hey guys,

im new to these forums and the world of datsuns, i like my v8's but always had a soft spot for the old datto's, so when a 1200 ute came up for sale, i bought it.

its a 76 model 1200 ute with plenty of rust.

i payed $200 for it which im very happy with, it runs, drives well, just has a bit of rust.

over the weekend, i have stripped the car of its panels (apart from the rear quarters), doors, grill, lights, interior (apart from dash) so i could discover just how bad the rust was.
Seems as though most of it is in the floor and right down the bottom of the a pillars in the floor, couple of spots in the roof, but nothing huge. worst rust which is a bit of a problem is in the rail that runs from the pillar to the strut tower. but im good with metal work so im hoping i can fix that with a bit of new metal and some welding.

plans are basicly get the body rust/dint free, give it a nice coat of paint, getting looking tuff with nice ride height, maybe some flares and some decent 15 or 16inch wheels.

im either going for the sr20det conversion route, or 13bt conversion.

few questions:

has ne1 else had problems with the rails rusting away new the strut towers?

how to i get these bloody back qaurters off?

are the a12 engines and box worth ne money to anyone? because my ute has a rebuilt one and i dont need it..

anyway guys, i will try and post up the pics tonight.

let the build begin!

dude go the 13bt option hahaha they are so much more fun in my eyes that an sr20. not many people are after the smaller engines ey they are all after the ca18de/dets the srs or rotary power

yeah mate, the 13bt seems to excite me more over the a 4 cylinder turbo, but i would also like to keep the car's nissan/datsun herritage, so yeah kinda have to think about that.

going to try and post sum pics up today.

just a question, ive seen some pretty big flares on some utes and a front spoiler, i think they look fantastic with the old skool racing wheels and these flares and front spoilers, are they hard to find? or can they be bought new from a supplier?

theres a pic in a thread on here of a blue ute with the flares and front spoiler..

here are pics, soon as i got it home i started ripping the thing apart







and here is the worst rust, it is structual but i think it can be fixed...and yes its on both sides


going to cut that rail out, weld up a custom frame kind of thing and use that as the rail for the strut tower, becuase that seems to be holding the strut tower up, so it will need to have some strength behind it

you can buy flares from bproject japan adn they look f**king sick champ,
Your ute looks like mine did when i started building mine but mine was full of rust