Turns out i was a little ambitious in thinking i could dip into the 'joint' bank account and spend all 'my' hard earned on a 1600 with nicely finished engine conversion. But after showing whos boss (my knees still hurt from grovelling) i have a car...with no motor!

I intend to stick an L20 motor in for what will probably be a 12 month period at least...so the following questions are posed?

Q1) Does anyone have a spare l20 in rebuildable condition, or a runner that they are looking to offload? (if so, please pm me)
Q2) I have been quoted $1400 for standard long motor rebuild to stock specs. Does this sound fair?
Q3)Is there anyone with contacts they would recommend for a rebuild that has a love of althings datsun?

Any advice greatly appreciated, especially on 'How to get your wife interested in cars?'

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1200 coupe a distant memory...!
1600's... the new black!

i do have a spare l20 that could be usefull, in alright condition

if i was you on a limited budget i would buy SR 20 fitting kit from maddat or datsport and a cheapo NA sr20 for the time being, for like $500.

I reckon for about 1500 you could have a running, reliable, economical 1600

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Circuit Race 1600 in the build

http://www.ozdat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8381

this will give you the gettup and go to put an SR in your 1600!

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120Y Coupe- longest build ever!

Well it seems the engine situation is under control as such,
Now the other problem of the missus.........
I just give her a bit of so called "power" to choose some bits for the car and or to a degree the colours with me having the final decision.
Works for me plus a lot of overtime in the sucking up department.

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These Snozberries taste like Snozberries
Recommended Trading: Dattostooge, Team Dat

Mate my suggestion is get the lady involved. It sounds silly -but surprisingly women will do one of two things if you involve them involved with cars:
1) They will think the car is stupid, but appreciate the fact you tried to involve them. In this case they will be more sympathetic to your motoring needs.
2) They may actually enjoy the whole 'car' scene and again be more keen to let you spend some hard earned on it.

Ive found if you try to involve them they will often be quite appreciative. Although I must say I'm not married but have a girlfriend. So Im not so much fighting for cash - but more for time to muck around with the car. But as suggested above you don't necessarily need a huge budget. Buy bits and pieces along the way and you can slowly build up a little beast

Also- Ive pm'd you back

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1972 Datsun 1600 SR20det - 330hp @ 18psi, 461Nm Torque
1934 Ford Coupe - S/C BB Chev

works for me! my wife picked my engine colour for the kingswood and will be picking the exterior colour - although she knows metallic purple is not on.

my wife has gone from

"cars are just transport, get something reliable"

to

"hey i thought a slammed, split-screen kombi would make a cool family car if you can retrofit aircon into it and put a 2.5L forester engine in one."

so trust me, the above statement CAN AND DOES work.

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***OUT OF ACTION***

and get Baz in Adelaide to build you a tuff L18/L20 and ship it over for $400.

it'll be the best money you ever spend.

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***OUT OF ACTION***

We have discounted freight so it would way be less than $400
thanks for the plug Pro..

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A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
www.datsport.com

"R.I.P. Baz. 29 April 2022. Thank you for all your contributions to the Datsun community over the years. You will be missed." - OZDAT