AE86 CA18 Build

Discuss topics related to the CA18DE and CA18DET series engines.
Nategreat923
Posts: 210
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:39 pm
Car: 1992 240sx "Sil-Vert"

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Hi guys,

Thought I'd share a bit of my coupe with you.

Heres how it started about 2 years ago:


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It had a pretty basic list of "mods":

Spooled diff, Buddy Club Spec 2, End links with Polyurathane bushings, stainless steel brake lines, T3 coils , Tein camber plates, Tanabe strut bar, Cross drilled and slotted rotors, Sparco Sprint 5 (Still FIA certified), Lightened flywheel, Sparco Sprint, NRG harness bar,NRG quick release. It was fun, but lacked that "wow" factor.

Fast forward 2 years and here we are:

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Heres a run down of the new parts:


EXTERIOR:
Dura flex front bumper, fiberglass aero, origin rear widebody, cut and widened front fenders, made drop vent for hood and power by maxx hood spacers, neon green lexan rear windows, enkei mesh up front American racing mesh rears. Dunlop dz101 star spec fronts, dz101 rears all four 195/50-15.

INTERIOR:
FD Spec cage, sparco sprint drivers seat, buddy club passenger, corbeau purple sfi harnesses, aluminum dash and center display, apc gauges, factory fuel gauge, summitt stepper tach, nardi 370 wheel, used a Ron Francis bare bonez chassis harness and switch panel. The cell phone holder on dash is what I use for my speedometer.

ENGINE:
Silver top block, blue top head, bored to 83mm, custom head gasket, compression is around 11.5:1, je forged pistons, crank and rods where tempered, arp rod bolts, high volume oil pump, fully rotation assembly balanced, head was lightly ported, 3 angle valve job on supertech valves, toda valve springs, crower full race cams and hks cam gears, oil filter relocation and rx7 oil cooler, godspeed radiator with dual fans, custom overflow tank, mikuni phh 44mm race carbs, t3 pulley set and trigger wheel, Ford EDIS with autosport labs ignition controller, obx header, t3 test pipe to buddy club under axle with supertrapp tip, light weight flywheel and xtd stage 3 clutch.

SUSPENSION, DRIVETRAIN, BRAKES:
T3 tension arms, front suspension is custom 240sx DIY coils, 240 lca that are boxed, 240 crossdrilled rotors and calipers, I get 62 degrees of steering angle, one piece drive shaft, weir solid pinion spacer with 4.77 spooled rear end with oversized weir axels, rear trd adjustable greens, lowering 6k springs, crossdrilled rear rotors with potterfield r4s pads, steel braided lines on all four, booster delete with willwood master cylinder, cnc hydro hand brake with willwood dynalite rear braking system.

It is soooooo much fun now. Theres just a few issues I have to work out, like the EDIS system on the manifold, it likes to heat up and cut out at ~8,500 RPMS when it should go to ~9.5-10,000





Cliff notes:

This:
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To this:
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Then the head cracked. Swapped it out and got tired of the headaches with this motor.
I just picked up this from a buddy:

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Full CA18DET swap for into an AE86. Has a lot of oil leaks and blown turbo, but the price was right. Ordered a complete gasket kit along with ARP head studs from the amazing Russell @ Nissanparts.cc today. Got half of it torn down today.

Anddddd test fitted the FMIC:

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Last week I picked up a T28, Earls SS turbo lines, ACT 6 puck, DEI turbo blanket, GKTeck reclocking kit and a few other goodies. Stripped most of the CA down, getting ready to ship the head off to the machine shop.

Plans are to pretty much rebuild this motor, swap it in, and have fun next season with a reliable engine! Cant wait!


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s13drifter88
Posts: 1111
Joined: Wed Jun 23, 2010 7:40 am
Car: 93 S13 Coupe CA18DET (Money pit)
1996 D21 Hardbody (Work truck/daily)
!993 Del Sol (Daily)
1987 Pontiac GTA (Drag project, other money pit)
1989 SOHC S13 Buzz Car
Location: Huntsville, AL

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Compliment that T28 with a set of 550's, Z32 maf and a tune (rom or Nistune) and that thing will rape martians!!! Nice build man on the 4AG, cant wait to see what you do with the CA. Slip a pair of Poncams under the covers while you have it apart and see what that little 28 will do for you :chuckle:

Nategreat923
Posts: 210
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:39 pm
Car: 1992 240sx "Sil-Vert"

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Thanks for your suggestions, but for now a reliable ~200 HP to start out with will suffice to shake it down and get used to. If I want to compete in Pro Am then I will upgrade for sure! Also have one hacked wiring harness and one decent harness that my friend is tearing into. I don't do wiring haha. He's cutting out all the crap I don't need, since its just bare minimums

Sideways s12
Posts: 639
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 4:58 pm
Car: 84 turbo s12
Location: Las Vegas

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nice build up up man! Where are you located btw?

Nategreat923
Posts: 210
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:39 pm
Car: 1992 240sx "Sil-Vert"

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Washington, sir.

Nategreat923
Posts: 210
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:39 pm
Car: 1992 240sx "Sil-Vert"

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So some encouraging news today, got the pan pulled and saw that almost everything was brand new!

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Sideways s12
Posts: 639
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 4:58 pm
Car: 84 turbo s12
Location: Las Vegas

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Thats awesome news!

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s13drifter88
Posts: 1111
Joined: Wed Jun 23, 2010 7:40 am
Car: 93 S13 Coupe CA18DET (Money pit)
1996 D21 Hardbody (Work truck/daily)
!993 Del Sol (Daily)
1987 Pontiac GTA (Drag project, other money pit)
1989 SOHC S13 Buzz Car
Location: Huntsville, AL

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^^^ This is gonna be sick

Nategreat923
Posts: 210
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:39 pm
Car: 1992 240sx "Sil-Vert"

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Thanks!! Its about time I had some good luck. Also changed a lot with the body, but Im waiting until its 100% done to post as a friend is going to do a photoshoot and article about it when finished.

srt4monster
Posts: 49
Joined: Sun Mar 07, 2010 6:20 pm

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good start to your build man.

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float_6969
Moderator
Posts: 17366
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2002 1:55 pm
Car: CA18DET swapped 1995 Nissan 240sx (too many mods to list)
2015 SV Leaf w/QC & Bose (daily)
Location: Topeka, Kansas
Contact:

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looking good! You might check those cams. There is a PON Cam sticker on the valve cover. It could be rice flash, or there could actually be cams in there!

Nategreat923
Posts: 210
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:39 pm
Car: 1992 240sx "Sil-Vert"

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I wish they were. Unfortunately they're stock :cry:

Nategreat923
Posts: 210
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:39 pm
Car: 1992 240sx "Sil-Vert"

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So, the wife and daughter were gone when I got home, so did a little more work. Took the head off and started cleaning the block:

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And found this little treat, don't know how I missed this:

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Easily fixable, thankfully! :mike

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float_6969
Moderator
Posts: 17366
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2002 1:55 pm
Car: CA18DET swapped 1995 Nissan 240sx (too many mods to list)
2015 SV Leaf w/QC & Bose (daily)
Location: Topeka, Kansas
Contact:

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I wouldn't just weld that back together. It tore for a reason. That needs some reinforcement

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Izento
Posts: 503
Joined: Fri Dec 12, 2008 12:20 pm
Car: RPS13

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Nice. Looking forward to this one. Another CA build and another from WA. Have any plans for future management?

Nategreat923
Posts: 210
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:39 pm
Car: 1992 240sx "Sil-Vert"

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This is Nate, the mod on NWN haha. As for management I'll use Nistune type I, I believe.

srt4monster
Posts: 49
Joined: Sun Mar 07, 2010 6:20 pm

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you get this thing running yet? lol and yes a type 1 board for nistune.

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cbh148
Posts: 340
Joined: Tue Dec 01, 2009 6:53 am
Car: 2000 Civic Si, 1993 240sx Hatch CA18
Location: Huntsville, AL

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How hard is the s13 front suspension conversion? And what are all the benefits? And are you still running the Corolla steering rack?

I know hachi's use those weird tube struts, but didn't know what the idea was by converting to s13 front since they're both macpherson setups. That, and I figured 86's had a pretty dang good aftermarket selection for suspension stuff, with T3 and whatnot, and a decent number of bolt-on coilovers (with the spindles and all).

Sweet build though! I got a buddy that recently picked up a GTS that's looking to slide soon. It's got a healthy 16v 4ag with HKS cams, but he's highly considering doing the 20v swap. He's not a fabricator, so I imagine converting to Nissan suspension and engine would be kinda out of reach.

Here's us posted up before some rain action

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Nategreat923
Posts: 210
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:39 pm
Car: 1992 240sx "Sil-Vert"

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Not yet! Soon though. Yesterday I received some parts from Russell @ Nissanparts.cc

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Right now I'm waiting for my head to be ported, polished and gasket matched.

Nategreat923
Posts: 210
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:39 pm
Car: 1992 240sx "Sil-Vert"

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Came across a good deal for $50 the other day, scored all these (Theyre all on wheels)

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And after a few minutes of cleaning and I had this:

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float_6969
Moderator
Posts: 17366
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2002 1:55 pm
Car: CA18DET swapped 1995 Nissan 240sx (too many mods to list)
2015 SV Leaf w/QC & Bose (daily)
Location: Topeka, Kansas
Contact:

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LOL, the 4 tires on the right have all been on my wife's Miata at some point! Good score!

Nategreat923
Posts: 210
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:39 pm
Car: 1992 240sx "Sil-Vert"

Post

So, decided to swing by my friends house while he was port and polishing my head, and thought I'd try it out:

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And here's where we left off, we need a more fine sanding bit now:


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User avatar
float_6969
Moderator
Posts: 17366
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2002 1:55 pm
Car: CA18DET swapped 1995 Nissan 240sx (too many mods to list)
2015 SV Leaf w/QC & Bose (daily)
Location: Topeka, Kansas
Contact:

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Man, I don't miss doing that at all. I did both my 8 port and my current 4 port heads my self. VERY time consuming and NOISY work. Worth it in the end though!

Nategreat923
Posts: 210
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:39 pm
Car: 1992 240sx "Sil-Vert"

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Just got my head back from the shop today!!


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Sideways s12
Posts: 639
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 4:58 pm
Car: 84 turbo s12
Location: Las Vegas

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looking good!

Nategreat923
Posts: 210
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:39 pm
Car: 1992 240sx "Sil-Vert"

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Got the main engine assembled today, now working on gasket matching the manifolds


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themadscientist
Posts: 26254
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2002 3:30 pm
Car: R32 GTR, DR30 RS Turbo, BRZ, Lunchbox, NSR50 Sportster 883 Iron
Location: Staring down at you with disdain from the spooky mountaintop castle.

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This reminds me of a local hachi with a CA18DET swap. Not sure what he was doing, but at the drag race we both entered, my CA18DE Silvia was turning better times.

Nategreat923
Posts: 210
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:39 pm
Car: 1992 240sx "Sil-Vert"

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Thats interesting. Test fitted the turbo to see what it'll look like:

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Sideways s12
Posts: 639
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 4:58 pm
Car: 84 turbo s12
Location: Las Vegas

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Looks like its clocked wrong....

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themadscientist
Posts: 26254
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2002 3:30 pm
Car: R32 GTR, DR30 RS Turbo, BRZ, Lunchbox, NSR50 Sportster 883 Iron
Location: Staring down at you with disdain from the spooky mountaintop castle.

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Not if he's mounting the engine laying on its side. :gapteeth:


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