440k

My god, Lachlan! That looks schweeet!!! When are you bringing it around for me to ogle and drool over (I promise I'll wipe it all off) Mine's looking very forlorn in the shed at the moment. I'm collecting bits for it at the moment (performance bits, no cosmetics yet). I need inspiration!! I need to have a good look at how you did your guards. I'll be ordering a set of the flares very soon.

Thanks for the feedback guys. Yeh, I'm familiar with the early Datsun electrics - had all kinds of fun wiring up the lights on my 1600 - it all worked out well in the end though. I was assuming that the C210 box should be similar to the C110, but want to see them side by side for comparison. I can pick up a C210 one cheap, so might do it just for the exercise. Heavy steering shouldn't be a problem for me - it will be a track car (with a little street use late at night :cheeky: Then again, I AM getting used to nice power steering in my road cars.

As the topic suggests, I'm considering fitting a later model steering box to the 240K. I'm led to believe that the C210 power steering box has a much faster ratio than the standard 4 point something turns lock to lock in the 240K Has anyone done this, or does anyone have any info about the swap? Will it fit? Is it safe to run without the power steering (I imagine you just plug the fittings) Cheers. Peter

The R30 is a hub style disc, so not easily upgradeable. Disc diameter is less than 240K. Offset may be affected. compared to standard, it's a better setup, but throw a set of Hilux calipers and Honda discs on the 240K struts and you'll have a far superior setup. Having said that, Dave Gaines runs the R30 front struts on his 240K rally car quite successfully (has beaten a certain AWD hero going by the name of Chris Atkinson in several rally stages) Kent, the disc unbolts from the back side of the hub. Take the hub off (remove the small centre dust cap at the end of the axle, remove the split pin and remove the nut - make sure you unbolt the caliper first) Sit the hub on the floor so the inside of the disc is facing up. You will see 4 bolts holding the disc to the hub (approx 13 or 14mm heads on the bolts). Undo these bolts, and you should be able to separate the disc from the hub. NB it may be a tight fit, so may need some gentle persuasion.

You're right - the cap can only go on one way. However, the distributor can be installed 180 degrees out of phase - specially if the engine's ever been apart. To check, pull the oil cap off, and look at the camshaft lobes for No 1 cylinder (might need a torch). When the intake and exhaust lobes are both pointing up, the valves are closed, and No 1 cylinder should be firing (ie the dizzy rotor pointing to No 1 terminal). If this isn't the case, then the easiest fix (if you can't rotate the dizzy 180 deg, due to the vacuum mechanism fouling on something or another) is to move all of the plug leads on the cap. The photo you show is the points condensor. This helps to prevent points burning, and can cause problems in ignition if they are malfunctioning(although I've never experienced problems with them). Can't recall off the top of my head how they should be wired though. Hope this helps. Cheers Peter.

1) Are your spark plug wires in the right places? Note that the distributor turns ANTIclockwise on an L series engine. Have you got the plug leads going to the right places? 2) Is the distributor properly phased with the camshaft, ie it's firing on the compression stroke, and not the intake stroke? The dizzy could be 180 degrees out of phase. I have made both of these mistakes in the past, and both cause symptoms similar to what you describe (apart from the setting fire to the carby thing ) Apart from that, check the distributor cap carefully for cracks (inside and out). I'd then be suspecting the carby. If it's been sitting around for a while, it could have too high a float level(causing flooding) or could have blocked jets (causing insufficient or poorly atomised fuel) or many other things. The ballast resistor goes between the positive side of the coil and the ignition feed wire. THere should be another wire that goes directly to the +ve of the coil. This is the 12V feed when you're cranking the engine over. Make sure you're getting full 12V to the coil when you're cranking (you can bypass the ballast for this process, but don't let the engine run too long without it, as it can cook the coil).

Personally I'm not a fan of them. I fitted one to my Dat 1600 when I lived out in the sticks (Blackwater, QLD). Att he time, 99% of the driving was highway, so airflow was never a problem. However, I drove to Melbourne one holidays, and in heavy traffic, it started to overheat. The 12" fan just couldn't draw enough air through the radiator. A motor mounted fan will draw a lot more air through your radiator than most thermo fans. Having said that, many others have had a lot of success with these things, and a good 14" jobbie may do the trick (if it's well shrouded, and you get a good flow of air through the fan). Despite the proposed change to thermo fan, I'd check the reason for the existing fan hitting the radiator (or being so close). Get that fixed first, specially if the eng mounts are letting the engine move forward. Hope this helps. Peter

Yup. Another self confessed driving sim junkie here (although these days I'm lucky to get 1 hour behind the wheel ) I used to rally Dattos and a Daihatsu Charade. When the kids came along, I decided that sitting in the shed rebuilding cars till 2am didn't hold as much appeal for me as it used to . Driving games seemed a good way to get some cheap thrills with a bit more flexibility than a state rally season. Totally agree about not letting kids sit in front of a TV/computer all day. My kids are so energetic (almost feral on some days) there's no hope in hell they'd ever get fat (despite my 6 year old son eating 5 weet bix for breakfast on many mornings). They're lucky to get 1 hour of computer games a week. Oh, my weapon of choice is a Logitech Momo Racing FF, and my game of choice is GPL (Grand Prix Legends). It makes all other driving games look like toys - even 6 years after its release date. As for the driving setup, well mine is shown here:

Wasn't there a brand new one on ebay a week ago?

Hey Lachlan. I paid $300 for a 3 core rad for a Datsun 1600 14 years ago. This was from Z-16 in Sydney. Based on that, $375 for a H/D core for 240K is pretty good. There's a guy called Turbovan at the Ozdat forums who'se just fitted a 1996 BMW 7 Series V8 alloy radiator in his SR powered 1600. This radiator cost him $400 brand new, but it also needs special mounts made up, and a pressurised overflow. Looks like it also has engine oil cooler fittings built into it (I'd have to confirm that, but that's what thye look like to me). A couple of pics can be seen here: http://turbovan.com/newdat/newdat14.jpg http://turbovan.com/newdat/newdat15.jpg Food for thought Edit: Looks like you can't see the pics. You might have to head over to www.ozdat.com, and look for the "My now project" thread towards the top if the General Datsun Nissan Discussion. The photos of tha radiator are on page 4 of 6 of the thread.

Hey Lachlan. Don't be surprised if you have to spring for a new radiator (or at least a new core). By the time a radiator starts to leak (unless it's from a stick or other puncture) there's a good chance that the rest of the core is pretty close to shot. I'd be budgeting for a new one (good chance to upgrade to a heavy duty one) Sorry to be mr negative about this :nervous:

A decent dyno tuner will put a probe up the exhaust system to monitor AFR. I assume this is how he knew it was running too rich. A normal O2 sensor won't tell you squat on a power run, as they're only used for "cruise" tuning. You need a wideband sensor with appropriate programming to let you calculate AFR at peak power. Basically, advacing the timing will get you more power, but you might need to crank the fuel pressure a bit (or re-program th ECU to get more fuel in) to prevent pinging.

Well, from having none, now I have a surplus I have a factory workshop manual for sale - the dark blue cover one. It's a bit grubby with greasy finger marks through it, but is complete and not falling apart. This is the Nissan manual, with wiring diagrams, alignment data (for straightening a bent chassis) and full rebuild spec for engines, gearboxes, diffs etc. What am I bid for this wonderfully useful piece of literature? I thought I'd offer it here before putting it on ebay (where they regularly fetch high $40's, and sometimes into the $50's) $40 and consider it sold. (although I'm open to offers)

Hey yeah, you can come and look at mine while you're down. Not much to look at though (very rough '73 Coupe). I'll be putting the GTR flares on mine, but that's it (only to fit some decent suspension / rubber under the guards).

Hey 240K&Beyond: What material are you making your plates out of? You say that you have a set in use at the moment - is this road only, or road / race? Reason I ask is that I have a few concerns regarding the sharp internal corners. I was working on a design with chamfered / radiused internal corners wherever possible to minimise stress raisers. Don't take this as a criticism of your work. It was good of you to make your design available to us. I was just looking at whether the design can be simply improved on (hey, if it saves me having to engineer my own, then it's a bonus). I have a freind who's a gun machinist (as in he's good, not that he machines guns, or operates machine guns. Well actually, he DOES manufacture parts for rifles - but...aww forget it :tapemouth ), and has his own equipment at home. He offered to make mine up for me pretty cheap (usual payment of beer / red wine plus materials). He might be interested in making up a few of these.

Hi 240K lovers. No, it's not mine. I saw this on the Ozdat classifieds, so thought I'd post here for y'all to ponder. If I had the room and money, I'd buy it for myself (but hten I've been known to suffer from mental instability at times :stupid: ) Datsun 240K 240K 2 door, 1973 model, been in same family since new. 260Z 5 Speed and extractors. No accidents. Paint faded but body straight mechanically sound. Gold with black interior, alloy wheels. Daily drive car, has just been replaced with newer nissan, suit Datsun enthusiast - would be a great project car. Car Identification: OFB 085 Price: Offers invited Location: Ipswich QLD Contact: Jason Phone: 0412 210 893 (hours: Business hours or week ends) Hopefully someone from here ends up with it. If not, we'll have to drag the new owner kicking and screaming into our little world Hehe I think it might still have the original rego plates on it. Wouldn't that makje a cool Q car (with RB25DET and full coilover setup . mmmm droool) Cheers Pete.

Thanks Leon. Geez, for that price, I may as well stop frigging around with Ebay and spend the extra $40 for a brand spanking new one. Can you confirm it's exactly the same as the one that this thread linked to, ie full chassis manual? Thanks again Peter

Thanks for the offer, Jim. Did you not have any luck chasing up the air conditioning manual that had been posted on ebay? I e-mailed the guy, but never heard back from him. Pity. Initially, I'm after a wiring diagram for a 2 door (so I can fit the EFI Rover donk and throw the holley paperweight away). Eventually, I'll need everything, which is why I'm chasing the manual for myself. Leon: Where did you buy your new manual, and how much did you pay, if you don't mind me asking. I might have to bite the bullet, and fork out for a new one, if I can't pick up a second hand one for the right price.

AAAARRRRHH Bugger Bugger Bugger. Outbid in the last 30 seconds!!!!! I knew I shouldn't have bid until the last moment. Anyone who knows the guy who won it, tell him he's a #@@%!! There. I fell better now. :stupid: Alfadog - you'll have to stop posting the links here . I don't need any more competition in buying myself a manual. Have been trying for 5 months now :mad: :mad:

Racer X You scored -35% Congratulations. You are the real thing. Chances are you could tear down your engine and put it back together in a weekend. You know a decent amount about racing dynamics. The "FATHF" culture has been a bane to your existence since you've been in the game for years before that horrid movie was released. Auto-x, drag racing, track time, you know enough to not sound like an arse while talking about it, and you can probably hold your own on the track too. Race on, good citizen, for you are a true Racer. Hehe!! :bandit:

I had a look at the wiring diagram in my 1600 manual. I'd guess there's a fair chance that the 240k ignition switch is the same wiring setup (altho stranger things have heppened). It has 2 outputs that supply 12V upon cranking. Terminal 2 supplies the starter solenoid, and terminal 5 supplies a 12V feed for the ignition circuit, bypassing the ballast resistor. What's terminal 2 and terminal 5 I hear you ask? Buggeref if I know, I'm afraid. Best to take to the switch with a multimeter or test light, and see which terminals are live when the key is in the "start" position. The wires on these terminals should match the colour of a wire going to the coil (to the same terminal as the ballast resistor goes to). That's the wire you'll want to connect to the ECU. Again, this is for a Datsun 1600, which I'm pretty sure would be very similar to the 240k. If one of our 240k owners with a manual could care to confirm this... Cheers Peter

I'd say the easiest way to get a clean 12V signal while cranking is to take a feed off the solenoid switch circuit, (which should be one of the outputs from your ignition switch - that goes straight to your starter solenoid) and use that to trigger a relay (that way you can't get backfeed of current into the starter solenoid from your ignition circuit). Not sure if that's how it's done, but to a dumb mechanical person like me, it makes sense. The starter in my 240K (Leyland 4.4V8 engine) has a second terminal on the solenoid, that provides 12V power while cranking. This attaches directly to the coil (bypassing the ballast resistor on the coil). The reason for all this nonsense is that if you feed 12V through most ignition coils, it fries them. They're designed to operate on 5-6V, so the power all runs through a ballast resistor. However, when you're cranking the engine, you want as much power as possible (and the starter draws a lot of current, which may rob other circuits). To achieve this, a 12V signal is fed directly into the ignition coil, only during engine cranking. This is the feed you want to trace, and it should already exist in the 240K. Hope this all makes sense. Looking at the circuit pinouts, I'd guess that you want to feed the 12V into pin 36. That's my interpretation fo the diagram, although I accept no liability if your ECU (or entire car) ends up as a smouldering heap of black goo as a result of taking my advice :cheeky:

Kent. The basic principle of suspension is to keep the maximum tyre contact patch on the road at all times, and minimise weight transfer of the car. Pretty simple, right? Static suspension settings (camber, castor, etc.) are not ideal for achieving this while the car is stationary (Not that this matters a toss anyway). However, when the car is moving, and the tyres / suspension is loaded, the deflection in the suspension components brings everything into the "optimum" position (in an ideal world). We need to set up the geometry to allow for the movement in the suspension, but control it all so there isn't too much movement to throw everything out of whack again. Camber is used to get a cornering tyre to sit flat on the road under load. Suspension geometry is generally set up to try and maintain this camber as much as possible. Chassis stiffening is used to keep the chassis rigid, and let all movement be controlled by the suspension. Dampers are used to slow down oscillation of the body (minimise weight transfer, and geometry changes through suspension bump / rebound) and wheels (keep tyres in contact with the road). There have been lots of discussions at the Ozdat forums, specially the "Datsports adjustable rear X member? Any good?" thread in the Tutorials / FAQ section. (NB YOU WILL HAVE TO REGISTER TO ACCESS THIS AREA) It's got some pretty hardcore suspension discussion, and a few good recommendations. I know that a lot of what I've said is basic and common sense, but when you think of suspension this way, you realise that almost everything you do to enhance a car's suspension is designed to optimise the factors I've mentioned. You soon start to realis that 5 deg of camber may look cool, but really doesn't achieve squat in a road car. Then there's the evil we like to call "real world conditions". Road camber, rain, potholes, undulations, etc. A race car is nice on a billiard table racetrack, but put it onto a corrugated suburban street and watch them back into a telegraph pole. Road car suspension is all about compromise. Finally, remember that you are more likely to win a race in a car which has predictable handling, and communicates its every movement to the driver, than a twitchy car with strotospheric cornering limits, but gives no feedback as to what it's doing. Hope this (very general response) helps.

G'day Kent. I've been following your progress with great interest. With the RB30DET unde the bonnet, you won't need handling (j/k) The 240K can be made to handle very well, using much the same principles as the Datto 1600. The secret, as with most cars, is to get the geometries right (camber, castor, toe) and then keep them there (with the right bushes, mounts, etc.). Things like strut braces will help a little, as will seam welding the engine bay, and rollcages (of course, that depends how serious you want to get). If the suspension is done right, then you'll get the most out of a decent set of R spec rubber. Don't fall for the hype of needing big 18" rubber for handling. A good set of 15" wheels and tyres will give better handling than a set of 18's with "cheap" (although probably still dearer than the 15's) tyres every time. Sorry for the general nature of the response, but don't let anyone tell you that the 240k can't be turned into a great handler. With the heavy lump of an RB under your bonnet, any weight you can move to the back of the car will also reduce the understeer

There's someone selling a brand new Datsun ignition lock on E-bay (it's for a 120Y). No idea if that'll fit. Have a look Here: