1970 Nissan Laurel KC30 coupe w/ SR20DET

skyrine · **Posted:** Thu Nov 25, 2010 11:06 pm

The car looks great. I bet it feels good to have the car back. We should meet up sometime if you ever come up north or i come down that way and do some photos.

Norcal510 · **Posted:** Fri Nov 26, 2010 7:30 am

Beautiful car :tu:

KC30 · **Posted:** Fri Nov 26, 2010 3:20 pm

Thanks, it has been good to have it home. There's still a lot of work to do, but at least drivable. I had to replace the ball joints, they weren't the right taper, so wouldn't tighten up. I have new rear tires on the 15" Watanabes that match the front, but need to figure out the proper spacer to fit them right. Top on the list right now though is replacing the front struts. The S13 coil overs installed are maxed out and the resulting ride is horrible. So I'll be trying S14 struts next.
I am looking forward to running into some other JNC fans, as there aren't that many around here. That and hopefully trailering it out to JCCS next year and maybe a couple of other trips.

Bow · **Posted:** Fri Nov 26, 2010 9:37 pm

Very cool project!

Nice ride and great install.

Very cool you got it to the USA

Garant · **Posted:** Sat Nov 27, 2010 9:33 am

that license plate is gorgeous! too bad cali has such crappy looking plates

btw, what's up with the wheel offsets? looks like you've got the fronts/rears switched around ...

john · **Posted:** Sat Nov 27, 2010 2:46 pm

matt wrote:

btw, what's up with the wheel offsets? looks like you've got the fronts/rears switched around ...

IIRC, The S13 suspension stuff he swapped in required it to use different offsets front and rear. If you dig back a bit further in the thread he mentioned it. :tu:

Also, I think the rear wheels and tires are skinnier, making it look "odd". :mrgreen:

KC30 · **Posted:** Sat Nov 27, 2010 8:18 pm

Datsunfreak's right, the new S13 front suspension has a much wider track. Though I have to find a way to verify that I have S13 LCAs, because I've been wondering if they might be S14s instead. I got the LCAs from a jyard, so I can't verify what they came off of. Either way its a good deal wider than the original suspension.
Anyways, it's had the highly positive offsets on the front to fit (15" wheels), and still has the 14" wheels with the tiny and skinny tires with a normal offset, so yeah it looks funny. :oops:

It's on the to-do list to sort out.

john · **Posted:** Sat Nov 27, 2010 8:44 pm

You know, if you're willing to change to coil-overs in the rear, 280ZX control arms should widen the track back there too? :mrgreen:

And get you disc brakes at the same time.

Eric · **Posted:** Sun Nov 28, 2010 2:21 am

the difference in s13 and s14 lca's is the length and the little "hump" on the piture below:

the s14 one is smaller iirc.
these are s13 one's

KC30 · **Posted:** Sun Nov 28, 2010 6:00 am

datsunfreak: I'll have to look into the 280zx rear arms. I'm planing on having coil-overs anyways, so that's not a problem, and want to switch to disc brakes as well.

Eric: Yeah, I'm certain I have S14 front LCA's. I first started to wonder when I was switching the ball joints. When I looked I found the pics had the steering stop as shown on the pic you posted, but mine have smaller ones further out. Also, when I switched the ball joints I found the sharper taper that the S14 has, but that could be attributed to the drift car it came from having parts swapped. Anyways, when I saw the steering stop on your pic, I just looked at the pic of an S14 and confirmed that I have that style of steering stop. So I now have a set of S13 LCA's headed my way.

KC30 · **Posted:** Thu Dec 02, 2010 7:31 pm

So, I just got the new S13 LCA's today. Here's the S14 arm currently installed:

And the new S13 arm:

So this should help a little regarding the track width and the camber. Plus I'm getting some used S14 front struts to try out for the front ride height and comfort over bumps.

Eric · **Posted:** Fri Dec 03, 2010 11:45 am

std s14 struts? that wont fit,.

KC30 · **Posted:** Fri Dec 03, 2010 7:51 pm

Eric wrote:

std s14 struts? that wont fit,.

No? I've been researching it and the top mount is the same (it'll get the camber plates I have already). I know the lower holes on the S14 struts are larger, which should actually help make my front camber not to excessive. That's the only differences I was aware of, it's just a question of the height and ride change as far as I know.
Let me know if there's something else I'm missing.

Eric · **Posted:** Sat Dec 04, 2010 2:04 am

if you use a set of coilovers it wont be a problem but the std spring is much to wide, thats what i meant.
Topmounts are the same, lower holes are a bit larger but you can use this to change camber a bit.

KC30 · **Posted:** Sun Dec 05, 2010 2:09 am

Ah, I was looking at the shock tower and see that it may be an issue. I'll have to wait and see what I can do regarding that when the S14 struts arrive.
I got the S13 LCA's installed today, definitely better! Here's some pics:

S14 LCA stance:

The S14 and S13 LCA's:

You can see that the S13 arm's shorter (approx 10mm) and that it happens to also not pitch up as much as the S14's at the ball joint.

The S13 LCA in:

And a few pics of the new stance with S13 LCA's:

The changes were actually pretty nice over all. The stance width was narrowed, from 66" to 65". The center height was raised ~ .5", due to the S13 having less pitch on the ball joint end and the strut being slightly straighter with the shorter LCAs. The camber is not as aggressive either now.

KC30 · **Posted:** Sat Dec 11, 2010 12:23 pm

Since I'd first seen this Laurel, I've been on a little bit of a history research to find out details about the KC30 lineup. Like the fact that it was Nissan's first Parade Hardtop (Pillerless Coupe).
One of the first things I'd learned back then was the 3 model variants (1800, 2000, & 2000GX). I bought the Laurel knowing it was badged and had the steering wheel badge as a 2000GX, even though the engine and ID plate show it as an 1800.
I did luck out and get a hold of several Nissan promotional pictures which just really add to the mystery of my Laurel's past.
Here are two pics of the 1800:

From those pics, my Laurel does not share the grill badge, front mirrors, fender badge, the entire dash, steering wheel nor steering column.

So on to pics of the 2000:

From those pics, again the grill badge, fender mirrors and steering wheel doesn't match mine. The fender badge of course is closer. But the steering column, dash and center console match mine.

So here's the pics of the 2000GX:

From those pics, The exterior badging, fender mirrors, steering wheel and column match mine. The dash is the same basically, but the gauge arrangement doesn't match (I have no tach). I do not have the 2000GX badge and clock on my center console. Of course I don't have the power windows, but I think it was an option, because I have a different pic of the GX that doesn't look like it's got power windows.

datsunboy · **Posted:** Sat Dec 11, 2010 2:08 pm

wow, nice find on all those pics!
have you checked out if any of those varianc's are year related?

ie....the 510 had 3 different dash configurations among the normal line up,.....and then another 2 SSS versions.....all dependent upon the year it was made.

I reckon you should try to find one of those "1800" dash boards.....they look pretty cool!

KC30 · **Posted:** Sat Dec 11, 2010 5:01 pm

I've checked out everything I've been able to come across. And when I got those pics was the first time I've seen that the 1800 coupe variant has a different dash. I haven't found anything that shows any different variants by year, and don't expect to since the KC30 body was only produced from '70 to '72. So far, the only dash differences appear to be based on model variant. The 1800 dash doesn't look too bad, but it's actually the dash shared with the 4 door (C30) models. So the 2000 dashes are more rare... But I have yet to see any interior parts available anywhere, regardless of the variant. Anyways I personally prefer the 2000 dash so I won't be changing it.

I'm really happy I came across those pics, which is good since it definitely cost me. I love some of the old brochure and promotional items. I still get a kick out of the styling "concept" for the coupe:

Apparently it's what you get when to put a bird and a triangle together!

Anyways, today was good weather, so I decided to drive it a little. Got lunch and a couple of errands done, and headed home. I drive off from a stop light shifting into second... Something felt a little odd with the clutch pedal when I pressed it. So I get to the next light and push it to come to a stop, and it's already almost to the floor but disengaged just enough to get out of gear, and back into when the light changed again. So I nursed it home, get to the driveway, get out and look underneath, no fluid drip. Check the master cylinder, empty, so only one other place the fluid can go. I open the door again and look at the pedal (still almost all the way in) and sure enough there's some fluid streaking behind it:

So I've just ordered a repack kit for the Nabco 5/8" master cylinder I have. Guess I won't be driving it this next week.

edited because I'm stupid and misspelled Nabco as Nasbo.

Sven7 · **Posted:** Sat Dec 11, 2010 6:50 pm

Do you have high-res scans of those brochures? I'm a car literature nut.

BTW, the Laurel looks great. Too bad you couldn't keep the JDM plate on!

KC30 · **Posted:** Sun Dec 19, 2010 11:37 am

I'm sorry to say that those scans are the highest resolution I have.

I got the clutch master cylinder rebuild kit this week, and went to install it today. I definitely ordered the wrong kit. Looking back I see what happened, I was looking at info I scrounged up from Dastun1200.com. Well the info was for retrofitting with a hydraulic clutch, and I didn't have the sense to think that the master cylinder they used was a modern one. Oh well, lesson learned. And to add personal insult to myself, I just realized I have a 4dr C30 parts manual, which should (and does) use the same clutch master cylinder as mine. So in other words I was not thinking last weekend.
Just for record, here's the 5/8" Nabco clutch master cylinder the KC30 comes with:

If I finally have my research correct, it's p/n 30610-N0100.
Also, here's the old and incorrect piston together (the original is on top, new on bottom):

So now I'm attempting to find a US model that came with this for me to find a replacement or rebuild kit. But I'm coming across conflicting info... I've found some info saying it matches the 510,610 & 710 from 75-79. But other info saying it matches the 510 from 68-72. I'm sure most of the different info is due to different markets (US, Japan, AU, etc).
From looking around, it looks like the US market 510 from 69-70 shares the same master cylinder. So I may go out on a limb and order for that. I'm guessing since I can find the rebuilt kit for ~$20 and the entire master cylinder for ~$30 I may as well go with the entire assembly.

Can anyone confirm that this is the same as the ~70 510 clutch master cylinder? Any info or help would be appreciated!

1970 Nissan Laurel KC30 coupe w/ SR20DET

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