Snag in the ET to DET conversion

[McAdam]

well, I ripped apart the pulsar CA16DE and found cracked-into-tiny-peices rings in all 4 cylinders, no biggy. But no girdle, I have heard that CA18DET's have girdles on the bottom ends? Also, cracked into the 1985 CA18ET and found a 6 bolt flywheel instead of an 8 bolt that I was expecting. should be fine tho as I am using the 200sx bottom end and the pulsar top end, right? questions or comments anyone???

As a side note, the con rods on the pulsar motor look like all the pictures I have seen of CA18DET stock rods.. havent busted out the micro meter yet... I havent gotten that far into the turbo motor to see what the bottom end looks like, I'll let ya know when I do, if anyone cares

cheers, McAdam

[hopeful]

whats a girdle?

So your using a ca18et bottom end (assumably w/ pistons and con rods) with a ca18de head?

I'd really like to know how this goes, I'd like to do it myself if its possible.

(aren't you on club-s12.org?, don't you wonder why they advise for this swap to NOT be done?)

[McAdam]

a girdle is a ladder looking thing that bolts to the main bearing caps and holds tehm all together as one unit so they dont move around under high HP. And yes, I am on S12.org I am using a CA18ET bottom end that is getting rebuilt and a CA16DE head that I had 500 miles on when the rings in all 4 cyl decided to self destruct. My guess as to why they dont advise this swap is the wiring would be a pain in the ***. From what I have gathered tho, the mechanicals of it all it looks like a bolt on process. Pistons in the CA18ET block have 4 valve releifs in them already and the stock DE pistons were domed to go into the combustion chamber. so, wiht the ET flat tops, I should be fine with compression. Dont worry, I have a digital camera and I plan on documenting the hell out of everything! TheMadSceintist said the head gaskets are a spot on match, so I dont see why it wouldnt work. Someone over on freshalloy.com did this and got away with 312 crank HP on the stock NA CA18DE computer out of a pulsar! but that was like 2 yrs ago, I have had no luck contacting him lately. anyway, pics going up tomorrow!! sorry to ramble,

Cheers,McAdam

[themadscientist]

The CA16 also has a 78mm bore vice the 83mm of the CA18. The cranks are the same dimensions but I am not sure if they have similar strength. The girdle is a DET thing, I would think all you would need is the girdle, main caps and bolts from the DET to convert a CA16 or CA18ET but you may need the DET pan, it could be deeper to clear the girdle. I am not sure if that is required but it is something you would want to look at. As I mentioned the dimensions on the cranks are the same(exept for the CA20, it has a longer stroke) so if you wanted eight bolts all you would need is the DET crank.

[McAdam]

heres the links to some previous discussions on this topic Freshalloy.com thing another one, started by me thats all I got for now..... can't remember where I got the 312 hp number, I think it was an email I deleted, oh well, have fun!

McAdam

[hopeful]

[email protected]

Thats his email, I found it in the threads you just showed to me.

U say you have pics? I'd love to see, [email protected] please!