an L18 in a 1200 ute will HAMMER.

add twin SUs (a factory option), a mild cam, early 180B factory headers with a 2in exhaust and you will be seeing traffic behind you thru your side window if you get my drift (oh god, that's _such_ a bad pun...)

L18s rock - i much prefer them over L20s coz they rev so much better.

Hmm well ill keep that in mind pro 240 c perhap i may just do that depends on th ecar when i see it:)

hey kool to see the chicks getting involved!!! it will cost alot of many to get the job done in a shop - my brother and i are doing an sr20det conversion in our garage and were JUST gonna meet our budget. to do everything from electric fuel pump - new fuel line - upgraded brakeds, filter, computer, computer harness to 1200 harness, diff ect ect with a 1200 garu in queensland (Kec Rowley) is about $6000 excluding motor and box. its gonna be more give than take as well! i was going to go the option of buying a ute with conversion already done to minimise miscilanious costs (hydrolic clutch, filter, new shocks) and to minmise work. so i rekin that would be an option for you to consider as you have to pay to get all the work done. if you do go the option of getting a shop to do it make sure your brother deals with the bloke cause there are plenty of dodgy machanics with woman clients.

Stick with the a series
If you build it properly you will get good hp
You dont need heaps of hp in a 1200 cos the power to weight ratio is so good. You will be very supprised what a hot a12-14-15 can do in such a light car. My A14 makes about 140hp at the fly & its heaps of fun.
A ca or L series would be great but could also get you into a bit of trouble when the cops lift the bonnett

Yeh my brother is building a 1200 ute in my back yard atm thats how i fell in love with them:) so he can do some of the work aswell but his already had the engine conversion he justy needed to wire it all up i think his just sorted out a turbo to slap onto it. Although im not expecting mine to have nearly as much power as his ive only been driving a year and a half so ill start small and hopefully upgrade besides my mums agry enough as it is im getting a datsun ute let alone a modified engine
I live in a part of sydney were cops like to pull p platers over hell i get pulled over in my current car an excel! so ill haveto do everything legit and get it engineered

The ute you are goin to look at is it a guy called vince?

yeh his names Vince

If the conversions done right, buy it and enjoy. You don't have to have a CA or SR just because it can be done.
An L18 should go nice. The L20B is a bit lazy further up the rev range. Souped up motors can be just as much hassle as they are fun.

Just a little side tracking question can a CA18DET make 300hp and what are the smart ways of getting that much?

Ok, first of all Beatz...Before i got my current car, i checked out in a shop how much it was going to cost and it was going to be $12000-$15000 for an SR with everything done. Now at the moment I have seen a few Dato utes for sale on tradingpost.com.au and carsales.com.au and ozdat.com which are well within your price range of around $10000 and which are turbo already. Another this is, there is a guy on this forum at the moment that is selling his Turbo A14 ute for very cheap as he cannot get it engineered because it is a 1980 model, it has something to do with the emissions or something. If the ute your looking at buying is a 1976 or before, this engine and whole setup can go in your car and be registered quite easily as he was told by the engineer.....these are just a few options. As for littledarkone, yes a CA18DET can EASILY make 300hp. I have one in my dato and with the boost on 12psi it has 213.8 hp. So winding up the boost and a few more mods it will make 300hp if I wanted it to....