First of all, this "Secret Squirrel" behavior about what timing belt works with this thing is beyond me. I bought this engine because
(A) It is a brand new short block
(B) I've been wanting to do this for years, but I had no time for experiments
(C) As an avid enthusiast of this motor, it is
part of my responsibility to push the envelope on evolvement and share as much as I can without foolishly misleading others to take a path that I wouldn't take myself and
(D) For the price, I couldn't pass this up even if I didn't have the coin to make the purchase. It is awesome opportunity to fickle around with this thing and possibly bounce some ideas around with various engine builders in my neck of the woods.
Did I tell you guys I hate timing chained engines? I have a VQ35DE in my maxima that I rebuilt a couple of years ago and fortunately after 85k miles, it's still running strong, but too much labor involved with these engines. And god forbid if something goes wrong, to re-open these things is extremely labor intensive, so the KA and SR variants are non-existent in my plans. And besides, 1809cc engines I've built for customers are/were putting down 700+hp with my own car putting out over 500whp with stock rods, .010 over oem pistons and moderately worked head. Most guys around won't even get to 300hp before something lets go or they get bored of the engine or whatever.
For all of you remember this, you're only going to get out of these engines what you put into them. This means if you take a stock/used CA18DET and expect it to perform and behave like one of the RB variants or even the SR20 things, you have already failed. This engine has been around longer than most of you and most need updating and refreshing. You pay $1600 for a 20 something year old engine from an engine importer, throw it in your car and expect it to take the abuse you're expecting it to take? Not going to happen and you are going to spend some really good money updating and refreshing this motor. And labor, let's not talk about labor! I now have to adjust the cost of my work just to keep up with the market which means things will have to change and change soon. So if you're going to pay more, why not pay for something a little more innovative. That's where i'm going with this to try and give you guys more solid and useful information on this upgrade. By the way, if your engine is poorly tuned with poor man electronics, I don't car how much Pauter/Carillo rods, CP or Arias or JE or Wiseco pistons you have or even your Tomei, JUN, HKS camshafts you've installed or even you quick spooling whatever turbocharger or even your CA18, CA19, CA20, CA21 or whatever, your crap will still be still be found lacking and wanting. And you will have a fancy engine, that's weak on power because you cheaped-out in the engine management area. Spend to win or stop your biotching
. I found this beautiful rarety and thought "why not" and work some of my own magic. And seeing that I love the surgical aspect when it comes to engines, it is time to throw this thing on an engine stand, so that we can all solve this mystery of building a competent CA20DET. I'm going to incorporate the help of the whole CA family when I get stuck, so prepare yourselves and let's make this thing happen, so that we can (not so secretively) add an alternative brethren to our beloved CA DOHC family. In case some are wondering what it is, it is a brand new CA20 short block. Yes, it is brand spanking new and as soon as it gets here, surgery begins.
. As for coming for Tommey, yeah right...lol. He is as good as any and have the skills and access to competent machinery to pull-off mad tricks with metals, so we all can learn from each other as well as lean on one another for guidance. My specialties are building these motors, tuning them and wiring them into their respective hosts. I am not a machinist and I don't have the skills nor access to fancy machinery like Tommey does, so everyone brings something to the CA table.
