Which Datsuns/early Nissans were RWD?

There are so many. In terms of what you can find, do you want four door or two, family size or small, coupe, hatchback, etc?

Mine is RWD, and I am now starting to think it's time for a CA18DET - a modern 180BHP Nissan engine to go in it. I reckon for less than £2k I will end up with an unusual, cool (in my eyes anyway) fast good handling rust free JDM style ride.

I still think the alternatives to the AE86 don't centre around the Datsun era but the early 80s turbo era for the power and the handling. S12, MA61, Starion, etc.

Charlie

bluebird 180b sss (voilet)160j sss 120y 140y 240 260 280 z

I'm pretty Open.
Having driven two Saab 900's, and a Skoda Estelle, plus a loaner Saab 9000, full size euro saloons aren't a problem. Missus wants me to get something smaller and newer. I could probably get away with a Starlet/Glanza, but then it would probably be the newer FWD ones.

Myb own personal opinion would be something the size of a Lexus LS300/400. But Missus would skin me if I did that.
I love the old 240k Skyline shapes. 2 or 4 door doesn't bother me. I'm more of a large saloon/coupe person (long low smooth), she like little hatchbacks (metro, corsa, fabia squat fat dumpy). I do quite like sports cars, but find in my budget (as cheap as possible) they are fun until they get expensive. And at least with a fun comfy cruiser you don't need to bring 70's suspension upto noughties standards to keep up with the hot hatches.

For a non J car, my ideal would be, a Rover P6, a 60's S type Jag, or a MK1 Grandad. But again, she would skin me, and I can predict it would need to be big enough to live in.

Yup, the original Cherry. Basically became the J Mini-Cooper there was so much tuning stuf for it at the time.

Mega quick summary of the more common RWD models. Model codes in brackets.

Sunny 1200, 120Y etc (B110/B210/B310) - Escort size, all in UK have the OHV A-series engines, 1.2 up to 1.5. Some tuning stuff about, but not like BMC or Ford. Either 2dr, 4dr, coupe or estate.

Violet 140J/160J (710/A10) - About Avenger size, older model OHC L-series engines only, newer A10 got OHV A14 as Sunny. 4dr or coupe. 710 coupes only have IRS. Good rally heritage, which might make prices for good ones start to rise? Lots of relatively easy potential for upgrading. Very popular in NW London/Middlesex!

Bluebird 1300/1400/1600 160B/180B etc (510/610/810/910) - Cortina size, all saloons coupes have IRS. L-series OHC engines across the board. 510 in particular very popular in USA and Oz for upgrading, pretty much every engine conversion has been done - rotary, newer 4-pots, V6, V8 etc, all of which is pretty much applicable to later models, so lots of knowledge. 4dr saloons, coupes from 610 onwards here, estates. Steering rack for 910, otherwise all have a box.

As all the above were only ever sold here with 4-pot engines the easiest upgrades are either CA18ET out of an S12 (as NickB posted, cheaply available), CA18DET out of S13 200SX, or SR20DET out of S14 200SX.

Silvia, 200SX (S12/S13 etc) - Loads of info around on them.

Laurel 200L/240L etc (C130/C230/C31/C32) - Victor/Triumph 2000 size range, not quite Granada. 2dr available on C130, now pretty much extinct, otherwise all 4dr only. Early C130 got 4-pot, otherwise all had either 2.0 or 2.4 L-series '6'. So, either tune it like the Z/ZX boys do, or chuck in a newer RB straight-six (or maybe Nissan VG30E V6 engine). C32 actually got a steering rack, and very last C32 SGX models got IRS. Don't look obviously sporty, erring more on the luxury side, so a suitably upgraded one would be amusing.

Skyline 240K (C110/C210) - Sister car to Laurel, but always sold here as a sporty alternative. Both had IRS and 2.4 version of L-series engine, injected on C210. 4dr only here on C110, pillarless coupe only for C210. Same upgrade potential as Laurel. From eight years experience I can tell you that C210 is a really nice drive even stock; apart from one with a Mopar V8 there have been very few/none here with any serious mechanical mod's.

Cedric 240C/260C/280C/300C (230/330/430/Y30) - Granada size, but really a head-on Toyota CROWN competitor, ultimate Japanese taxi. Banger racer's favourite too. 230-430 models all got the L-series engines again, but lovely V6 VG30E for Y30. All have steering boxes and solid rear axles, so handling as standard not their thing! Usual thought with these is as lowrider, but like Laurel there's lots of potential for making a sleeper with engines from later Skylines or 300ZX models. All 4dr saloon or estate (300C estates surprisingly rapid).

240Z/260Z/280ZX/300ZX (S30/S130/Z31) - Lots of info around on these again, but basically 240 and 260Z are pretty much same, 280ZX is a bit fatter and lazier. These had L-series engines, injected on 280ZX, then VG30E plus turbo version of V6 for Z31. Kind of a different scene for these compared to other Datsuns.

There are earlier models for most of the above, but they're super rare. New Datsunworld site should be fully functional again soon (thanks to Ratdat!), and new forum is getting active so drop by there for more info.