mykeo4's pulsar question post(s)

[mykeo4]

Dear mykeo4,

I hate to do this, but I am going to sound like the bad guy now. From reading all your posts here, I will tell you flat out... you are WAY over your head with this project. Now, before any bad thoughts come to mind, I am not telling you something like "give it up" or anything like that, what I am saying is that if you really want to do this, be prepared to spend a lot of time on this. A LOT of time. I don't even know where to begin... ummmm, OK here's one. When you think something like "all you need are the mounts and some other parts", you will soon find that it's much more complicated that that. As others have stated, try to find a donor SE. SE's have bigger brakes and better suspension parts as well.

CHALLENGE: try to find an SE in any junkyard around there or anywhere else.

What else... ahhhh. What about various hoses and plumbing you will need. Wanna try and use 20 year old hoses that are solid as a rock??? Think you can just go to the dealer and buy this stuff??? They no longer have access to any of this stuff anymore. That's another challenge right there.

If you say money is no longer a problem, that's good, because you're going to need more of it for this project than you can imagine. Do you even have the engine yet??? If not, don't forget you have to pay a few hundred for shipping. Also, most likely, they're not gonna ship it straight to your door... it'll go to a warehouse where you'll then have to go and pick it up and bring it home somehow after paying the warehouse their fee.

SR20DET!?!?!? If you are unsure of how to put a CA into the car, I highly suggest to erase this thought from your mind for now. CA would be your best bet...

I now present to you the biggest challenge I can think of off the top of my head... what are you going to do about the transmission??? There are 2 stock (non-custom) options to go with: 1987 Pulsar SE came with 5 speed (RS5F31A), and '88-'89 came with 5 speed (RS5F50A) that's physically much stronger.CHALLENGE: Find one of these transmissions... AND...Did you know that axles for both of these transmissions no longer exist anywhere in the entire United States of America??? Unless you can find them at a junkyard or maybe on ebay used... I am not joking on this. Try to go to AutoZone, Pep Boys, Strauss, online internet order, WHATEVER... No axle manufacturer in the entire country makes axles for the Pulsar SE anymore. Period. I personally contacted a couple, and there was nothing that could be done. This alone almost put an end to my project until I found some used on ebay. You will be given axles if you go to buy them, but they are ALWAYS for an E16 setup.

This is way too long, so I will stop here. My final thoughts for now... An E15ET might drop straight into yours since you have an XE, but I don't know much about those, so I can't say for sure. I think CA is the best way to go, especially since they came with our cars. But you must realize that this will take a lot of time, and a hell of a lot of learning. About the learning, I will tell you this... I began my project many years ago just wanting to rebuild it... I now have 7 ASE's. If you decide to do this, I will be glad to help in any way I can. My goal is to re-engineer the CA and bring it new life and opportunity. We will all help, BUT, you must be sure of what you want to do. Do not ask others what you should do... this you must decide on your own. What's good for one isn't what's good for the other. Any engine can put out good power: the only main determining factor is how much money you have to throw at it...

Let us know and we'll be here for ya... bigthumb

wow dat sucks, i thought it was going to be much easier than that but this sounds like a mission and a half i jus wanted this car for a project but it sounds wayyy to complicated. i thought all i needed was basic mounts and other lil parts n then the engine and transmission but from what u tell me its alot more complicated , money isnt an issue my parents gave me a 10,000 dollar limit on this project but it seems impossible yet so many people have done it so im not sure, for now ill jus stikk to my g35 untill i find another project to do to my pulsar!

[pulsarca18det]

as a person owning 2 fwd ca18det pulsars i will say...

1. do not even dream of converting any pulsar to ca18det unless it is a) a 1987 twin cam SE with ca16de engine (best choice if you are on a budget)b) a 1988 or 1989 SE with ca18de engine (you will need a ca16de wire harness)

2. to get more than stock 175hp you will require more money on top of the $2500-$3500 required for the swap. Dont be fooled by "bolt on hp" for the ca18det in a pulsar, its not that simple.

to get 320hp out of one of my ca18dets, the pervious owner needed..larger injectors new ecu mapcustom made axlesapex suspensiont28 turbonew exhaustbigger intercoolerbigger brakes

thats only metioning the things he did, there is lots more you should do.

3. forget sr20det. to big,not worth the effort, aluminum block, rocker arm design cant handle high rpm, stock for stock you will get the same hp as the ca18det which is a lighter engine. (yes i know sr20det is 205hp)

fatmanracing on http://www.nissanexa.com did a awd sr20det in his pulsar in the usa, ran mid to high 13's if im not mistaken...

for the kinda cash I assume you, and all other det->pulsar owners wanna spend id suggest find a 1st gen u11 fwd engine on the net, and its a bolt in..then mod from there. its a simple swap that most any car enthusiast can do. for a tougher job but a bit better engine, find a rwd or awd gen2 (u12 or s13) ca18det and go from there, thats requires a bit more flubbin.

remember u need a ca16de or ca18de chassis n13 (pulsar) to even start to begin to dream about turbo..

just my 2 cents
Modified by pulsarca18det at 8:29 PM 4/19/2007

[Chris859]

On the axles comment... How do you figure they aren't available? I work at checker - and I checked for giggles, we can get them remanufactured, or brand new in several different brands. As for claiming you will only get SOHC axles... That is only true if the parts person is an R-tard, because the axles are listed seperately for SOHC/DOHC. Crown, GCK, Powerline, and Cardone all still have axles for the 88 se's So, yeah - they are available.

[nismo.rac3r]

On the axles comment... How do you figure they aren't available? I work at checker - and I checked for giggles, we can get them remanufactured, or brand new in several different brands. As for claiming you will only get SOHC axles... That is only true if the parts person is an R-tard, because the axles are listed seperately for SOHC/DOHC. Crown, GCK, Powerline, and Cardone all still have axles for the 88 se's So, yeah - they are available.

Hello. Bro, if it's at all possible, if you ever have someone who needs to order these axles, please pay special attention to the axles when they come in. At least just see if you can count the splines on both ends and check the passenger side axle to see if it's the one piece axle, or the half-shaft and axle type. If it's actually correct, that would be a really great thing.

Unless otherwise, I assure you that just a year ago, I went through this living hell for 2 months before I finally gave up. Yes, many places have the axles listed, even separately for SOHC & DOHC just as you said, but when you actually order them and they come in, what you get is not what you need. I went through this about 8 or 9 different times. I even brought pictures of my axles and exact specifications on paper to many different stores... I looked up manufacturer's part #'s myself and ordered those things from different places, and in the box was the right part #, but the wrong axle. Lack of knowledge on manufacturer's part...

A-1 Cardone I assure you are all absolutely wrong. They do not seem to know that different axles are needed for DOHC. I got these axles correct by part #, but wrong in reality. I even got in a big fight with one of my internet parts suppliers and now get discounts all the time from them. GCK I ordered from 2 different places and got the right thing, but in the box the axles were wrong. I think Powerline is one of the companies I contacted in person and explained the whole situation to them, and all they kept saying is that whatever they have listed is all they have. The other one, I forget which one, tried to make it sound like I don't know what I'm doing. I found Crown specs online and found that to be the most promising company of all... nobody had those axles or could even get them.

Sorry for such long post, bad habit. But story in short; places have it listed, but in the box it's always for SOHC. Maybe now a year later, some of them finally straightened this out (I hope so), but a year ago, this is how it was. I ask you, if by a miracle anyone ever needs these axles from your place, please keep an eye on it and post here what happens. When I finally get my life settled a little and get back to my CA, I might contact Raxles and try to make it happen...

[Chris859]

Hmm, interesting - Now you have me wondering. Maybe ill order a set, document the part number and specs - and see what we get.