The B310 Datsun Sunny 120Y - Got my licence in one and more tales from the past

The Nissan, no, Datsun 'Sunny' 120Y B310 from 1977 to 1982 was a car that was very relevant in pre-Proton affordable car Malaysia. It sold in large numbers here in Malaysia and was the car that most people who couldn't afford running a Fiat, Ford or other entry level European cars those days. 

It was the last Sunny sold under the "Datsun" brand and was also the final rear-wheel-drive Nissan Sunny The B310 came in different types including a fastback station wagon (not seen here), a normal station wagon (sold here),  a fastback coupé (sold here in 140Y form) , and two (not sold here) and four-door sedans (sold here in Malaysia). Of course, here in Malaysia, the 4 door sedan was popular, followed by the wagon and a smattering of crazy folks who wanted a tin can Japanese underpowered coupe.

The 120Y sedan and wagon sold here came with a 1171cc 4 cylinder carburetor SOHC engine that put out 68hp. It was actually adequate as the car weighed slightly more than 900kg empty. The 120Y was small, but had pretty good space utilization inside as I remember lots of time seeing families of four or fice squeezing into one around town. It wasn't fast. It was a means of affordable transport for the masses. Build quality was all hard plastics, thin cushioned seats and very little soundproofing. But it was adequate as the 1.2liter engine was hardly noisy in its standard form and it came with tiny 13inch wheels and tyres.

I was taught how to drive in an early 1980s Datsun 120Y in 1990. At the time, all driving schools in Malaysia had this model or the much, much earlier B110 series Sunny. So this Datsun 120Y was the first car I spent a lot of time driving. It was actually easy drive. Its steering wasn't power assisted but the narrow 155/165 series tyres that most of these cars used at the time made it easy to turn. I suppose it was also quite highly geared to lessen the effort. Whilst it was a pure, uncorrupted helm, it was somehow still devoid of feel in the truest sense. I suppose this is what you get when you want easy to turn steering, lightness and cost efficiency.

The car had also a long gearshift which by 1990 was a tad bit too loose in my hand. But I think it was not as loose as the 120Y at the Road Transport Department testing grounds when I took my driver's exams. That car also had a clutch that was riding quite high. Yes, the clutch was light too. After all, it was Japanese and at the time, everything Japanese seemed flimsy compared to the European makes. The Fiat 131 from the same era that my dad kept at the time felt like a boulder compared to the 120Y. This was even though the Fiat was a rust bucket made out of cheap Russian imported steel at the time.

But of course the Datsun 120Y had actually stood the test of time. By the mid 1990s you still saw a lot of 120Ys plying the roads of Malaysia. By that time, nearly all Fiat 131 cars had died a rusty death. So it might be actually crappy to drive and seemed all flimsy (go over a deeper than usual pothole and everything felt like it was going to explode) but it actually lasted a heck of a long time.

I also remember in the late 1990s an acquantance had one that had a 1.5liter Nissan Vanette engine in one complete with twin weber 40DCOE carburetors. That car was shocking. Never thought I'd see a Datsun accelerate so fast from the traffic lights and making the driver's of other higher performance cars wonder what the heck passed by their supposedly better rides (this included various Alfa Romeos, Mazda familia turbos at the time). It sounded like an old MBG GT too. High performance camshafts and a whole lot of internal work made the car was it was. The engine looked something like this highly tuned 140Y engine. A beauty ain't it?

But the exterior was a dull beige with just a set of 14 inch alloy wheels on 185/60/15 Yokohamas. Its suspension consisted of the mechanic drilling a hole into stock shocks and filling in harder weight shock oil and then welding the hole up in order to make the piston action stiffer. A simple trick that could still be used in older mineral filled shock absorbers (that isn't gas/oil in its setup). In fact, most racing shocks use this trick without the crudeness. Springs were from another larger Datsun. So they were harder to compensate for the extra performance and the larger engine. What a car it was. A Datsun that was ballistic. Comfort was secondary too. No airconditioning. Not that it was needed in the 1980s and 1990s when temperatures in the Klang Valley was slightly cooler than today (yes, it was by at least a couple of degrees at any time).

Imagine a 120Y doing 220kmh. Boy that Datsun was fast in those days. Come to think about it it still is fast today. That car was more engine than chassis. Ah, those were the days.