Roger that RT.

On the up side I have seen (on Best Motoring Sep 2002) Kenchi Tshchiya say that the 1200 Coupe is as good at training your driving as the AE86 - made famous by the cartoon Initial D.

So if Kenchi it to be believed you have picked an excellent first car. A car with excellent feel in steering, great balance of weight, and a chassis that tells you what is going on. If the rear is about to break traction you can feel it in the 1200, whereas in an EA falcon the first clue you would get the the traction limit has been reached would be the rear tail lights passing you as the back of the car overtakes you.

So great choice of first car - when you really want to practice your car control the best and cheapest way to begin is with Motorkhanas - where you drive around flags in a timed event. CAMS is a good start to find out about these.
CAMS

Scotty I was going to say exactly what mildman did.
As a 16 yr old I terrorized the streets of Las Vegas with a 9 HP Yamaha DT100 , nothing like standing in your front yard watering your lawn and seeing a 90lb kid come flying round the corner at 35 mph draggin the foot peg in a lovely feet up slide........this behaviour was quickly followed by hanging way off and draggin my knee.....all on trials universal tires , so needless to say the bike slid around a whole lot.
Flash forward 27 years and one of my racing buddies has the same model as a pit bike, when I saw it a started laughing. He wanted to know what was so funny. I told him that I used to race through the old Railroad yard on that.....he thought I was nuts and frankly looking at the bike now I can't believe I rode one on that manner.
So if your one of those 16 year olds who is pretty mellow then an A14 or 15 convert will be great if your like me and mildman then leave it stock.....that way if you do crash you'll be going slower.

Tom

lol nice words Mildman il keep that in mind. thanks for the advice

Also getting some driving practice in before you unload 100+hp atw of a little Datto might be a good idea too.

Lucky for me when I was 18 I couldn't afford a quick car, otherwise I'm sure I'd be dead.

But if any old 'fewl' told me to slow down or drive safely I'd know it because they were scared and weak.....

Now I'm one of those old 'fewls' with a car with plenty of power...and I've never smoked the tyres, cause they're more than $200 each. I do drive stupidly fast on the track though, where there isn't people on the footpath and the joys of trees, power poles and parked cars.

Now what was I saying again, this getting senile defintely sucks.

But maybe something of my message remains.

Quote:

i can drive legally in three days , good old SA rules. i am able to drive on my own at 16 and a half. but yep i will take ur advice, you cant rush perfection.

thanks heaps guys, n yes ronald 3500 is for just the engine, not the whole project. what brake upgrades and other mods would i need to do if i was to get an engine with that sort of power?

So your 16 heres some advice >you have atleast 2years before you can drive legally .
Spend some time cleaning all the rust and do the easy things that are affordable at your age ,Save some money theres alot of people doing conversions these days and things are getting easier to access ,In time you will also find the prices of engines will drop as car models become older and less needed ...Take your time and enjoy your datto

For ease keep with an A-series. Upgrade to like an A15/A14, cam, headwork, compression, carbs and extractors and you'll find it it quicker than the falcon/holden sixes and can still give the standard v8 guys a scare to 60km/h. Thats when you back off and let them fly past. Always makes them happy when you beat them off the mark but wont run them fully.

theres heaps of hi-po shops in adelaide.
id suggest a ca18de.
depends if that 3500 was for the engine or for the whole project.

its all a metter of preference. do u want the smell and sound of twin webers at full noise, or do u like the deep roar u get from a CA. im not sayin that u need to pick an engine from the noise it makes, just go with woteva u like.

dont let us dictate ur life! or especially ur car!

boostin's supercharged A15 sounds like exactly what your after

this is it here