Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

New to the forum. I bought my roadster 33 years, one wife, two kids, one doctorate degree, three accidents, and several million dollars ago. It presently is disabled in my garage because of a blown head gasket. I am seriously thinking of swapping engines to a SR20DE instead of a rebuild of the original engine. The car is mostly rust free and looks good in and out. More horsepower and better brakes are all that is lacking to make this the car of my dreams again. I have owned it so long and driven it so far that when I sit in it it becomes an extension of myself. I have driven it from Oregon to Massachusetts and then to Florida (with a cast on me leg). It was our only car in Florida for awhile. I let my son drive it to high school for several years and now it just sits in my garage, yearning to be relevant is someone's life again.

I am amazed by the information available in this forum about engine swaps, especially to a SR20DE. I have lots of questions that I am sure will get answered by the good people of this forum.

Welcome!

please add your location

Welcome glad to have you! Looking forward to hearing more of your restoration and the direction you are going! You have a great history to your car, now you can have a great future too!

WoW, welcome Dennis, Care to share how many miles you have logged on the trusty 69?

welcome!
i love hearing stories from long time owners
you have so much history with the car, just rebuild the R16 with go-fast parts and freshen the brakes!
engine swaps and big brake kits are overrated

Dennis .......welcome....

I am no purist as I love the virtues of a stock roadster as much as "resto mod" with the SR20 swap.
In my humble opinion I would keep your car stock... so much history in it... I think putting in an SR20 in will ruin some of the character. just my $0.02

Oh and put your location in your profile

Welcome, Dennis. From another Central Florida Roadie.

Thanks for all the replies. I don't know how many miles I have on the car because the speedometer cable broke 20 years ago with 89,000 miles on the car. I have at least double the miles now. I replaced the cable but the odometer never worked again. As for the engine swap, I am not going to get rid of the original engine in case I decide to go back. I'm thinking that life is short and why not drive a 205 hp car rather than a 96 hp car. Being in Florida it would be nice to have AC which is not possible in the original configuration. Has anyone added AC with a SR20DE swap?

I would like to add a location to my profile but I don't know how. Some clues?

denniswagnerusa wrote:Thanks for all the replies. I don't know how many miles I have on the car because the speedometer cable broke 20 years ago with 89,000 miles on the car. I have at least double the miles now. I replaced the cable but the odometer never worked again. As for the engine swap, I am not going to get rid of the original engine in case I decide to go back. I'm thinking that life is short and why not drive a 205 hp car rather than a 96 hp car. Being in Florida it would be nice to have AC which is not possible in the original configuration. Has anyone added AC with a SR20DE swap?

I would like to add a location to my profile but I don't know how. Some clues?

look at the top right corner and click user profile. you can update info there. welcome btw, and nice roadster. i have dreams of owning a SR swap roadster myself one day. good luck with the conversion, and enjoy the ride.

I'm going to move this project to the engine swap section. Check it out under Orlando Engine Swap Project.

Welcome. I wish I had kept my first roadster, it was my first car in 1970.

DLD

That is a great story, looking forward to more of your posts.