turbo a series would be pretty cool, im assuming if you are an apprentice that a turbo a series will be no way legal to drive on p's...
its up to you what engine you'd like to go with, each person will argue their own reason why the 14 or 15 is better...
From my understanding the 4.1 H165 ute diff should be adequate for a mild a series and is the biggest diff of the datsun 1000's and 1200's? Bigger again would be going to the h190 i believe....
See what the gurus say!!

I come off my p's in july so my limits are then beyond. I'll do my research via wiki and weigh up the pros and cons of the a series motors, this car will be my daily so i'm not looking for insane hp. I was thinking the H165 but wanted a reassurance from some of the gurus.

the h165 should already be in your ute....
If thats the case a neat n/a ca18 would be really nice!!!
Overall you can just do an engine upgrade and go for some more power, but then you have to be able to stop. and then you want it to corner well so bigger struts or better shocks etc etc blah blah blah.
its never ending....
a neat a15 in the ute will be awesome fun and everything std should hold up if you're not racing it....

I read somewhere that one of the stock diffs have studs and the other has bolts ? I'd love to upgrade to front disc brakes though and upgrade handling. This is my first project and dont want it to be too technical, kind of my way of getting into the whole building cars scene.

best way to learn, i learnt by building a ute with my old man from ground up. was the best learning experience id ever had!!
Dont know enough about the diff bolts and studs, someone else may know more...
If your ute is still running front drums, it shouldnt be too hard to find a set of disc front struts somewhere going cheap enough.
I do know many people choose to go with 120y struts, i believe the shock tube diameter is the same, however the stub axle is much larger allowing you to run bigger brakes. Chuck a decent set of shocks in them ie. konis..... haha maybe a little pricey but worth it! Check it all out in the tech wiki...
otherwise, upgrade your front sway bar, and throw a 120y one in, you go from i think its a std 17mm 1200 sway bar to a 20mm, so far ive heard nothing but compliments of the noticeable difference it makes to your everyday handling.

I wouldn't bother with the stock disc front end, they won't really do any better than well adjusted drums. And its only the later aus assembled 120y struts that have the larger stub axle. Only reason to go standard disc struts would be if you are going to put s13 or similar front brakes onto them

And a h165 should be fine for most NA 4 cylinder engines in a 1200 if you aren't constantly doing burnouts and such. They hold up to turbo CAs if you drive normally

Hey pigdog was it you who started that 1200/120y strut thread a while ago??? I tried looking for it and never could....

Do the suspension and brakes first then start on the motor, if you put a motor in the car that makes it run mid-14's the stock brakes and suspension will spoil the fun. You could also upgrade the cylinder head while you build a fresh bottom end. Flat top pistons, cam that pulls from about 3K to 7K and then add good cylinder head. To get the acceleration you want you'll going to need close to 100 RWHP, this is what a full race A12 puts out, so the A14 or A15 will still need to be fairly roarty..............I'd say don't get hung up on a set number just build a good solid street motor, that combined with suspension and breaks will make a fun car.


Tom

personally, I'd use an L16 or L18. Still carbed so easy to engineer. Conversion itself is not too difficult. Can be done with the standard manual transmission tunnel if you pay attention to what you're doing. Either L16 with L18 crank or L18 with L16 rods. Mill standard pistons to flat tops at around zero deck height and choose your own CR, a works 76 cam grind and twin 40s. Made 116rwbhp in my old coupe. You'd be well and truly in the low 14s.
Plus you get strong cheap 5spds with the L series conversion. An A series running 14s will blow gearboxes regularly.