'78 120Y . not your usual engine conversion

[Bozwell]

some of you will have seen this on other forums but for those that haven't here is a hybrid Mazda Datsun and soon to be Ford combo .








the engine is a 2002 Mazda MX5 (miata) 1.8VVT engine and 5 speed gearbox. the engine is totally standard and even still running OBD2 diagnostics. rated at 147 horsepower it pulls the car along very nicely.

the Mazda engine may be a strange option but it does work very well and very cheap to replace if it should blow up.

i have a Ford English axle to fit with a plate LSD diff and quaife driveshafts. Nissan/Datsun LSD's are so rare that the only option was to go with a Ford axle. it should be plenty strong enough for what i want .

even though it was bought as a finished car there were things that i needed to improve/change. one being the gearlever too short and another being that the steering wheel was too high. it also had a Mercedes change over (indicator) switch which i didn't like. i managed to get a NOS Datsun indicator switch and good used columb covers locally to me.



old


new


made a new larger bore tidier exhaust system


including making a back box








purchased some MGB wheels cheap (£45 )



to use as track wheels




there are only very few of these Datsuns left in the UK . something like 18 Coups. but i don't know how many are actually on the road.

so this winter i am stripping the suspension to fit the Ford axle, lower it and beef up the suspension.

oh and i also have a Honda S800 to which i am fitting a S2000 engine

[CharlieBucket]

Cool car man, i know a guy in colorado that just did this engine swap into a Datsun 520 pick-up. i was just about to post my orange b210 that i have been working on. i would kill for a set of those bumpers you have! What kind of suspention are you going to run in the front?

[Bozwell]

it's already got 280ZX struts with coilover conversion and the 280ZX brakes. all i need to do is get heavier springs and look into revalving the shocks.

for the rear i am looking into seeing if the old UK Ford Escort or Capri leaf springs can be made to fit as there are uprated ones of these available. i will also modify the spring hangers to move the springs in towards the centre a little (looks like an easy job) and remake the bushes from nylon. the Ford axle i have is narrower than the Dat axle so i can use the deep dish wheels and lower it without the tyres rubbing. the Ford axle needs the spring hangers making and welding on anyway .

i'm also going to find a front antiroll bar from any car that could be similar and bend it to the same shape as the Dat antiroll bar.


have you tried the UK Datsun forum for bumpers?

http://www.datman.co.uk/forum/

try this thread. Datman(Will) may now where there could be some bumpers if he doesn't have them. Will has loads of B210 spares, thats where i got a new old stock indicator switch from.

[Capital15]

Very nice and unique swap.
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Datsun 210=Love

[CharlieBucket]

Very cool man, i am going to try and get those bumpers! I can really enjoy my b210 with the 60 horsepower or whatever, i can only imagine how fun driving yours on the track is. Paint looks great, Is that the original orange color, or a custom color?

[NSR_s30]

Very cool man.
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- '71 Datsun 240z.....L28ET here we come
- '99 Ford F-250 7.3L V8 Turbo Diesel

[DaveW]

sweet, my first ever car was a 78' 120Y 2 door in the sky blue. Loved it too bits and been a datsun fan ever since. I now own a GTR!

[Bozwell]

the colour isn't original. it's a lot more orange than the reddy orange it used to be.

i'm more of a Honda fan and got the Datsun just to have fun with until the S800 project is near completion. so it'll probably be for sale in a couple of years.

it's got more than enough power to keep up with modern trafic with just light throttle. the engine pulls great to the 7000 rpm limit and works superbly on the track. i live in south east england so there is too much trafic on the roads to really enjoy driving. so the plan with it is to have plenty of fun at airfield driving days and track days.

[Bozwell]

iv'e got a few days off work so finally iv'e got a day where the weather isn't wet. iv'e had the car outside under cover for the last month in all that heavy wind and rain and actually dreaded what i may find when the cover is dry enough to move.



and to my amazement the car and interior are bone dry usually i find the gear knob goes sticky if not used for more than a few days. so a big thumbs up for the cover.


anyway, i removed the rear axle but not before draining the axle oil. found a few nasties stuck to the magnet

this being the worst



iv'e yet to strip the axle to see where it came from.

compared the Ford and Datsun axles and they look so similar that one must have been copied from the other. ignore the brackets on the Ford axle as it came out of a Caterham but the position of the brake adjuster and slave cylinder and even the handbrake linkage look so similar. in fact i'm going to use as much of the Datsun stuff as possible.




another bit of info is that the bolt holes for the prop flange are exactly the same size and spacing as each other. only a little tweak of the prop locating flange will need to be altered. the nose length is within mm of being the same length so a Datsun prop should be correct enough to fit a Ford axle conversion.

altering this axle for the 114.3 PCD will be easy due to the Quaife output flange being made for a small PCD'd Caterham.



all i need to do now is make it fit. and probably get a new prop made as the diameter of this prop is rather large to clear the tunnel on full bump. plus i want to modify the springs or maybe fit Ford springs. we shall see

[Chickenwing]

very sexy project.
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[TacoDelRio]

[TSiSS350]

Clean car... non-us bumpers.... perfect. I like it a lot!
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Brad D.
'84 RX7 ; '86 Cressida ; '68 Camaro SS ;
'71 NSU 1200c ; '84 Starion ES

[bonvo]

nice ford 9 inch or 8.8?
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[blownb310]

Excellent project. Subscribing to this thread!
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'77 Datsun B210 [Hypermiler - 77.04 mpg!]
'81 Datsun 210

[Bozwell]