Hi there, chaps, just thought I'd introduce myself and make mention of my poverty-spec track-toy.
I'm from a small town on the east coast of South Africa and although we have limited resources and an ailing local economy, we do have a race circuit.

The car is a 1974 180U SSS (180B in US markets, I believe). I took ownership when she was in a very poor state of repair and had been badly modified by all of the wrong people. The chassis had rusted through on both sides, the front brakes were useless, the engine was falling out, lower ball-joints had around a half-inch of free-play, it ran erratically, smoked and leaked both engine and transmission oil, as well as engine coolant. I repaired the chassis members, fitted R30 Skyline uprights and brakes, fitted Ford engine mounts as the original are no longer available here, installed a half-cage and took her onto the track for the first time.
A year later she still needs a lot of work ( I do everything myself in my spare time and have a budget of zero ), but she goes quite well.
The motor is a close to stock L18 running on standard ignition (electronic is on the cards) and dual 45DCOE's and makes a paltry 61kW.
Custom coil-overs and sway bars are on the cards as well as a full cage, Lexan windows and camber plates.

Although she is not much to look at, she does fairly well at the local circuits, I'm leading one of the championships and tied third in another.

Here she is:



On the race track:



Some of the cars I race against:


Playing at a local trackday:



Hope you enjoyed and if not, please be gentle.

Hi and welcome to Datsun Nissan Drivers.

That is an awesome looking car and you did a lot to it. That looks like a 610 here in the United States. The 61kw, or about 82 HP seems low, even at the rear wheels. If I remember, a stock L18 puts out 1bout 108 HP or 79.4 kw at the flywheel. One of my friends 510 had an L18 with a cam and 38mm dual SUs. It was dyno'd at the rear wheels around 115 HP or 84.6 kw. With your 45DCOEs, I would think it would be more towards 130 - 150 HP (95.6 - 110.3 kw) at the rear wheels. But, if the 45DCOEs are on a stock L18, I suppose that is reasonable power to the rear wheels. What head are you using? What is next?

Thanks for sharing

Great car.Welcome to DND and don't be a stranger

Very awesome pictures man, Hang around there are lots of great people on this site!

Thanks for the enthusiastic welcome & response, guys!

Yep, power figures are low to say the least, stock 180U SSS in SA was rated at 77kW (ATF), I believe the previous owner had the motor redone by a real philistine & the 61kW is the nett result! Head is the original peanut head, but it has been ported, and poorly so...
I will be rebuilding her next year properly with a hopefully better result. I have to repair / replace the gearbox now as the main shaft is bent, so I am desperately looking for a cheapish 5-speed box to fit before the next race meeting.
Next on the list is uprated ARB's, firmer springs and camber plates.

More Pics!!

..........as requested.

A couple of frame grabs from our last track day:



What she looks like with the new front end I fitted as the valence was damaged. Not very Datsun, I know, but it didn't come out too bad:


Another sequence from the last track day, messing about:






As you can see, I am very fond of the powerslide....
Our next race meeting is going to be pretty big, we have over 150 classic and historic cars from all over the country entered for a three day festival of speed. I will try to get a few decent pics and post them up.

I think the front end looks great.And who doesn't like a good powerslide?Got any before and after pics?

Thanks. No before & after pics other than the ones taken on the track.

All in all,a very cool car...