You could ask Exhaust technology in Adelaide on 08 82727500 who worked on the Greedy 1600 - SR20 DET swap (240K gearbox) or Bruce Towns Enginerring in Melbourne who did a 120Y coupe twin
turbo SR20 (SR20 gearbox) on 03 9580 8519.

I'd go with Adelaide first, after all you're over there and the regulations are slightly different from state to state, although to the rest of Australia it seems that SA's got the most
lenient ones....

The engine bay size isn't an issue - although the height of the block is a squeeze. The transmission tunnels are different though between L series and A series - an auto 1200 makes
fitting a bigger gearbox easier.

Note that both of them used different versions of the SR20 - this may or may not be relevant - neither myself or any of my friends have ever tried an SR20 swap.

L20 crank journals can be ground down - most people wouldn't bother because you just start with a L20 block anyway - heaps cheaper. However there's plenty of people who don't want to let
people know exactly how big their engine really is and cheat this way - it used to be a VERY common trick in Class N rallying in South East Australia (capacity restrictions and all that).

The point here to Mareo was the originality and the sentimental value of the car, not doing things the cheapest way....

The blocks can be taken out a bloody long way beyond what is considered reasonable. Toyota Corona Pistons (88 mm instead of stock 83 mm) used to be an old favorite for oversize bores. 120"
overbore was never a problem on L16 or L24 motors. Bigger is possible, but at signifcant cost and risk. Strangely with a 5mm overbore your stroke to bore ratio comes out pretty good....

Even using the 88mm pistons brings you out near to 2250cc using a stock 20b crank, let alone one with increased stroke (hey - if you're regrinding the base circle of the crank anyway!!).
Doubt me not people, the money some of these rally guys were throwing away was enormous - and eventually led to changes in rules of the class to ban such cars.

L18's were a stroke job only of L16's so using an L18 crank in an L16 gave L18 not L17.... At least that's the way it was with Australian models. Likewise L26 was only a stroke job of L24 (
(83*73.7 to 73*79mm).

2150 is considered a "normal" overbore size, and I have seen this used on L series blocks running in excess of 25psi boost (T3, T3/4 hybrid and T4 turbo) with no problems.
A friend of mine was running such an engine in their bluebird until they lit it up just a bit too much at a roundabout one day....

Aussie Zoom readers would have seen a SA 1600 running a 2150 twin turbo setup in an L series - Greedy's yellow one - later shown with blue paint and an SR20 conversion.


As far as U20's being the basis for L24 engines, that's to do with the whole development from Roadster to the Z which replaced it. Note that the L series never ran anything like those carbs
until the Z came out, but twin Su's and Solex's were used on the 2000 roadster. I've got the interim design drawings from Roadster to Z in some books here.

I know there were L20 and L23 motors around at a similar time - check the carburetion and cam profiles compared to the Z....no similarity at all.

Note Japanese models of the Z are still called the Fairlady, and early Japanese Z's had a number of different engines in them, including a number of different 2 litre SOHC, DOHC models not
seen elsewhere - such as the 432R DOHC S20 engine, with triple 42DCOE webers (from the standard 2 litre triple solexes).

Checking out a few internet links shows significant differences between Aussie delivered roadsters and American ones, but I think you're right about the R16 not the J16 - J series engines
were used in a Datsun 1500 and 1600 utes of the same error and may be the cause of my confusion - we wrecked one and rebuilt one the other day at a mates wrecking yard. The two are different
engines, but I dunno how similar they are or anything about parts compatability - there's very few of either of these types of engines left in Aus.

Did america get the 3 seat roadster?

Anyway it's been a long time since I've seen much of the inside of a roadster with a genuine engine - something like 8 years since I helped a mate restore one. the few I've had a good look at
since then have got L16's, L18's or fuel injected jobs.

Maybe if I sell the ute I'll get one.

1200 ute ones fit in Aus, but may not in other countries - remember the different versions of
A-12's arguement.

I've seen patrol parts used to make a 240Z 4WD - much easier due to similarities in engine and gearbox (L series 6 cylinder) but Patrol parts may be a bit harder to squeeze into a 1200.
Having said that, good luck with it. If nothing else, it'll be an experience, and we'll all be richer for your efforts.

Dunno how you're going to go getting transfer cases to match A series engines , or alternatively get an L-6 in the engine bay - Perhaps a middle ground could be met by using a L16, L18
or L20 motor to more easily match the Patrol transfer case, which will squeeze into the A series body just a little bit easier.

I'd suggest if you can get a 720 4WD instead it'd be a better basis for the job, as at least that uses a 4 cylinder engine to start with. Hmm... interesting idea for Datto 1600
enthusiasts perhaps?

Still, use what you've got is the name of the game, so long as the Patrol is cheap.

I've got some experience with the Patrol, but what type is it? 2.8 Petrol SWB? If it's a diesel good luck, I've never been involved with them.

At a guess, you may find dome Suzuki Sierra parts are more suitable due to their size than Patrol parts. A mate of mine has found that the reverse, Datsun (or Toyota) into Sierra, works
pretty well on a lot of occasions. He's got a very sick Sierra that's got about 4 feet of ground clearance everywhere but the axles (and diffs).

linc,
I'm having the same problems too with my rebuilt A15 - and had the rad chemically cleaned and all. I'm suspecting the thermostat is ok as in light traffic it's fine, but
in heavy traffic the temperature goes up to about 3/4 - then the water starts to boil. I've swapped rad caps witout success.

My rad has an overflow reservior, and although that and the hose to it are ok, it doesn't push the water into that when it gets hot.

I've tried reflushing my radiator, but
I've busted myself up on a trailbike and can't do anything about it at the moment.

The japanese model altezza (which is effectively the IS200 body) came with an option of the Soarer twin turbo 2.5 litre engine (1JZ). These will be an excellent swap for
anyone with the money, since our import regulations don't allow importation of "parallel" imports - imported cars being sold against brand new cars.

Of course, there's a few that landed here before the IS200 went on sale....

Roadster engines were "j" series engines - pushrod 1500/1600 engines with the exclusion of the 2000. The 2000 was a U20. These are very rare enines and are VERY good - the later 240Z-
280Zx motors were heavily based on these. J series engines could be considered the forefather of our beloved A series in the same way.

L series normally have their number printed near the back of the engine bay - flat into the side of the block, not like the A series, but similar.

L16-L20 are all interchangeable anyway, (excluding a bit of work for the fuel injected L20's and turbo'd L20 so it doesn't really matter what is in it - however if you know the man
and his work, you can try and find out off him what's really in it - just because it's got L16 printed on the outside, you can still take them out to about 2.3 litres with big pistons
and L18/L20 cranks.

For those who need to know the swap to L from J is also an easy one, and we have heaps of roadsters running around with L series engines now in Melbourne.

This "EFI makes more power theory" is pure BS, as is much conventional wisdom. Don't jump on me, but if you're interested read this through. EFI is better, but don't think it's a miracle
horsepower cure. Unfortunately this is very long and will take multiple postings.

If you don't want to know, please skip over them.
Andrew

There's no doubt fuel injection is heaps better, but not necessarily in outright power. The only limit to outright power is how much air and fuel can get in, and can they achieve the correct
mixture. Obviously with heavily modified carby V8's (or even turbo rotaries) running around getting sufficient air/fuel, there's not going to be a limit that a 1200 engine (or even a 1500
engine) is going to hit. Anyone think that an A series engine is capable (with ANY mods) of making more power than these types of engine is sadly mistaken.

Get the carby big enough to flow enough air, and get the jet sizes right, and it will get exactly the same PEAK horsepower as an EFI engine. (Assuming both can supply correct spark at the
correct time). Possibly, the carby engine could even make a slight power increase, due to the additional load that running heavier alternators makes on the EFI engine.

However, having said that - where fuel injection is better than carbies is basically EVERYWHERE else that the carby is not optimised for (in this case our carby engine was calibrated for max
hp).

A very simplistic view (*see carby addendum 1 - next posting ) is that a carby can be tuned for approximately 3 points - flat out, idle speed, and usually one more point in between.

A fuel injection system can be tuned for whatever the resolution of the fuel injection system allows. An extreme example of this is on some of your top end fuel injection systems, like MOTEC,
where you can set ignition timing, fuel delivery for every single mapping point on the power curve (by individual RPM, throttle opening, air density etc).

This is where fuel injection wins out. It can be tuned for so many more load points, effectively increasing at each of those points: Driveability, fuel economy, tuneability, throttle
response, reliability, power, torque. Wider power bands, more torque and often power are normal responses to EFI - but this is because factories don't usually set up their cars as undriveable
beasts with max horsepower the only goal. Because of the better tuning resolution of the EFI system, everything else can be setup for more peak horsepower (if that's what the factory wants),
without making the same sacrifices a carby engine tuned for peak power has to make.

The actual horespower figures are going to vary based on the state of engine tune, and how good the carb tune is versus how good the EFI system tune is.

Even retuning a stock EFI car (if the computer is retunable, or getting a rewritten chip if possible) can significantly improve horsepower, and replacing a FACTORY fuel injection computer
with a more powerful aftermarket computer can improve it further.

Hope you can use the info. In short, the only real way to find out how much "horsepower" it can improve your car's engine is to try. There were injected L series 4 cylinders and they're a
good example to use in this forum. You can usually guess at perhaps 20% and work up or down from there (CA20 vs. CA20E is very close to this mark). But also remember that it effectively
cannot improve the maximum horsepower to any more than the right carby and tuning could anyway, but where you'll see the benefits is EVERYWHERE else.

Carby addendum 1:
Also, different carby arrangements can enable closer resolution (tuneability) over the process. Single downdraft to dual throat, sidedraft to twin sidedraft, triple sidedraft, quad, etc....
Hence the reason why twin SU manifolds and GX heads (for 1200s), or why people put on twin dellortos, twin webers, etc.

Then we get into funny jet sizes and shapes, tapers of jets, more holes or different designs/shapes/angles of holes to allow better fuel atomization, accelerator pumps, narrowing passages in
the carby over jets to create additional vacuum directly above the jet, etc. this gets into gasflow dynamics and is very complicated science. The theories alone that some people have in this
field can be absolutely bizzare - to give an example of the detail, each individual jet in the carby's gas flow is going to have primary and secondary harmonic pressure waves (as does any
cylindrical shape used to flow gas) which could improve or reduce it's ability to flow fuel, on top of the size of the jet's bore, based on it's length, length versus diameter, the placement
of atomization holes, the shapes of the lip (tip) at each end. Remember, this is for a small piece the size of a pencil tip inside your carby. 100 years of development has gone into this from
every automobile engine manufacturer in the world.

In the bad old days of V8 drag racing, running twin 4 barrel downdrafts or quad twin barrel downdrafts with exactly tuned length velocity stacks was not uncommon. More air, more fuel, more
adjustability, and unfortunately more contstant retuning than anything a factory would ever sell to us.

Information overload anyone?

Mareo,
Unfortunately we have a bit of a difference in the naming conventions of the engines that is causing this concern - the Australian A12 came out with two versions - a front mounted
distributor and a midmounted distributor. I think Shadow has already covered this. The midmount distibutor parts will fit, and is a "sportier" profile than the standard A15 cam.

Effectively we got what you called A12 and A12A both as A12 - the two engines even appeared in the same car shell made in the same years. Also we got other peculiarities like Sunny wagons
getting A14's while sedans got A12'.

We also got different variations of the A14 engine - a electronic ignition and a points ignition model. We even had front wheel drive versions of the A14. This is one of the difficulties
you get with dealing with international models. Some engines were never available in Australia - but we probably got a few you didn't too.

I understand where you're coming from - don't give out wrong information as it can hurt people. However, with the right versions and a bit of common sense (ie make sure you use the same
distributor location or there's no gear for the dizzy to drive off) then this is a valid suggestion.

As has been suggested before there needs to be some international database set up so people are exactly sure what we are comparing is apples and apples....