hey all ive been a member for nearly 6 years now and i have been slowly piecing my 71 1600 fj20 dato together over that time.
here's a small selection of photos and info of my journey so far.
this is the wreck that i purchased. it had a fj under the bonnet and that's exactly what i wanted. years ago a mate had a 180b with a fj in it and it was of tap so i had always wanted one but the 1600 was always my choice of weapon.
a mate picked it up for me and i had no idea how bad it was and how much money and time it would take to get it to where id be happy.
it had no computer ,no exhaust manifold, no turbo more rust than you could imagine and i did not know if the engine would even turn over.

_________________
good food good life great car "1600"

Good luck with the build mate Keep the pics coming.

_________________
1600 Build: http://ozdat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=22694

next i took the 1600 to hak at performance exhaust and he made up the custom exhaust manifold, mounted the turbo, added the trail waste gate, and attached the exhaust that came with the car.
at this point i still did not have a clue if there would be any life in the fj.
ive seen many builds over the years and most do there body work before mounting the engine ,but i just had to know if it would run so this is how my build went...

_________________
good food good life great car "1600"

unfortunately i tried to get the body work done backyard style for cheep and what i was left with was a sh*t job waste of time and $$$$ cant cut corners just doesn't work. hard lesson learnt these are pictures off the work done a V&E regoli in Sydney. he was given the task of putting life into the mighty fj. once the rocker was removed you could see just how bad it was ,there must have been water getting in and there was plenty of rust. the cam shafts had to be machined and the top end was rebuilt.
the pwr radiator and inter-cooler where Added (up side down) or you could say pwr sprayed there logo up side down!!!!
fuel cell is mounted in the boot as is the battery. bosh fuel pumps with braided lines, EMS computer and she fired into life

_________________
good food good life great car "1600"

so now i found a real panel beater who would do the job he was paid for at a high level. this was a journey that took a full year. i have so many photos but ill just post a few. there was alot of cancer, the sill were f@#ked, rear quarters where pretty much mad from scratch, the list goes on and on, what a mission...
i managed to sauce new doors that where quite straight but that was the only relief the body had

_________________
good food good life great car "1600"

more body photos the mock up went well she is so straight and all gaps are spot on . i was so excited felt like i was finally getting some where..
the under coat went on and i lost my mind

_________________
good food good life great car "1600"

the color was laid down it is house of kolor raspberry pearl.
i could not be happier with the way she came up, its like a mirror the color just pops, you definitely wont miss this car

_________________
good food good life great car "1600"

pictures of her in the sun first day home. at this point she spent a hole year in the garage under wraps. all my money went towards getting married that year, cant argue with the big boss

_________________
good food good life great car "1600"

some stuff ive gathered over the years

_________________
good food good life great car "1600"

datsport supplied me with the breaking and handling gear, a mate of mines ownes a mechanics shop and helped me put it all in this was an awesome day in the datos new life

_________________
good food good life great car "1600"

here it is all going in

_________________
good food good life great car "1600"

just before Christmas she made her way to the impound in Canberra where mick and his crew had the job of rewiring the whole the car.they have done a great job with all wires hidden, all the old loom removed and positioning all the new gages. i'm hoping to move the radiator and cooler back far enough to be able to hide it behind the original chrome front.
speaking of chrome its all been re chromed and looks awesome,ready to bling the old girl up.
i will post more photos of this work when i get it tomorrow.

_________________
good food good life great car "1600"

so here we are today in the build, the dato is still in Canberra at trims by Shawn. i cant speak highly enough of Shawn, his work and professionalism. hes been in contact with me every step of the way and his standard speaks for itself.
ive found through the build many different people with different levels of passion for there trade and its great that as this build comes closer to completion that ive found someone with real passion for there given field. this is such a important part of the build and id say the most impacting part since the paint. I'm off to Canberra tomorrow to pick up the accent peaces, dash and centre console which i'm taking to my painter to spray. all the parts will be sprayed the same color as the car and i think it will look awesome.

_________________
good food good life great car "1600"

this is the center console and dash mock up for the gages.
the original glove box is being used and the dash is shaped the same way. all the gages are angled towards the driver (me me me)
hope you like whats been done so far. THIS IS MY FIRST EVER CAR PROJECT AND IM LEARNING AS I GO. ANY FEED BACK WILL BE APPRICATED thanks for taking the time to check my dream out .
this computer s@#t is definitely not my forte (i'm a chef) one finger typing banded tough night for me but i'm glad i finally got it up here. whats 6 years between dato enthuses anyway

_________________
good food good life great car "1600"

Nice colour choice. Love the sound of the FJ.

When you started posting pics earlier before any of the body work started happening I thought here we go 6 years right.... But after the panel and paint excellent work. Would of thought you could of fitted a more stealth intercooler (You can still fit a decent one behind grill to make big power).

Good stuff keep the pics coming.

_________________
My build-
http://ozdat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f= ... 89#p266789