hey guys,
my names dean and im based in rotorua nz, im new to the forums and im looking for some help. long story short i have a 72 1200 coupe and after a recent outing to the 4 and rotary nationals here in nz ive decided that a12 powered 21 second quarter miles arent for me! hahahahaha. so what im wanting to do is replaced the good ole' a12 with a sr20de and a auto box throw a bit of nos into the equation and hopefully do 12s or 11's. now the tricky bit. i have the sr20 and box but as i dont want to pull the car off the road just yet, was wondering how i go about getting it in there. obviously im going to have make engine and gbox mounts. but will i need any tunnel mods? and if so what and how? ive got the rear end sorted. i brought a mazda b1600 lsd already shortened for a 1200. also whats a common easy front strut upgrade to handle what im aiming for? im planning on doing a photo journal of the conversion along the way to. any help would be much appreciated. thanks for your time.

Dean

have a look here and maybe they can ship stuff to ya ... all the conversion stuff you'll ever need

www.maddat.com.au

Hi aidaniel,
Thanks for that. had a look, those guys have got some great stuff. I read somwhere earlier to that 280zx front struts are the way to go, can you or anybody second that? Being auto i dont have to worry about clutch master cylinders etc but will i have to move the brake master cylinder? again any help greatly appreciated. Thanks

Dean

yea i think you have to move the resivoir ... im sure someone here can shed some light

I'm pretty sure the auto box is bigger than the manual boxes so i'd talk to Maddat and make sure their tunnels will clear the auto box. If you want your car off the road for the minimum amount of time I would throughly recommend getting the conversion kits, as having gone the other route of fabricating the crossmember's and tunnel myself I know how long it can really take. They may seem expensive (because they are) but they will be worth the money when you can bolt the motor in and with a weekends work on the end of the welder your motor and box will be sitting in the engine bay. Especially if you have to pay someone to do the welding for you.
I've also done the 280zx strut swap but would probably go the 1200 struts with s13 silvia brakes if I did it again as a few guys on the nz site have done it and its very straight forward and 280zx struts and brakes are bloody heavy too!. Check out www.datsun.co.nz there is a bit of info on their and all the guys are happy to help with info (or physical help if they are in your area)

Nick

the red top inlet manifold fouls the clutch master cylinder. easy fixed but with a grinder.. i run a 7/8brake master and has plenty of clearance with or without a booster. this is in a b210 but very much same engine bay.

well the clutch wont be a problem as he's running an auto

yeah i know i did read it. just saying what it did foul cause it seems as he has heard it hit something.

i contacted maddat, and theyre unsure if their tunnel kit will take an auto box, so maybe im better off to take the plunge and make one as i go. ive had a look for 280 struts and they appear to be quiet rare so like you say maybe s13 is the way to go. the fabrication side of things isnt a problem as ive got handy mates (gota love them) and it may work out cheaper than buying a kit but like you say the time is the issue then. but i suppose do it once do it right is the golden rule.

The tunnel is the harder part. Mounting motors is relatively easy. Just take your time when cutting out the tunnel, just take out the absolute minimum as there isn't alot of room for your pedals if you cut out to much and put in a massive tunnel (like I did)