im lookin to put an 8-cylinder engine in my 83 datsun 1200 ute.
wat is the max size of the engine (cc) that is street legal. i want to put something like a 308 in it, is it legal and will it fit??
do you guys recommend any other v8s?

unless you are building a dedicated drag car
i would not bother puting a v8 in a 1200
as it would handle atrociously and i doubt that you would be able to get it registed in australia
a much wiser choice would be a ca18detas they have more horse power standard than a 308 holden engine and are about half the weight just my 2cents

I'll back rb20 here - if it is being built as a drag car a V8 might be a novelty, better to do a dedicated drag car than with a fibreglass body. Much like that black one you may have seen kicking around.

I'm just imagining the cost of a V8 into a 1200. My crystal ball says $20K minimum. That's not much for a drag car, you'd probably drop a further $20K into the motor if it was to be a fast drag car.

Consider my pesimissim a challenege....but make sure you some serious $$ behind you.

As rb20 intimates - it would be fairly difficult to offset the weight of the engine in the front to make it a car that can actually turn.

Compare the XR8 to the XR6T - on turns the other doesn't. OR try driving a Commodore any day of the week....that's what not turning means.

Hmmm I digress - I'm done - Good luck

Im going holden vn v6 auto 1200 ute as a promo vechile I basically brought a engine box and loom for 200$ even if you find a unregisted vn you wont pay more than 1500 and you get every thing with the car theres also a web site the gives you a wiring diagram to wire the computer and engine loom ..........

I don't think that you will get much joy with a 1200 chassis, but by switching to the B210 [120Y] chassis, then you stand a chance as it has been done before.

This completely legal 120Y sedan was seen at the Goulburn Datnats last year.
The firewall & tunnel were uncut & if you want to duplicate it, then you had better have some spare cash as the entire vehicle was engineered around the engine.

as much as I dislike fords I recomend the 302 Windsor.... compact, (relatively) light, easy to get parts for...

although 253-348 holden V8's (HSV 5.7 litre stroker motors) are relatively cheap

Quote:

Dad has a '97 HSV VS clubsport... it handles just fine!

it just likes eating tyres...

and I also recomend the Sunny/B310 as it is a bit more room if you need to set the engine back...



if you are determined to build a V8 datsun 1200 ute or 120Y I reccomend that you lighten off whatever engine by using aluminium heads and intake...

althogh it would be a little silly to stuff a v8 into a 1200 I would also love to see it.
why not the rover 3.5 v8 or go the val 440 its alloy so it would be light and I think the 440 is a narrow block for its size. but at the end of the day with out big dollars behind you it wont see the road leagally.