How many times have we heard about blokes who buy a cheap run around car - only to go crazy and turn the thing into some wild streeter!

Justin’s 1971 Datsun might not look so totally radical, yet underneath that custom orange paintwork lurks plenty of unique engineering, not to mention a Nissan CA-18 DET motor equipped with a Garrett GT 25 turbo.

Believe it or not, this little Datto was originally bought as a parts chaser while Justin began to collect parts for his Commodore project.

Looking back on it all know, the man himself’s not quite sure how his attention turned from the Commodore to the Datto, yet one thing’s for sure; "To get the Commodore going as good as this would have cost me a whole lot more money!"

With a stock 1200A motor on board and with more rust than pure metal, Justin’s little ute was picked up from Rockingham, south of Perth, by his brother Elton. It was an interesting trip home, as the ute was only running on three cylinders !

Whether the project then began in earnest as a joke or a dare is not clear, but replacing the 1200 donk with a 1500A no doubt got the two brothers and their mates talking.

What about a blower? Hmm…
"I was thinking about supercharging the 1500," Justin conceded, "but that would have posed too many problems."

Eventually, various auto performance specialists around Perth were visited and one of these suggested dropping a CA-18DET motor into the engine bay.

As you’d expect, custom engine mounts were required for the conversion, but the measuring and manufacture of new mounts was a relatively straightforward procedure for Justin, who is an engineer with VeeTwo Australia. Two wheel enthusiasts will be more than aware of Vee Two, one of the World’s leading aftermarket component manufacturers for Ducati motorcycles.

So Justin performed much of the engine re-building himself, although some specialist operations were farmed out, including a 2mm re-bore. After balancing the crank and original rods, JE forged pistons went into the new bores.

Up top and the heads were simply cleaned up a touch before the original valve gear - including camshafts - went back in.

Attention then turned to induction, with a GT 25 ball bearing Garrett turbo chosen as the key component.

The set up is quite straightforward and the turbo mounts to the original CA-18DET exhaust manifold, while Justin made and polished all the engine bay plumbing himself.

The front mount intercooler was found in a wreckers yard and although its origin is unknown, its effectiveness is certainly not in dispute.

Once the combustion process is complete, the gases exit via a 2 ½" mandrel bent exhaust system made up by Andy’s Exhausts. This eventually splits at the rear for the twin muffler look.

The fueling side to the equation meanwhile, sees the original injectors still in use, although Justin admits that extra squirters may be necessary in the future - especially as the boost rises from its present 15psi maximum.

Outright control of the engine comes down to a MoTeC M4 package, installed by Justin and his mate Anton. Tuning and setting up of the MoTeC unit however, was entrusted to West Racing Development.

Tim Slako, head man at West Racing, is the WA agent for MoTeC and has built more than a few of Perth’s fastest street and race cars using the renowned electronics.

With a ballistic Group A Commodore to his credit as well, Slako knows his business very well indeed.

Getting it all on the ground
From the rear of the motor, some 190kW of power (as measured on West Racing’s Dyno Dynamics unit) are fed into a Repco heavy duty clutch that lives next door to a stock CA-18DET flywheel.

The matching CA-18DET gearbox - bolted to the floorpan with a custom cross member of course - has so far stood up to all the punishment and spins a custom 2 ½" tailshaft.

There was no way that the Datsun’s original diff’ was ever going to get a look in with this project and on board now is a VP Calais Commodore differential.

Admittedly, this had to be shortened, but with its inherent strength and the ability to run Commodore disc brakes on the rear, it was well worth the engineering challenge.

As far as the brakes up front are concerned, well, what can we say... Take a set of Honda Legend rotors, modify the Datsun hubs to suit and then add Toyota Landcruiser calipers plus endless pads to bring everything to a sudden stop !

A curious mix, true, but then Steve at SST Automotives who came up with the idea is another of those experts whose advice is worth heeding.

The rotors and calipers are only part of the story with the brakes on Justin’s Datto however, as there’s also a Datsun 120Y brake booster, a Nissan Patrol master cylinder and a Volvo proportional adjusting valve !!

The suspension too is somewhat extravagant, particularly at the front.

Here, Datsun Stanza struts have been given Koni inserts, but the tops of the struts have had a special threaded section welded on. The threads host custom billet adjustment and lock nuts, providing for quite a bit of pre-loading to the Kings springs.

And, while the original leaf springs remain down the back, an extra half-leaf has been added either side along with Koni shocks.

Interestingly, the suspension work done to the front of the car has a huge impact on the choice of tyres wrapped around those 15" ROH rims..

As Justin explained, "The Michelins are the only tyre that comes straight up off the rim without bulging and rubbing against the struts."

And the choice of Dunlop Le Mans rubber for the rear? "I just reckon they’re an awesome looking tyre !"

Curiously, with all of these undercarriage mods performed, the castor of the vehicle wasn’t quite correct, but shortening the radius rods soon sorted that out - remember that Justin’s an engineer !

But it’s gotta look good too
As indicated at the top of the story, the Datto’s body was not in great shape when the project began.

Still, with the purchase of a few new panels and the remainder of the original body prepped and smoothed, the shell was ready for its new colour.

Justin and another mate Damien (it’s nice to have friends!) mixed the colour up themselves from yellow and red Spartan tinters, before applying it in Justin’s car port at home. Damien actually works as an auto painter, so although it sounds like a bodgey home job, there was an expert on hand so to speak.

In any case, the end result looks great and it shines up nicely in the bright Western Australian sunlight.

The clean and neat theme continues through to the cabin, were RT Upholstery re-padded the original Datsun seats before applying new cloth which has been finished off with embroidered Nissan badges.

With a Momo Corse steering wheel, a few gauges and some detail touches, the interior has come up a treat.

As must be blatantly obvious by now, Jason didn’t just set out to create a little bunky with reliable mechanicals.

The cosmetic side to this little ute is not to be scoffed at and Justin was assisted on this front particularly by the above mentioned brother Elton, who runs his own automotive detailing business.

Another individual who should be mentioned is Brook Henry, the boss of Vee Two Australia. Justin says that Brook was very lenient with allowing him to do a lot of stuff on work time. (I just knew that we’d never get this article done without you getting a blatant plug, Brook!!).

With the ute completed, Justin can get back to sorting out his Commodore - but if another parts chaser comes along the chances of getting the Commodore finished are virtually nil.

Nuts`n'Bolts - Justin's Datto `parts-chaser'