Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Is this a sickness?
Tonight I went and looked at a 1977 Datsun 200B sedan, and have agreed to bring it home to my house. Yes, just what my wife wanted, another Datsun to sit in our yard and becoming a lawn-mowing chicane.
Why a 200B, you might ask? Well, it's mostly got to do with engine capaciies and the rules under which we go rallying in Australia, but the 200B came with a Datsun L20B 4-cylinder motor, which allows me to increase its engine capacity to around 2.4 litres without too much stress and strain on my backpocket.
The fact that its a 1977 model is important, because it means that it's the fully-imported version, before local content rules meant that the 200B switched from the Independant Rear Suspension (which this one has), to the beam rear axle (that later, locally assembled variants have).
In looking at the cars, it's really not that dissimilar to my current Datsun 180B rally car, but time will tell whether the 200B is an improvement or not. Although there's a lot of expectation, given what NSWRC competitor Dave King did in one in 2003/4...
Why a 200B, you might ask? Well, it's mostly got to do with engine capaciies and the rules under which we go rallying in Australia, but the 200B came with a Datsun L20B 4-cylinder motor, which allows me to increase its engine capacity to around 2.4 litres without too much stress and strain on my backpocket.
The fact that its a 1977 model is important, because it means that it's the fully-imported version, before local content rules meant that the 200B switched from the Independant Rear Suspension (which this one has), to the beam rear axle (that later, locally assembled variants have).
In looking at the cars, it's really not that dissimilar to my current Datsun 180B rally car, but time will tell whether the 200B is an improvement or not. Although there's a lot of expectation, given what NSWRC competitor Dave King did in one in 2003/4...
# posted by Fro : Wednesday, June 29, 2005
