2.5 Challenge
e-Mail: jmcadory@earthlink.net
Datsun 510
Photo by Ted Hedman
Race Setup and History
Won the 1971 & 1972 Trans-Am Championship
#71- Road &
Track's "Top 100 cars of the Century"
(01/2000
issue)
Often referred to as the "poor mans BMW", the 510 made quite a show in the Trans-Am 2.5 series by winning the 1971 and 1972 season championship. Although low on power, these little sedans have full independent rear suspension and in race trim are great handling cars. They are still popular today in club racing groups and more are finding their way into vintage. These cars are eligible for Trans-Am 2.5, Production and B-Sedan in most race organizations.
Strong Points
- Inexpensive to purchase and operate.
- Tire wear is almost nil on a properly setup car.
- Car body is very stiff.
- 50/50 weight balance.
- Nissan still provides factory competition parts through the Nissan Motorsports Division. (NISMO)
- Simple L16, L18 engine.
- Most "go fast" parts are reasonably priced.
- Easy to setup.
- Possible to mix some parts from other Nissan cars and trucks.
Weak Points
- Not a real popular vintage car. While allowed in most organizations, some groups are not happy to have these cars mixed in with more expensivse marques.
- 1600 motor is small. The Trans-Am 2.5 rules allow the use of the 1800 but this is still smaller than the motors found in the competition.
Common Setup
- 510 racers find that most of the power in the L motor is in the head. Fully ported and larger valves along with a high lift, long duration cam are popluar. Isky makes 5 cams for the 510. The factory performance head ("SSS") can be used as a minimum competition valve size reference. This is1.65 for intake and 1.38 for exhaust valves and 1.50 intake port size. This head can occasionally be found however an A87 "peanut" shaped combustion chamber head can be used to build an excellent competition head.
- 9mm rod bolts are best. These were stock on the later L16 and L18 motors.
- Forged, domed pistons with full floating pins from NISMO.
- A cam spray bar is highly recommended. This is also available from NISMO or may be fabricated from the spray bar found on many (but not all) mid to late 70's Datsun Z cars.
- Lightend or aluminum flywheel. Stock steel can be cut to as low as 15-16 pounds. NISMO supplies an aluminum flywheel.
- Legal T-A 2.5 series weight was 1,750 lbs. with the L16 motor and 1,980 with the L18.
- Camber. Rear, 0 to 1 degree negative. Front, 2.5. to 3.5 degrees. Use a pyrometer on the tires to fine tune the settings. Adjustable camber plates are available from Troy Ermish Racing, TMC and Ground Control.
- Spring rates. Front, 160 up to 300 pound springs to work best. On fast tracks go with the higher rates. A coilover front setup is available from Ground Control or can be easily fabricated using parts from other Nissan cars.
- A common brake upgrade is to use the front brake/strut assembly from a 79-83 280 ZX and finned aluminum brake drum from a 240-280 Z. Both of these are near bolt-in swaps.
- Carburetion. Dual Webers (when allowed) 45 up to 48 seem to work best on hot race motor. In single carburetor classes the Weber 32/36 DGV is the choice.
- Transmission. The NISMO competition 5 speed, direct drive is the choice (only the Rally version is still available from Nissan). This has been allowed in some organizations as it was used during it's vintage period and in the 2.5 Challenge. The stock 4 speed transmission will hold up to racing pressure for quite some time.
- Long tube header, either a Stans or NISMO.
- Common 510 wheels are the America Racing Libre. No longer produced but used ones are relatively easy to find. 13 x 5.5 is the most common size but there is a 13 x 7 also. Backspacing should be a minimum of 4 inches (4.25 would be better) when using 205 tires to fit in the rear wheel wells. Note the 7" wheels will require flared fenders.
- 205/60-13 and 185/60-13 DOT race tires are available from Yokohoma, Kuhmo or Toyo.
- Fiberglass body panels are available from a number of sources. Hood and trunk are common replacement items for weight savings.
- Front airdams with air ducts for the front brakes appeared on all 2.5 Challenge cars.
- Plexiglass (Lexan) rear window and side windows.
- Adjustable rear 3/4" swaybar.
Factory Motorsports Parts
Nissan
Motorsports
PO Box 191
Gardena, CA 90248-0191
(310) 538-2610
Catalog ($5.00)
Internet Sites
Magazines
Dime Quarterly (web site link above provides access to subscription information.)
Books
Most 510 specific books are out of print however you may click on the links below to request a free locator service from Amazon.com
The Stainless Steel Carrot; an Auto Racing
Odyssey
by Sylvia
Wilkinson
The only book about the 2.5 Challenge
that we have been able to locate. It chronicles the early
career of John Morton, a driver in the Trans-AM 2.5 series who drove
with the BRE Datsun team. This book has been out of print for
sometime however the Amazon.com locator service has had good success
in finding copies within a few weeks of placing an
order.
New Listing! How to Modify Your Nissan/Datsun
OHC Engine
by Frank Honsowetz.
This is a new release of the 1986 book of the same name.
Datsun 510, range: 1969-1973;
workshop maintenance & repair manual Datsun 510,610,710
1968-1977 Shop Manual
by Jeff
Robinson
Datsun Service-Repair Handbook,
510, 610, and 710, 1968-1976
by Alan.
Ahlstrand
How to Keep Your Datsun/Nissan
Alive for 1968-1986 510, 610, 710, 521, 620, 720 Cars &
Trucks
by Colin Messer
How to Modify Datsun Engines
& Chassis, 510, 610, 240Z
by Bill
Fisher & Bob Waar
How to Hotrod and Race Your
Datsun
by Bob Waar
How to rebuild your Nissan/Datsun
OHC engine
by Tom Monroe
How to Keep Your Datsun
L-Series-Z-Series Nissan Alive
by Colim
Messer
Datsun 510 Series Auto Book
1968-1972
subtitled: 510 Series 1300,
1400, 1600, 1600SS
by Kenneth Ball
Datsun Tuneup For Everybody
by Paul Young
There are a number of myths about this car that are untrue. For one the 510 is not based on the BMW 2002 nor was it designed by the famous Italian design house of Pininfarina. But there tends to be a little truth in all myths. Here is the story.
The 510 is the 3rd generation of a line of cars produced by Datsun (Nissan) that were named "Bluebird". The first car was the 310 (1959) and was based on the British Austin A40 sedan. Datsun had purchased a production line license for the A40 and used this for the basis for most of their cars up until 1963.
In a move to create a more "modern" car, Datsun had created a new roadster, the Fairlady SP310 and a completely new car, the Bluebird 410 sedan. In addition to new underhood mechanicals the 410 had a new look as Pininfarina designed the body. The 410 shared the chassis, suspension and drivetrain of the new roadster. By the end of production in 1967 the 410 had a 1.6 liter four with aluminum head, dual SU carburetors and a tubular header! While the 410 was a big leap over the 310 it was still based on the old body-on-frame technology.
In the U.S., the president of Nissan Motors (USA), Yutaka Katayama or Mr. "K" as he is known, had been pressuring Japan for changes that would meet the desires of the American market. Many of his conversations were with a young industrial engineer, Teruo Uchino. This young designer had a natural talent and, by chance, was later given a free hand to design a new car that was to be styled as a mixture of the 310 and 410. His effort would become the 510.
But the strength of the 510 was not styling; it was in the engineering. A key factor of the 510's success was the takeover of a failing firm, the Prince Motor Company. This firm had a solid history of producing well-engineered cars and had a staff with a number of aeronautical engineers. This is important in that these engineers were versed in making lightweight monocoque aircraft as well as sophisticated powerplants. It wasn't long before the existing Austin pushrod 1600 motor had been converted to work with a new aluminum SHOC head. It is widely held that this new motor was indeed inspired by the powerplants found in Mercedes at that time.
The influence of Prince can also be seen in the unibody construction of the car. This lightweight aircraft style monocoque design and construction was a first for Nissan and would form a solid basis for the suspension that would be responsible for this cars place in automotive history.
The head of Nissan's design studio, Kazumi Yotsumoto, supplied the final ingredient. His goal was to create a car that was noted for its responsiveness and precise handling. At the time this was considered "very German thinking" but thankfully he got his wish.
The 510 was introduced in late 1967 and arrived in America in the fall of 1968 where it was an immediate hit. When production ended more than 500,000 cars had been sold.
Myths revisited
It would be difficult for the 510 to be based on a 2002 as the 510 hit market about a year before the 2002 (the 510 and 2002 came to the U.S. at about the same time). A more likely scenario would be that the 510 got some of it's suspension design from the 1600. However the engineers from Prince Auto had produced sophisticated cars prior to the 1600 and much of the suspension design was not new per se, just new to sedans.
The Pininfarina design house was clearly not involved in the design of the 510. However since the 510 was based on the Pininfarina designed 410, their prior design certainly had a major influence. If you look at a 410 it's easy to where the 510 came from. But even more interesting is a side view of the 1963 Datusn 410 and the 1966 BMW 1600 for you will find some striking similarities?