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Datsun A15 motor with 5speed tranny in Sprite

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I'm guessing they had the standard round port downdraft carb setup?
The 5 speeds are worth their weight in gold.
 
Here's the Japanese guys eBay handle: gxrbt124


He sells mostly NOS parts, but has some aftermarket things as well. I've had very good luck doing business with him......in fact, I just dropped $450 on new valve train stuff for the GX head.


As far as doing an A14 or an A15.....I think you'd be better off with the A15 as well, but the actual performance differences between the two are slight. Either way, adding the GX head & twin Hitachis will wake it up a lot.


I have some pics of the mods that my engine underwent to make it fit. The only issues I have had has been with a leaky oil filter relocation kit and a leaky master cylinder. Otherwise it's been pretty trouble free since I bought it 2 1/2 years ago (and I've driven it hard and put a ton of miles on it too).


Good luck on the swap......it makes a fun Spridget driver. :smile:
 
Aren't those 5-speeds worth about 500 bucks? How much are they asking for the transmissions? Down here in AZ they are asking almost 300$ but you have to pull them out your self.
 
Survived the new year, barely!!! Getting too old to party hardy! Anyway, Rick B, I would think it would be easy to splice a B manifold to the Datsun manifold. Mr Sprite, I've e-mailed the fellow in Japan about getting a head and manifolds for a GX and will see what he has to say. Sad story on the 210's. This spring scrap metal prices went thru the roof like everything else and before I could get up there to stop it several 21o's went for scrap. I fool around with 620 pickups too and he crushed all of them. He probably had 15. I encountered his wife and daughter and told them that any rear drive car with a 5 speed was probably worth more for the tranny than for scrap. I gave them my ph number and told them I wanted to buy the 2 210's he had left. He never got back to me and since has moved. Hav'nt caught up to him yet. As you can imagine someone with a yard full of old japanese cars mainly can be a pretty flakey dude!! So, Wesfield I would be getting those tranny's if I could. Never know what will happen! The one I pulled I took out from underneath. Easy job if you can get the car up a bit and not have it fall on you! The trans is light and bolts to a removable cross member. I seem to remember the exhaust pipe was the biggest problem. Thanks for all the excellent input and I welcome anymore insight!!
 
Attention all you Americans, there is a Datsun 5speed trans (Dogleg) listed in e-bay. Located in California bit the seller offers free shipping. It ends on Jan the fourth. The ebay name of the guy is "powertranswest". Happy new year to y'all and maybe with a new gearbox.
 
Thanks, its on my watch list for sure!
 
Hello RickB, I think an intake manifold of a Midget or Spitfire 1500 would fit your round port head pretty good. The 1500 Triumph head uses separate ports like the Datsun and unlike all Austin/Morris/MG heads of that era. It could be used with the carbs, links and airfilter box. Even the needles might be good for a start since they come from a 1500 engine too.
 
Hey Rick, check this out: On ebay USA, strange Intake manifold for single SU carb on 1500 Triumph offered by "computercurt" it ends soon. Might give you the opportunity to fit a single carb for good fuel mileage. Or this on ebay England (www.ebay.co.uk) Standart Triumph manifold including carbs and all. Offered by "niallquinnsdiscopantsarethebest".
 
Yes, it has to be something with 4 small round intake ports.
The guys on the Datsun Forum say there was one made, but it's very rare to find it. I'll see if I can get some pictures of one for the Triumph or Midget 1500 - that should give me a clue. Thanks!
 
Hmmm... the Triumph intakes are interesting.
Maybe if we had a spare intake like mine and a TR intake and a really good shop and someone who could weld aluminum it could be done.
I just don't think there's much of a chance the TR intake would bolt onto my cylinder head.
Not without some serious modifications. I'd like to be wrong about that, it sure would be nice.
 
Mr Sprite: Got a answer back from your guy in Japan. He says he can get me anything I want!! Now Im waiting to see if you want to part with that lump of cast iron and aluminum under your bonnet!! Seriously, the rate I have been getting to my projects I guess there's no hurry. Just a note on what went where. Recent e-bay listings of 210's had a 81 sedan with an A14 and a 81 wagon with a A15. It would stand to reason they might want a little more power in a wagon. Tnx, KA
 
Can anybody get me to a site that has auto statistics including power ratings for early datsuns? I once had a site that gave stats for everything including Berkeley's from the 50's. Did'nt keep track of it. Seem's like it had something to do with the insurance industry. Thanks in advance,KA
 
Can anybody get me to a site that has auto statistics including power ratings for early datsuns? I once had a site that gave stats for everything including Berkeley's from the 50's. Did'nt keep track of it. Seem's like it had something to do with the insurance industry. Thanks in advance,KA
 
nomad said:
Mr Sprite: Got a answer back from your guy in Japan. He says he can get me anything I want!! Now Im waiting to see if you want to part with that lump of cast iron and aluminum under your bonnet!! Seriously, the rate I have been getting to my projects I guess there's no hurry. Just a note on what went where. Recent e-bay listings of 210's had a 81 sedan with an A14 and a 81 wagon with a A15. It would stand to reason they might want a little more power in a wagon. Tnx, KA
Click to expand...


Good luck getting a GX head.....those guys in japan are great to deal with.

I am still on the fence about that Toyota swap. It has been about a year since Jay started his swap.......I know it won't be nearly as long if/when I do mine, but at this point I am thinking about spending the money I would have spent on the engine swap on restoring the car itself. It's rust free, but has horrible paint and has a few dings & dents too. I want to strip off the paint and redo it as well as the interior. That alone will set me back more money than I care to think about.

Also, I've finally worked out all of the bugs with the A15 (save for the small oil leak), so I am comfortable with it and can fix anything that breaks without thinking too much about it. A new engine will have a new learning curve, although the additional power intrigues me! :smile:

I will certainly let you know if anything changes.....obviously if I can sell my set-up ahead of time I can use that money for the new engine, so that would alleviate that concern. I will have to wait until Jay's car is finished so I can drive it and see if it is what I want for my Bugeye.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]...worked out all of the bugs with the A15...[/QUOTE]

ah, have you removed the fitting at the rear of the head to the heater core and not pulled out some of the cast aluminum with it?

That was my latest trick. :frown: :wall: :nopity: :madder: :crazyeyes: :cryin:

Fortunately a friend and fellow member of this site and my local MG car club came through for me in a pinch! :grouphug:
 
RickB said:
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]...worked out all of the bugs with the A15...
Click to expand...

ah, have you removed the fitting at the rear of the head to the heater core and not pulled out some of the cast aluminum with it?

That was my latest trick. :frown: :wall: :nopity: :madder: :crazyeyes: :cryin:

Fortunately a friend and fellow member of this site and my local MG car club came through for me in a pinch! :grouphug:
[/QUOTE]


Ouch! I'm not 100% certain I have a fitting like that.....I'm going to have to take a look at it in the morning.

Even so, I have not stripped out anything like that, so I've been lucky. Although.....I did have an oil pump seize up and strip the cam gear (A15's have an external oil pump that runs off the cam.....for those who don't know :smile: ). It was a lot of fun replacing the cam without removing the engine first. All the tappets fell into the pan once I pulled out the cam (I had no idea). I had to remove the pan and use liberal amounts of grease to hold the tappets in place long enough to get the cam in. I had already pulled and reinstalled the engine 3 times that week and did not want to do it again!


Anyway, I'm glad that you got it fixed.
 
It's a steel fitting that routes hot fluid into the heater core.
Steel fitting screwed into aluminum, I don't recommend trying to remove it.
Maybe someone else has a sure fire way of doing that and leaving the threads and surrounding material intact, but I apparently did not.
Anyway, with a proper size die the matter was sorted. :wink:
 
Been learning as much as I can about A series Datsun engines. They came with a lot of variation and I believe the ones I have available are'nt powerful enough to fool with. I have a 5 speed and a couple of 1275's. As of right now that makes sense. The way the winter is getting away from me I have time to wait till Mr Sprite trys that toyota motor. I'm barely finding enough time for my daily driver maintenance. (suspention repair, interior work) KA
 
Nomad,

the one he is going to try out is mine, you are welcome to come down here to denver and try it out once it is done.

the thing ought to be stupid fast with 165hp but we'll see.
 
Thanks for the generous offer RZ, If I get in your neighborhood I would like to look you and Mr Sprite up.
KA
 
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