SoCal General Chat

[BlackbirdM3]

I had a Datsun Roadster 1600 SPL311 for close to fifteen years. Loved that little car. They have a Mercedes engine. Nice little four banger, hard on head gaskets though.I still have a short block in the back yard if anyone wants it.

No, they don't have a mercedes engine. The U20 has a head that took some notes from a mercedes, but its a Prince designed head. (Nissan had recently bought Prince Motors, and the cylinder head was designed there.) Yes, it looks a lot like a mercedes cylinder head.

The R16 was an evolution of the G15. The engine can make good power, and with some crazy mods, it becomes an R23 producing 190 hp. Yes the R16 is tough on head gaskets, but only if the cooling system isn't up to par.

Will

[bddog]

Prince Motors was a Japanese Company. I read that tooling for the engine was actually purchased from Mercedes.The motor was manufactured in Japan from tooling purchased from Mercedes.

[BlackbirdM3]

Prince Motors was a Japanese Company. I read that tooling for the engine was actually purchased from Mercedes.The motor was manufactured in Japan from tooling purchased from Mercedes.

Yes, Prince was Japanese. And yes its entirely possible that they bought tooling from Mercedes. Still, the bottom end of the engine is more closely related to a british pushrod engine. The U20 is the melding of said reworked british pushrod engine and a Mercedes influenced Prince SOHC cylinder head Any way you chop it, the engine is a very good engine.
Here are a few pics of my U20 taken during the last rebuild.








The engine puts about 150 hp to the wheels. Not bad for a 50 year old design that is an 8 valve SOHC 2 liter engine.

Will

[bddog]

Having the 1600, I always wanted the 2000. Are those some type of Stromburg carbs instead of S U's?

[BlackbirdM3]

Having the 1600, I always wanted the 2000. Are those some type of Stromburg carbs instead of S U's?

Those are 44mm Mikuni pHHs. The engine wants 50s. I have 40mm venturis and the intake ports flow more than the carbs can.


Will

[bddog]

Solex made by Mikuni. They have come a long way since the days when everything was copied from some western manufacturer.

[BlackbirdM3]

Mikuni continued to develop the carbs into the mid 80s. The type 5s that I have are a much different carb from what Simon has on his car. The early ones can be finicky, however my late ones might as well be fuel injection. They always run well and rarely need to be screwed with. I'm strongly thinking about running a set of 40 Mikunis on my Alfa.

Will

[IRON-E]

Soooo, I'm looking for a 24v starter and guibo if you got 1 laying around.

[2mAn]

Soooo, I'm looking for a 24v starter and guibo if you got 1 laying around.

What did you do Ed

[MR 325]

Soooo, I'm looking for a 24v starter and guibo if you got 1 laying around.

Why even mess around? Rebuilt starter and new guibo. ;)

[IRON-E]

What did you do Ed

I'm switching to ZF320, I think I'm 85% complete for it.
Trans
Driveshaft
Shifter arm/shifter
Flywheel, clutch, TO bearing

What else am I missing?

[2mAn]

What else am I missing?

to rebuild the trans!? I have no idea what Im saying, but I think people rebuild/ change the detents (?) on those

also what rear end are you going to run?

[IRON-E]

to rebuild the trans!? I have no idea what Im saying, but I think people rebuild/ change the detents (?) on those

also what rear end are you going to run?

Got the detent pins too and I'm going with the 3.46lsd

[2mAn]

Got the detent pins too and I'm going with the 3.46lsd

Damn that should be fun! Nice

[ak-]

So I re-installed my strut bar mount after a year+ of removing it for whatever reason.
The strut bar I have has an eccentric bolt on one side of the mounting plate that you turn/tighten to load the bar against your towers.
You can slightly see the towers flex away from each other as you turn the eccentric - was pretty gnarly to see.