has any 1 got any suggestions 4 a good performance engine in dato 1200 ute

yeah, formula one engine datto ute 680 kilos, f1 car 600 kilos not much different give it a go.

Best performance engine?

First, you gotta ask yourself the really hard question. Whats YOUR definition of "best"
Once you clarify this point for yourself, we can move foward.
You gotta take a few things into account, like....

Do you have an unlimited budget? No? Then how much can you afford to invest in this exercise?
Do you have, or have access to a major engineering facility, or, like most of us, just a one car garage with a basic toolkit?
Is this your daily driver, or a toy to play with?
Do you want to drive it, or is it a racer?
Do you think you will recover your outlay when it comes time to sell it?

For some, the "best" engine is an overhauled stock A12, for others it could be that gold plated CA18DET that they have dreamed of. Let us know what your limitations are, & i'm sure that you will get many helpfull suggestions.
Chris

Kegs
Be carefull, i brought a ton of vitriole & abuse upon my head for an answer like that,.... & he's still out there....somewhere.

thanks for the advice dodgeman, i think this ones ok, its a fair suggestion,i agree with ur comments we need much more info on wat u can afford or wat its gonna be used for before u can say what a good engine is.

storyteller
you cannot say you gave an answer like that.
You gave a smart arsed comment.
Kegs gave a suggestion.
( storyteller think about what the original posts are asking.)

come on mate, hahahaha storyteller, i laugh everytime i read that.

Yeah you gotta figure out how much money you want to spend and how far you want to go with it. If you want to start fast and have potential for something ungodly fast, go the CA18 or SR20 DET or similar route. That's more of a transformation of the entire car than just a swap as most everything else will need to be changed too.

If you want something easy, fun, and don't mind it not being the fastest thing on the road, stick with the A series. If you don't have much funds to start with this is the best way to go because you can tune it gradually pretty well if you start with a good base A14 or A15. Spend a little and give her a good rebuild/balance with quality parts, throw a good cam in, a little headwork, some headers and dual carbs, and you got a nice running/sounding ride. You will hit a wall though where power output and money invested don't become worth it, and if you go too extreme you start to lose reliability/longevity. A good street motor A series should be able to get a 1200 into the 15-16's in the quarter mile...not too shabby. Cost me a bit to get mine there for the carbs, header, rebuild, headwork, Nismo parts, ignition, etc. I figure a total of about $2000-2500 has been invested into my A15 over the years, but it has been a slow cumulative tuning process, I didn't spend this all at once.

If you can put this money and maybe a little more up front it would be wiser to go the CA18/SR20 route. You'll immediately be thrown into running 14's AT LEAST on a stock engine.... on the street you'd be a force to be reckoned with. A little tuning down the road and you've got a monster. It all just depends on initial investment and what you want out of the car.

I get mad at myself for spending on and collecting all these high speed A series parts and investing what I have into the A15 when an SR20 swap would cost the same amount, maybe a little more, but it's been a good little engine and I didn't have money until now so I had no choice but to go that route. Now it's gonna be SR20DET all the way!!

-Andy

mattymac, go with a stock A12 -- it has the BEST fuel economy of all. It can't be beat except by newer fuel-injected engines. For other ideas, see our tech section article best engines.

car will be used 4 a daily driver and im on quite a low budget not sure how much yet but well see what would u recomend 4 ute

thanx matty

on a budget go the a-15, depends on what you get/want but prob best to buy someones done up motor, pretty much a bolt in option as far as gearbox and other components, if ute is 74+ then it will bolt to engine mounts if not plates need to be made to mount (very easy)

got around $6000, go the CA18DET, price includes doing suspension, diff, breaks and other

ive looked into the CA and compared it to various other motors from various manufactures and it comes out on top

CA18DET is from early Nissan 180SX's and S13 Silvias