(New Update 2) Factory race wheels of Datsun 120Y B210 LZ18

Wow! My earlier post of discovering sidecar cross-ply slicks of 14-inch dia for the 120Y B210 has gotten even better news! Liberty Walk of Japan produces this retro tyre size, 245/525-14! Perfect for my 9-inch wide 14-inch rims! :-)

Check out Speedhunter's article here:http://www.speedhunters.com/2015/03/nostalgic-2days-yokohama-japan/

And I couldn't help not showing the NA FJ20 featured in the above article...

(New Update) Factory race wheels of Datsun 120Y B210 LZ18

I had lamented earlier that the 14-inch slicks as fitted to my Datsun 120Y B210 LZ18 were no longer available. In fact I had checked and discovered that radial slicks in the vintage/historic era were only ever made for 13-inch and 15-inch wheels with the 14-inch versions strangely missing!

This got me confused until I discovered bias/cross-ply slicks. I then read that the wide 14-inch dia. cross-ply slicks were used in sidecar racing as an improvement on the 13-inch versions. These tyres also found use in gymkhana/auto cross/hill climb type races.

Today, Avon tyres make 14" Cross ply slicks that would suit my rims perfectly :-) ! Restoring that low-profile look in a 14-inch dia configuration. Hopefully use of these tyres will continue at a rate that makes it profitable for the manufacturers to find it worth their while.

Factory race wheels of Datsun 120Y B210 LZ18

The wheels as fitted to the Datsun 120Y B210 LZ18 were these set of 8-spoke 'Minilite' patterned 14 inch alloys.

These are supplied to the original race car as brought in to Brunei from Japan.

Mid 1990s...Front fender flare was not fitted.

Works wheels from factory...9 inch rear

245/525-14 Rear Yokohama Advan slicks...No longer available today! There still may be a chance that Hoosier of the USA may make a suitable slick for this 14 inch wheels in 2015!

225/525-14 Front Yokohama Advan slicks...

Factory racing wheels made by Kobe Seiko..also known as "Gotti"..of the 1974 Datsun 160J SSS KP710 Violet Turbo

My first post of 2015 made when I saw on the web pictures of the racing wheels on several blog sites:

Site no.1:

https://dsalni.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/mystery-not-so-much-solved/

Site no.2:

This is an awesome "retrospective" blog site of restoration of rare Japanese/European/American cars of the sixties to the eighties mostly made by uncle Ryo. Enjoy with Google translate if needed!

http://spark88.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-958.html

Site no.3:

http://page4.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/d162081298

The original "Gotti" wheels (of which Gotti never had such a design) were, as I suspected, forged in magnesium in very limited quantities by Kobe Seiko for the works racing cars of Nissan Datsun in the early seventies and was never sold to the public. I was right in my earlier ramblings about the Nissan "hamburger" mark :-). Of late, Watanabe makes replicas of the wheels, also with the "hamburger" mark given the tremendous growing interests in the "Retro" cars of today.

2015 plans for the 1974 Datsun 160J SSS KP710 Violet Turbo

As we come close to the end of 2014, I have to say that I'm on a roll with this 1974 Datsun Violet Turbo again. I guess there are many things to be done yet as part of the restoration process and I will try to list out on this post some ideas for what I think will be needed for next year in 2015.


1) Engine:

Engine was out of the car since 1993. I have had a bad experience with a local machine shop some 21 years ago when I was on route to rebuilding the engine. It was an itch I could not scratch! It left me very discouraged so much so that I gave up on the car!  Let me relate. On first disassembly, it was found that engine crankshaft was scored on no.1 con-rod journal so I had the crank out and sent to what seem like a reasonable engine machining shop. Instructions was given to grind undersize 0.010" the no.1 con-rod journal and what was a very typical job ended in horror when I returned for my crankshaft. The incompetently trained machinist had removed the all important strength giving radius on both sides of all four con-rod journals thinking he had done me a favour!

I was so distraught by that I gave up on the rebuild after trying to contact various sources for another brand new Nissan/Datsun L18 competition 8 flywheel bolt holes crankshaft to no avail. This was with my new forged Cosworth pistons and Argo steel rods all made and ready for the LZ18.

The one good thing I did back in 1993 was to assemble the engine completely back to whole.

21 years later on, today in 2014, I read that many developments in material science/welding are now being carried out by competent crankshaft repair shops that may offer a ray of hope for rescue:

• Journal grinding to remove prior hardening.
• Submerged arc welding to rebuild the journal and restore the radius.
• Grinding back radius and journal diameter to stock.
• Nitriding treatment.
• Crankshaft straightening.

After sending out emails to a couple of shops, I am awaiting confidently for some good news. There is always the more costly option of custom machining a brand new crankshaft today as a backup.

Other engine work like late model programmable ecu , injectors, cdi ignition, air fuel ratio logging are pretty straightforward to source and implement today.

2) Bodywork:

Body requires some sheet metal work for rusted out regions. Sheet metal cut, reshape and reweld for rusted out portions. Not too bad! only floorpan behind driver, spare wheel well and engine firewall needs it. The rest of the body is in very good condition. Fibreglass on both front fenders and quarter panels are basically good. Some minor repairs will be needed to bonnet and both doors as well as the front air spoiler. Spray paint interior and exterior to original colour coding after welding.

Anti-roll cage in good condition. Missing attachment joint bolts to be reinstalled.

Driver bucket seat to be secured properly.

A set of 4 points seat belts to be installed.

3) Undercarriage:

Overhaul brakes and hydraulically operated handbrakes. Will drain and refill only with Dot 5 synthetic fluid to make system last longer. Gearbox, driveshaft all available. Mountings to be sourced. Bolts may need to be sourced.

Road tyres shod on all four rims.

Suspension basically untouched. Come car testing time will diagnose more.

4) Fuel Tank/Dry Sump ballast tank:

Original aluminium fuel tank was located with the multiple top lids/caps ransacked and welded onto a locally fabricated sheet metal fuel tank (Not to my taste). That fuel tank is coming out. Will have the aluminium unit leak tested and welded if necessary. All the original lids, fill plate, pickup, screws and gaskets will be custom made and reinstalled back with foam baffling that can be purchased today. Most likely will install two units of late model in-tank fuel pumps to simplify/remove external ballast tank install.

The dry sump oil ballast tank is basically untouched. Will be cleaned and checked.

5) Electrical:

May need to 3D print an alloy handle for the kill switch which was inadvertantly lost!

There will be numerous other unmentioned parts of the car that may need attention and will be covered as best as possible in future postings.

Semi-glossy black new paint on wheels of 1974 Datsun 160J SSS KP710 Violet Turbo.

Completed spraying several layers of semi-glossy black on each wheel.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

And I think they look fabulous! :-)

Priming spray of wheels done for 1974 Datsun 160J SSS KP710 Violet Turbo.

Weather permitting and I couldn't wait, the wheels were sprayed with aerosol acrylic primer...

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Now to allow proper drying of grey primer before applying the semi-gloss black...

Figure 4
Datsun emblem...raised embossing.

Closeup for spray painting wheels of 1974 Datsun 160J SSS KP710 Violet Turbo.

Getting the wheels ready for spray painting. Of course one would ask why not without fitting on the tyres first? Well, scratches I thought and also I couldn't wait to see what the wheels with the tyres fitted on looks like. So it is settled, it shall be done this way...

Figure 1
Taping up.

Rims are already slightly sanded down with fairly rough sandpaper to remove lots of gunky, powderly oxidation maybe.


I noticed something that reminds me just how special or rare these 15-inch rims actually are. There are no other symbols or manufacturer stamps anywhere except for this.

Figure 2
Can you spot it?

Figure 3
This wheel might look clearer!

A raised embossing!

It looks like a symbol that reminds me this is the 1974 era Datsun label.

Figure 4

So theses mags are truly Datsun forged items :-)!

Figure 5
YRL...no idea what that means yet!

Figure 6
Spoke style of the rims.

Figure 7
Mount side of rims.

Figure 8
For your eyes only.

Figure 9
Almost ready.

It being an overcast day with high humidity and rain in the horizon, I'll probably delay priming till I find a nice hot afternoon!

Road going tyres for the 1974 Datsun 160J SSS KP710 Violet Turbo.

Vintage or Post Historic are the terms one would hear in 2014 if tyres are needed for the Violet Turbo befitting its very unique set of 15-inch diameter magnesium alloy wheels. Dunlop Post Historic CR82 threaded tyres are one such available option today.

I decided to look for road going tyres that would give about the same width and aspect ratio. As blogged earlier, 225/50R14 for the front and 295/50R15 for the rear.

Figure 1
Loading up to go tyre shop. Rear rims had old Pirelli P7s 285/40R15 on from since 1993.

Figure 2
Rare in this part of the world, a pair of 295/50R15 Cooper Cobra Radial GT was sought and bought for the rear.
Front tyres are Taiwanese Sonar.

Front tyres: 2 x Sonar SX-608 225/50 R15 91V

Rear tyres: 2 x Cooper Cobra Radial GT P295/50R15

Figure 3
Rear tyre installed on wheel.

Figure 4
Degreasing wheels.

Figure 5
Washing wheel to ready them for some spray painting.

Night shots and calculating road going tyres for the 1974 Datsun 160J SSS KP710 Violet Turbo LZ18.

It's a beautiful Sunday to blog. Love the shape of the car! Thought I'll take some shots to remember the restoration itself.

Figure 1

Earlier I had mooted the idea of getting the Dunlop CR82 Post Historic tyres but since I do not think of track time as an option yet, it'll do much better and cheaper with available road tyres. The trick I believe is to get the size of width and height to equate to what some real(Not available anymore :-(...) slicks from 1974 would have looked like.

Also the 1/24 Nichimo scale model is in my opinion quite a good model given the scale of things although not a completely accurate reproduction of what the Datsun 160J SSS 710 Violet Turbo should look like. I'll say the Nichimo scale model does stand a touch too high(ground clearance wise...) and certain portions of the bodywork differed. I do, after all, have a real car to check out! I will in future post another blog on this matter alone.

Refer to:http://racedunlop.com/vintage.php and check the "Post Historic" section.

Front tyres(tires):
Back to the Dunlop CR82 table, the front tyres for my 9-inch wide 15-inch dia. wheels would require the 430/1160-15 which gives an overall diameter of 23.7 inches. In 2014, the 225/50R15 tyres  of section width 8.9 inches would give overall diameter of about (225x0.50x2/25.2)+15 = 23.9 inches. With a good width and slight spreading of the tyre walls I would be close to the targeted ballpark figure of 23.7 inches :-).

Rear tyres:
Rims are 12-inch wide 15-inch dia. wheels. 530/1360-15 gives me overall dia. of 25.7 inches. A set of 295/50R15 tyres of section width 11.6 inches would be (295x0.50x2/25.4)+15 = 26.6 inches in overall diameter and after slight spreading of the tyre walls on install, again I'll be happy with 26 inches rear diameter :-). Both front and rear would have the "wide" look as well.

I'd expect to pay about one fifth of the total costs of importing the Dunlop CR82s.

Back to admiring some night shots:

Figure 2

And one more for a good night's rest...

Figure 3

Tyres in 2014 for the 1974 Datsun 160J SSS KP710 Violet Turbo.

What tyres can one get today for this 1974 race car if it was built back to running conditions in this post millennium year of 2014?

Figure 1
Old Pirellis on front wheels. Wheels have four pressure relief bolt holes for inflation seating tyre beads into rim lips.

The original deteriorated and hardened slicks were mindlessly discarded without regard in 1993. So back to the web and the search continued till I discovered this special tubeless threaded tyre called the post historic CR82 of a modern compound made by Dunlop for enthusiasts of just such cars :-))!

Figure 2
Rear 12-inch wide 15-inch dia magnesium alloy wheels. Bead seating pressure relief plugs are provided.

The rear wheels measured 12 inches wide, rim lip to lip whilst the front was 9 inches. These were magnesium 15 inch diameter wheels I've not ever come across otherwise from 1974!

Figure 3
Rear 15-inch dia Magnesium alloy wheels.

The rims are still in very good condition despite the paint and will be restored with cleaning and new paintwork soonest.

The joy of discovering CR82 tyres by Dunlop was short-lived as I then read with horror that Dunlop Birmingham of UK(the factory) with the special moulds just closed in May 2014, yes, this year. However, I then read with some relief that Dunlop promises to continue making these special use tyres.