New Zealand Datsun Club

I used hose because I didnt have any tube! Chris Kindly donated me a peice, you guys should call yourself GSE (glory stealing engineering)

mint16 wrote:

brocky41 wrote:then shorten up your shocks doing it the BRE way - (Belfast Rangi Engineering) - talk to john (Broke) he will sort you out.

A reminder, Steve was the pioneer with this modification.

Steve's car rides really good too ! The old thick oil & bit of hose pipe could give some brand name shocks a run for its money

Kitch wrote:OK thats cool.
And I hear that 110 strut tops are the way to go, to lift the top nut up 1.5"
coupled wth low king springs or similiar again about 1.5" drop and with BRE upgrade. I should get 3" drop (captive/ aka legal)
for the cost of a pair of front springs then.

I have just ordered a few more sets of anodized bump steer spacers out of my supplier in the States.

Yep you can use 110 but if you can get 310 ones they have the same size studs - 110 are smaller - you need to also grind the top of the strut tower down to fit the larger diameter 110 / 310 hat in like this...(remember i did this along time ago, wasnt great with a grinder)



This is what mine looked like way back when i had just done the strut tower / hat mod and had Dobi lows (the dobi's are uncaptive with factory shocks so you will need to talk to Steve's Sleeve's (datman310) if you do it that way) or short Gas struts. I dont know if the Kings are captive straight off the bat but i know they are definitely alot stiffer than Dobi. 2" Blocks in rear.

85_Z31 wrote:Steve's car rides really good too ! The old thick oil & bit of hose pipe could give some brand name shocks a run for its money

Sure does - rides way better than my Y ever has with any combo ive done - R30, R31 struts - a range of springs - still trying to sus that one out. Steve kindly gave us a ride home after work one night - no bouncy castle or harsh banging around like i get.

Brocky thanks for the info and pics
OK best I try to source some 310 top hats then

Need to start sourcing all the bits... Akaroa not too far away in Datsun years

So put the kids to bed then headed down to the garage to pull the Y apart

Good News - all the auto and bits is now out of the car
Bad News - when I got it out, managed to spill all the fluid out of the torque converter,
then managed to spill more fluid out of the dip stick hole
Good News - All out ready to swap converter for flywheel
Bad News - with an innocent graunching noise, car all by itself decided to try and fall off the axle stands
Good News - I was busy cleaning up trans fluid on floor, rather than lying under car removing torque converter
Bad News - think I need to change my undies
Good news - Axle stand on LH side caught the chassis rail and held car from completely falling off

Cleaned up and put car back up on stands, with them set further back along chassis rails...
called it a night, as scared the crap out of me...


Car teetering....


Very lucky...


I am a messy boy... (thank fuck old trans fluid easy to clean up compared to oil)

oh bugger, at least no one was injured

Phew that was a close one matey!

i had a similar issue haha! except mine was pure stupidity......

had rear end up to take out leaves/axle/etc, unbolted everything except shocks and thought to myself, if i lift the car while on my hands and knees under the car by using my back as a temporary means of getting the car higher il just roll/slide the whole rear end out below the shocks .

one of the axle stands moved slightly and me flippn knee slipped and i got stuck between car and diff, i know an empty datsun dont weigh that much but it feels it when your between that and a diff haha!

good to know your lucky and can still keep building/crafting that masterpiece of a coupe.

Same ish with the sunny thought id drained it then forgot to undo torque converter, nek minute oil everywhere

more successful and cautious effort tonight.
btw, decided not to knock back the Heiny's as I worked on it

Got the clutch & flywheel all fitted up and bolts torqued up.
got the pedal box 'half' out, ie all disconnected and unbolted
but I am going to have to try to lift the dash up to get it out
or may look at the more preferrable option of dropping the
steering column down to give enough clearance to slide the
pedal box out between dash & column. its a bit of a tight fit,
but trying to make it as easy as I can for myself.