Geeeez, I gotta stick my bib into this one.

OK, first question, is this car to be a driver or a weekend show queen?

If it is NOT going to be a driver, then go with the full restoration including the A10 engine.

If you plan on driving it then the 1200 engine is, in my view, the best bet. The downside is that the stock 1200 air filter housing will rub on the underside of the hood so you will need an aftermarket air filter assembly or a semi sidedraught induction.

I drove my 1968 four door for about nine months in stock condition & with a good tailwind, a long run up & a downhill run I could get 70mph out of it.
When driven for economy, I could get 40mpg [Imperial gallon = 4.54609 litres]

I installed a big bore [76mm] 1200 GX engine & could get both of those figures anytime I went cruising. When driven for economy, then 50mpg was not hard to achieve at all.
The 1200 engine was coupled to a factory 5 speed which has a top gear ratio of 1 to 1, the same as the 4 speed & I used the 3.9 to 1 diff from another 1200. [It bolts right in to the B10 axle housing]

The A14/15 engines use different engine mounting positions so mods are required to fit these engines & in the end the extra torque is really not needed unless you are towing a boat & even then my 1200 handled the task nicely.

To increase the output of the 1200 engine you can use a slightly modified A14 crank with A12A rods & A15 pistons [with a little off the top] This will give you almost 1400 cc in a 1200 block that will fit, as I have said, straight into your chassis.

This 1200 engine swap is the most practical & cost effective conversion that you can do, & with one or two SU carbs, or better yet, a 1200 GX head & induction it will provide plenty of pep as well as the ability to sip the fuel like Datsun engineers intended.
Your gas station will hate you. [They like customers with gas guzzlers]

Wooden boat filled with outboard engine, tent & two weeks worth of camping supplies. It was towed for about 400 miles in summer heat at highway speed, no problem.

its going to be a driver but still show quality no trailer queens for me. ya i think ill go with the original as possible as these are not a a common car out here. and im in the prairies so dont have to worry about to many hills

A10 it is :) if you get the chance you can always upgrade to a gx head if you find one.
I have an a12 with the 3.9 1:1 4 speed and although its very peppy it still revvs to
high for my liking. Chris seems to have big diameter wheels to combat this but Im not
a fan of big tire looks unless for the purpose of a 4 door everyday workhorse.
Chris - those sunraysia steel rims would have been as heavy as the car :)
Great ride for those days when 4 doors where more common yet not as optioned.

Great overview there dodgeman - best condensed set of 1K relevant info I've seen
D - My 1K came to me with a set of 14" Sunraysias on it. They look heavy, but picking them up, they feel surprisingly light for steel wheels.

And if you ever sell the car, you'll let me know first, right???????????????

Good luck, let me know when you stop by Van.

will do i think it will be some time before i decide to sell it i love this car and have not even driven it yet

what your # so i can give u a call when im heading though

Jeff Sunraysias Light is not a word I would put in the same sentence unless you are used
to changing tires on Prime movers.

Quote:
The picture of the car with the boat in tow was taken at Port MacQuarie in late 1981 [or perhaps '82] from memory.

The wheels on it were made for me by Chris Neal [Neal Wheels, Sydney] & were 5" wide on the front & 5-1/2" on the rear. The tyres on the rear wheels in the picture were probably the hot new 'low profile' 70 series & were probably 195 wide.
The bare wheels were surprisingly, not too heavy at all & were transfered to my 1200 ute when I got mags for the sedan.

I had the sedan on the road for quite a while, over 15 years in fact, & I wore out a few sets of tyres, so I tried different brands & sizes but settled on Pirelli P6 in 185x60x13 for the front & 205x60x13 for the rear as being the best combination of performance & value that I could find.
I did some pretty scarey things in that car through the years & not once did the Pirelli's ever let me down.

The Pirelli rears were the largest in width & diameter that I could practically use under the rear with a stock rear suspension height but it required some rolling of the rear guards & flattening of the chassis flange on the inside.

The end result was the highest overall gearing that I could get at the time & since the car was a long distance cruiser, this was the thing I was looking for, yet it still pulled that wooden boat, loaded untill the tyres almost rubbed on the guards, & with the back of the car also loaded till the tyres just rubbed on some bumps.
I raced a near new VC Commodore up O'Sulivans Gap Pass [Bulladelah. NSW] like that when heading north & with the GX engine pulling 5,500 in third [5 speed remember] I beat him to the top. LOL
So satisfying.

so as of 7:00 i bought then new engine looks good but has been sitting for a long time and i cant get it to trun over but i could disassemble and grease it and put it back together it should be good. if not for 400 its a steel for a fresh block and everything thats already in canada. ill get some pics up tomorrow i was not able to take the original box but it was just a cardboard box lined with foam so no cool datsun crate.

little update on my car. i drove it about 10km to the storage location. ran well stayed at about 40mph as no brakes or insurance and dirt roads the whole way. man what a blast i got so meny looks in it. now its off to the side got a new job working 6 days a week 8-12 hours a day.

today i found out about another 1000 in alberta about 2 hours away so i went out today to find and i did looks in good shape but been sitting for 10 years i hear. never got a good look the owners were not home so left a note on the door so all i can do is hope.