Ok, I've been a Datto 1200 ute fan for about 15 years but put it off due to all the other s#$t that life throws at you! I've only ever owned pretty straight forward cars with minimal mods (wheels, exhausts, brake upgrades, computer mods, etc).
I'm a qualified mechanic but haven't been in the workshop for 7-8 years so my mechanical skills are shall we say 'lying dormant!'

I bought my little "Datty" as she will be named and registered a few weeks ago from a guy in Portland (4.5 hours drive from Melbourne) who was moving up to Brisbane for work. The photos looked ok but on inspection it was a slightly different story! All Datto owners are accustomed to this no doubt! It has a fair bit of surface rust due to living near the ocean for the last few years. Nothing like some of you legends are tackling in other build blogs! Some of you guys have got bigger balls than I can muster up!
Anyway, I was happy to pay the money as I knew there was never going to be a perfect one out there for the sort of dollars I wanted to spend.

As the name of my blog suggests, this may be a very, very slow build. My wife is due to give birth to our first child in 2 weeks and I'm about to build a new house with builing starting in about 6 weeks. In other words my plate for the next year is slightly full! Stick with me, we'll get there!

So this is her (just remember, she "looks good" in the photos)-

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Hey shoota77 u sound like you're in the same boat as me Mate my ute is all stripped and ready to go but so many things goin on with work and my fiancée due in 10 weeks can't wait for the lil fella to come. Then when I'm on holidays my utes going in to the panel shop to b all fixed up. I'm lucky with mine only rust in her is the bottom sill panels and passenger floor and bottom right corner of drivers door, then the engine transplant begins 13bt.

Ok. With only having the ute a few weeks and being too busy putting together baby furniture and other cr@p I haven't done much yet.

I did get the die grinder out just to get a feel for what the rear quarters were like. I started in the most common place they would get damaged (behind rear wheel) and let's just say that it's no wonder I could barely even chirp a rear wheel, there's gotta be another 50 kgs of bog just in the drivers side alone! Here are the results (I've done sections to get an idea if the bog is localised or widespread. You be the judge)-

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Yeah life's a bastard! In a good way of course but it has a habit of throwing stuff at you when you don't think you could possibly handle another thing.
You're having a boy? We're not sure what we're having yet. Hopefully a boy. The final catalyst of me finally doing this is to have Datty in tadem with the baby so hopefully he/she can inherit the thing in 18 years and be the maddest kid in year 12 doing power slides out through the school gates!

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The latest news as of today is that I have just bought "a few" little extras for the ute from a guy who was going to do the exact same thing as me but again life got in the way for him! He sold his Datto ute a few weeks ago and just wanted to be rid of everything he had bought for it. My win!! He was the brother of a guy I work with so you've gotta pipe up about being a Datto fan as you never know who might have something for you!
This is what I bought-

-S14 SR20DET with 58000kms on it (oil in the rocker cover is as clear as honey!)
-5 speed manual transmission (out of an even younger car ~30000kms, looks new)
-All wiring, computer, maf sensor, emissions goodies, dump pipe, engine mounts, etc.
-R31 LSD Diff with disc setup (needs to be resized still)not sure of ration yet.
-New (reproduction) front and rear guards, front apron, tailights, drivers window reg (new genuine)
-1200 Coupe 3 dial dash facia with working guages (may turf them though)
-2 1600 sedan seats in very good condition (probably won't use them though).
-S14 trans tunnel (which I may or may not use, see how it looks).

The only thing he wasn't selling was spare time. Anyone know where to buy some?

I think that's it. All in all a sh1t load of searching around avoided by buying it all in one spot.

Now all I need are the tools to do the job. I sold my $15000 worth of tools not long after I got out of the workshop so I'm in the process of trying to rebuild some sort of collection again.
Anyone got a goodish engine crane they don't need anymore?
I'll post some piccies of my treasure trove tomorrow if I get a chance.

Welcome mate and good luck with the build. There are plenty of people on here who can assist with advice when/if required.

My brother got his engine crane from a place called Trade Tools here in Brisbane for under $200 on special. It may be worth keeping an eye on the tool shops in your area in case something like this pops up.

Cheers, I know I'll need a lot of advice as all of my previous assistance is very non Datsun (apart from the good ole RB30 in the VL!).
Just reading other people's build pages is great, I love it!

I've been trawling all the tool places for a crane but you know how when you're looking for something and want it in a hurry it's never there or on sale?!! Then when you don't want it anymore you'll see a good deal on one everywhere you go!

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good luck with the build mate and the bub, my son is 2 months old now and i started a SR20 conversion about 2 years ago but life has gotten in the way as you say. hang in there and have fun.

Hey Zigzag, thanks for the welcome! Hopefully you can help me with my SR problems when I get stuck!
There seems to be a recurring trend where all of us that are taking the plunge are doing it around baby time. Are we stupid? As if our wives are gunna let us hide in our man caves for the required period of time while there's a new baby in the house!!
That's another hindrance to my project, my man cave is a half open single car garage over which resides a 60 year old Spanish lady. She'll be pumped after about six weeks from me attacking Datty with a die grinder every night!
Even once we move to the new house I'll be relegated to one side of the garage until I can afford to build my real 10X8 man cave in the back yard (what I've spent so far on Datty has destroyed my hopes of a shed from day one).
Looks like the Audi lives on the street from now on.
Anyway, good luck getting back to your project once you get the shed key back! I think they keep the key tucked away in the back of the cupboard with their libido! You'll eventually find it.

haha yeah the family wagon is out in the weather while i play with my datto and yes the time/money restrictions that come with a new baby definitely hurts, ive missed out on so much good gear that i need/want but having my son is the best thing in the world, apart from no sleep and doing 12 hour days cleaning up from the floods, i am reminded every day when i get home how lucky i am.