hey im from new zealand and i was just wondering if anyone has a rough idea of what is costs to get a ca18 engine professionly put into a datsun 1200 i just brought a datsun 1200 and its basicly standed i would like a rough idea on how much it would cost can someone help me out? cheers Luke

Between $7000-12000 in Aus/NZ I'd think.

A lot of people are talented enough to do it themselves, and can do it for less than $3000.

When it comes to 'transplants' there are very very few professionals. Many will take a large sum of money from you, and they will learn how to do it as they go along.

Good Luck.\

ps. there is a whole lot of discussions on this topic available via the search bar to the left.

Where are you?
I have some mates here in Christchurch who do a few datsun motor swaps. Jump on www.nzdatsun.com and sign up.

Maybe I'm a purist - but I don't see the point of a crazy engine transplant like that unless you do it yourself and feel the pain along the way!

Also the first time something goes wrong with it (which wont be long) - you will have to take it back to those guys to diagnose.

If you build the whole thing yourself you know it almost backwards....

Only thing if your learning as you go (like some of us) might take a year or two to finish (and the rest....)

proffesionals dont do transplants
thats why they are proffesionals, there not stupid.
you can spend days pissing about with some stupid little part and end up binning it anyway. how do you charge for that.
do it yourself, you will make mistakes but you will learn a lot. dont kid yourself that it wont be a lot of WORK!
if you hate work dont start.
dazza

i like that daz if you dont like work dont start also if you get too pissed off that you might end up selling it dont start either there are many reasons not to do swaps but the reasons for outweight them immensely especially with a ca18det as you know its gonna fly and not dissapoint, if a ca18 1200 doesnt excite you you might as well neck yourself.....

Yeah getting a professional to do it is like paying someone to have sex with your wife/gf/partner.

Saves you the trouble.....but where's the enjoyment?

Well maybe it's not like that.....it sounds much funnier in my head, than on the screen - but maybe you get the idea.

Yeah i have those sound good in the mind moments. Do it yourself bud dont get a professional to do it. cause if she enjoys it you may have to try harder to please her or let her go.

Lukey17,
Get onto Maddat, they do a kit (eng c/member,g/box c/member, excel cable and hyd clutch kit) for around $600-$700 this is a good start if you have the money, this is what i bought, all this comes powder coated and looks very pro, also i bought a n/a CA18 for around $300 and turbo and manifold all new off ebay for around another $500, this is very cheap so far but as far getting a pro to do, bud hit the shed and have some fun over a few cold ones, its not that hard..

There's a good post by dattodude in this thread going through what you'll need if you decide on doing it yourself...

http://datsun1200.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=24945&forum=1#134527

& another post by Coops in this thread...

http://datsun1200.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=20986&forum=1#128069

If you are thinking about getting it done by a workshop you'll be looking at $12,000+ for a full "drive in, drive out" conversion I should think.