The old skool Datsuns are quite rare in the northeast USA. I was very lucky to find this one for sale in upstate NY, after the owner drove it all the way from San Diego, CA.

I bored out the original 1397cc A14 engine to 1608cc's by adding an A15 crankshaft and boring it 3mm [.125"] oversize! I used 79 mm Subaru Justy pistons and rings with a Nismo head gasket. The cam is by Crane as are the matching dual valvesprings. I sourced the twin side draft intake from Redline in Australia and bought the two 40mm Dellorto carbs used from a friend. I jetted them properly for this engine with an Innovate wide band oxygen sensor setup. They wouldn't clear the master cylinder so I had to relocate it 2 1/2" to the left and swap it out for a shorter 1985 B11 Sentra master cylinder to clear the strut tower. More about that Here.

The stock A15 rods had to be [bronze] bushed for the smaller 18mm wrist pin of the Subaru pistons, and also narrowed on a surface grinder.

This is what the Subaru Justy pistons look like. They are a 3 valve per cylinder engine, but the mismatched valve reliefs don't pose any clearance problems in the Datsun engine. I had to mill the block's deck surface .070" for a final deck height of .010" down.

Here is the freshly assembled 1608cc shortblock awaiting the A14 GX clyinder head [casting number H72].

I am using a Pacesetter header on the engine and I followed that up with a hand built 2" mandrel bent exhaust system.

As usual, I had the only Datsun in the show!

From the Hemmings car cruise/show in Bennington VT.

I added the B210 GX sport steering wheel and factory tach from the hatchback GX model B210. The dash pad is an N.O.S. Datsun part and the rubber floor mats are from a 76 Honeybee parts car that I found with only 26,000 original miles.

I swapped in a Suzuki Swift GTi driver's seat. Big improvement!

 The car runs excellent! The twin side drafts are the key to unlocking power from these economy engines. I plan to take it to the old skool import drag races with a pair of Hoosier slicks on the rear this summer.

This was taken at a photo shoot for Hemmings Sports and Exotic Magazine on frozen Round Lake in upstate New York. It is riding on 13" purpose built hollow tip studded ice racing tires by Menard Racing in Wisconsin.

I bought a used set of 13 x 5.5 70's vintage alloy wheels. I restored them by glass beading the rough cast portions and polishing the spokes. I found that later model 210 center caps fit perfectly! They sort of make the aftermarket wheels look like factory pieces.

This was taken at the 2008 Hershey Vintage Hillclimb event in PA. Although the "historic" class I was running in was mostly an exhibition, I was the quickest of the 14 cars in my class. The car surprised quite a few people there.

From here I went in a totally different direction.........

It's now October of 2008 and I entered the car in an Economy Contest. What better car to use than one designed for economy in the first place right? OK so I decided I needed to put a stock engine back in to get the big mile per gallon numbers that these cars were originally capable of. Better yet I thought, why not try to exceed the 45 mpg the car originally got?

There is a thread with pictures showing all of the changes I made to the car here: http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2599

Here's a pic of the car ready for the A.M.E.C. Economy Run II. The 1608cc engine has been removed and a 1397cc (A14) engine has been installed with an '80 210 "MPG" cylinder head to enhance the gas mileage capabilities for this engine. Seen above are the areodynamic aids I installed prior to the event. You can't see it in the picture but in addition to the chin spoiler and half grill block, there are clear plexiglass headlamp covers too. Side view mirrors were temporarily removed as well.

The next morning on October 5th,  I competed in the A.M.E.C. Economy Run II event and carefully drove the 118.7 mile distance. During the post event refill it took only 1.91 gallons of fuel.

This equates to 61.53 miles per gallon!
 
I think we have a new record for the Datsun A-series engine in a B210/B310 chassis folks!

Update: I did quite a few further modifications to the car to eclipse my record of 61.53 mpg at Economy Run II. Here are the list of mods made for Economy Run III, which was run on August 23rd, 2009.

Mechanical mods:
Switching to energy saving 0W-20 engine oil [designed for hybrid cars], run 1 quart low on purpose.
Narrower 155/80R13 tires @ 60 psi.
Ignition timing advanced 6 degrees
Rejetted carburetor for the hot 85 deg. temps to run at 15.0 to 15.5 to 1 A/F ratio
Disconnected the alternator and ran off of the battery to decrease load on the engine.
Added springs between my front brake pads to reduce drag.
Switched to synthetic gear oil for transmission and differential.
Switched from the standard 3.70 differential gearing to taller 3.54's.
Replaced the heavy three groove crank pulley with a lighter single groove pulley.

Aerodynamic mods:
Full belly pan fabricated to smooth airflow under the car made from choroplast [think plastic cardboard].
Rear wheel skirts
Moon disc wheel covers
Home made plastic lower front chin spoiler [cut from an junk Ford Contour front bumper cover].
Plexi glass covers for the recessed headlamps and to block off 3/4 of the front grill.
Removed wipers and side view mirrors.

The result: Another new record at 77.04 mpg!

Clear plexi-glass grill blocks in place for better aerodynamics.

Hot air intake from behind radiator for better fuel efficiency.