I Bought my Oldest Project Car Yet!

A bit of a weird one - but I've had a secret desire to build one of these and this deal was just too good to pass up! I'm excited to get back to wrenching with something low-stress I can have fun with. Going to need your help though - because this is out of my comfort zone!!

[willborkowicz]

No surprise that john drove it 4 hours lmao, such a legend 😂

[dylanjordan]

Felt like an old LZ video. Probably my favorite video in a long time. Sweet little car man. Glad to see you happy and enjoying it.

[pvtsneeky]

The "wheel hop" you're feeling is more likely axle wrap, which occurs because the diff is, as you said "floating" there are no arms that keep the differential from rotating which causes the pinion angle to change when the leaf springs compress. A simple fix would be a pair of Caltracs, however depending on what you plan to do with the car, drifting, drag racing, or track driving. You may want to look into a parallel 4-link with a watts link or track bar.

[rustyshackleford]

Welcome to Datsun life! You picked up a solid little car! The front steering slop is likely because of the drag link. I'm not sure if you can grab a drag link for the 1200, but if you cant look at the 620, 510, and 610. Datsun was really good about parts interchangeability much like the later Nissans.
Another suggestion would be to look for front brake upgrades to match the larger rear brakes on the 9". The tiny front brakes were made to pair with rear drums and sized to marginally stop a 80hp beast, much less 4 times that. I would look to see if you can swap the front struts hubs brakes and all for 280ZX units, which is a common upgrade in the 510 community.
The rear springs on the straight axle Datsuns were always really soft. The soft springs coupled with weak shocks are a huge contributor to the wheel hop. An old trick to stiffen the leaf spring was to add another leaf to the spring stack to increase the spring rate.

[mustangjustin]

I'm probably more excited for this series than any others you've done. The car is cool & we'll finally get a legit collab with both of you guys.

[Lionizeu]

That Datto 1200 Coupe will give you lots of smiles. In Australia that rotory swap is very common in those cars. Fit old school Tramp-Rods to the leaf-springs to stop axle hop.

[GoldenT]

If you want to keep the leaf springs, look into traction bars (also called slapper bars sometimes). 4 link or even just ladder bars would be the way I would go with it though

[HamHound]

Seeing Adam bamboozled by a solid axle made my day

[thebot]

I think it’s cool how when FD comes through to Orlando, your compound is now a spot for teams to stop by and fix a few bits before the next round or store the car for the time being

[WilkinsonGarrett]

For wheel hop, look into Calvert Racing's Caltracs Traction Bars, and a new set of adjustable shocks to dial in your ride quality. At least these are a good place to start. Excited to see where the build goes! I was for sure thinking this was going to be a shell for an Australian style Blower Burnout Car build!

[StavTech]

This is 100% by far my fave car of yours already! Don't think I've smiled as much watching any of your videos as this. Mega light + Rotary = Awesome

[mewsikjunkie]

As soon as I seen the muffler/tip, I had a feeling it was a rotary. I'd personally swap the rear end to a four link. Would plant the tires so much better and more adjustability. But, if you're wanting to keep the leaf springs, get a traction bar setup. I'm so excited to see the content on this! Good find Adam!!!

[chris_f_eden]

The genuine joy is amazing. All the amazing cars and this gives Adam this much joy is one of the many reasons him and Collette are 2 of my favorites

[ABG_D]

Thank you Adam, seeing this car brought back so many great childhood memories growing up. My dad had a baby blue Datsun 120Y here in South Africa and that was our family car growing up. It took us on vacations, visiting family, it took us everywhere, until sadly it broke down and my dad was no longer able to fix it.

I'm super sad that my dad sold the car before I even had a drivers license and to this day I would give anything to have that car in my garage to work on it and drive on weekends.

My one friend had a 1200 with a SR20DET built into it, thing was a beast of note and super fun toy to do skids with 😃

[jjsorenavki]

Don't know whether you will read this or not,
But an Australian Company *Maddat Motorsport*
have a crazy amount of Stuff for Anything to do with datsuns with Any kind of engine swap
Alot of Rotary Goodies in there Like.

Brake booster & clutch kit for Rotaries,
Billet adjustable lower control arms .,
Front coilover strut kits,
Adjustable rebuilt front end kits,
Adjustable swaybar .
Strut brace .
Rebuilt rear control arms,
Adjustable rear crossmember
All the bushings
lowered rear springs
front disc conversion Kits

Your rear shocks look like Koni which are used alot

[NomisChild]

Friggin love it! Collette’s reactions to new cars are always super entertaining too. Talk to your boy Cleet or Chelsea about solid axel hop stuff. They should be able to get you right.

[obsidian....]

I really hope the two of you do this together. It would be such a treat for all of us 🙏

[Criscitiello]

For the wheel hop, put on some traction bars if you want to keep the leaf springs and adjustable rear shocks, should help quite a bit.

[fleuriejeanpierre]

Bud I really love Collettes style in dressing really different... she wears what makes her happy...

[cpigeon]

My heart melted when she asked if it was already warmed up lol🥲😂