Sweet ! I'm on the right page .... Thanks for the advise !!!

Need a big hammer.

So after doing all that do I lift the engine/gearbox into place then fit the crossmember and new gearbox mounts ? Does it leave much clearance around the gearbox ?

If you have an Auto 1200 or a tunnel out of an Auto then that will do the job . but as David just posted you will need to adjust the mounting bosses to suit the new g'box

I am running an s13 Auto box (because I am lazy and don't want to bother changing gears) but I positioned everything so I could use the original (Auto tunnel) mounting lugs - it still took some bashing though

No need to replace the tunnel. If you mean an S13/S14 gearbox, cut 4 inches out of the shifter area. Cut the factory gearbox mount bosses out. Raise the engine/gearbox combo into place from below (after unbolting engine crossmber).

The main concern is all of my tools are back home in Australia... I'm living in New Zealand ATM so I'm limited to tools and parts from maddat such as trans tunnel ect it will cost to much to ship them over... is their any other ways of fitting the ca18det box in the 1200 ute with out replacing the whole trans tunnel ? I was planning on getting the crossmember am gearbox mounts custom made !

It's a bitch because I've got another project back home in the garage with the fitting kit an trans tunnel from Maddat !!

That's an old photo there dd when she was still white lol

CA18DET = 16-valve head
Z18ET = 8-valve head

More is always better.

Z18 swap is not particulary difficult, is nearly the same as swapping in an L18. Turbo makes it more complicated. Z-series is the 2nd generation of the L-series engine - so oil pans and mounting is the same as fitting an L-series engine.

Stu got 168rwkw on 15psi and E85

Been there done that, A Z18 Turbo into a 1200 Ute years ago for Wayne Selby, Yeah one of those Selby's of Suspension fame one of my mates.
This Ute was Burgundy with Simmons wheels, Custom dash, Formula Ford Master Cylinder mounted on top of the Steering column support (Hooks up perfectly with the standard cable clutch pedal and use a BDA escort type separate fluid reservoir)

VW Passat wagon rear Koni shocks, Armstrong Stanza struts (The Grey Aussie made ones used the bigger stub axle compared to the Jap ones but had the small strut bodies)

Custom mounts for the cross member but the big killer is the need to replace the whole Tunnel and part of the Firewall to properly fit a Z 18 Engine but particularly the gearbox into a 1200.
We used a whole front cut from a Bluebird SS to do the Job and I still have a translation into English of the Japanese Wiring Diagram for that ECU setup for a Z18 that we did for the Job.

Heaps easier is either the Nissan C18 or a Toyota 4AGE done them all into 1200's and all the turbo's have the same issue, Because the Ute is so light it is real hard to make the Turbo load up properly and make boost so 3.7 Diff gears and sandbags in the back help.

You may have seen the Ute as it was featured in Fast Fours and Rotary's but the Mongrel who put it in claimed he and his mates built it, There was a reply regarding that aspect in the next issue of the magazine but like on page 58 what a Joke, Even the Engineer who certified it wrote to the Magazine on our behalf as he considered it one of the best and neatest conversions he had ever certified but as usual somebody else claimed the work as their own.
Happens more than people realise