It's a real task to love the 180B. I'm 65 and a red SSS was my first car in 1973. I found it to be very noisy as it was a 4 speed, the windows used to move out from the door rubbers with the air pressure creating a lot of wind noise and the plastic bits of the compromise dashboard was un-noticed at purchase by this 18yo. On reflection I should have bought a decent E38 Charger, but I probably would have killed myself in it...memories. I now drive a 2004 JCW MINI Cooper S, my best car ever...when I'm not on the train with my Seniors Card!
Bought a 180B SSS brand new in 1973. It was a great car. Bright Orange with an off white interior and ordered it with ROH Dragmag alloys to replace the crappy steel wheels with their even more crappy wheel trims. Was rather miffed about 6 months later when it came out with a five speed manual where mine only had four.
A friend of mine and my brother had a 180B sedan in the mustard yellow colour back in the early 80's. had it for years and absolutely loved it. while it wasnt a stellar performer it was one of those cars that was so reliable and just kept going forever with a minimum of work needed to keep it running in tip top condition. I think that was probably the biggest key to their success and popularity here. and I can still remember the slogan that was a part of their advertising campaign for them at the time with the rallying successes they had..'Datsun Rallyability'
i inherited a early series sss 180b from my pop and its got a tonne of rust hoping to restoring it very soon hopeing i can restore it love the video guys there isnt much videos out there for this series
At 2:24 we brought one of those 180B Datsun’s for $50. Found $6 under the back seat. Then i brought a spare parts car for $100. Got it Liscenced, rebuilt the motor, put a Bluebird 5 speed manual overdrive in it. Just cruised along the Freeway at 100km/hr. Drove it across Australia’s Nullarbor 3 times. Even with an 8X4 trailer with furniture. For work, I had 15, 40kg bags of cement in it, 2, 20kg bags of lime on the back parcel shelf. Plus tools in the boot. Was an amazing unbreakable car.
My first experience at 16yo with a mates Red 180B SSS 5 speed with every option and hotwires on it.......the first car i was ever in at 160kph (100mph) the tonne...one of my favorite cars. My brother in law had a british racing green SSS and drove it into the ground...the last 6mths with barely a drop of oil in it....they were hard to kill...would love to restore one
Nice episode fellas. Good to see Christophe again hehe. I almost feel bad for my complete overhaul and dropping a SR20DET turbo engine (MADDAT Motorsport) into mine. My first 180 had twin dcoe sidedraft webbers rebuilt by Paul Crookshank in Doveton (he used to do a lot of race cars). I love the way these things look and handle. I must admit though, nothing beats the sound of those webbers...
My first car was a 1975 180B SSS, in Sweden so it was a left hand drive. Loved it to bits, litterally - broke the final universal joint (i recall that would be the same as some Fiat part, someone said Lada Niva used it too but can´t say myself) of the propeller shaft the first summer i had it, propably ehrrrmm... partially due to the engine that was tuned to rev high but lean at approximately in the neighbourhood of 110-115 BHP (according to a shop mechanic that did some repairs to the twin Hitachi side draft carbs) it took 4 years until the rear end started whining. Unfortunately the engine cracked its head before that and i got the whole machine replaced with a factory replacement i got a tip on, but there was no replacement to be had for the hot camshaft. Still a great car even if it didn´t whip other boy racers in the street as it used to. Always prone to rust, i had portions of the floor and sides replaced a couple of times before a small but crucial incident left it with a wavy right rear fender and a less than perfect body line-up that affected the directional stability somewhat. By then it was the nineties pre-WWW days and parts for these were already as close to exstinct around here as the cars (i believe there are a few still left, propably some more in Norway but then of the 160B variety). Digging into details, the lovely 5-speed gearbox with the 1st gear down left was originally developed for BMW by ZF (ZahnradFabrik) but licensed to Hitachi, avaible only until 1975 or so. The L16/L18 engine is besides being of the same family as the L20B straight four and L24/L26 sixes, it started out at the Prince Motor Company as a derivative of the late fifties Mercedes-Benz OHV straight four that had been licensed to them. However, i have no idea if there is anything that´s a total carry over from MB, the head for instance seems to be unique but it might be worth looking into for valves and springs etc. I remember hearing of these Datsun engines being hotrodded locally with natrium filled exhaust valves made for Volvo, forged pistons made for Opel, BMW or even Volkswagen (think Golf), i found some Ford OHC engine connecting rods having the same dimensions but never got around to do anything with those... and so on. Over here, we got used to make do with whatever backyard mechanic tricks we could think of as spare parts quickly became scarce especially for the SSS coupes (think like 2 months boat freight from Yokohama for stuff like a clutch cylinder repair set at the end of the eighties, if you had that single-year variety used when Nissan got into a grudge match with their ordinary supplier...) and for tuning you practically had to know someone into the rallye game to find that stuff. The camshaft chain is exactly the same, give or take a few links, as that of Saab 99´s 2-litre engine of 1979 and whatever other year they used it (i´ve forgotten). Same goes for the membranes of the side draft carbs, the ones fitted to some of the Strombergs used by Saab can be used on the Datsuns and i´ve been told you can use the ones made for some Pierburg found in Volvo 240 too but i´ve never tried that one. The pressure plate housing happens to be the same size and design on that Saab and the L16S which might give some suggestions and the list goes on. As for the rear shocks, i once got to try another 180B SSS with a set made for the european Ford Capri II/III and found they worked well but made for a stiffer ride. And yes, it has exactly the same IRS as the 160J SSS of the same years, i used a set on mine when rust ate the trailing arms. The third member is basically the same as that found on Subaru Leone/BRAT and the like i´ve been told, but needs some adaptions to stick it there. Hey, most anything is possible if you put your mind to it ;-).
Looking back, The Datsun 1600 is neat and cool and the 180B is a floating badge, but I have to admit, going out on a date, there was nothing bad about picking up someone in a 180B and in fact most women I knew would be happier in one than a 1600. The fake teak panels, carpet, curves, long bucket seats, lots of dials..They looked 'decent' and were comfortable. By the 1980s I think they would be rusty.
I think the presenters have overlooked what Datsun was trying to.do at the time, as Japanese cars were starting to challenge the Australian ideas.of what a family car was. We had the 1973 fuel crisis to deal with too, so economy..size and comfort were all key. And that's why we got the 200B. And now, the Koreans have taken over and Australia doesn't have a car industry. I will always miss my 180B SSS. They to find one now!!!
