[revver]

Hi,

What would be the ideal engine oil grade for 118NE?
From what i could gather from the Nissan A12 Engine service manual, a multi grade 10w40 / 20w40 should do the job. I was thinking to go ahead with Shell Helix HX-7.
Would love to hear alternate suggestions.

[aman-bh]

Just came across this thread, what a lovely car this was the 118 NE. We were using my grandfathers NE from 2007-2010, and since I was young at the time, was not involved in the decision of selling it. I regret my father selling this vehicle as it would've been a joy to own, drive and maintain.

It had its own share of problems, but all I remember was that the AC worked and that was something that surprised me considering how old the car was at the time.

Looked super classy and is super spacious, keen to read about everyone's 118 NE.

Cheers

[ilangop]

Originally Posted by revver

Hi,

What would be the ideal engine oil grade for 118NE?
From what i could gather from the Nissan A12 Engine service manual, a multi grade 10w40 / 20w40 should do the job. I was thinking to go ahead with Shell Helix HX-7.
Would love to hear alternate suggestions.

Considering the age of the car you may go for any 50 grade oil. It will be little thick, but will be compensated by the wear and tear in the bearings and bushes. Mineral oil is sufficient, no need to go for semi synthetic or synthetic as oil might be leaking at one place or the other.
Always replace the oil filter while you change oil. In case you don't find the exact oil filter at your place, Ford ikon diesel model oil filter can be used.

-Ilango

[revver]

Originally Posted by ilangop

In case you don't find the exact oil filter at your place, Ford ikon diesel model oil filter can be used.

Thanks Ilango for the tip .

I thought 50 grade will be too thick. That's why i thought of trying 10W40.
Taking into account the age factor as you pointed, it makes sense to go for a good mineral 15W40 oil.

Would love to meet you and the car in Chennai sometime.
Any good old mechanic that you recommend for the NE in Chennai?

[ilangop]

Hi folks. Sharing yet another DIY with my NE. And one of the mega projects that I undertook ever. As we cruise the highway at 80+kmph I always felt that the engine was revving more and actually it could stay relaxed with an overdrive.
The first choice:
You guessed it right. I picked a gypsy king back in 2012. It reached me all the way from Punjab. I do have a spare engine lying around with which I tried monkeying around to build the adaptation. The very first observation I could make was the gypsy had a smaller bell housing and 118 flywheel wouldn't get into it. So I went ahead to build a spacer / adapter for the gypsy box. When everything seemed to progress smoothly, I observed that the input shaft of gypsy gearbox was short in length and wouldn't reach till the pilot bush inside the crankshaft flange.
Do I weld and extend the input shaft? Or do I get a longer input shaft fabricated totally new? Lots of ideas crisscrossing into my mind and finally binned this idea of proceeding with a gypsy gearbox. Sold the gearbox in olx or else my mind will start thinking of alternate ideas of using the gearbox.
The second attempt
Fast forward 2013. A friend from Goa was clearing off his garage and asked me if the HM Isz petrol model 5 speed gearbox with him would be of any use to me. You know...this is monkey brain. Without any hesitation and it landed in pune 2 days later. I brought it home and you could imagine the stare I received from my better half. But somehow got het approval and moved ahead. With the learnings from previous failure this time I got a CAG adaptor plate of BMC petrol engine to Isz gearbox from Coimbatore. In yesteryears a company called Coimbatore Auto Garage made such adaptors. I thought this would make my job easier, but all I got to know was that the adapter I got is for the diesel version. So I took the spare engine and my gearbox to a CMM (Coordinate measuring machine) and got a template if hole pattern in 118 engine and Isz gearbox. Passed on the data to a VMC (vertical milling machine) and got the holes drilled as required. By now I had also purchased the gearbox mounts, the output shaft yoke and imported a clutch plate of Datsun bluebird. The OD of this plate matched the 118's clutch and the splines match the one in Isz gearbox. Looked like I was moving in the right direction. Once when the car was lifted for a water wash I used the opportunity to measure the width or space available at the propeller shaft tunnel. And it was too small to accommodate the bulky Isz stuff. And one more set of learnings of how not to do.
To be contd..

[ObsessedByFIAT]

Wonderful!! I was always curious to know what happened to the Gypsy gearbox you purchased. Never got around to ask you though.

I am sure, this going to be wonderful read and experience.

I am waiting to know about the mega squirting project as well which you undertook sometime back.

[ilangop]

After deciding to abandon the 2nd idea of plonking in an ISZ gearbox, I had shelved the idea of having a 5 speed. However as I keep referring to www.wiki.datsun1200.com for all info regarding the engine & gearbox of 118NE I got to know that this powertrain was sold in the South African market until as late as year 2008. Hence the chances of finding a direct fit 5 speed gearbox is more from South Africa.
The third attempt
So the search for a friend in South Africa started in 2017. Got to know that a school friend of mine was settled in Zambia and she happened to know one of her colleagues living in South Africa. It appeared as everything was going to be smooth. I got in touch with him, passed on a few links off www.gumtree.co.za and one of them happened to be pretty close to him. In a weeks’ time the deal was closed and he had the gearbox with him. But then he got busy with his PhD dissertation and couldn’t find to ship that to India. Fast forward Aug 2018, the gearbox reached Chennai by TNT courier. That was the only shipping company that didn’t ask for an invoice. Of course the entire process costed as much as a used 118NE itself. That’s the height of craziness I ever displayed towards cars. I unpacked it, mounted the gear lever and I confirmed if the gear stick was slotting into all 5+1 positions, and yes it did. With this I placed the gearbox into storage and started accumulating the parts needed to install them. The gearbox mount for the 5 speed and 4 speed are different. With a few trails I settled down for a Tata Sumo gearbox mount and it seemed to fit straight under the Nissan 5 speed and hence settled down for the same and started off with ideas for gearbox subframe. Again www.wiki.datsun1200.com came to my rescue and finalized with a design.
4 speed and 5 speed comparison
1. Bell housing – bolt on, hence no problem with starter motor & clutch cable
2. Input shaft splines – same size and teeth count, hence no need to change clutch plate
3. Speedo cable – same
4. Reverse gear switch – placed 8 cm backwards in comparison with 4 speed.
5. Output shaft splines and oil seal – Same
6. Gearbox mount – located 8 cm backwards as compared to 4 speed
With this the above info and a motivating friend (David) we started off with the swap job. Another friend (Prathap) lent me 2 tripod stands and some misc stuff to raise the vehicle. The project kicked off, day 1 was on 1st Feb 2020.
To be contd…

[KkVaidya]

Originally Posted by ilangop

The project kicked off, day 1 was on 1st Feb 2020.
To be contd…

Wow Ilango. Eagerly awaiting for Climax
Is this the FS5W60A that you got?
BTW, David Gonzales is a very helpful chap who knows Datsun 1200 like the back of his hand. Has helped me a lot in the past too.

[ilangop]

As we removed the old gearbox we noticed that the main bearing oil seal and the sump packing needed replacement as they were leaking. Luckily I had preserved a full engine packing kit from which I used up the main bearing oil seal and the sump gaskets. This activity meant draining off the old oil too. So a new oil filter was installed along with gaskets and oil seal. Removing the sump needed quite some effort as the gasket and sump were treated with excessive sealant paste. So was the crankshaft main bearing seal.

The surprise & shock:
The majority of the bolts that carry the load of the gearbox are on the upper half of the bell housing. While there is a dust cover between the engine and gearbox. Apart from this, the gearbox is supported by a removable cast iron arm with 4 mounting holes. 2 of them are bolted to the engine block and 2 to the gearbox bell housing. However I didn't find that in my vehicle. More than structural importance its function was to tackle NVH (as per info in www.wiki.datsun1200.com). It would have been a difficult job to hunt from such a piece in the scrap yard. Luckily the spare engine lying around in my collections had this piece and it was an easy swap.


The sump was sprayed with Diesel and pressure washed. It looked neat now. So went ahead with installing the same.
I am not sure if the drain nut needs any kind of copper or aluminium washer. Can someone help me with some info on this?

[KkVaidya]

Originally Posted by ilangop

I am not sure if the drain nut needs any kind of copper or aluminium washer. Can someone help me with some info on this?

I had changed the oil myself 2 month back. There is no need for any washer.

Awaiting final result of your swap. Do update with a complete test drive at low and high speeds.

[ilangop]

The idea was to design a gearbox mounting bracket. However without any experience in this field, again sought support from www.wiki.datsun1200.com. Got a rough idea from a few such conversion projects undertaken by folks elsewhere around the globe. However the gearbox mounting bush was an easy find. With in a few hours of search in the net and a visit to a friendly spares shop in our locality I picked the gearbox bush of Tata Sumo without having any clue on how well it is going to handle the vibrations from the Nissan gearbox.

To prepare a mock up of the bracket I used thin tin sheets and cut them to the tentative shape that would suit my requirement. Next was to replicate the same on a 6mm x 2" flat piece. My friendly welding guy supported me in bending it as per the tin sheet mock up. As the hole position in the bracket was tentative and I needed some space to play around for clearing the silencer pipe he had cut slots at the end as per my request. And also got an extension piece welded to seat the Sumo gearbox mounting bush. Everything seemed to move smooth till now. After installing the bush and the bracket on to the vehicle I was not full convinced about the bracket as it appeared like an overkill and capable of even tearing apart the floor piece itself. Also as the bush seemed to be seated at an overhang I felt the need for a 4 point support bracket rather than 2.

But this time I decided to get this done on 4mm instead of 6mm plate. immediately rode to the scrap buyer and started hunting into his collections. I found a 4mm plate but 6 feet long and 10" wide. However he was kind enough to let me use my angle grinder and cut as much as I wanted to. Bought twice the amount of metal than what was required, paid 180Rs (40Rs per kg is his selling price) and rushed to an almera maker in our neighboring street. He quickly absorbed and understood the plan but admitted that his metal folding machine was not capable for 4mm sheets. With a friend's contact David handed over the raw material and the 6mm thick bracket to get it replicated in this 4mm plate. It was unfortunate I had forgotten to inform him that I needed about 2" of extra length on 1 side to ensure proper mounting on the left side. He had chopped off the excess and I had to get the same work redone in the second piece. This time felt happy that I had grabbed 2 pieces of raw material. After bending appropriately David got the slots done at a milling machine shop.

That evening David and myself joined hands to mount the gearbox with the newly prepared bracket. Things seemed to have fallen in the right place now. Had to remove some metal from the bracket to clear the silencer pipe, but that was expected. I had prepared 2 small plates with welded bolts so that I could drop them from inside the cabin and just tighten them from the lower side with the bracket.

Meanwhile the starter motor went for a service. The bushes and brush plate were replaced with new one. And above all washed with Diesel and looked better.

To be contd...

[KkVaidya]

Had been planning since long but finally changed the OE headlamps to rounded corner headlamps from Maruti 800 - type 2.

[ilangop]

Originally Posted by KkVaidya

Had been planning since long but finally changed the OE headlamps to rounded corner headlamps from Maruti 800 - type 2.

Hi Vaidya, Did you happen to test the light spread with the new setup. Is the installation straight forward? How much is the wattage of the bulbs used now? Is that a P45T or P43T bulb inside?
-Ilango

[Anwesh]

Originally Posted by ilangop

The idea was to design a gearbox mounting bracket. However without any experience in this field, again sought support from www.wiki.datsun1200.com. =======


To be contd...

Very interesting
All the best for a successful completion of the job. One question, did you consider the maruti eeco gearbox for this job? If yes, why was that dropped?

Regards,

[ilangop]

Originally Posted by Anwesh

Very interesting
All the best for a successful completion of the job. One question, did you consider the maruti eeco gearbox for this job? If yes, why was that dropped?

Regards,

Hi, Thanks for your wishes.
Back in 2012 while I started thinking of 5 speed options, Versa / Eeco was new to the market and would be difficult to find a gearbox in the scrap market.
Also, as I had an experience with Gypsy gearbox and that Eeco comes with the same family of engine (G12B) I didn't want to consider it. However I see it as a suitable candidate for a swap in a Premier Padmini as the remote shifting of Eeco gearbox could be connected to the column-shift mechanism and the classic look could still be retained.