ca18et

[Ceptos]

hey, after i get done some needed work on my 95 240, i want to buy an old s12 200sx and completly redo it. i was looking at the engines it came with here in the us, and saw the ca20e, the ca18et and the vg30e. i am planning on keeping my 240sx N/A, so i figured i would make it interesting and go turbo on the 200sx. first, is the more popular ca18det engine leagal in the US? if so, i will probably put this engine in, if not i will opt for the ca18et. i just like to keep things on the norm =) i also like the idea of using old technology. i would like to stay away from the vg, i assume it will be fairly heavy, and i want to make this car as light as possible.

does anyone know the potential of this engine? some stock specs:

SOHC, Fuel Injected, Twin Spark Plug, 8 valve, 1.8L Inline 4compression: 8.0:1125hp @ 5200rpm132lb/ft @ 3200rpmredline 7000rpm

i am making the car as a drifter, would you think that the lower redline of the vg30e would be preffered to the higher redline of the ca? ofcourse the ca does produce its power at a lower rpm than the vg... I would plan on adding a slightly larger turbo to it (i am not looking for gobbs of power, maybe 200 at the crank or a little over, maybe 250?) then intercool it, and make sure everything is upgraded to keep up with the turbo like injectors and fuel pump.

does this sound like a smart thing to do, or should i be looking in a different direction as far as engine choice? thanks!

[CA18 RS13]

get the V6 S12, end of story. if you are using the car for drifting nothing beats low end torque if you are just starting to learn. Also you dont have to deal with the hassle of spooling the turbo and keeping it spooled, but aside from that i will answer your questions as best as i can:

Quote »first, is the more popular ca18det engine leagal in the US? [/quote] no

Quote »i would like to stay away from the vg, i assume it will be fairly heavy, and i want to make this car as light as possible.[/quote] actually as far as i know with all the plumbing and turbo the CA18ET is almost as heavy as the VG. the VG also sits a bit further back in the bay since its a V6 so that should theoretically give you better weight distribution.

the ca18det is more then just a ca18et with dohc. the stucture of the block is different and supposidly the crank on the ca18et is very weak. the ca18et also doesnt feature many of the things which make the ca18det great such as DFI, piston oil squirters, 8 runner intake manifold (for JDM models at least), an intercooler, and of coarse the obvious dohc vs sohc. im not sure which injectors and turbo the ca18et runs from the factory but i did look into the S12's as a beater and was generally told that with anything more then stock power it is a very unreliable engine. if you want to go turbo and stay street legal why not swap in a vg30et from the Z31 into a v6 model s12. or maybe even a rb20det if you're feeling feisty. i am unsure of what modifications would be needed for such swaps but i bet they are the standard motor mounts (for the RB), wiring (both), cooling (RB), and turbo fitment issues, as well as the mandatory fuel upgrades

[Ceptos]

thanks for the reply =) i was not aware that there was a turbo version of the vg, i will definitly look into that. one of the things i was considering as a bottle neck was that there are not that many s12's with the vg, i dont want to have to hunt around for one. i guess i could just swap out all the components, but i was hoping this might be a project i could do all myself, and the hardest thing i think i could handle would be swaping in an engine to a car that i just took the same engine out of =) the 200sx's with the non functional hood scoop are the ones with the vg i think, the scoop was added for extra room, and i think it was only the 87' models that offered the vg, but not totally sure.

[MyMomsS12]

i have a vg30 s12!!!!!(they are pretty rare i think only 5000 made in 87 and 88) its fun to drive buts its to damn heavy!!!!! after i instaled a 240sx TB my low end tq was crazy! the v6 makes city driving fun. check out this sitehttp://200sx.computica.net/phpBB2/alot of info up there.

i can't really explain it but the v6 turbo won't fit in the s12they do a better job of explaing why...http://200sx.computica.net/php...t=125

hope this helps! the s12 kicks ***!

mark

[MyMomsS12]

the non functional hood scoop only came on the 84-85 turbo. people complained about it so they took it off the following years.but in 87 and 88 the v6's came with a body kit w00t w00t!mark

[Ceptos]

yeah, after i looked into the turbo vg i saw it wouldnt fit, some people were talking about using the turbo parts from that engine on the n/a vg, but you would have to customize the piping and its a lot of work. i definitly would like to find one with the v6, but i will probably just get an earlier model and buy the engine from jasper, or take it out of a z. the s12 is an interesting car, i almost like them more than my 240 =)

[MyMomsS12]

yeah its an interesting car. to me it kinda resembles the ae86. its just the s12 isn't as popular and dosen't really have good after market support. Shocks and springs from the z31 can be put on the s12 so thats a +. alot of other parts are also interchangeable

mark

[boost junky]

The hood scope had a function on some of the cars. You have to have it for the fj20 or it will hit the hood.

[Ceptos]

yeah i knew it was for one of the engines, but only for space issues, i think you would still consider this non functional, but i get what u mean =)