Datsun 120Y/140Y auto wanted.

[JPB]

To quote the headline on the article in that edition of "Car" which featured the then-new Datsun 120Y Sunny "Y indeed?"
Yes, ho ho ho, very good, and memorable as I hadn't seen that edition since the 1990s yet had it word for word.
Because I need a 120Y (or 140Y, either would be equally well suited) with the automatic option. I don't want a mint one, the ideal car for my needs would have a good engine and transmission (decent compression figures, no endy noises, no oil smoke and no oil pressure problems, trans mustn't be in immediate need of an overhaul), but would only just be good enough structurally to prevent its folding in two. I only need the interior to be dry, clean enough not to make people barf and useable. A sort of bare minimum car if you like. That's what I want.

There's a very good, classic-related reason for this request (hence its appearing here in this section) but I'm saying nowt further at this stage because that way, if it all goes hideously and irretrievably tits up, then I get to avoid looking like a plumsack. At least for the purposes of this exercise..

[rich.]

this is all i can find mate.. where did they all go
http://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/728586273.htm?ca=18_s
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p
http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/car ... 78/305375/
http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/car ... 73/275906/
http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/car ... 78/216222/

i think you will have more luck finding your gold plated plastic mini john something for you to drool over anyway.. i quite fancy the estate

[JPB]

Hmm, so none left, even in the place where Talbot Tagoras are still as common as muck? The FWD Cherries are no use, it has to be a Sunny, with its conventional, RWD layout and both of these are manuals.
But looking abroad may yet be the answer and with that in mind, I'm being sent some details of a couple of potential sources of what I need, both located in the Untied States; one in Wisconsin that's solid enough to come to the UK without disintegrating on the voyage, the other in South Carolina, described in more or less the same way. LHD wouldn't matter as the car I eventually select needn't be driven further than from Rosyth to my intended storage location before it's "repurposed" . Though a few weeks of acclimatisation would be good, but isn't essential.
The Datsun mustn't be too pretty, too solid or too free of rot as bonding with the car only has to extend to learning how well the engine & transmission work so the last thing I must do is buy a car, decide it can be returned to showroom condition in one term and start liking it.
Thanks for having a look mate.

[rich.]

can you do anything with the estate?
i will keep on looking, there is one in town but its a daily & the owners not to keen on selling.. shame as it a brown one

[rich.]

http://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/753785433.htm?ca=18_s
http://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/770726915.htm?ca=18_s
http://www.leboncoin.fr/equipement_auto ... tm?ca=18_s
http://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/763682182.htm?ca=18_s

not quite what you want....

[JPB]

The estate is a manual too, and it would be cheaper by around £400 to have a LHD 140Y brought in from the States than to buy that one, even though [the RHD estate] is only 250ish miles south of me, plus an estate is well worth saving so I wouldn't want to be the person who abuses one of those.
Another selection of good old Datsuns in the second lot there, Rich, but again all manuals and the Bluebird's engine is far too large and heavy, so even an auto one of those wouldn't be suitable for my intended use.
I've had email from someone who guessed at why I need one of these and he aksed why I hadn't stuck with the original plan to break an Ital for the equivalent British bits. Briefly then:

The steering rack in the Minor fits into a cutout in the bellhousing, as at image 1, but the torque converter in the BW65 from an Ital is too close to allow the notch to be made that way and the rack to fit without dropping the engine and 'box by around 1 1/2" in the car. This would make the sump low enough to catch on (among other things) the hard standing that I have to cross to reach my drive, the humps in the car parks at two of my work campuses and the bar of my towing dolly in the event that the end product should find itself needing to be put into it.



Also, with the best will in the world, the smallest torque converter for use with a BW65/1275cc A series combination is the one that comes with an Ital and most of those already went to drag racers to get a quicker response and a more appropriate stall speed for their driving habits. The TC in the Aisin-Warner 'box from a RWD Sunny is already a lot smaller if slightly deeper and I'm reliably informed that the notch wouldn't cause any problems there. Plus the Datsun motor has five mains (image 2) and its ports aren't siamesed, so there's a wee bit more potential there without needing to go to something that (IMHO of course) just looks too modern in a 1950s car.



It's either this, or buy myself a 56 plate Fiat Panda with a CVT and too much modernity about it, even though they're really cheap just now, great to drive and (whole point of exercise) easier to accommodate than a Volvo something or other, which is the only new thing that I would get a decent exchange for with the Glof but that Volvo's much harder to get into and out of, drives like a sack of cement and this time around (election coming up.. ) I'll get more allowance for using a classic again, provided that I have head restraints, inertia reel belts for all seats and one or two other things that make it legal for the purposes of transporting students to placement interviews, court appearances, etc.

[Grumpy Northener]

http://www.angliacarauctions.co.uk/en/c ... -16lx-est/ - Manual and too nice to break

[JPB]

http://www.angliacarauctions.co.uk/en/c ... -16lx-est/ - Manual and too nice to break

Much too nice, and also front wheel drive, so no use at all other than as what looks like a very tidy, thoroughly practical older car for daily use and the occasional retro meet. Someone will grab that and will enjoy it.

[Grumpy Northener]

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C527816 - Manual & overpriced

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C582284 - Right condition - probably right price - but FWD ? - Manual & SOLD

[JPB]

Agreed. In fact I reckon it has an extra decimal place to the left, compared to what that would have made a few short years ago. Good to see two in the same thread but both are far too solid to use as donor cars, even if they were automatic and a little less expensive.