Project CA S14

[float_6969]

For ease of reading, all updates and pictures will be in this post.

11/7/2007
Yea, so I bought a new car... It's dark and I JUST got it home, so it's not much to look at, but it's decently clean, optioned just like I wanted it, has an LSD, and the KA feels strong enough that I can turbo it, swap it into my S13, and sell it.

Of course, I'm not getting rid of the CA. This will be it's new home.

Needless to say, I'm excited.

11/12/2007
Well I've got good news and bad news.

The good news is that I got some day pics. Some of these I took today, and the others are from the eBay listing.

And now for the bad news. She's got Cancer...

There is also some rust in front of the rear fender area and on the rocker panels, but it's not so bad. I'm not upset with the people I bought it from as I don't think they would have had any way of knowing. If I hadn't had the wheels off to put the Z32 brakes on and happened to noticed the paint in that area looked funny and started picking at it, I don't think I would have noticed it until it got really bad. It was dark when I came and looked at the car, and even though I had plenty of light to look at the car it still made it kinda hard to spot it.

Regardless, I'm glad I caught it now before I got worse. It's not good, but I don't think it's past saving. I'll have to do a lot of work to it to get it back to where it should be, but what can you do?

IDK what the date on this update was
I got the rust in the front fender wells fixed. There is still major rust on the rocker panels to fix, and minor rust on the entire under-body to fix. I've figured out how to do this efficiently now, so this should go much faster. I also painted the engine bay, installed the CA, with rebuilt transmission (new bearings, syncro's, the 5th gear out of a KA/SR, and a B&M short shifter), and a rebuilt differential (all new bearings and properly re-shimmed) with an S15 Helical, and the appropriate CA18DET differential ratio of 4.363:1 (48:11). I also used the correct NISMO bolts to account of the difference in size of the holes in the ring gear and the threads in the Helical Differential. Except for the differential, I did all of this last week.


12/13/2008
Well I think the project is over before it got off the ground. The process of fixing the rust on the rocker panels revealed that the car is rotting from the inside out. The amount of work required to fix this would be outrageous. If this was a daily driver or even a drag car, I'd say that this wouldn't matter. But since I plan to AutoX and maybe even road race the car, this isn't acceptable. I'll have to sell this chassis and find another.



This really sucks, but there's not much else you can do. While I have the motor and drivetrain in the car, I do plan to go ahead and do that turbo comparison (CA T25 vs. SR T25 vs. SR T28) that I've been talking about.

4/23/2009
OK, so change of plan. I talked to a friend of mine and he thinks the rust isn't that bad and that if I treated it, it wouldn't get any worse. He also said that if I filled the panels with foam I would regain any lost rigidity and then some.



I also port matched and polished my sub-manifold to the plenum and bored out the plenum for the TB. I did this to the manifold that's on the motor now, but I didn't like how I did it, and I don't like some things I did to the plenum, so I got some spare's and re-did it. I also removed the butterfly's.



I also got some new goodies for the motor. HKS adjustable cam gears, HKS cams, (264 intake and exhaust), HKS T4 turbo kit (Thanks Mike!), and Ross Tuffbond Race Balancer

I mounted the SDS in the stock ECU location. It took a little modification of the SDS housing to make this work, but everything looks completely OEM in the engine bay now. Once I get the car running and everything loomed up, I'll take pics of the wiring.

9/22/2010
WTF happened to all my pics? Whatever, I'll fix it later, it's late. Anyway...
Sorry it's been so long since the last update guys. A LOT has been done since then. I had the car running and driving for a short time. It was with an SSAC mani and the stock T-2-small turbo w/no intercooler! Needless to say it was a bit down on power. But that got the car home safely from my friends shop where it had been sitting most of this time.

Since then, I mostly sorted out my PCV system, ( I still have a few minor things to do, but they have to wait until I get some other things done first), removed the stock turbo setup, and started trying to install the HKS turbo kit. This is where things got messy and time consuming...

First of all, the manifold bolts in with out any problems. The waste-gate hits the steering knuckle, but only by a little bit. A half hour of grinding and filing yielded me enough clearance between the steering knuckle and the waste-gate that enough material had been removed that they would never make contact, but not so much material that the waste-gate would be weakened.

Secondly, was the turbo itself. The short story is that it won't fit a LHD car. Everything brake related is in the way. And I mean everything. The booster is too close to the outlet of the turbo and doesn't allow a down pipe of any size to be fitted. The master cylinder, sits in such a way that the turbo hits the lines coming out of the master cylinder. Another master cylinder could be fitted to resolve the lines issue, but it still doesn't resolve the booster situation. I had a few options to resolve this. The first was to try and fit a different sized booster. Unfortunately, nothing off the shelf would bolt to the firewall, nor would it accept the stock brake master. I could build an adapter plate, but it took up enough room that it pushed the master cylinder into the compressor housing.

The second option I considered, briefly, was de-powering the brakes. Long story short, it's a lot of trouble. The last option, and the route that I chose, was to power the brakes with hydraulic fluid instead of engine vacuum. There are multiple companies out there that offer these types of systems, none of which are sponsors, so they'll remain un-named. The 2 main methods of doing this are to use an electric pump that pressurizes the brake fluid before it sends it out to the brake system. While this system would have been the easiest to fit, it was also VERY expensive. The second option was to use a system that provided brake boost via the power steering hydraulic system. This option, although much more labor intensive and time consuming, was MUCH cheaper.

To do this I used the brake booster from a Chevy Diesel pickup. IDK the year off the top of my head, but that info is easily found on the internet. GM called this system "hydroboost". It was commonly used on diesels due to them lacking any sort of engine vacuum source. The basic principal of the system is that the high pressure line from the pump is first routed to the brake booster, then there are 2 more lines on the brake booster. One is a high pressure line that feeds down to the power steering rack, and the other is a low pressure line that goes back to the reservoir. The booster itself is relatively simple in concept. The high pressure from the pump pressurizes an accumulator. An accumulator "stores" hydraulic pressure like a battery. Then the fluid passes into the a valve that either bypasses the booster when the brakes are in their normal state, or diverts some pressure to a piston inside the booster when the pedal is pressed. This provides 2 things. First is reduced pedal effort. Second is that if your power steering system can make the pressure, the system will allow for VERY high brake fluid pressures to be achieved. This allows for smaller brake components to be used as the braking force is now coming from increased clamping force on the rotor, as opposed to greater surface contact area of the more typical,bigger pad and rotor brake systems.

The appeal of this booster is that it is VERY compact an allows plenty of room for my down pipe. The con of this booster is that it's much longer than stock and places the stock booster in an impossible position to be mounted or to be of any use. So I had to build an "extension" of sorts to allow the brake master to be mounted out in front of the turbo to allow enough clearance. Although this bracket now allows the brake master to be fitted, it sits too high for the hood to close, so I had to remote mount the brake master reservoir.

All that being said, it seems to be successful so far. Tonight the car stopped for the first time in about 2 months using it's own hydraulic system. It's late now, but I'll get pics up later.

8/24/10
So I slapped some piping on the car this morning to connect the turbo to the intake and took it for a spin (still no intercooler). My first impression has 2 parts; This first is that it's pretty laggy. Doesn't do much of anything until 3500-4000. Granted it is still tuned for the T2Small turbo and I can tinker with the fuel and timing and probably bump that up at least 250rpm, if not 500rpm. My second impression is that once it spools up....H O L Y CRAP!!! I can't believe how hard it pulls with no intercooler. Apparently the hose I had for the waste-gate was too big and blew off as soon as I hit boost, because it went right past the waste-gate pressure (5psi) and hit boost cut at 15psi, and it did that before 5K rpm....I think....things were happening pretty fast. I was caught off guard by how hard it pulled. I pulled over and tried to put the line back on the waste-gate, but it's too big. I'll have to run down and get another hose. I ran it up a couple more times and it's just crazy. It's impressive at only 5K RPM. Even at 15psi (turbo should be able to manage 25-30psi), running it up to redline/8K would make for a crazy ride. I'm DEFINITELY going to need these cams to make use of this turbo. I will say that if I can't get it to spool much faster with tuning, I'll probably get a twin scroll turbine housing and try and get another 500-750 RPM quicker spool out of it. If I could manage that, I'd be set. Oh, and it sounds GOOD too!

[audtatious]

Nice

Day pix are a must and don't rice it

[zero_gripS13]

hell yea man. thats sweet

i always thouht it be cool to have a ca s14.

im excited keep us posted?

[float_6969]

Nice

Day pix are a must and don't rice it

Yea, I need to wash,wax, etc. It hasn't been detailed in a LONG time (it sat under cover for 3 years) so it needs a little TLC.

And I'm the anti-rice, thank you very much! LOL

hell yea man. thats sweet

i always thouht it be cool to have a ca s14.

im excited keep us posted?

Yea, I'm going to try and take lots of pics of the progress.

[Buddyworm]

Awesome. CA powered S14 will raise so many eyebrows. I love it.

[eds13]

showin some CA love to the s14's. love it!

[MeanGreenS13]

curious why do an S14 with the CA tho... my S14 if i ever get around to it, it sgonna get a VG30DETT =) right now the car's sitting in storage haha

[float_6969]

curious why do an S14 with the CA tho... my S14 if i ever get around to it, it sgonna get a VG30DETT =) right now the car's sitting in storage haha

Weight distribution. The S14's gas tank is in a MUCH better place than on the S13, and I feel that aspect combined with the CA's lighter weight and considerably smaller physical size should yield a near 50/50 weight distribution.

Plus I've always wanted and S14, but I just can't let the CA go, and I can't justify 2 240's.

[ch187]

i dont understand why people bash CA's in s14s. its just another motor. it makes more power and tourque than the KA so...whats the problem. i hear, eh..it wont go anywhere..i say go for it.

[Jiggyfry]

Sweet car float, can't wait to see what you have in store for us. Man I love project car threads

[zero_gripS13]

day pics day pics!!@#$%$#@@!!!

[MeanGreenS13]

i never said that it wasnt a cool idea. Its been done ONCE around here until the guy passed away. I would just rather keep an S14 for a BIG power application (600+hp) weight distribution may be important to you autox and drifters... im a drag racer lol gotta have a lighter front end than the rear end, S13 with CA allows that IF you know what to do

phil

[ragenasian]

Are you slapping that 4 port on this CA Float?

[MeanGreenS13]

going fast in the 1/4 isnt all about power... suspension is KEY
Modified by MeanGreenS13 at 10:25 AM 11/11/2007

[ca18detgabby]

curious why do an S14 with the CA tho... my S14 if i ever get around to it, it sgonna get a VG30DETT =) right now the car's sitting in storage haha

you have an extra S14 just layin around?

I want

[ca18detgabby]

looks great float. I want an S14 so bad.....

[MeanGreenS13]

yeah, you dont want it tho lol its got no motor no trans no interior, has 10pt cage and the whole rear suspension has been replaced with a piece from chassis engineering converting it to 4 link and giving me the ability to tuck some 15" wide rubber

[jt15833]

i have one and haven't passed away good looking s14 float.

[redtop91]

Neato. Has anyone ever done a CA S14? Also did you get the WG?

[r34 gtr]

Yeah the CA s14 has been done before, just not very often.

Dude I need some daytime pictures like, right now. I know you've taken them, so f'in post them before I have to start sending you death threats in the mail.

Your wheels suck.

[XTCshri2222]

nice cant wait to see better pic and with the motor swaped in

[zero_gripS13]

bummer.. what a goood buzz kill...glad its not that bad yet... just a lil set back..still cant wait to see it finished

[r34 gtr]

Next time let me know beforehand and I'll score you a nice cancer-free southern girl. Rust sucks. I'm glad i never have to deal with it.

Your s13 is riding like a freaking truck dude. I would bash you more, but you are selling it.

[nissanic89]

congrtats man, i figure my s13 will rust away someday and i might have to do the same, keep us updated

[Dano]

YAY RYAN!

[Bwana]

Your cars are so friggin high man... where're the coils????

[float_6969]

CA + S13 springs designed for KA = monster truck.

I needed suspension. Leave me alone.

[r34 gtr]

Yeah man, thats downright unsightly. How about instead of going on car buying sprees you man up and buy some shocks and springs that werent originally designed for Bigfoot.

[float_6969]

So I FINALLY started working on the project again. I got all of the rust in the front fenders fixed, painted the engine bay, and installed the CA motor, freshly rebuilt trans with a taller 5th gear, and a freshly rebuilt helical differential.

I still have lots of rust to fix, but most of it's minor.

I am going to post all pictures on the first post so that this thread is easier to follow.

[davidricardo86]

Awesome work Ryan! Can't wait to see more. I'm hoping for some nicer weather and time off school so i can finish wiring up my CA already. Chicago is nasty cold and i've been busy with school, work, life, etc.

PS i also want my CA in a s14 chassis someday. I hate the rust on most s13 chassis from this part of the US. If I'm not mistaken, its wider too right?