Well, it seems we finally found out what Scott considers to be "The Best Car Ever Made Ever".... Owned and raced by the Bramble family, this 1968 Datsun 1600 won the 2020 NSW Clubman Championship. As it happens, the Brambles and Scott share a borderline unhealthy obsession with Datsuns and in particular the 1600 - so get ready for some serious Datto nerdiness! What type of a race car would you like Scott to cover next? Let us know in the comments section! - Shortcuts: 00:00 - Intro 01:00 - Scott reminisces about his old Datto... yeah it goes on for a bit. 03:24 - A brief history of this Datto 04:15 - Engine overview 13:40 - Fuel system 17:00 - Drivetrain overview 18:26 - Engine management 19:50 - Interior, instrumentation and safety 22:40 - How to get into rallying 22:25 - More Datto reminiscing from Scott...
Yes me and my dad is rally family... And yes... My dad got not 1..not 2... But 3 datsun L16 twin carb sss edition.. 1-510 sss rally car with twin weber 2-pa10 sss rally car also with twin weber 3-pa10 road car with stock twin carb setup... Too bad all those 3 cars already rotten beyond salvage... But i still have load of L16 engine and parts including the stock twin carbie and twin weber dcoe40 in storage
Hi Jake, I think this car I did the seam welding & strengthening on way back in the 90's . There was a bit of damage to the right quarter, that repaired perfectly. It was the staightest , rust free 1600 I've ever seen. I regret not buying it when it was for sale.
Great episode. I’d like to see a cool Haltec solution like the Holley sniper where older cars like the dattos, cortinas, even standard HQ Holden’s with 202s can been converted to efi with an relatively easy bolt on and wire up to keep the classics running . Love your work 😎
Love this thing. The first car i bough with my own money was a 1600. It was baby poo brown but I didn't care, it was such a great car. I saved and saved and managed to rebuild the L16, with a works 68 degree cam and twin 45mm DCOE webbers, and some cylinder head porting. The car came with a set of DAT rally tuned headers it almost sounded like a rotary. Wish I still had it.
Go the Datto. My first car in 1988, I was 17 and so was it. L18 with single Weber, SSS Stanza interior. Rolled it 6 days after I got my licence. I’ve had another 3 since. Hard to believe they are 50 years old.
It IS the best car of all time! Mine was a 69 deluxe model that came with chrome strips on the side and a heater. It had a nut and bolt body resto with a hot l20.
Go the Datto. I built one in the early 90"s. Put a 200b L20 donk in it Twin 45mm webbers biggest inlet valves and cam 240k diff and box bolt straight in and a button clutch from keith at KCF rally sport. Did low 13's at willowbank ,did burnouts everywhere went bush flat chat through the forstery and never broke it and it reved it's head off . I have a book "How to hotrod and race your datsun" just a wicked car.
I have fond memories of throwing my Datto around the Dandenong ranges . That distinctive L series with big webers sound . Awesome . I too cant afford one now !
I agree Scott. 1600s are a beautiful looking car. They look great from every angle. I missed my chance as an 18yo to own one. I got a nice VK instead but never got the opportunity to go back and buy my dream car...
It is a lovely car. My father had a 510 with a L13 engine and a three speed manual transmission. I learned to drive in that car. It is a car with superb handling. I would love to have one again if my country allows to import a car of this age. Thank you.
A big reason why Datsun was such a popular rally car in Australia, compared to the UK and Europe where it was all about Ford Escorts was parts interchangeability. In the UK and Europe where there are bigger budgets, it was no problem to buy Ford Motorsport parts. In Australia, it was Datsun Lego, fitting parts from 6 cylinder cars, and the every popular front diff from a 720 4WD.
Scott's right. I owned 8 of these very reliable vehicles over 20 years of dirt rallies all over Australia. They are lightweight and with the right bits are very competitive.
5:55 Another great aspect of the L series engine is that everything from newer and bigger engine versions fit in the older versions. You can bolt a Z or KA head on an L block, fit a Z24 crank, use L28 valves in an L18 head, etc etc etc. Also, the stock L16 was 98hp, and the SSS version was 105hp 🙂 (maybe 60hp at the wheels)
I had a 910 Bluebird wagon NZ model as a shop hack. Did 400,000km. and then the roof broke off all down the l/h side. Probably from being abused on dirt roads in the Coromandel. I scrapped it, and I pretty much cried as the Hiab crushed it putting it onto the scrap truck. Should never have let it go. It was quite repairable, but I was busy-as. Has a damaged 910 Turbo at work, and the plan was to do a swap. Sadly, it never happened, and the 910 wagon handled WAY better than the sedan - live rear axle.
First I have to say very friggin cool that is awsome accept just one detail I live in the states and eventhough I dont drive a datsun in RALLY RACES{ still way cool though} here in the U.S.A. parts for my L20 b {& yes its a 4x4 720 are a bit harder to find . haveing said that Way to go thats some awsome stuff keep on doing what you are doing Scott . Much Respect J.
Navara 2.4 cranks are hard to find here now. L20bs and L18s are still around most places though. But I understand why people convert to FJ, SR and CA. I'm about to go EFI on my L18. Time will tell whether I go more CCs or boost.
I had a '69 Datsun 510. I drove it all over, even went motocrossing with it (yes, on track). I loved that car. Unfortunately, it got into an argument with a '72 Rambler on a back road and got totalled.
Many cars had independent rear suspension before the Datsun 1600, including various Triumphs starting about a decade before the Datsun (and whose later IRS Datsun look to have copied). But otherwise sweet :)
Great video 👍🏼 I wish I still had my datto 😢 had a L18 taken out to almost 2l with big cam etc. it sounded magical. It was a little rocket ship that handled amazing. I foolishly sold it for $1k to go overseas 🤦🏻♂️
Had a 1972 as my second car (AP6 valiant was my first!). I added a 180B sss motor ($200 from the wreckers), ported it and chucked on a down draft Weber extractors and 2inch exhaust. 5 speed stanza box and Pedders red suspension. Went like a cut cat and handled so well. Rust and a dodgy panel beater killed it. Fast forward 35 years and I have a new project; 1970 1600 pretty stock but all the work done on the body. Just need the time and money. Ground breaking car. Would love to do an EV conversion on it.
Great video Scotty I've had 67 1600's since 1999, still have 18 ( mostly wrecks for spares), They're a very addictive car. Current build is a 69 model with a L20B bored and stroked to a 2.2L with twin 45's.. Also building a 70 sss coupe for a mate atm
Even the 1600 L16 was just a car that wouldn't die. Just thrash them all day long. The 180B was damn fine, (first series), but they were softer in the rear suspension.
I have one I have the l20 stroker Just need to finish Oh and it is the best car ever for the very same reason I raced in hidden valley in one for many many years!
I'm stunned that it's only got 160 hp from a 2.4. Back in the late '80s, a mate of mine used to rally with a 1.8 (from a 180B SSS) with twin Dell'Ortos and cam that made 160 hp at 8000 rpm - in a Datto 120Y body. Admittedly, that's probably 160 at the flywheel, but considering the advances in tech over the last 45 years...it's still a bit of a surprise.
I think they mentioned in the mk1 escort video that the rally guys usually chase boatloads of torque, especially low end, as it's a lot more useful than high hp on the dirt.
Hi aussiebloke609. This engine makes 375NM of torque at the wheels at 5000 rpm so its all about the torque. I do love the smaller engines though nothing better than a L series at 8000 RPM.
I think they were looking at the BMW 2002 for styling, but the Mercedes 4 and 6 cylinder inline engines of the timing mechanically, which you will see if you compare the two. BTW the OS-giken 16 valve head makes these even more SUPER!!
2:01 Scott, E6K - early ..... Pffft. We ran a Z18ET in our 910 Turbo Bluebird rally car with a straight E6 Haltech 👍 That combo ran faultlessly for over 15 years and drove like a normal road car. It started my love for Haltech products! Great to see the L series still fitted 👌👌👌 Unlikely to have built up the L16 into a 2.4 though, the L18 W block can be made that big
R31 Skyline Silhouette wheels? Or maybe R31 Ti Skyline (i still have a set of NOS Silhoutte hubcaps that fit on the mag multinspokes) Edit: 11:30 mins- R31 Ti's for sure!
Scotty's story about his first 1600 rings so closely to my own teenage years. Only diffence is my first Haltech was an F9a (I think) in my 13BT RX7. I was too poor to buy anything other than twin SU's for my 1600's.
Cool wheels. They're like the old school tom walkinshaw holden alloys, vk was it? I think the old renault 5 gt hatches had similar wheels too but not sure. I forgot the skylines had them lol
My first car also, agree with everything in your intro except for one thing....much, much better looking I think was the coupe version...which of course we tragically never had access to 😭 ( this was waayy before days of JDM imports of course). Always thought it was funny that UK dudes seem to feel the same way about escorts- same purpose & nostalgia I guess (except they had much crappier suspension & interior 😛)
I'm lucky enough to own a 510 (1600) as well. They are amazing machines and always bring a smile to people's faces. Mine is heavily modified, but I still consider it a 510. @ Tuning Fork, if you're ever in America, take my car for a spin. You'll actually fit. I built the car for me to fit in and I'm 6'10" (210cm), so you should fit just fine 😊 #4G63510
These were very popular cars in SCCA racing in the 'States. Guys would put 14" Chevy Corvair wheels on them for more width/diameter. The rust bug got most of them in the Norteast. I hate to mention it, but Scott in that car reminds me of a "large" girl on a Gyno table...
Corvair wheels were 13X5.5. There’s still a couple in my garage from my 510s. To go to 14”, we used 240Z wheels. Wasn’t often done as there weren’t a lot of low profile 14” tires at the time.
I've got an L18 in a Sunny coupe, haven't raced it since 2009, but still have plans for it. I've got a couple of L20B's (the l20 was a 6 cylinder) & some stumpy 5 speeds, so the igniton set up in particular interested me. I've also got a Sunny sedan I want to put the L18 into, to do Motorkhana's. I almost bought a 1600 way back in the 1980's, but I was gazumped by somebody who wanted to use it as a Rally car. Even had the underdash handbrake set up.
Yes they have a Nissan badge on the left side of the bootlid & a Datsun Sunny badge on the right side. They were built during the changeover from, Datsun to Nissan. The cars have a larger engine bay than the 1200's I started with (1st car, 2nd car, etc) & had better rear end grip because of the coil springs, against leaf springs. I've got another sedan with an sr20de with a cage, the engine looks quite at home in there. The only problem with the L series swap is the height of the engine, so you have to modify the brackets to lower it, using an A10 stanza cross member.
Dattos? Tough old thing. But worth too much these days to kill further rallying. And 90% of the things have rusted out or expired through abuse. Fatigue in rallying them kills them. Seam welding may help but they do not crack on the seams. Within 2 feet of a suspension pick both ends. And they bend the rear body badly above the springs as well IRS? Old Benz style swing axle. The engine too is a Benz clone. 60bhp? That was a 1200, 1600s were 96bhp originally. Nissan and Datsun. It is the same company!! As for fool injection and the coil on plug? Webers and electronic ign is all that is required and is period correct. And if done properly bullet proof. And nothing like the sound of a side draft Weber All of this stuff however was done in the late 70s early 80s. L24, 240 gearboxes ute diff centres. I have never hear of one with driveshaft issues in in the early 80s I shared house with a bloke working on one of these. The ute diff was for ratios only, the standard diff was stronger as like all short ratios the pinion gets too small. Revving a 2.4 hard breaks them. And in that respect I doubt the need for the 4.8 diff. Factory 4.1 would be better. Most Dattos had the L series chucked and used later engines of many breeds. Barry Lowes Dazda one radical example, 1600 with a 13B PP and then an Escort Sports Sedan fibreglass front clip. That in the 80s. It won or broke. Both often!
Cheap? there hasn't been a cheap Datto 1600 for 30 years. When I wanted one in the 90's they were 10K and I got a 180B for $1500. more power but it was heavier than a 1600