installation of ca18de into s13

[slidermans13]

so its about spring time again. just made the decission to swap out my ka24e for a ca18de. not the turbo ca18det. turbo kits later. found a decent front clip with the ca. i really wanted my s13 right hand drive and manual and this clip salves my problems. my biggest questions are if i need parts for the engine do i just get them for a pulsar? since i have the clip the swap should be pretty much straight forward right or is there some tricks to it? also going with a kph dash what other kinds of wiring issues might i encounter? this is my first ca swap and info on this is kinda hit and miss. any help would be great. thanx guys i am forever in your debt

[themadscientist]

It's not worth the trouble. If you are staying NA the KA will give you more bang for the buck.

[slidermans13]

i would've but the ka is junk. also looking for the ballance that you get with the ca. what do you mean trouble? just all the time and headaches?

[MeanGreenS13]

NA CA = SLOW!!!!!! bad idea, get another KA24 and do that.

angle mill the head and bump the compression on it and youll make more power, and just do bolt ons, you cang et near 200whp NA with it just with that

[themadscientist]

Oh dear god, for the love of christ and Green's head gasket which should be failing, right, about,,NOW. spare me this balance bulls***. It's barely tolerable when the SR goofs try to use it on the RB leghumpers, don't bring it in here please.

I never said the NA CA was slow, mine certainly wasn't. I dare say I am likely the only one here who went very far down that road. Let me tell you about Damien. I had a sexy black Silvia Q and I decided to have some fun. I did this to it.

gutted interior down to the steel, just two seats and a dashboard.

six-point rollcage.

sports shocks and springs, pillow uppers and camber plates

R32 GT-R front brakes.

16 inch wheels, 7 in the front, 8 in the back.

SR20DET viscous LSD

Five speed swap with a short shift and Toda flywheel.

HKS 4-2-1 stainless header, wrapped.

HKS legal muffler with no cat.

370 turbo injectors and a CA18DET harness with the DE computer and an SAFC.

removed the intake crossover, extended the MAF wiring so I could bring the air in on the cold side through a corner light I cut open to act as an air scoop.

This combo dynoed at 150ps to the wheels, 148hp I beleive. From a dead dig the car was a dog. The torqueless CA18DE spinning a flywheel with no real mass trying to break loose 16" of rubber wasn't working. The only way to launch it was drop it at 8500rpms, spin it through first on purpose so when the tires grab the rpms ONLY dropped about 500-800, wind up through the bog to the 1-2 shift and from there speed shift at about 8k. I could trade blows with most 4AG hachirokus and 1.6 ZC Civics light to light. Now on a 2nd gear roll the car was wild. That light flywheel spinning under the empty S13 shell would wind out like a sport bike. It was throatier than the 4As and Honda NA motors and people always commented on how insane it sounded. They didn't have to tell me, raw steel floors resonate loudly and at the end of a saturday night I often had ringing in my ears. On a roll stock RB20DETs were viable opponents and it was really a drivers race.

Now even with all that I am saying stay KA. Why? Because without the replacement for displacement (turbo) you are back to needing the biggest engine you can get. I would pick up a KA24DE, shave the head to bump the compression, put a header on it and an SDS F computer to ditch the MAF and have some fun.

[Logan76]

lol tms, I didnt know you at one time had an N/A ca powered car. Thats like those N/A honda guys, they love their N/A's but that s*** just doesnt do it for me.

[MeanGreenS13]

Oh dear god, for the love of christ and Green's head gasket which should be failing, right, about,,NOW. spare me this balance bulls***. It's barely tolerable when the SR goofs try to use it on the RB leghumpers, don't bring it in here please.

I never said the NA CA was slow, mine certainly wasn't. I dare say I am likely the only one here who went very far down that road. Let me tell you about Damien. I had a sexy black Silvia Q and I decided to have some fun. I did this to it.

gutted interior down to the steel, just two seats and a dashboard.

six-point rollcage.

sports shocks and springs, pillow uppers and camber plates

R32 GT-R front brakes.

16 inch wheels, 7 in the front, 8 in the back.

SR20DET viscous LSD

Five speed swap with a short shift and Toda flywheel.

HKS 4-2-1 stainless header, wrapped.

HKS legal muffler with no cat.

370 turbo injectors and a CA18DET harness with the DE computer and an SAFC.

removed the intake crossover, extended the MAF wiring so I could bring the air in on the cold side through a corner light I cut open to act as an air scoop.

This combo dynoed at 150ps to the wheels, 148hp I beleive. From a dead dig the car was a dog. The torqueless CA18DE spinning a flywheel with no real mass trying to break loose 16" of rubber wasn't working. The only way to launch it was drop it at 8500rpms, spin it through first on purpose so when the tires grab the rpms ONLY dropped about 500-800, wind up through the bog to the 1-2 shift and from there speed shift at about 8k. I could trade blows with most 4AG hachirokus and 1.6 ZC Civics light to light. Now on a 2nd gear roll the car was wild. That light flywheel spinning under the empty S13 shell would wind out like a sport bike. It was throatier than the 4As and Honda NA motors and people always commented on how insane it sounded. They didn't have to tell me, raw steel floors resonate loudly and at the end of a saturday night I often had ringing in my ears. On a roll stock RB20DETs were viable opponents and it was really a drivers race.

Now even with all that I am saying stay KA. Why? Because without the replacement for displacement (turbo) you are back to needing the biggest engine you can get. I would pick up a KA24DE, shave the head to bump the compression, put a header on it and an SDS F computer to ditch the MAF and have some fun.

you basicly said what i wanted to but am too lazy to type. but you ended with the same thing... shave the head bump compression have more fun lol

my head gasket will not fail anymore =) its all gravy baby!

[Logan76]

^ did you sprinkle special fairy dust on it before you installed it?

[slidermans13]

sorry about the balance comment didnt realize it was such a sore spot here. Thanks for the advise. Ive had the ka24de in my last s13. I built it, drove the sh** out of it and loved it. i would have done this swap on my new one but unfortunately i live where 240's are the rarest car ever. ie cant find in a junkyard anywhere. I guess the only reason im considering the ca18de is because of the right hand drive conversion. The front clip i purchased came with one in it.

My car as of this moment is this: a 1989 240sx, ka24e automatic, motor has hole in side of block. i bought this car in september of last year. i bougth it from a local junk yard they had it out front with another black ka24de manual 240 for sale i looked at both and wanted the black one. called a week later asked if both were still there they said yes. i sold my car a 90 camaro that day and went with the money only to find they had sold the black one. so realizing i wouldnt have a chance at another one i bought my silver auto. 1/4 of a mile down the road motor blew i was goin easy on her. they said that there was nothing that they would do. MAJOR BS. so here i am now. does that clear up on why my decision is the ca18de?

[MeanGreenS13]

^ did you sprinkle special fairy dust on it before you installed it?

no i just put extra care into everything this time and its a different head this time. should have no worries this time around. Also went to a different machine shop. those f***s that did it the first 2 times arent worth a damn