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 Post subject: Muzz's 71 1600
PostPosted: Thu Mar 24, 2016 8:50 pm 
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Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 4:09 pm
Posts: 88
Location: Newcastle NSW
Hi OZ Datters
I have had the one Datsun 1600 for more than 25 years. It has been a daily driver as well as providing a platform for club level motorsport.
It has had all the inevitable 'L' series engine upgrades from 1.6, 1.8, 2.0 L the last being a very enjoyable 2.2 litre grunter.
It has been used in dirt rallies, dirt circuit sprints in the Newcastle area and tar super-sprints at all the race circuits in Sydney (Amaroo Pk, Oran Pk & Eastern Creek)
The car was always driven to and from each event and only once in all that time failed to be driven home under its own power. After 2006 it became a dedicated track car and was trailered to and from the circuit until 2009 when she was finally put out to pasture (literally)
It sat in the back yard for a couple of years and was at risk of going to the tip.
Due to the weeds growing up into the engine bay, it looked a very sad sight.
It was the OZDAT site that saved her. Reading the many build threads relating to 1600s gave me the incentive to attempt a bare metal resto including an SR20DET transplant.
For many years I have tinkered on making it go faster but had never attempted or even considered a bare metal restoration.
It has been a long build and at times I didn't think it was ever going to be finished.
A big thank you to all the OZDAT contributors for showing that you can get to the end of a project. (although you never really finish)
I haven't documented the build as well as many others on this site. I have a number of photos that show some of the story.
Like most of us that have done a rebuild upgrade restoration, (as apposed to a back to factory spec restoration), I went down plenty of rabbit holes chasing ideas, but in the end other than the electric power assist steering there's nothing radically different to my build to most 1600/SR20 projects.
The following three pictures are of the 2.2 litre grunter mentioned earlier.
Cheers
Muzz

PS Sorry for the large file size of the pictures. If you have a slow internet connection they will take a while to download.


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File comment: Enjoyable grunter
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Grunt1.1.jpg [ 797.82 KiB | Viewed 5051 times ]
File comment: Enjoyable grunter
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Grunt2.1.jpg [ 735.88 KiB | Viewed 5051 times ]
File comment: Enjoyable grunter
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Grunt 3.1.jpg [ 721.75 KiB | Viewed 5051 times ]


Last edited by Muzdat on Sun Apr 02, 2017 10:14 pm, edited 7 times in total.
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 Post subject: Re: Muzz's 71 1600
PostPosted: Fri Mar 25, 2016 12:52 pm 
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Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 4:09 pm
Posts: 88
Location: Newcastle NSW
The problem I had is probably like most here that have attempted a full restoration at home, and that is where to put all the bits. It is amazing how many screws, nuts and bolts are in a 1600.
I would recommend you find a large dry area (that isn't going to be used for a few years) and lots of containers BEFORE you start pulling things apart.


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File comment: Ready for blasting
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Dat1.1.jpg [ 385.58 KiB | Viewed 5047 times ]
File comment: Ready for blasting
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Dat4.1.jpg [ 663.28 KiB | Viewed 5051 times ]
File comment: Ready for blasting
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dat 4.jpg [ 832.59 KiB | Viewed 5051 times ]
File comment: Ready for blasting
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Dat3.jpg [ 661.82 KiB | Viewed 5051 times ]
File comment: Ready for blasting
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Dat2.jpg [ 576.49 KiB | Viewed 5051 times ]


Last edited by Muzdat on Sat Mar 26, 2016 9:26 pm, edited 5 times in total.
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 Post subject: Re: Muzz's 71 1600
PostPosted: Fri Mar 25, 2016 12:55 pm 
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Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 4:09 pm
Posts: 88
Location: Newcastle NSW
Back from the sand blasters.
There was a bit of rust in all the usual places.
As this work was done about six years ago, most of you would know that back then there wasn't any replacement panels available for the 1600, only a limited number of repair sections. I was lucky enough to snag a complete (used but in mint condition) LH rear guard from Japan, the remaining sections were repaired using the various repair sections available in Australia at that time.


Attachments:
File comment: Blasted and etch primed
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Datsun 5.JPG [ 1.57 MiB | Viewed 5097 times ]
File comment: Blasted and etch primed
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Datsun 6.JPG [ 1.6 MiB | Viewed 5097 times ]
File comment: Blasted and etch primed
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Datsun 7.JPG [ 1.52 MiB | Viewed 5097 times ]
File comment: Blasted and etch primed
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Datsun 8.JPG [ 885.94 KiB | Viewed 5097 times ]


Last edited by Muzdat on Fri Mar 25, 2016 1:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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 Post subject: Re: Muzz's 71 1600
PostPosted: Fri Mar 25, 2016 1:25 pm 
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Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 4:09 pm
Posts: 88
Location: Newcastle NSW
I had a few criteria for this resto. 1. It had to be a 'sleeper' 2. The paint colour would be similar to the original but could be metallic 3. Would be easy to drive and 4. It would be fully engineered so I wouldn't have a coronary if pulled over by the Police.
As the original colour was honey brown, I was originally leaning towards the VT commodore tiger mica when I first started, however as time went on I went cold on that idea and settled for the 2010 Falcon Sunburst which is a touch more red than the tiger mica.
Now that it's painted I am pleased with the result but the original Nissan honey brown could have probably been reproduced as a metallic which I think now would look cool.
Anyway we make lots of decisions during a project, some we like and some we regret. Such is life.


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Datsun 10.JPG [ 1.25 MiB | Viewed 5096 times ]
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Datsun 9.JPG [ 1.3 MiB | Viewed 5096 times ]


Last edited by Muzdat on Sat Mar 26, 2016 9:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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 Post subject: Re: Muzz's 71 1600
PostPosted: Fri Mar 25, 2016 2:43 pm 
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Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 4:09 pm
Posts: 88
Location: Newcastle NSW
I was lucky to find an S15 with only 37k on the clock that had been hit in the left hand side. It looked somewhat like a banana but it was the ideal donor.
As the S15 has a 6 speed transmission I thought at first that having a 6 speed gearbox would be rather cool but reading of the reliability problems some people were having with the 6 speed box and because the electronic speedo signal generator is located in the diff in an S15 and the diff is not easily transplanted I made the decision to use a 5 speed box from an S14
As I'm not as adventurous or talented as some on this site, I took the easy way and purchased a heap of stuff from Datsport (Gday Baz and tRacy)
Generally if you want a good thought out option, go with the established suppliers. It will cost you more than you thought you would ever spend on a 45 year old car, but it will save you a lot of heart ache.
When using the Datsport option there were a couple of surprises. One of them was that the 200B cross member raises a high mount intake S15 engine up to a level that you can no longer use the standard bonnet support. You can see in the photo in the previous post the modifications I made to the bonnet. Most people seem to satisfactorily use two small struts to hold up the bonnet (I bought a set) but I wasn't convinced that it was the best way to go.


Attachments:
[ attachment ]
Datsun 11.JPG [ 1.29 MiB | Viewed 5093 times ]


Last edited by Muzdat on Mon Mar 28, 2016 5:44 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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 Post subject: Re: Muzz's 71 1600
PostPosted: Fri Mar 25, 2016 3:13 pm 
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Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 4:09 pm
Posts: 88
Location: Newcastle NSW
Building a car in a residential garage is a bit of a challenge but once again this site showed me that it was possible. Other than the rear wiring loom and the engine loom, everything else had to be custom made.


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Datsun 14.JPG [ 1.24 MiB | Viewed 5092 times ]
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Datsun 13.JPG [ 1.26 MiB | Viewed 5092 times ]
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 Post subject: Re: Muzz's 71 1600
PostPosted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 4:23 pm 
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Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 4:09 pm
Posts: 88
Location: Newcastle NSW
The other thing to be mindful of is the 200B cross member and lower control arms increases the front track by about 75mm.
This is fine and is a real advantage if you want some aggressive negative camber but it does create some hassles when it comes to fitting wide tyres under a set of mudguards that are supposed to look factory like.
My engineer wouldn't accept adjustable lower control arms so adjustable strut tops were installed to dial in the required negative camber.
I had gone down the path of getting blank Verada discs machined to fit the stub axles and a set of VL commodore callipers. This combination accepted most of the 13 inch alloys that I had at the time but when I came to the conclusion that the brake package may not get past the scrutiny of the engineering process with an SR20DET under the bonnet it was time to call Baz.
The option selected was the four piston Nissan/Sumitomo brake callipers from the R32 Skyline with 280 mm discs. Great stopping power but it did require some trial and error to find a rim that cleared the calliper, didn't protrude past the mudguard, wide enough to make the effort worthwhile without rubbing on something with a decent full lock and looked the part i.e. old school. Because I didn't want a tyre side wall profile lower than 55, I ended up using 15 x 6 Superlites from Performance Wheels with a custom offset of P18 They were the only rim that claimed to be produced to an Australian Standard and one of the few mag wheels with steel, wheel nut seat inserts.
It is a pity that as a manufacturer Performance Wheels (Adelaide) are no longer in business. I'm sure that the Performance rims that you buy today will look the part but it is unclear at this stage whether the same metallurgy involved in producing the wheels is the same standard, only time will tell.


Attachments:
File comment: Verada disc with commodore calliper. Might have been OK but ended up not using them.
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Strut.jpg [ 963.33 KiB | Viewed 5064 times ]
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IMGP2599.JPG [ 536.55 KiB | Viewed 5064 times ]


Last edited by Muzdat on Sun May 01, 2016 10:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
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 Post subject: Re: Muzz's 71 1600
PostPosted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 5:53 pm 
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Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 4:09 pm
Posts: 88
Location: Newcastle NSW
It was important for me to fill in between to fuel tank and the cabin. The photos show the steel plate, the battery cable leading to the boot and the floor mounted hand brake. For the curious the wiring going through the bulk head of the rear foot well is for the under floor fuel pump/surge tank. This is the pump I have been using now for the past 9 months. Last week I fitted a custom made 70 litre tank with an internal fuel pump and sender. Also the spare tyre wheel well now accepts a full size wheel.


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Datsun 24.JPG [ 1.19 MiB | Viewed 4995 times ]
File comment: Old under floor pump/surge tank
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IMGP2358.JPG [ 1.21 MiB | Viewed 5058 times ]
File comment: New fuel tank with internal pump and level sender
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1.9.jpg [ 1.12 MiB | Viewed 5058 times ]
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IMGP1019.JPG [ 1.22 MiB | Viewed 5058 times ]
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IMGP0908.JPG [ 1.24 MiB | Viewed 5058 times ]
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Datsun 15.JPG [ 1.31 MiB | Viewed 5058 times ]


Last edited by Muzdat on Sun Mar 27, 2016 5:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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 Post subject: Re: Muzz's 71 1600
PostPosted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 10:47 pm 
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Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 4:09 pm
Posts: 88
Location: Newcastle NSW
There are a couple of modifications that I have put in and wish I had them years ago. The first was a Torsen diff centre for the R180 diff. There is plenty of info on this site about them and the second was power steering.
There is also lots of info about power steering but what I ended up doing was removing the steering column which is not that hard and sent it to Jamie Waterhouse of Waterhouse Automotive in Penrith and he fitted an electric power steering unit to the column and I put it back in. It requires two power supplies , one permanent and one from the ignition and wulla power steering, simple as that.


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IMGP1837.JPG [ 1.26 MiB | Viewed 5042 times ]
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Datsun 18.JPG [ 1.25 MiB | Viewed 5042 times ]
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 Post subject: Re: Muzz's 71 1600
PostPosted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 11:25 pm 
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Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 4:09 pm
Posts: 88
Location: Newcastle NSW
Ready to go for rego


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Datsun 34.JPG [ 1.18 MiB | Viewed 5040 times ]
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Datsun 23.JPG [ 1.23 MiB | Viewed 5040 times ]
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Datsun 22.JPG [ 1.2 MiB | Viewed 5040 times ]
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Datsun 21.JPG [ 1.24 MiB | Viewed 5040 times ]
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Datsun 20.JPG [ 1.2 MiB | Viewed 5040 times ]
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Datsun 19.JPG [ 1.25 MiB | Viewed 5040 times ]
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 Post subject: Re: Muzz's 71 1600
PostPosted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 9:27 am 
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Joined: Wed Dec 09, 2009 8:34 pm
Posts: 441
Location: sydney
Mate awesome build your car looks amazing


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 Post subject: Re: Muzz's 71 1600
PostPosted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 9:32 am 
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Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 10:18 am
Posts: 1571
This looks incredible. What is the airbox from?

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1600 Build: http://ozdat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=22694


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 Post subject: Re: Muzz's 71 1600
PostPosted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 5:09 pm 
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Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 4:09 pm
Posts: 88
Location: Newcastle NSW
FULLY ROAD REGISTERED!! For me (and probably others here) a project such as this can be rewarding and at times frustrating and getting it engineered was the latter. I only did it for peace of mind if something happened and the Police or an Insurance company got involved. In NSW our engineering certification scheme was dramatically overhauled about 2 or 3 years ago when the existing scheme was withdrawn and all the certifiers had to reapply under a new scheme. The outcome of this is that there are substantially less certifiers now than under the old scheme. There may still be some dodgy certifiers out there somewhere but that certainly wasn't the case for me. The guy must have taken over 100 photos of everything then gave me a list of things he wanted done. Not modifications but things that could justify the existence of an SR20DET in the front. He also wanted a full break test. This test took half a day to complete and involved proving the pressure at each wheel, proving the car could stop with only the front brakes then only the back ones, multiple stops (about 40 in all) for cold brakes and then hot brakes at 60kl then 80kl then 100kl and then a series of emergency stops. The results of EVERY stop was recorded with a calibrated G force meter. After all that he said it has '#ucking good brakes', talk about jumping through hoops. I also had to have the exhaust DB (noise) recorded from a certain distance with a calibrated DB meter and the exhaust gas analysed (that little exercise required a euro cat5 to be fitted) All this info is now kept on file with the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) and I was told that the Police have access to it for cross checking, if I am pulled over.
Anyway the old girl is back on the road and feeling better than ever.
The old version of this car although enjoyable to drive in competition was a pig to drive on suburban bitumen roads at legal speeds because of the high lift cam, welded diff and no power steering. I'm loving this incarnation.


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IMGP2369.JPG [ 1.2 MiB | Viewed 4994 times ]
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Datsun 32.JPG [ 1.2 MiB | Viewed 4998 times ]
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Datsun 31.JPG [ 1.27 MiB | Viewed 4998 times ]
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Dat30.1.jpg [ 895.96 KiB | Viewed 4998 times ]
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Dat29.1.jpg [ 1.17 MiB | Viewed 4998 times ]
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Dat27.1.jpg [ 1.03 MiB | Viewed 4998 times ]


Last edited by Muzdat on Tue Mar 29, 2016 10:26 am, edited 4 times in total.
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 Post subject: Re: Muzz's 71 1600
PostPosted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 5:13 pm 
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Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 4:09 pm
Posts: 88
Location: Newcastle NSW
Thanks sutho510
hailest, the air box is from the same S15 as the engine, I also used the indicator and headlight switch assembly and plastic cover (the bit that goes around the steering column under the steering wheel)from the S15


Last edited by Muzdat on Sun Mar 27, 2016 10:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Muzz's 71 1600
PostPosted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 6:47 pm 
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Posts: 1571
Fantastic work Muzz. More inspiration for my next round of mods.

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1600 Build: http://ozdat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=22694


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