Brian's S15 SR20DE Swap - Spriso Motorsports
Posted: 22 Nov 2017 10:05
Updating the Canvas
I was contacted by Brian, who was a former 510 owner, who had recently purchased a beautiful 1971 Datsun 510 2-door sedan that was restored by another 510 Realm member. This car was a near total nut and bolt restoration, and the quality of work was outstanding. Brian loved the car, but was underwhelmed by the stock L-16 and 4-speed's driveablity on the freeway, and wanted to update the power train to keep up with modern traffic needs.
We talked at length about the goals for his project, and I suggested that a normally aspirated SR20DE engine would make an excellent choice for his conversion. They are easy to find, cheap, and with 160hp would have plenty of power to get the car down the road at reasonable speeds and noise levels. Brian expressed his interest in a 6-speed manual transmission, and of course that would work well too-- especially when matched to the NA SR20.
Brian brought the car down to the shop so I could look it over and come up with the plan going forward.
As expected, the car was a stunner, a beautiful restoration. After a quick drive, we confirmed what Brian was feeling-- all noise, no go. Well, we can fix that...
This thread will describe all the aspects of his conversion, and hopefully will be a good guide for others considering this swap...
I was contacted by Brian, who was a former 510 owner, who had recently purchased a beautiful 1971 Datsun 510 2-door sedan that was restored by another 510 Realm member. This car was a near total nut and bolt restoration, and the quality of work was outstanding. Brian loved the car, but was underwhelmed by the stock L-16 and 4-speed's driveablity on the freeway, and wanted to update the power train to keep up with modern traffic needs.
We talked at length about the goals for his project, and I suggested that a normally aspirated SR20DE engine would make an excellent choice for his conversion. They are easy to find, cheap, and with 160hp would have plenty of power to get the car down the road at reasonable speeds and noise levels. Brian expressed his interest in a 6-speed manual transmission, and of course that would work well too-- especially when matched to the NA SR20.
Brian brought the car down to the shop so I could look it over and come up with the plan going forward.
As expected, the car was a stunner, a beautiful restoration. After a quick drive, we confirmed what Brian was feeling-- all noise, no go. Well, we can fix that...
This thread will describe all the aspects of his conversion, and hopefully will be a good guide for others considering this swap...