[Spridgets] A New Five Speed Kit (part 1)

[Frank Clarici]

Bill Masquelier has come up with a Datsun 5 speed adapter kit.
And I have taken HIS design and changed it but you can have it HIS way, 
or MINE.

Bill's way is a cleaner looking job since the starter fits the tranny.

My way is the "we tight" way, use more Sprite stock parts but leaves 
some ugliness where the Datsun starter would have gone.

His way uses a Datsun starter, and ring gear, it also needs the flywheel 
machined to accept the Datsun ring gear and clutch plate
and the Sprite back plate to be cut off.
Since finding a Datsun starter and ring gear out here on the east coast 
would involve time travel backwards about 20 years, that part was a bit 
tough for me. Not most but ALL Datsuns around here rusted away by 1990.
So I took what I knew from my Rivergate kit which uses the Sprite 
flywheel and starter as is and worked on the mods to Bill's kit.
I now have Bill's kit in the Ladybug with the stock 1275 flywheel and 
ring gear, stock 1275 pressure plate and a Datsun clutch disc from 
Rivergate.

If you do NOT use the Datsun starter, ring gear, and flywheel mods, you 
will need a 2" metal cutting hole saw and some sort of starter nose 
cover. I used a piece of PVC pipe and a torch to bend it just so but a 
piece of metal and a couple screws will work.
My way has the stock starter bolted in the Sprite backplate which would 
need to be cut off if you go Datsun starter.
I figured if the Datsun starter I couldn't find ever died, where would I 
find another?
But Sprite starters are easy to find, I have a milk crate full of them 
in my garage.
You will need to drill out a clearance hole for the stock starter in the 
bellhousing of the Datsun tranny, I used a 2" hole saw and finished up 
along the curve of the bell with a grinder.
I also used a 40" long 3/16" brake pipe with metric ends to go from the 
slave to the master. I did cut off the master end metric fitting, 
replaced it with a 3/8 x 24 fitting and reflared the end of the pipe to 
fit the Sprite master.
Bill may be able to supply this with his kit, we did not talk about that 
yet.

The following list is from Bill's notes.

Coming in part 2 because this message is too large for the list server