Aussie car nuts have made quite the habit of repowering the humble Datsun 1200 ute over the years, binning the asthmatic A-series engines in favour of things like rotaries, Nissan CA18s and SR20s, Ford Barras – heck, we’ve even seen a twin-turbo Viper V10 stuffed into one!

First published in the September 2026 issue of Street Machine

So, it’s not easy to come up with a genuinely novel 1200 engine swap, but Francesco Haber has managed it with his little ute. He’s taken a powerplant from a late-model Falcon, but it’s not a Barra or even a V8. Nope, it’s a turbocharged, 2.0-litre EcoBoost four-cylinder. Remember those? We certainly didn’t, but they could be found in FG/FG-X Falcons and are somewhat similar to the 2.3-litre version used in the previous-generation Ford Focus RS and Mustang.

“It was an impulse buy one day while scrolling Facebook Marketplace,” says Francesco. “The plan was to go with a rotary, but then the EcoBoost came up, and I didn’t even measure it before I went to pick it up.”

Despite being a relatively pint-sized inline four-pot, fitting the EcoBoost into a tiny Datto 1200 required a fair bit of renovation. “The firewall is moved about three to four inches back, and I had to make a new transmission tunnel for it,” says Francesco. At first, the six-speed ZF auto from the FG donor car was used, but Francesco recently upgraded to the increasingly popular eight-speed ZF 8HP, in this case the 45 variant, using a TurboLamik TCU to control it. “They’re such a good transmission; they obviously handle a lot of power, and it drives really nicely,” Francesco says. 

At the moment, the EcoBoost is very much a stocker with some bolt-ons, although calling them that isn’t entirely accurate. “On these, the factory turbo and manifold are basically one unit, often referred to as a ‘headifold’,” says Francesco. “So, to put the Pulsar turbo on, I had to make my own manifold. It wasn’t too complicated, but dealing with packaging in a small engine bay is always a challenge.”

It was much the same story for the induction side. In standard form, the EcoBoost runs direct injection into the head, with a plastic intake manifold. Francesco changed that to port injection, adding a spacer to move injection outside the head, but sourcing a suitable manifold for the system was quite a mission. “I did some research and found that the ports on an NB or NC Mazda MX-5 engine were very close,” he says. “So, I got a gasket, found it was only 1-2mm off, and then got a cheap alloy manifold from AliExpress. I cut the flange off and TIG welded new flanges in the right spot, and it uses the original Ford throttlebody.”

In the FG Falcon, these engines were quoted by Ford as making 179kW (243hp) and 353Nm (260lb-ft) at the engine. While they don’t rev as hard as other four-pots out there, the EcoBoosts make up for that with torque. Although completely unopened, with the Pulsar 30/76R turbo upgrade, E85 and a Haltech Nexus R3, this little champion pumped out 244rwkW (332rwhp) at 20psi. But it’s the torque figure that really jumped. “The TurboLamik controller allows you to see torque at the engine, and it was showing 695Nm [512lb-ft] on the dyno,” says Francesco. “So, while you’ll max them out at 7000rpm, they make up for it in torque.”

Power is sent to a reinforced BorgWarner diff, and with a full tank of fuel, the little Datto weighs a Woolies roast chook over 1100kg. 

“I’d only just had it tuned before the photoshoot; I gave it a squirt on the way over and it scared the shit out of me,” Francesco laughs. “We still might try to push a bit more power out of it once I’m more comfortable with it and the transmission, and long-term, we’ll probably build an engine with some forged internals.”

A spray painter by trade, Francesco did the conversion, bodywork and paint (in original Datsun Mexican Orange) all on his own. “I made it nice, but not as good as my two VLs, as I actually wanted to drive this one!” he laughs. “I’ve always liked Japanese cars; I wanted a turbo 180SX so bad when I was on my Ps, and I spent years looking for a good 1200 to use for a project like this.”

Francesco’s goal was to create a nice street car he could also take drag racing, and we’re delighted to say he has secured a spot for Street Machine Drag Challenge 2026 in the VCM Performance/HP Tuners Dial Your Own class.

“I haven’t been drag racing before, so it’ll be exciting. I’ve watched all the videos of the event, and I wanted to do it last year, but the car just wasn’t ready,” he says. “Ideally, we’ll run a 10.”

FRANCESCO HABER
1972 DATSUN 1200 UTE

THANKS
My wife for all her patience and being my apprentice when needed; Paul Rogers Performance Transmissions for the diff; Frank at AllSparks Automotive & Performance; Camo’s Custom Graphics; Logan’s Speed Shop