KA related to L series engines?

himilefrontier · Apr 15th, 2003, 05:11 AM

I just read on another site that the KA is related to the old L series engines and was wondering if anyone knew anything about this(it gave no details).If this is true, then these engines have had an incredibly long evolutionary life!The L series engines after all were derived from a 1950's Austin engine design that Nissan produced after they bought out the engine design(Or was it the BMC A series engine that they just made under license?) .The L series was made from the 1950's on through the 80's.(The first US Nissan model was actually the old Austin A40 that Nissan bought the rights to,restyled and marketed as the Datsun 1200 sedan and pickup in 1960.The Mini replaced it in Austin's lineup,if memory serves.).Nissan later made it a "copycat" Mercedes Benz engine(OHC head version) with the intro of the 510 in 1967(or was it 68?)and it finished production as the NAPS Z in the original hardbody trucks.It was also used in the Z cars and 1st gen Maxima/810 as a stretched 6 cylinder version.Thanks for any help you can give me so I can further my knowledge of Nissan history.

RiceBox · Apr 15th, 2003, 08:55 AM

I thought that the 510 was a copy of the BMW 2002.

himilefrontier · Apr 16th, 2003, 01:40 AM

A common misconception, but the 510 actually predates the 2002 by a year.They share a common rear suspension design but not because one is a copy of the other(in fact, BMW kept it until recently).Part of this myth undoubtedly comes from the fact that the 510 was known as"the poor man's BMW" back in the day.This is not to say that Nissan was above copying other manufacturers technology back in the 60's,in fact this was a common practice back in the infancy of the Japanese car industry(as it relates to the US.).If you are at a junkyard and have a chance, look at a old Datsun L series engine and look at a Mercedes of the same era.They look almost identical.While this all took place before I was born, I still love to learn about it.