Calling all ex CA18 & SR20 engine build owners

For the CA guys:

If you've built your CA18 or have had it build, please list

a) what was done to it
b) the end result ito drivability and power figures if available
c) NB: If you could do it over, would you do it again? Do it differently, or just go sr20 from the get go?

For the SR guys:

If you've built your SR or have had it build, please list

a) what was done to it
b) the end result ito drivability and power figures if available
c) NB: If you could do it over, would you do it again? Do it differently, or just stick to your CA instead?

i rebuilt my ca18 twice and i was never happy with it. even with forged pistons and extra boost it still couldnt produce the power i needed to drift properly.

i decided to go with the sr20 and even though i had a few hiccups (not all the engines fault) i thoroughly enjoyed working with this motor. and i feel that the results are all worth it. it seriously is stronger than i thought it would be, and that is with minor mods. its being run in with a t3/t4 at the moment, and it feels seriously stronger than my ca18 ever was.

i feel i should've done the sr20 right from the start, and that i wasted a lot of money with the ca18. i'm sorry to those ca18 enthusiasts out there, but i really have lost respect for that motor since working with the sr20.

if it was me in your shoes G, i wouldn't hesitate to go with the SR.

Rebuilt my CA twice... once due to my stuff up... what I would have done different...

Spent money on shit I wouldn't / couldn't use to its full benefit...

Forged Pistons, yeah its nice to say "Man this got forged bits", but yeah I'm boosting less than stock... pretty stupid...

ARP Rods... again pretty cool to say "Man this thing's got ARP head studs" but again, not using the motor for what its built for

I would not have shave money off is the following, and glad I did/bought it...
* Balancing of the motor...
* Decent MLS head gasket
* Quality bearings
* New Oil Pump
* Big Oil Cooler - this thing saved my motor twice...

I'd say if you plan to do stuff in the future like, I planed to add a decent GT2860RS... then don't bother with all the smarty stuff... If you can't afford to buy it all it once, then don't bother... I planned for 300hp and all that crap... never got there, so much money wasted.

My motor performed pretty well, I'll never know its true potential... Nor will I ever know how it feels to drive my car for what I built it for... Even with the lowered compression and less than stock boost, my motor felt smooth and drivable with all its bits...

I don't think mine counts, because everyone else is looking for extra power, but here goes anyway:

a) Engine rebuilt to stock, as close to factory spec as possible
b) End result is FANTASTIC! Car drives like it came out of the factory (ask ChemCool, who is one of the lucky few to drive an SX out of the factory). Extremely reliable so far, including long drives like Jhb/Durban. Very smooth, no misfires, smooth idling, very usable and controllable power, goes when you plant your foot! Power level should be as per factory (127kw @ fly). Seriously fun at the coast! For anyone who thinks their car is laggy and hasn't driven it at the coast - take it there! You'll be overwhelmed. (sorry, off topic)
c) Only thing I slightly regret not doing is balancing the engine. I didn't, because I wanted to do as little to the engine as possible, and it was smooth to begin with (and still is). I wouldn't go SR20, because I'd miss the kick in the backside @ 4000 rpm
😂

Build SR20:
Arias pistons
Scat conrods
ACL race bearings
O-ring block
Std head gasket
260 ex cam
T3/T4 turbo on top mount manifold
Turbonetics ext wastegate
550cc injectors
walbro pump.
The cost was not worth it. So far it stays together, only time will tell for how long.
The STD import engine with 550cc injectors and T3/T4 turbo bolted on felt stronger on lower boost. (wont spend that amount on SR20 again !!!)
If its for street use, go RB25 if you want power. Only advantage of SR20 is weight and size.
Makes 244kw
405nm @ 1.4 bar on race feul.

ANYONE INTERESTED IN BUYING THIS ENGINE , LET ME KNOW, WANT TO FIT RB25.

schalk here first post ever on site!!!

i also want 200Kw on my red dragon, going in for wild cat freeflow, downpipe , highflow pan filter, and unichip install on friday!!

Hi

Need a few more mods to get 200kw 😛

yes yes yes !!!
its a start i work for subaru so i can get some bits there!
love my 200sx had a crx before

Rebuilt the CA18DET once after 150-000 KM , I cracked a ring landing because of running lean one to many times. The Total Cost of the rebuild cost me R14000 Modifications listed below.

I still have the slip for the engineering and the parts if anyone wants to see the costs

Parts:
------------------
ACL bearings
Aries B18B pistons (pocketed for oil squirter)
Rebuilt Lifters (All opened,checked and replaced)
ARP Head bolts
MLS Head gasket
New Oil Pump
New water Pump
Midas Gasket set
Nissan CA18DET exhaust gaskets
New Cam Belt
New Accessory belts
Oil Cooler

Engineering
-------------------
Crank,Head,Block checked for straightness
Chemically cleaned block and head
Head refurbished (new guides,Valve seats, Valve steam seals)
Knife Edged Crank
Tear-Dropped Oil Hole's
Chamfered Oil Holes
Lightened flywheel
5 angle Valve Job
Ported head (polished exhaust ports, Polished and smoothed combustion chambers)
Custom Cut Cams
Port matched intake and exhaust ports.
Whole sub-assembly balanced

Before the rebuild the motor made 147RWKW on the rear wheels at the Snail Dyno Day, It had a log manifold,stock turbo at 0.5 bar boost, 76mm exhaust, Greddy Boost controller, Somota Cone filter and small FMIC, Speed lab chip.

I over engineered the engine from the word go, I even wanted After market con rods but couldn't afford it why did I over engineer? Because it lasts longer if done correctly have a look at the 2JZ,7M motors because they are so over engineered they can take the punishment every day, I do regret a few things If I could go back I would save a little longer and get the rods or get ARP to make me rod bolts, I would also look at a solid lifter head.

Driving impressions after the rebuild where not that good to be honest it has always had a small oil leak from the rear crank seal and felt very dead in the upper RPM band. Why because my Injectors must have been maxed on the dyno a few months earlier just to get 147RWKW now I have allowed the motor to flow more air making it run even leaner in boost making it surge and sluggish I'm sure this caused my initial Engine failure because of detonation but after the Nistune, 440cc injects and AFM she has came alive and started turning the Copper clutch into smoke.

I cant slander the CA18DET for breaking after I leaned it down plus fiddled with the timing to try and get more power I think any motor would have suffered the same fate

But I don't see the logic in changing over to a SR20DET from a CA18DET, I total understand the Americans doing it because of the KA motors , If I had a KA and was planning a swap I would swap an SR20 in.

YES the SR20 has a lot more tunable parts then a CA18DET I total agree here, I also Agree that more power can be extracted Per a modification becuase of the displacement then the Ca18DET.

But I don't agree that its a lot more reliable because of two factors almost every CA18DET powered S13 is around 15 years old that 15 years of long hard Boosting thought South Africans hot climate and you know when you bought the car it was ridden hard and also I have seen a Number of SR20 powered S13 / S14 and they suffer from the same rebuilt fate in our climate, the same bearing knock

Also I don't agree that parts are more easy to find for the SR20DET then the CA18DET, why two things again, I can walk into almost any autozone,Midas and get a engine gasket set,water pump and oil pump for the CA18DET the same as the SR20 also people have been trying to selling CA18DET parts on the forum for months that haven't really moved why because we ether have them or we don't need them but they are there.

So Now it just leaves my first conclusion Yes the SR20DET stock has more power and more torque but it will cost you a minimum of R7000 probably more to swap that motor in, then that would be red top (150KW VS 129 KW) thats a great 21KW gain at the fly for R 7000 sounds like a rip off to me sure the power gains will be more with the later SR20 but then the cost goes up. Also this is a Jap import motor Everyone I have ever spoken to that uses these imported motors everyday recommends at least a refresh with a Import motor I mean VC SR was used as an anchor

For R 7000 a Nice rebuild could be done to the CA18DET and two of the most restrictive Items can be removed from the motor (The exhaust and the Turbo) and the performance expected can be had.

Ask Nizan-R about his R3000 rebuild and the Crap we put the car through

I don't Hate the SR20DE \ SR20DET I'm actively trying to find a Nissan Pulser GTI-R but If your gonna Swap then swap a RB,7M,2J,1U or what ever . I know I will not be making friends with this post but I am Just expressing my point of view

Newly rebuilt CA18DET with Race ACL bearings and a recon head...
The motor is much more torquier than it was previously...
If you rebuild the CA correctly and have the right turbo (T28/T3 😂 😉 ) then it will serve you well...
I'm only running 0.5 bar on my turbo and untuned engine and I could easily drift with the power and response it delivers (gets positive boost at 1500RPM 8) )
I would definately recommend a CA rebuild if you have that engine standard instead of doing an SR swap... CA's have been seen making 600hp 😉

i just rebuilt yet another ca18det, and on the weekend i'm doing yet another sr20det swap.

if it was my car i wouldnt even consider rebuilding the ca18. end of story.

veecee wrote:

i just rebuilt yet another ca18det, and on the weekend i'm doing yet another sr20det swap.

if it was my car i wouldnt even consider rebuilding the ca18. end of story.

Who you doing the SR swap for?

Pinkfluffybunnys wrote:

Rebuilt the CA18DET once after 150-000 KM , I cracked a ring landing because of running lean one to many times. The Total Cost of the rebuild cost me R14000 Modifications listed below.

I still have the slip for the engineering and the parts if anyone wants to see the costs

Parts:
------------------
ACL bearings
Aries B18B pistons (pocketed for oil squirter)
Rebuilt Lifters (All opened,checked and replaced)
ARP Head bolts
MLS Head gasket
New Oil Pump
New water Pump
Midas Gasket set
Nissan CA18DET exhaust gaskets
New Cam Belt
New Accessory belts
Oil Cooler

Engineering
-------------------
Crank,Head,Block checked for straightness
Chemically cleaned block and head
Head refurbished (new guides,Valve seats, Valve steam seals)
Knife Edged Crank
Tear-Dropped Oil Hole's
Chamfered Oil Holes
Lightened flywheel
5 angle Valve Job
Ported head (polished exhaust ports, Polished and smoothed combustion chambers)
Custom Cut Cams
Port matched intake and exhaust ports.
Whole sub-assembly balanced

Before the rebuild the motor made 147RWKW on the rear wheels at the Snail Dyno Day, It had a log manifold,stock turbo at 0.5 bar boost, 76mm exhaust, Greddy Boost controller, Somota Cone filter and small FMIC, Speed lab chip.

I over engineered the engine from the word go, I even wanted After market con rods but couldn't afford it why did I over engineer? Because it lasts longer if done correctly have a look at the 2JZ,7M motors because they are so over engineered they can take the punishment every day, I do regret a few things If I could go back I would save a little longer and get the rods or get ARP to make me rod bolts, I would also look at a solid lifter head.

Driving impressions after the rebuild where not that good to be honest it has always had a small oil leak from the rear crank seal and felt very dead in the upper RPM band. Why because my Injectors must have been maxed on the dyno a few months earlier just to get 147RWKW now I have allowed the motor to flow more air making it run even leaner in boost making it surge and sluggish I'm sure this caused my initial Engine failure because of detonation but after the Nistune, 440cc injects and AFM she has came alive and started turning the Copper clutch into smoke.

I cant slander the CA18DET for breaking after I leaned it down plus fiddled with the timing to try and get more power I think any motor would have suffered the same fate

But I don't see the logic in changing over to a SR20DET from a CA18DET, I total understand the Americans doing it because of the KA motors , If I had a KA and was planning a swap I would swap an SR20 in.

YES the SR20 has a lot more tunable parts then a CA18DET I total agree here, I also Agree that more power can be extracted Per a modification becuase of the displacement then the Ca18DET.

But I don't agree that its a lot more reliable because of two factors almost every CA18DET powered S13 is around 15 years old that 15 years of long hard Boosting thought South Africans hot climate and you know when you bought the car it was ridden hard and also I have seen a Number of SR20 powered S13 / S14 and they suffer from the same rebuilt fate in our climate, the same bearing knock

Also I don't agree that parts are more easy to find for the SR20DET then the CA18DET, why two things again, I can walk into almost any autozone,Midas and get a engine gasket set,water pump and oil pump for the CA18DET the same as the SR20 also people have been trying to selling CA18DET parts on the forum for months that haven't really moved why because we ether have them or we don't need them but they are there.

So Now it just leaves my first conclusion Yes the SR20DET stock has more power and more torque but it will cost you a minimum of R7000 probably more to swap that motor in, then that would be red top (150KW VS 129 KW) thats a great 21KW gain at the fly for R 7000 sounds like a rip off to me sure the power gains will be more with the later SR20 but then the cost goes up. Also this is a Jap import motor Everyone I have ever spoken to that uses these imported motors everyday recommends at least a refresh with a Import motor I mean VC SR was used as an anchor

For R 7000 a Nice rebuild could be done to the CA18DET and two of the most restrictive Items can be removed from the motor (The exhaust and the Turbo) and the performance expected can be had.

Ask Nizan-R about his R3000 rebuild and the Crap we put the car through

I don't Hate the SR20DE \ SR20DET I'm actively trying to find a Nissan Pulser GTI-R but If your gonna Swap then swap a RB,7M,2J,1U or what ever . I know I will not be making friends with this post but I am Just expressing my point of view

This reply of yours was very informative for me. Thank you. To me it was added value. Thanks.

Chem 8)

Heheheeheh,, 😂 I will go the ca18 route again. May be because I have enough parts in my garage to build another one. And I think I will rebuild it very soon. Nice to know I have a spare engine 😂

I think it is also a matter of knowledge and experience. I still don't know all about the ca18, so I don't have the urge for another motor right now. Surely that stages will arrive, because I like new challenges.

I ended up with 2 rebuilds. I ended up just off stock I would say. The turbo is about a t28, I dont run FMIC, w/m for cooling. Pistons 0.5 oversized (20 th) nissan pistons. 76 pipe from turbo to the back and one box. Copper 6 button clutch, s14 TB. The rest as normal.

I just don't get to a stage where I can dyno the sx. The maintenance is just ongoing. Hopefully by next week to be dyno tuned. I hope to end up with 141 to 146 RKw.

Chem 8)

Pinkfluffybunny-

There is one factor you must remember about your mods.....the lightened flywheel and knife edged crank....this helps to get to speed faster, revs climb faster, but the down side is that if you cruise say at 120 km/h or so and then wanna go it feels slow and very unresponsive, the same happened to me when I did it, although I did mine minimal, it had a big influence on my ability to exalirate from an already mooving point.

From stand stil it was nice but from there onword....whell not so great.

If I ever had the chance to do it all over again, I would not have done the lighter flywheel and knife edge crank.

Draco I have a VERY light flywheel and bottom end, on the freeway if I put my foot down it goes, yes it feels slow but the revs just climb. So I dont think it makes you slower just makes you feel slower. Remember a flywheel can only store energy not make it, it also takes energy to speed up the rotationg of it.

Thanks Gary, my point is, although your revs climb and you go....it does not happen as fast as it use to with the normal setup.

There is pro's and con's of this....the pro's and con's are obvious to me and fluffy just stated the same, as for the evidence, my dyno sheet showed a healthy drop in torque, torque is what I felt when I exelirated from an already mooving point, I felt less of this and my speed did not climb as fast as it use too.

From standstill it happend faster....gunning it all the way but it was different when you already mooving and then wanted to exelirate fast.

In the end this is my conclution, for a drag setup, this is a good mod, it beats off some time, for normal use on the road, it sets you back a bit.

Draco I know what you saying.

Because you dont feel the torque that doesnt mean to arent accelerating at the same pace. I drove RBSX (now Weso-sx) S13 and on the freeway I would put my foot down and this thing felt 100 times fast than mine untill I looked down at the speedo. Where I was doing 120km/h in his car I would normally be doing 140km/h in mine (floored it at 100km/h or so). Now although his car feels faster than mine it obviously wasnt. I have no problems with going up hills or anything, I just boost a tad more than what I would have if I had the flywheel supplying my some torque, no biggy.

but gary your turbo spools for anything draco had a t28 iirc so no boost till 3500-4000

This reply of yours was very informative for me. Thank you. To me it was added value. Thanks.

Thanks Chem Glad I could Help