CA18DET Catalyzed vs Non Catalyzed

Discuss topics related to the CA18DE and CA18DET series engines.
justanotherca18det
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Mar 07, 2017 3:05 pm
Car: Nissan 200SX CA18DET

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Hi everyone! I am new here

I just bought a new old Nissan 200SX S13 turbo in Europe and will be fixing it up little by little.

One emergency issue I need to resolve right now in oder to pass inspection, is the issue with the exhaust because my car doesn't have a catalythic converter, but apparently has to have one. I guess the previous owner took it all out. The point is that I have to revert the car back to being catalyzed. I am still trying to learn all I can about this car and read as much as I can here, but if you guys don't get mad at me, I would like to ask you for help, if you guys could help me out figuring out the differences between the catalyzed and the non catalyzed model.

The engine is CA18DET and from what I see right now in my car, I have the small exhaust pipe that comes out the turbo, and this pipe has a Lambda sensor on it, but the wire is not conected anywhere. Then from there I have the rest of the exhaust pipe but instead of going to a catalythic, it go to a primary silencer, and from there on the exhaust pipe goes to the back to a rear silencer.

Can you guys help me out with what I need exactly? Do I just get a catalythic convert and put it in place and don't need to do anything else to the engine? If the Lambda sensor is disconnected, and I find the connector where its supposed to connect to in my engine's wire loom, do I just connect it and my computer will know what to do, or do I need a different computer from a catalyzed model? Is it really this simple as just connecting the sensor and installing a catalythic converter?

The car is with the mechanic right now, but they have no idea about these cars. Actually nobody here does! All frigin european cars. Do I need to move to Japan to be happy, or can I legalize my car and enjoy it in the streets?... and by that I mean kick Renaults and Peugeots butts?

thanks guys I really appreciate if you can help me with this issue which is an emergency for I need to get the car out of the mechanic's but can't drive it out till it's street legal and passes inspection for I don't want to get tickets, and trust me police will stop me right away for this car stands out among the Renaults and Peugeots. I only have a few days left to be able to pass inspection.


justanotherca18det
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Mar 07, 2017 3:05 pm
Car: Nissan 200SX CA18DET

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I forgot to mention that originally this car was imported to Europe used, and was never catalyzed, so go by that. My engine is a non catalyzed 200Sx engine. What will I need to install besides a catalythic converter for it to run properly here now like if it was a proper catalyzed model from factory?

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float_6969
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Car: CA18DET swapped 1995 Nissan 240sx (too many mods to list)
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Ouch, the non- catalyzed engines are NOT common. To make it compliant is going to be difficult. The ECU and the wiring harness have no provisions for the lambda sensor, plus the MAFS and the ECU are different as well. You would have to get the catalyzer ECU, catalyzer engine harness, catalyzer MAFS, and the catalytic converter added.

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Izento
Posts: 438
Joined: Fri Dec 12, 2008 12:20 pm
Car: RPS13

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I'm speaking with knowledge from the US, so excuse my ignorance, but, what's wrong with just plumbing in a catalytic converter in the exhaust pipe and taking it to get inspected? OBD1 cars are basically done by using a oxygen sensor tester and that's it, so you wouldn't need to change anything else. OBD2 cars have a port that they plug in to run diagnostics and your car needs to be in tip-top shape because it checks engine codes and things like that.

Running a cat on a car that's supposedly non-catalyzed for the engine shouldn't harm it at all unless there's some o2 sensor after the cat, in which case you could just move it before the cat.

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float_6969
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Non catalyzed CA's don't have an O2 sensor and so they don't run in closed loop. I'm not even sure what AFR they idle at. You'd likely have to tune it during the inspection somehow to get it to pass inspection. A catalyzer doesn't just fix all of the exhaust gas. What it can convert and how much it can convert is dependent on exhaust temperature and O2 content. That being said, it can't hurt to throw a cat on and see what happens, but if it doesn't pass that way, you may have a struggle to get it to pass.

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float_6969
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Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2002 1:55 pm
Car: CA18DET swapped 1995 Nissan 240sx (too many mods to list)
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I just remembered something! I think I remember reading somewhere that the non-catalyst CA's had an adjustment screw on the MAFS. I think it was to adjust the emissions output. Maybe if you had a cat installed, you could adjust that screw until you hit the numbers that they want to see. It's worth a try and you'll need a cat regardless.

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Izento
Posts: 438
Joined: Fri Dec 12, 2008 12:20 pm
Car: RPS13

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float_6969 wrote: A catalyzer doesn't just fix all of the exhaust gas. What it can convert and how much it can convert is dependent on exhaust temperature and O2 content.
Interesting. I know that the temperature is a major factor in how much it converts, but never thought about the O2 content. I did a project for an anthropology class about how cats work and it was pretty enlightening going through all the research. Also, I remember a debate in a local news article stating that warming up cars is unnecessary. I added that warming the cat is ideal to lower emissions, which when you warm your car up, it should in theory lower emissions if a normal car runs around 2k rpms while driving. More scientific calculations would be necessary for that debate, but I'd be intrigued to see the results.

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float_6969
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Posts: 19853
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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Well I hope the OP comes back in here with an update. I'm curious as to how it turns out.


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