope the PO did not try and do this and ended up botching it to the point I can't fix it. With a grasp on the dying issue, I figure it's time to take it for a spin. I found if I leave the choke on, it will stay running so away I go, or so I though. I slowly leave the driveway to head to the end of the street. When I get there and step on the brakes, I get a horrible pulsation/wobbling and noise from the brakes. Ok, time to turn around and head back to the driveway and pull the wheels. I found out on the uturn that I will need to replace the outer CV's. Click city! Clutch is probably on it's last leg also. Anyhow, pull the front wheels first, as that is where I expect the problem to be. Get the wheels off and all looks OK. There is meat on the pads and the wheel bearings are tight. Since that looked OK, I started it up and slowly applied the brakes while running the car at 30mph (on the stands, with the opposite wheel blocked so only one side will rotate). Left side felt OK (rotor could stand replacing as it is scored a bit). Right side had a little vibration, but not so bad as to be the cause. I did check the runout and it seems that the hub has a bend in it. It has a replacement rotor on it so I wonder if it got bent during the install? Well, time to go to the rear. Pull the right rear and all's good there. Pull the left rear and look what I found, When I pulled the drum, the lining came with it! I am taking a shot in the dark that this may be an issue! Guess I'll be heading down to NAPA monday to order some new shoes. Once I get those on, (and the carb rebuilt)we'll try another road test and see what else will pop up. I also need to find some good temporary tires as the ones on there are checked pretty bad. I don't want to get new tires because the plan right now is to take the stock wheels to Stockton Wheel and have them widened to 6" so I can run 205/60-13 tires. I plan to powdercoat the wheels black and run the original hubcaps (rechromed, of course). Kinda an asian baby moon theme! Probably will do a valve adjustment and compression check later this weekend just because. That's it for now. Mark

It's time to start a thread to follow the restoration of my 1973 Coupe. For starters, I purchased this car in the beginning of June 2009. Car is in semi-running condition as purchased. Here are some pics of it as it was brought home. Actually not that bad a platform to do a restoration on. It does have some rust issues (nothing real serious though), body damage (mostly a damaged front bumper and it took a pretty decent hit in the back that the PO tried to "fix", which let to some of the rust issues. There is some damage to the right front of the hood and other minor dings), and the interior will need a complete redo. Besides being rough, it would seem the car is pretty complete. There are some "interesting" fixes the PO did to the car such as replacing the quarter windows with plexi held in with silicone! I plan on eventually completing a full ground up restoration on this rare old Subie. I have done this to a few other Old School Japanese cars and am currently trying to finish up a 72' Corolla wagon with a 6G72 Mitsu V6 drivetrain. The plan is to get the bugs worked out of the Subie and collect the necessary parts while I complete the wagon. Once the wagon is done (hoping to have it done within a year), I will tear the Subie down and rebuild her. For now, I will post up the things I am doing to make it a solid (if ugly) driving car. With a little time, alot of hard work (and $$$), I hope to return her to her former glory! Mark

Thanks Steve! Yes, the 74' 4 door is being parted. It's at a wrecker. They also supposedly have some EA71's. I will check again tomorrow when I order my parts from them. May be an option if they will ship Greyhound, as they are out of state. (If they are reasonable on price) Mark

Are there any issues with grinding the cranks? I ask because I know with Hondas, you have to re-harden them after they are ground. Mark

Can anyone tell me if a front passenger window regulator out of a 74' DL 4 door will fit my 73' coupe. The yards interchange (hollander) says it will, but I have my doubts. I would hate to buy it and have it shipped only to find out it does not fit. Thanks, Mark

I have not seen a stock Subaru rod in about 20 years, but *usually*, with other japanese engines I have worked with, the rods are stout enough to handle increased performance (Honda's excepted. They are pretty weak). Polishing the beams, shot peening them, and ARP bolts should help with the durability quite a bit. Balancing a performance engine is always a good idea, as usually you are changing enough parts that the original balance will not work as good as it can. It will make the bottom end last much longer. As for the cryo treating, my take is it would be overkill for the level of power we can reasonably expect to make. However, it's not that expensive so...... The thermal coating however is kinda pricey for the benefit it may have. My belief is a properly machined and assembled STREET motor would see little advantage for the ceramic type coatings. 11.5:1 is pretty stout compression to run. Are you planning to run a race gas blend to control detonation, or other means? I built an engine once with 10.5:1 compression and the thing would ping on pump gas unless I cranked back on the timing, which reduced power. It was downright horrible when the ambient temps got above 85 or so degrees. Was almost undriveable without race gas/ avgas blended @ 50/50 it would ping so bad. That fuel is not cheap! * this was a cast iron american V8. Aluminum dissapates heat better, so you can run a little more compression before detonation sets in* Mark

Here is the page I was looking at. http://www.rareparts.com/ Go to online catalog and input 1973 Subaru GL and it will show the bushings in question and a lower ball joint. I tried to link direct but it shows as timed out when I do. They don't look like anything I have on the car. Nice thing about Rare Parts is they are willing to reproduce old suspension bits. I know we had a group buy on lower ball joints for the Datsun Roadsters a few years ago and the part turned out fine. A rubber bushing is probably easier to make. Mark

As I am rounding up parts to restore this car, I noticed Rare Parts has a listing for front and rear control arm bushings that nobody else seem to have a listing for. Looking at the pictures they have on their website, they don't seem to match what's on the car. Plus, the car does not exactly have rear control arms per say. Anyone with any info on these? Mark

My exhaust plan would be most like #3. Exhaust systems are a little like black magic in that there are so many variables involved. In a nut shell, too small and you restrict power. Too large and you can also lose power and low end torque. It will also make it louder. The header has probably the biggest effect on power production and curve. Just based on potential HP of a NA motor, 1 1/2" primaries should be fine. Now, where the primaries join is where I need to do some research. I am thinking of stepping them up to 1 3/4" there, but 1 1/2" will still provide enough flow for 2 cylinders so I don't know. I do know that for an engine producing 100-120 HP, a 1 3/4" exhaust size is reccomended to keep flow velocity up, which will help low end torque, fuel economy and keep it quiet(er). So from where the headers merge, most likely under the trans, I will run a 1 3/4" exhaust size back to a 2" muffler. I would like to use a single in/dual out muffler so I can do a dual exhaust tailpipe like #4, probably with 2" tailpipes so there is no backpressure issues. For the flywheel, I was talking more along the lines of just lightening the stock one, as I kinds figured there wouldn't be a readily available (or cheap) aluminum one. I have an aluminum flywheel in one of my Datsuns and don't really care for it for street use. Sure it makes the engine rev up a lot quicker, but it makes it very easy to stall and makes the engine feel harsh (hard to describe). I would imagine there should be no issue with a stock clutch at the power levels we are talking. I sure wish I was a little more knowledgable on Subie engines to help out a bit more on this concept engine, other than asking questions. Now, if you need guidance on Datsun engines, I can help there! Leeroy, I think there is noting wrong with modding, with bolt on items. It helps "personalize" your car. So long as it can be returned to original (as with bolt on changes such as manifolds), it's all good in my book! Throw the original motor on the shelf and drop in that hot rod engine. Mark

Oh, would it be because the EA63 cam won't fit a late EA71/81? Mark

Wow, this is moving fast. barely submit a reply and there is more info! I love it. Now the question is, if supposedly the early and late EA71 heads interchange, and the late EA71 and EA81 are the same, why can't the EA63 heads fit the EA81? An extra 200cc's is an extra 200cc's! The head gasket might not be that big a deal either. I'm pretty sure there are places that can punch out some copper ones, in whatever thickness is specified, which may help bump the compression using off the shelf pistons. (MLS would be killer, but impractable due to cost) Mark

Now there you go trying to tempt me with that turbo motor! Don't think the thought didn't cross my mind! So it would seem the best course of action would be the early EA71 with the 1400 4 port heads and reground EA63 cam. Mods to be possible high compression pistons (if the 1400 head swap doesn't raise it), larger valves (cost dependent) with some port work, lightened flywheel, custom stainless headers and a sidedraft weber. Sounds like a workable plan! Just need to find an EA71 now! BTW, what would the best header design be? I would think you would want all primaries to be equal length (stock is short/long) with a relatively short length under 36" prefferable. I would guess it would need be of a "tri Y" variety as a 4 into 1 design would probably have undesireably long primaries for good top end power. I would think 1 1/2" primaries into 1 3/4" 2 into 1 collectors for the left/right banks, then 1 3/4" into 2" collector for the connection to the exhaust system. That should be more than sufficient for the power this combo will produce. It's speculation at this point but sounds good. :-\ Mark

I think I'm wearing out the search! nOOb questions upcoming So, if the heads will retrofit to the EA71, why won't they fit the EA81? Isn't the EA81 just a stroked version of the EA71, or was the motor somehow revised? What about the part I saw about having to weld up some water passages? Kostamojen, those are some awesome pics. Someone put an awful lot of work into those 4 port heads! The supercharger is cool too. The bottom pic of the sidedraft is kinda what I'm thinking of doing. Probably a 40mm w/ 34 chokes. The EA81 complete motor probably is not an option due to the exhaust port location. I don't want to run it under the crossmember. I'm down for going together on stuff like pistons/OS valves/porting. I'm not necessarily planning to build an engine right away but let's keep in touch on that. I'm going to keep my eyes open for a 5 speed now. Mark

Well, it looks like my choices have narrowed considerably! Spent a few hours checking out the various Subaru's in the boneyard and found this out, -EJ22 is just about 1" too wide to fit in the car without a frame notch, and the location of the notch is right where one of the crossmember bolts sits. The exhaust might be an issue also. That and the fact there is no way an EJ automatic would fit without major tunnel surgery (along with a couple other issues) pretty much rules this one out. I was surprised to find out the EA82 is actually a little bit wider than the EJ, not that it was an option. -3AT will not fit without tunnel surgery. It's about 2" or so too wide and quite a bit longer. I was kinda surprised about how big it is. Guess no automatic for me! So, looks like it will be a pushrod motor of some sort with a stick. Now to narrow it down a little more Is there a bolt in 5 speed option? Has anyone actually installed the 1400 4 port heads onto a EA71 or EA81? It does not look like I can use 2 port heads due to the crossmember location. It will physically clear, but would most likely need to run under the crossmember, which I do not wish to do. Would look pretty cheesy with the pipes hanging low, IMO. Who is a good source for performance machine work and parts such as cams/pistons? I will want to get as much RELIABLE/DRIVEABLE power out of this as I can. What is a good # to shoot for? Is 100 @ the crank acheiveable? I would envision a pretty much balanced/blueprinted bottom end with some sort of bigger cam, maybe upped compression if feasible, some nice port work on the heads, maybe with bigger valves, a custom exhaust header/system, and maybe a single Mikuni sidedraft on a custom manifold. (just something a little different than your run of the mill 32/36 ) I would obviously like to start with the most displacement I can, but it seem from searching the EA81 won't accept the 4 port heads, so I am probably "stuck" with an EA71. Thanks for the replies so far and keep them coming! Mark

Thanks for the compliment. that resto was 6 years in the making with a lot of custom touches, especially in the engine compartment. It's an original engine out of a later model that I converted to an EFI/turbo setup. I built all the manifolds for the intake/exhaust from scratch. I also did a lot of upgrades on the brakes. All with no hacking! Webshots is down right now, so I'll put the link up later. I'll also link to pics I have of a 75' dodge Colt wagon I have that I swapped in a 92' Mighty Max 2.4 EFI engine into. No rats nests for me. I actually spent 2 days shortening the harness to make it clean! I am also currently restoring a 72' Corolla 2dr. wagon with a 98' Mitsu 6G72 V6 swap. (damn OBDII!) I need to head down to the area pick-n-pull to take some stuff back and will grab some measurement on an EJ to see if it's something I will consider. These newer motors usually clean up nicely when you don't need to worry about smog. Mark

I am the type that likes to modernize where applicable. I am leaning toward the EJ engine *BUT* I also do not wish to make irreversable changes, should I or a future owner want to return to original. Should the EJ require substantial modifications, my choice just became easier. Oh, and automatic due to the fact my wife likes to occasionally drive my classics and won't drive a stick! Mark

Starting with the flood of questions! I would like the advice of the forum on what to do with the drivetrain in my 73' coupe. I have 2 options I am considering. I would really prefer an automatic trans with either, so that has to be a consideration. I don't mind having to do a little fabrication to mounts and such, but don't want to re-engineer the car to make it work. Without further ado, Option # 1 - Old school EA71 with the 1400 "4 port" heads. Searching around, it seems this is possible with some work to the head water jackets and a cam swap. the questions with this are, -Are the "4 port" heads that superior to the "2 port" heads? -Will the EA63 cam fit in the EA71 block? -Are there automatics that will fit this engine/chassis combo? Are they direct bolt in or are mods needed? Reason: To KISS and have it appear original while increasing the power output and possibly reliability. Seems the wet liner 1400 can develop head gasket issues? Option #2 - New tech EJ18/22, maybe turbo Questions, -Supposedly this is almost a direct drop in, engine wise? -Transmission. Will a EJ automatic fit in the coupe? I guess my main concern would be location of the output shaft and CV compatibility. If the EJ auto is not feasible, will the adapter plate work with an EA automatic? If I had my druthers, I would like the auto to be 4 speed. This would obviously be FWD only. Reason: Modern performance and the driveability of fuel injection. From what I read, the small EJ's are pretty rugged engines. So, what do you all think? Mark

Thanks for the replies so far. I am just curious to what constitutes a Gen 1/2 etc, and the different stage #'s and more importantly, the differences as it relates to parts and/or interchanges. Is this not really a concern with my car? I fully expect to ask a bunch of questions here as I plan out the direction I'm going to take with this. Mark

Sorry, as I'm sure this has been covered but I can't find it, and I have been playing in the search for at least a few hours altogether. Anyways, what Gen/Stage would my newly aquired 1973 GL1400 coupe be? Can someone link me to a page that has info on the different Gen/Stage cars? I would like to be informed. Mark