Listers,
As a former Datsun 1600SSS sedan and 1600 Roadster owner (mt brother had a
2000 roadster) I can enlighten the group with this:
The "Fairlady" roadster was introduced a year ahead of the MGB and there
were no combined plans or espionage - The car was actually designed to
resemble an Austin Healey 3000!!! Check out the grille, the hood scoop and
the tailights! The first examples were actually smaller than the post '64
models and the body panels do not exchange but look quite similar! The
earlier cars used 13" wheels and had wheel arches designed with that
proportion.
The engine used was a twin Hitatchi/SU carb version of the 1200 sedan mill
that was built under licence to BMC. This all started in 1954 when Nissan
started building Austin Sommersets under license with the 1200cc mill
de-bored to 1000cc because of Japan's tax laws.
IN 1957, Datsun built their own car that looked like a cross between an
Austin and a Morris Minor but was all de-bored Austin inside called the
Datsun 1000. This motor was increased in displacement to first 1200 then
1300 in three main bearing form, before the 5-main, aluminium headed 1600
sports engine was built about 1965-6. These are called "Y" series engines.
Yes, this head will bolt onto a B and all seals and gaskets will work - We
once replaced a Datsun 1200 mill in a 1964 pickup with a MGB 1800 and
bolted it to the Datsun/Austin four-on-the-column gearbox!
The Datsun 510/240Z engines, use some of the old BMC B-series technology
with a Mercedes OHC overlay and few parts are interchangable. The OHC 2000
mill in the roadsters was a special engine that was VERY high performance
and not interchangable with anything. My bro's 150hp 2000 would suck the
headlights out of V8 Mustangs and would pull away from them on the freeway
because of the OD 5-speed, almost unheard of in 1970!
A Japanese version of the smaller "A" series was built for the Sunny
(called a 1200 in the USA) but it was different enough to not be
interchangable - The replacement for this, used in the B210/210/310 was
extended to 5 mains and improved to a point that it could be built without
license. Since everything is pretty much in the same place, these are quite
popular in swaps into Morris Minors and Spridgets.
Is this TOO much information??
Hope not,
Cheers,
Rick Feibusch
Venice Beach, CA
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