Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Originally posted by netrati

Got a quick question for you guys. There is the person I know that says he running close to 500hp on stock ca18det internals. He just has aftermarket turbo, inj, fuel pump, intercooler, blah blah. But everything inside is stock. Is he full of sh!t?

Yes he is fos.

CA pistons need replacing at around 350hp and the rods at around 400hp.

He's also need a big turbo - TD06 20G or larger.

Originally posted by Smiley

I heard somewhere that CA18DETs are really tough and you can push heaps more out of them than the SR20s.

No, I believe there are SR20's in Japan producing in excess of 800hp whereas I've never heard of a CA producing much more than 600hp. Mind you the SR's producing that sort of power have been stroked to 2.2 whereas the CA's are only upto 1950cc or less.

The CA is a tough little engine though and technologically more advanced than the SR. Its more compact and weighs 20 kgs less despite having an iron block compared to the SR's aluminium block.

I've just started the process of fitting an RB25 to my 180SX (with 320hp CA) and looking at the RB25 I can't help but think its really a 6 pot CA.......or should that be the CA is just a 4 pot RB :D

Either way they're incredibly similar :D

Standard he has no hope, they have sealing issues that prevent them from making decent power, at least with a standard headgasket anyway. In short he is full of shit, though they are an iron block which makes them quite robust and they don't have rocker arms like a SR (this can be fixed easily) plus they are dirt cheap. Like any engine they have short comings, but they can be worked around their downfalls. I know of a handful of CA's in australia that make in excess of 300rwkw. Like anything budget is the issue.

xRHETTx, yes you can

Smiley, capacity will always win in the end

Originally posted by xRHETTx

Ive been wondering for a while...

Can u fit a CA20 block from a pintara to a CA18? (Just like Rb30 to RB25?) Or am I wrong completely?

Its not an easy conversion and I don't believe anyones done it in the UK.

I'm a bit of a CA fan too be honest :( In the UK, the 180SX (200SX here) only came with the CA so we have a number of well developed CA powered cars over here. Norris Designs built a 540bhp car and there are a few 450hp to 500hp cars driving about.

Its quite a revvy engine compared to the SR and its only real weakness seems to be that the big-end bearings commonly fail between 80,000 and 100,000 miles.

As far as the headgaskets go....I run mine at 21/22 psi on a standard gasket and I've never had any problems :D

I rember the best thing about my ca was getting to 8400 rpm, and it was humming like mad, I was trying to find a rev limiter. The ownly limit i came to was I was running out of road. It just kept going. I was almost running out of tacko.

I realy liked the ca. Was fairly good 2 work on. And I agree in a away it reminds of an rb. GO the CA.

If u look around u could get some good info from some people. I remeber a guy called glen lumpy cambel, i think his name. He was like the ca guru on the net.

Have a look around http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/nissans13/ forum. U could probably get some good info of these guys.

Well my mate has a CA with an SR20 turbo on it, FMIC, exhaust, filter and boost is uncontrolled... he has been hitting about 1.5bar boost for a while now wasn't until the other day in 3rd gear he hit 1.83 bar and sometime whilst racing a TT supra a few times he blue the head gasket but not a real big blow supriseingly it has held up damn well!! No internal damage or anything so they are a tough little beast ey.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Sounds like you've got an interesting adventure ahead here with local support if you have trouble! My guess is that, unboosted, you will be OK with a small upgrade like -9. What will happen is that once the stock ECU sees more airflow than it expects it will add a heap of fuel and pull a heap of timing to be safe because it can't understand how it could get that much air without there being an issue. You will see clouds of black smoke and it won't pull hard through the midrange and top end. So, overall it will be a bit frustrating but should be OK. If you are still nervous set the base timing back 2o through the CAS, but it will be even more sluggish everywhere. As said above through...this is not my guarantee your engine won't be blown into a million pieces, leaving you looking for very hard to find parts A better idea is get a computer with logging ASAP, wire in a wide band O2 sensor and a use remote tuner. I've done multiple cars this way and while it is not as good as a specific tune on a dyno they can get it 90% right. I'd suggest if you can afford an R33 GTR these days you can afford an ECU and tune. And if you can't afford that you sure won't be able to afford the rebuild if it goes bad in the meantime,.  
    • Yeah it would be nice if someone took the time to put that sort of information together, but there are a lot of variations in looms. I think you are making this way hard for yourself if you just want to get it running....sourcing an SR20 with the right wiring will be a billion times easier than matching the RB loom to an S15 chassis. If you do end up going this way, you just need to trace every wire in the loom with a multimeter, 95% of them will go to a location you can confirm at the ECU.....and then post it up for the next person who needs it  
    • Just top it up with water, and keep a general idea of how much you added. It is normal for water to be pushed into and pulled out of the reservoir through the cap, and it should not be more than half full or it will be likely to overflow when hot. Any decent mechanic can do a pressure test of the cooling system to confirm if you have a leak. Keep in mind if it is only leaking a little and when hot it may well evaporate before you see it hit the ground
    • I'd ask the shop what they used and use that. Mixing coolants is sometimes OK, sometimes not, and you have know the details of each coolant to know whether it's a good idea or not.
    • Is it alright to top up with just another green coolant?
×
×
  • Create New...