Charlotte's CA18DET Datsun 1600
More options:
Update 28th January 2003
The first update for 2003! Thought I'd better add an update just in case anyone's wondering why its been so quiet on the datto front for so long - well I have to tell you - no news is good news! OCA018 has been running very well lately down here at his new home (the Gold Coast in sunny Queensland) with only a couple of minor things to report on.
First some pics, I recently repainted the grille black and it looks heaps better, but now really shows up the dent in the chrome strip on the bonnet.
 |
 |
 |
Universal Joints
Over the past few months the diff had developed an ominous clunking noise, so while we were installing some higher springs in the back, we had a quick look underneath to find the noise was not coming from the diff - but two uni's were absolutely buggered. :( These were both the ones on the passenger side half shaft - the two on the other side were not too bad so we have left them for the time being. We replaced these and since I had the digi cam at the time I took the opportunity to make up a tech article on replacing Uni's - find it in the technical section here.
With the uni's replaced the clunk is gone and the car is now much better (and safer!) to drive. I'm still taking it pretty easy due to the diff, but hopefully I wll be getting a new one (probably an R180 open - cant afford an LSD yet) VERY soon.
Spark Plugs
I decided to replace the spark plugs after the car seemed to be running a little rough - they were about due for changing anyway. I had been carrying around a set as spares for the last few months so I just decided to use them. I did notice that they had different part numbers on them but after a quick visual comparision they looked identical to the old ones so I chucked them in and went for a quick test drive. The car went great! The miss was gone and the power was nice and smooth, and most importantly it didnt seem to be fueling up.
Later in the afternoon I went out for a longer drive and spent a lot of time sitting at traffic lights (as you do on the gold coast). And the datto was not happy at all - it fueled up and just wouldn't come clean. I couldn't figure it out! I thought that maybe one of the coil packs was on its way out or I had bumped some wiring while replacing the plugs, or even that I had picked up some bad fuel - it has been a while since I replaced the fuel filter.
But then I thought back and remembered the different part numbers on the plugs. So I ripped out the plugs again and had a closer comparision - hmm they didn't seem to be different at all! Acting on a hunch I cleaned up the old plugs and put them back in, then went for a drive to Super Cheap to have a look at the catalogue. And found the answer.
The plugs that I had been using were actually for an E15ET motor (among others - I think the part # was BCP5ES or something), and though they fitted, they had a gap of 0.8mm - as opposed to the 1.1mm gap of the ones I had replaced them with (NGK BCPR6ES-11), which were actually the correct plugs! So that's why the car had fueled up when I took it for the second drive - the carbon build up on the terminals had been the same as it usually was, but with a larger gap the spark just hadn't been able to jump the extra distance and clean off the build-up as it usually does.
So now the original plugs are back in - cleaned up though - and I will try to get the spares 'gapped' to the correct amount so I can use them. Oh and I bought a new fuel filter too!
home | editors cars | readers rides | technical | gallery | media | videos | links | contact | sitemap
