Hey Guys,

Thought I would make a thread for my car. I have just not long recently purchased a 1972 1600.

The long-term plan is to do a ground up restoration but for not I plan on using the car as an everyday drive, while buying bits and doing modifications etc to suit the handling and look I want.

The car still has original motor (yes - matching numbers), original windscreen, original brakes, original paint (except in engine bay), original dash, pretty much the car is mostly original except two front seats, and a few other little things.

I am still up in the air at the moment about what i fully want to do with the car. All i know is right now I want to:

- Keep L16 in car and refreshen (new pistons, conrods etc)
- Update Seat belts
- Install centre handbrake and get rid of old style.
- Update dash to a SSS dash as I like look of them
- Get new wheels. Preferable 15 x 6.5


And thats where I thought making a thread for my car will help me as I can get other peoples opinions, and advice from there builds.

Obviously this build is going to be over a long term and not straight up. I will post photos and updates as I get parts and fit them to the car.

But more then happy for advice and ideas etc from everyone.

Cheers,
Brad

Good score! Looks like a solid 1600 Brad.
Is it your first car/datsun?
I'm sure you will find a tonne of info on this forum about 1600's and get heaps of inspiration.

Seeing you are planning to drive this thing daily and are on your P's, it would be wise to keep the car as neat as possible so you dont attract unwanted attention and you might want to think about removing the 'artwork' on the bootlid.
Also as they are quite old now, if it hasnt had regular roadworthy inspections at all i'd recommend checking and replacing some safety related parts first before you start on making it look good.
The following parts might not yet have been changed on your Datsun in the last 42years:

-front seatbelts, frayed/non-retractable.
-flexible brake hoses, perished/cracked.
-front disc rotors and pads worn, rear drum brake adjustment out or wheel cyl's siezing up,
-single reservoir master cylinder (recommended to upgrade to a dual circuit master cyl),
-steering wheel, freeplay/slop (worn inner and outer tie-rod ends, idler arm, draglink, steering box adjustment out, radius rod bushes split).
-fuel hoses, hard/cracked (filler neck, fuel tank breather hoses, engine bay fuel hoses).
-carby, leaking fuel (sight glass seal).
-window wipers operate slow (siezed wiper blade pivots) etc...

Some of those may be ok on your car already but they are common parts which can cause big problems if they are ignored. Hope this helps.

Hey Nick,

Thanks, it isn't my first car, however it is my first Datsun. Yes, I have been thinking about the boot lid. I bought the car like this with plans to remove it however i don't want to remove it and paint the boot lid and have that all brand new paint and rest of car way it is. will hold off as long as i can.

I am in middle of roadworthy now and all seems to be going good so far. don't really have to replace much. only thing really is right front ball joint and tie rod end.

Otherwise car is pretty much in good condition, the front seat belts are not frayed or anything, god plenty of brake pad, discs are fine (i will upgrade once i work out what struts to go on)

But thanks once again

Car looks like a excellent start Brad. I'd start with safety items first:

* Decent quality tyres
* Brake system check and fluid flush
* Seatbelts from a saftey perspective

Regards,

Trent

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

What's the thoughts on the end goal? What engine have you been thinking about? Because you can start fitting some of those parts now (and as the guys above suggested) they can be used now to improve the cars safety and performance and make it easier to slot that fiesty L banger or CA/FJ/KA/SR/F20/EJ/VQ etc. Into her!

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1972 Datsun 1600, S14 SR20DET Engineered (204rwkW @ 17psi.)
viewtopic.php?t=6579
#SR20Datsun @SR20Datsun

My end goal is to have a nice looking 1600. not over the top but still looking at it up close got nice detail and can catch the eye. my plan is to restore original motor as it is still in car and have the l16 still in it. i would prefer this then doing a full engine conversion.

Ok Guys, Been thinking a lot and looking into a lot of stuff regarding my car. My plan with motor is to keep it with the l16 block, but put l18 crank and pistons etc through it to give it that bit more of torque and horsepower etc. Then put a full adjustable rear end in the car, with the front all done up with new struts (this is what I'm working out at the moment which struts to get) and also, new brake system, brake booster, re do the engine bay a little to give it a period look. Also trying to work out dash. I am wanting to put new speedo and a rpm gauge and a few other little gauges. I can get 3 to go in original dash, or I can upgrade where original radio is now and get a new face that houses a new head unit and can have 3 x 2" gauges under head unit. I am slowly working out all this. But first up I plan on doing rear end, struts, and then do all the gauges as when i do gauges I plan on trying to tidy up engine bay wiring as it is a bit everywhere at the moment and then put it all into a pipe or electrical tape it and clip it up to make it look neat and tidy.

Oh and also, this weekend i plan on taking off the 'artwork' of boot and re spraying it with a basic white just to get me through until i strip car down to give it a whole new paint job

So hopefully I can start organising some parts soon and start my long term project

Brad, like I said previously it all depends on what you want to do with the car in the future. If you are going to keep it with the L16 modified to L18, then there are some good brake conversions that can make use of 240K or 200B struts. You can get 4 piston calipers and vented rotors and it all bolts in without crazy money, and it works really really well. You can also buy some of this stuff in the classifieds on here or other datsun places. Most of the guys have raced with these setups and they stop extremely well (with appropriate pads)
The adjustable rear end will only be needed if you are going to lower it and put bigger rubber on the back end.
Brakes and suspension and safety items should be the highest on your list of priorities (including tyres to suit the wheels you want to run). Then you can stuff with the engine!

Get some nice 14 or 15" wheels and the best rubber you can afford. The wheel size then dictates what brake rotors you can run (diameter) and hence brake calipers. Go coil overs on the front and get some decent shocks and springs both frond and rear. If you are running the car relatively low, an adjustable rear end will sort the issues.
Leave the L16 as is for the moment as you get the thing handling and stopping. Once completed attack the engine.

_________________
1972 Datsun 1600, S14 SR20DET Engineered (204rwkW @ 17psi.)
viewtopic.php?t=6579
#SR20Datsun @SR20Datsun

Yeh, i have worked out what i am doing there. but I aint touching motor until i work on safety items/ struts, brakes, rear end etc etc for handling. that was my idea anyway. get car handling and driving like i want then worry about motor. should have been more precise with what I was meaning

I saw this at the car show last night. The boot art is certainly different but it looks pretty tidy overall.

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green200b - aka Alistair

The fleet:

Australia:
'80 200B GX - the green200b - hibernating
'81 RX-7 - 12A extend port - daily
'74 RX-2 - 13B bridgeport - cruiser

Europe:
'93 200SX - CA18DET - tourer

Hey Brad,
Awesome build I don't know where you found it but stock ones like these are getting rare so leaving the l16 in I think is a good choice.
Saw this last night at Yarra Valley Chrome Bumpers, Looks like a really nice car all together.
Here is a photo I took of it.
Yarra Valley Chrome Bumpers August by johnstamellos, on Flickr

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'70 Datsun 1600 http://datsundiseased.johnstamellos.com/

Thanks Alistair, yes the artwork at the back is interesting say the least. As said previously bought it exactly like this off previous owner. he has done a few things.

Thanks John, much appreciated. Thought I would take it out and see what it is like. Will defiantly be going back to the next one!! hopefully a few more things done on it by then, but yes. Will be keeping l16 in it, only things i plan on changing now after comments etc are a few safety items and underneath the car with handling wise. but otherwise try and keep as much original as you said to find a standard one or close to standard one is very hard now days.

So update on car! Been in contact with Baz from Datsport, have to say amazing to deal with and so much knowledge and everything. If anyone ever needs anything highly recommend Baz. But yeah, can finally say I have ordered a few parts through Baz, and the build can finally start away. Firstly I am going to be doing the car up with modifications to get handling the way i want it and if anything else comes up as i do modifications so then saves destroying paint job etc. And then once i do this save a bit of money and then eventually start pulling it down and getting it ready for paint and clean the engine up. Im excited and hopefully this turns out the way i am planning and from what Baz was saying it should all turn out to what we are working towards.
Once i get parts, I will start taking photos and updating more often as i will have a few weeks to work on the parts i have ordered in between working etc.

Awesome to see the car is coming along nicely. As far as I saw at the YVCB night is it needs a paint job which costs a lot but you'll get there! Also I like the idea of the better suspension. Keep the old ones though. it's always good to have the original if you ever go to sell.

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'70 Datsun 1600 http://datsundiseased.johnstamellos.com/

Thanks John, yeah. defiantly keeping original suspension. will have a few things for sale though once I'm done. and yes, for paint job, defiantly know it needs one. however my main aim at the moment is to get the car handling the way i want it so then if i need to change something i can before i get car all painted!!