Jump to content
SAU Community

Engine Conversion For A 180sx

Stromulux

By Stromulux,
in General Automotive Discussion

 Share

Recommended Posts

Stromulux Proficient

Stromulux

Posted
Posted

Hey all,

Im having a few dramas with the ca18det in my 180sx, I havnt yet had it fully examined but in the case of it requiring a rebuild im thinking il just do an engine conversion.

I was having a look through the for sale section and it seems the great majority of packages for sale have already been picked to bits.

So my questions are these...

1. Does anyone have a package for sale for a conversion, im looking at preferably an RB25det, alternatively an RB20det or an SR20.

2. Has anyone been down this path and have any advice or knowledge to share ie problems/hassles i may encounter, pricing, things to look out for?

Thanks for any help you can offer guys and girls

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/294836-engine-conversion-for-a-180sx/
Share on other sites
benkoau Enthusiast

benkoau

Posted
Posted

I used to have a 180 with an sr20det the engine itself sounds a bit agricultural but the mid range torque is ALOT better than the rb25.

Im talking standard (exhaust, podfilter) if you plan on leaving it standard a skyline will take you up top i dont care what the rest of the people say its almost line ball to about 85 to 90 then the skylines strong top end runs away i think the sr20 perfectly suits the 180 and sylvia.dont bother with the rb20 if youre planing on doing a conversion powerwise they are about the same i think the sr20 has more torque standard.

Also i hear once you put coilovers on a 180 the font end can tend to be a bit bouncy on uneven surfaces and having an rb20 or 25 because of the extra weight settles the front end a bit but you will have to have someone who has done the conversion to confirm this,but this too has its draw backs more weight over the front wheels it will also upset the balance nissan chose to endow the 180 with.

And i know it sounds stupid but have a look at prices to modify an sr less cylinders=less coil packs when or if you chose to modify i also found extractors where cheaper and even just for maintenance sparkplugs

but like with all things drive a 180 with an rb20-25 if you can and one with an sr and make youre choice YOU are spending youre hard earned dollars so you might as well make yourself happy not what people who dont know you think

Stromulux Proficient

Stromulux

Posted
  • Author
Posted
I used to have a 180 with an sr20det the engine itself sounds a bit agricultural but the mid range torque is ALOT better than the rb25.

Im talking standard (exhaust, podfilter) if you plan on leaving it standard a skyline will take you up top i dont care what the rest of the people say its almost line ball to about 85 to 90 then the skylines strong top end runs away i think the sr20 perfectly suits the 180 and sylvia.dont bother with the rb20 if youre planing on doing a conversion powerwise they are about the same i think the sr20 has more torque standard.

Also i hear once you put coilovers on a 180 the font end can tend to be a bit bouncy on uneven surfaces and having an rb20 or 25 because of the extra weight settles the front end a bit but you will have to have someone who has done the conversion to confirm this,but this too has its draw backs more weight over the front wheels it will also upset the balance nissan chose to endow the 180 with.

And i know it sounds stupid but have a look at prices to modify an sr less cylinders=less coil packs when or if you chose to modify i also found extractors where cheaper and even just for maintenance sparkplugs

but like with all things drive a 180 with an rb20-25 if you can and one with an sr and make youre choice YOU are spending youre hard earned dollars so you might as well make yourself happy not what people who dont know you think

Thanks for the advice mate much appreceated.

I've had an rb20 before and so I know they're not the best engine in the world!

I had the same thought about the sr myself, they're definately a better option but dam they sound like a power of crap, I'm not so interested in going all out in the power area, iv been there and done that and nowdays im just after something with a little poke and a little bit of fun, the car is pretty much used as a daily too and from my horrible job, a little something to entertain me as i drive towards and from the horror that is work haha

suraido Contributor

suraido

Posted
Posted

Ive driven RB25 and RB20 S13's.

My latest track car is running a Rb20. As you would know they have a bit of lag.

The RB25 S13 was an awesome car to drive, Just make sure you set up your suspension accordingly for the increased weight up front.

SR is easier for the fact the motor was intended to be installed in that chassis.

RB's are prone to cooling issues in S13's if the cooling system isnt set up correcly.

Saying all that i dont dislike CA18's either.

My last CA made 220rwkw and never missed a bet.

Stromulux Proficient

Stromulux

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Ive driven RB25 and RB20 S13's.

My latest track car is running a Rb20. As you would know they have a bit of lag.

The RB25 S13 was an awesome car to drive, Just make sure you set up your suspension accordingly for the increased weight up front.

SR is easier for the fact the motor was intended to be installed in that chassis.

RB's are prone to cooling issues in S13's if the cooling system isnt set up correcly.

Saying all that i dont dislike CA18's either.

My last CA made 220rwkw and never missed a bet.

Yeah the rb20 does run a little lag but dam they sound amazing! I am looking for something responsive tho as im not really a speeder, just love to get there fast, hence the love of the ca right now!

I have the suspension to change up the front end no troubles at all but i do still worry a little about the weight change, although i do have upgraded brakes i hear they tend to lock a little easier with the change

Dan_J Veteran

Dan_J

Posted
Posted
Hahaha you goose, it'd be like a front heavy guided missile! Worst engine and car combo ever, i have no idea what nissan was thinking all the way back in 88

it wud be wise to rethink that statement as he said VQ30DET, not VG30DET. the VQ30DET weighs the same as a sr20det as it is all alloy, but has the same power as a rb26 from stock( or bout there, it a 3l turbo ! )

these engines are a bit rare tho, will have to import if u want a rwd from a late model cima. theres one for sale in da parts section tho

suraido Contributor

suraido

Posted
Posted
Yeah the rb20 does run a little lag but dam they sound amazing! I am looking for something responsive tho as im not really a speeder, just love to get there fast, hence the love of the ca right now!

I have the suspension to change up the front end no troubles at all but i do still worry a little about the weight change, although i do have upgraded brakes i hear they tend to lock a little easier with the change

Its all down to personal feel.

If you want something thats easy to do stick with the CA and forge it. They can make 250rwkw with the right choice of mods.

The SR isnt going to be hard either.

RB25 would be my choice, but i love the feel of the RB.

They do lock a little easier.

Really it comes down to what you want the car for.

scathing Grand Master

scathing

Posted
Posted (edited)
it wud be wise to rethink that statement as he said VQ30DET, not VG30DET. the VQ30DET weighs the same as a sr20det as it is all alloy, but has the same power as a rb26 from stock( or bout there, it a 3l turbo ! )

Is it the same weight? The SR is all-alloy too, but it is a physically smaller unit. As a total package, a 2.0L engine is going to need less cooling than a 3.0L one so I'd have thought the weight would have tipped in the SR's favour.

I'd imagine that an all-alloy VQ would weigh less than a cast iron RB though. If people think the RB is a valid replacement despite the weight penalty, the VQ should definitely be considered.

The shorter block gives more room for cooling in front, and the VQ is a pretty nice motor in terms of how it delivers power.

Edited by scathing
Silvia GTR Mentor

Silvia GTR

Posted
Posted (edited)

Sr20's are pretty pricey but worth it IMO for a 4cyl theyre pretty gutsy when modded. A mate of mine recently picked up a bare Rb25 motor for 500 bucks with only 90ks on it...

Whatever floats your boat really.... 4 cyl, 6cyl or 8 lol and your price range

Are you planning on modifying the car further or just stop at the engine swap?

My last CA made 220rwkw and never missed a bet.

Bit of a punter was she? ;)

Edited by Silvia GTR
Stromulux Proficient

Stromulux

Posted
  • Author
Posted
it wud be wise to rethink that statement as he said VQ30DET, not VG30DET. the VQ30DET weighs the same as a sr20det as it is all alloy, but has the same power as a rb26 from stock( or bout there, it a 3l turbo ! )

these engines are a bit rare tho, will have to import if u want a rwd from a late model cima. theres one for sale in da parts section tho

Ah my bad, I immidiately thought VG without thinking, i dont know a great deal about the VQ

Sarumatix Veteran

Sarumatix

Posted
Posted

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Ne...&hl=VQ30DET

I'd grab it if I could afford it, assuming it's in good nick.

Perfect engine for a silvia, no doubt if nissan went down the S platform again it would be V6.

Silvia GTR Mentor

Silvia GTR

Posted
Posted

That VQ that is for sale is a bloody bargain!

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Ne...&hl=VQ30DET

I'd grab it if I could afford it, assuming it's in good nick.

Perfect engine for a silvia, no doubt if nissan went down the S platform again it would be V6.

Hell no and no! A high powered 4 banger is what made the S chassis if they do it a again it will be a SR20VET or something like that

scathing Grand Master

scathing

Posted
Posted

Have a look at this month's Fast Fours. OVRLRD has a SR20VET in it, and it makes a shedload of power. We can only hope an S16 would have that kind of donk.

Chances are with the Renault connection, though, if we did get another Silvia it'd have the Renault turbo I4. Which isn't that bad, considering how quick the Megane R26.R is.

Sarumatix Veteran

Sarumatix

Posted
Posted

I agree, I totally love the SR20VET and would import a X-trail GT in a flash if they were eligible :(. Alas 2 things strike me, firstly that such an excellent engine as this only appears to be applied in one car and an odd one at that for such an engine and secondly that all performance cars to come from Nissan have been V6 since the end of S15/R34. Still I like you hope for an I4 S platform in the future :bunny:, just that aside from VET options, the VQ engines totally out perform.

Silvia GTR Mentor

Silvia GTR

Posted
Posted

I agree also, its a shame about the x trail getting that lovely performance motor. My future plans will involve a VQ in a R32 or S15 as they are a very solid 3lt!!

scathing Grand Master

scathing

Posted
Posted

Depending on your budget and power goals, you could even consider getting a VQ35DE out of a V35/Z33 and turbocharging that.

The "206kW" engine will deliver 280rwkW reliably with stock NA internals on most available TT kits, which will give you a shedload of response and a usable amount of power.

There's no replacement for displacement. :D

  • 8 months later...

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
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • MBS206
      Mistakes were made, my R34 Story

      By MBS206 · Posted

      All I hear is ROADTRIP!
    • sunsetR33
      Unpeeling the Orange

      By sunsetR33 · Posted

      Update 3: Hi all It's been a while. Quite a lot of things happened in the meantime, among other things the car is (almost) back together and ready to be started again. Things that I fixed or changed: Full turbo removal, fitting back the OEM turbo oil hardlines. Had to do quite a bit of research and parts shopping to get every last piece that I need and make it work with the GT2860 turbos, but it does work and is not hard to do. Proves that the previous owner(s) just did not want to. While I was there I set the preload for the wastegates to 0,9bar to hopefully make it easier for the tuner to hit the 370hp I need for the legal inspections that will follow later on. Boost can always go up if necessary. Fitted a AN10 line from the catch can to the intake hose to make the catchcan and hopefully the cam covers a slight vacuum to have less restrictive oil returns from the head and not have mud build up as harshly in the lines and catch can. Removed the entire front interior just shy of the dashboard itself to clean up some of the absolutely horrendous wiring, (hopefully) fix the bumpy tacho and put in LED bulbs while I was there. Also put in bulbs where there was none before, like the airbag one. I also used that chance to remove the LED rpm gauge on the steering column, which was also wired in absolute horror show fashion. Moved the 4in1 Prosport gauge from sitting in front of the OEM oil pressure gauge to the center console vents, I used a 3D printed vent piece to hold that gauge there. The HKB steering wheel boss was likely on incorrectly as I sometimes noticed the indicator reset being uneven for left vs. right. In the meantime also installed an airbag delete resistor, as one should. Installed Cube Speed premium short shifter. Feels pretty nice, hope it'll work great too when I actually get to drive. Also put on a fancy Dragon Ball shift knob, cause why not. My buddy was kind enough to weld the rust hole in the back, it was basically rusted through in the lowermost corner of the passenger side trunk area where the wheel arch, trunk panel and rear quarter all meet. Obviously there is still a lot of crustiness in various areas but as long as it's not rusted out I'll just treat and isolate the corrosion and pretend it's not there. Also had to put down a new ground wire for the rear subframe as the original one was BARELY there. Probably a bit controversial depending on who you ask about this... but I ended up just covering the crack in the side of the engine block, the one above the oil feed, with JB Weld. I used a generous amount and roughed up the whole area with a Dremel before, so I hope this will hold the coolant where it should be for the foreseeable future. Did a cam cover gasket job as the half moons were a bit leaky, and there too one could see the people who worked on this car before me were absolute tools. The same half moons were probably used like 3 times without even cleaning the old RTV off. Dremeled out the inside of the flange where the turbine housing mates onto the exhaust manifolds so the diameter matches, as the OEM exhaust manifolds are even narrower than the turbine housings as we all know. Even if this doesn't do much, I had them out anyways, so can't harm. Ideally one would port-match both the turbo and the manifold to the gasket size but I really didn't feel up to disassembling the turbine housings. Wrapped turbo outlet dumps in heat wrap band. Will do the frontpipe again as well as now the oil leak which promted me to tear apart half the engine in the first place is hopefully fixed. Fitted an ATI super damper to get rid of the worn old harmonic balancer. Surely one of the easiest and most worth to do mods. But torquing that ARP bolt to spec was a bitch without being able to lock the flywheel. Did some minor adjustments in the ECU tables to change some things I didn't like, like the launch control that was ALWAYS active. Treated rusty spots and surface corrosion on places I could get to and on many spots under the car, not pretty or ideal but good enough for now. Removed the N1 rear spats and the carbon surrounding for the tailpipe to put them back on with new adhesive as the old one was lifting in many spots, not pretty. Took out the passenger rear lamp housing... what do you know. Amateur work screwed me again here as they were glued in hard and removing it took a lot of force, so I broke one of the housing bolts off. And when removing the adhesive from the chassis the paint came right off too. Thankfully all the damaged area won't be visible later, but whoever did the very limited bodywork on this car needs to have their limbs chopped off piece by piece.   Quite a list if I do say so myself, but a lot of time was spent just discovering new shit that is wrong with the car and finding a solution or parts to fix it. My last problem that I now have the headache of dealing with is that the exhaust studs on the turbo outlets are M10x1.25 threaded, but the previous owner already put on regular M10 nuts so the threads are... weird. I only found this out the hard way. So now I will just try if I can in any way fit the front pipe regardless, if not I'll have to redo the studs with the turbos installed. Lesson learned for the future: Redo ALL studs you put your hands on, especially if they are old and the previous owners were inept maniacs. Thanks for reading if you did, will update when the engine runs again. Hope nothing breaks or leaks and I can do a test drive.
    • Kapr
      What brakes on R34 GTT(Europe)

      By Kapr · Posted

      No those pads are DBA too  but they have colors too. I look at the and imo the green "street" are the best.
    • wizlb
      Who has a Infiniti Q60, Q50 (V37)?

      By wizlb · Posted

      I’m not sure what happened I told them about sonic tunes free OTS tune and the next the I know .. I was booted..   To funny 
    • Kinkstaah
      Starting again

      By Kinkstaah · Posted

      Yea - I mean I've seen my fuel pump which is decades old and uh, while I'm not saying this with real knowledge... but I sure get the ick at using anything in the fuel system that produced the state of that pump. Many years ago I went through multiple pumps (and strainers) before I dropped the tank to clean it out with extreme violence. I'm talking the car would do maybe 50km before coming to a halt, which resulted in me cleaning out the filter with some brake cleaner and going on my way. None of my stuff ever looked like what came out of your fuel tank. I don't think I'd be happy with it unless every single component was replaced (or at least checked/cleaned/confirmed to be clean here).
×
×
  • Create New...