Is a Datsun 510 a good drifting car?

[mudduck3006]

i have a bitter old witchy hag that lives down the road a few miles from me that has a 510 she told me i can buy it when she croaks cause im a fat slob that charges too much for lawn service (yeah right im half the other guys rates) well my dad had one when i was a kid and that thing will drift . see if you can find any old can am series films from the 2.5 series anyhows the whole car is pretty much a old bmw 2002 set up in the rear the same and the valve train is a exact copy of old mercedes sohc valve trains from the era. plus they rock maybe even more tha tenacious D does ????

[artika]

Okay... I'm totally new. This is the first post ever on drifting.com for me. Never been to the site, either. Did a google search on Datsun 510's just for the halibut, and this is what turned up.


So, can 510's drift? Well I don't know. Are you a good drifter? I can drift a Ford Bronco II on stock chassis and suspension in gravel. I can drift my 510 just fine, even with it's lack of power.

SO can a 510 drift???

Yes. But only if you know what you're doing. If you're some amatuer never-drifted-before kind of person, then no, you'll probobly have a lot of problems getting a 510 to drift. I can drift my 2-door on stock suspension, and sticky tires.

My basic 510 rundown.

Given you're concerned with a 510 SEDAN (ie. 2door, 4door, NOT stationwagoN)....

The whole drift scene amazes me with the amount of ricification that's unnecessary. I see a few peeps in this thread (who's names I am unfamiliar with...) that seem to know exactly what they are talking about. KA24DE's with a nice tricky suspension. The problem with sedan rear ends is that they have too much camber change during low end squat. On acceleration, with stock suspension, too much negative camber is a result, so it only rubs on the inside of the tire. Hence the reason an oft-burning out 510 has worn inside corners of the rear tires whilst the outside doesn't ever get affected. Stiffer springs and good shocks compensate for that... just makes it more fun and a lot better handling all around.

Another potential threat against drifting in a 510 (stock) is that the front pushes, but it's overcomeable by a good driver. By the use of camber plates and retaining a stock front sway (larger sway bars promote front understeer) you should be fine.


My five-ten is a '71 model year, high compression "peanut" head, wagon 4-speed (for lower 1st/2nd/3rd gears), a stock rear differential (we'll get to that in a bit..) and zero weight reduction. It does not drift very easy. It takes a lot of skill and work with the clutch (Clutch-kicking) to get it to drift. With a stock motor, even my high compression head, the power output is still too low to break loose the tires simply by use of throttle.

Now... some things that will help you drift (and get better traction and comfort...) would be the following...

Most 510 owners that don't do much on-the-net research do not know that Suburu, in the mid-late 80's used the exact same R-160 rear differential as Datsun used in the PL510 from '68-73. The difference is gear ratio. The Datsun510 had a stock 3.90:1 ratio OPEN differential. The Suburu LIMITED SLIP differentials are 3.70:1 ratio, and are a 100% bolt-in swap and require very very very little modification skill to do this. The difference is, the dust covers on the PL510 axle-shafts are too long to fit over the stubs on the LSD Suburu diffy. Wow. Hack saw hard. Anybody can do it.

With that swap alone you just took 50% of the difficulty away from being able to drift. Open differentials just plain don't drift well. For the street the LSD's are going to give you a lot better traction, for the strip they'll give you tremendous gains off the line, autocrossers love it for the out-of-corner traction, it's just so much better than the stock differential that it should be the number one modification that should be done to a 510. There is also talk about how LSD's cause understeer. Who ever came up with that, I don't know, but everybody that I have talked to personally, and the cars that I have driven, have NO problem with understeer.


So yeah, just to cut this post to an end,...

Add a limited slip.
Learn how to drive your 510.
Stiff suspension, high quality shocks
Good throttle/clutch skills.

You can drift anything if you're good enough.

Scaling from 1 to 10, 10 being the most difficult, I rate the 510 a 5/10. A good balance between skill and driftability.


Hehe, just don't wreck your 510. Probobly less than 2000 of them left.

[J-BloodAE86]

artika? you are on the 520 realm right? i'm 72fivedime on that forum. everyone listen to this guy, he knows what he is talking about.

BTW, i'm selling my 72 510 two door. Its got a L20B with Dual Weber carburetors, aluminum radiator, dogleg 5 speed transmission, tokiko shocks, carbon fiber exhaust, racing tach, oil water and volt gauges, 16 Black Racing N1 wheels, Racing Seats with 3 Point Harnesses, Grant Steering wheel, full sound system with speaker box and removeable faceplate, halogen headlights, BRE lip spoiler, origional 1972 spare! and a new spare

pm for more info. i'll try to get pics up too, i think most of you have seen it, its the black and white one

oh ya, asking 8k

[artika]

The 510 realm, actually, yes.

I'll have to look you up, I don't recognize the name! I haven't been on the 'realm for DAYS anyways.


For anybody wondering, you should check out this site...


www.the510realm.com
www.datsuns.com
www.fiveoneoh.com
www.510garage.com
(pics from Shasta 2004: www.510garage.com/photos)

Enjoy people.
Read over all of those sites.

Also look up Jason Gray's site, he has tremendous amounts of info posted on his site.

Oh yeah... my dime can be found here:

www.cardomain.com/id/artika_x
"The Super Stocker"

[J-BloodAE86]

ya 510 realm, typo sorry. i haveny posted in a long time, i forgot my password (doh). and when i was posting i didnt post much, just asked some questions, good site though.

[artika]

Aye. The site has GOBS of information.
For those of you that didn't find your answers there, maybe you should check out this site as well!

www.datsunhistory.com
www.dimequarterly.com

Subscribe to the Bluebirds list but be aware of their strict terms of use! The archive for all previous posts is availiable online now as well, so you don't ask a question that has already been answered many a time.

It's there you find out the technical stuff, like the track width from hub to hub, or the camber difference between a stock 510 strut and a '80 280ZX strut, etc. Stuff like that. Heim joints. Spherical Bushings. Lovely R200 differential swap information. SR20DET information. "es all good."

Peace guys, if anybody has a question they'd like to ask me, hit me up with an email!

artika@charter.net

Seeya.

[Ghost of Duluth]

Great info Artika. Awesome job. I bet you might know 510 Rob from Cali. Lime Green 2 door with Panasports and an SR. Think he took an award at Shasta in 2002. He pointed me to my first Dime. 69 4 door. I think the year is right. The Tokyo Taxi. Was red with white doors, hood, and trunk lid. I loved that car. I've had 3 since then and loved them all. Awesome little cars and you can't beat the box styling. Never had a wagon though, one of these days i'll wrangle on in.

[68Datsun510]

You dont need a hacksaw at all. Unbolt the Scooby stub axles, and reinstall the 510 ones, DONE!

I think 510's are BAD DRIFTERS because you cant bop on down to Nissan and buy new bumpers and fenders/etc when you hit the wall. 240's are a lot more plentiful than 510's.

[artika]

Just have to make sure you know how to drift instead of sliding into stuff! Rods Discount Datsun has bumpers for a lot cheaper than 240sx bumpers will run you. NON Fiberglass to boot. Was hoping for more money, I was going to buy a new front and rear bumpers for the dime.

Painted it black!!!!!

Hey Cody is that you??

[dislexicdime]

dime

any one know where to get a set of bubble flared front bumpers for a dime

[dislexicdime]

dime

o man i ment fenders my bad

[Ghost of Duluth]

No, but I know where you can get a whole car.











My brothers selling his 510. 1969 Datsun 510, L20B bored .20 over.
Internally balanced with smoothed oil passages.
200 miles on rebuild.
Canon intake manifold with Weber 45 DCOE side draft carb.
Nismo flywheel.
200SX 5 speed trans.
Stainless header.
Alot of engine parts powdercoated including the block.
Unilite distributor.
Battery relocated to the trunk.
280ZX suspension parts with some JDM coilovers.
Custom sway bars front and rear, not sure of make on coil overs or sway bars.
Electic fan and fuel pump.
260 Z recovered seats.
Veloce steering wheel.
5 point 3 inch harness.
Roll bar.
Enkie Magnesium wheels from Japan, never seen em before.
Extra set of Revolution copies with tires.
Fiberglass front fenders with bubble flares, bubble flares in the rear.
Front end is powdercoated including grill, headlight buckets and rear tail light trim.

Also comes with extra parts including valve cover, another head, extra tie rod ends and the other set of wheels.

Price is 4000 for quick sale. No low ballers please, car is beautiful and runs excellent. Any questions contact Mike at Tophat Performance, Rsims20@bellsouth.net or ask me and i'll try to find out.

Thanks.

[dislexicdime]

datsun

hay ask him where he got his fenders for me

[68Datsun510]

Maybe it is, maybe it isnt :-)

Man, thats one sweet 510 there. I wish i could afford paint lol.

Limited supply of metal anything for 510's vs unlimited plastic in the world.

[datsun510dude]

my 69 510 wagon