My story started in 1991 while stationed in Okinawa, Japan. Saw the Silvias and loved them, but never looked under the hood. I walked off the base to go look at some used cars and saw a B12 sunny with the squared-looking motor with red valve covers and "Twin Cam 16 Valve" inscribed on the coilpack cover. Since my first car was a B12 sentra, I saw an opportunity to step-up the power game.
Once I got back to the states (Pearl Harbor, Hawaii), I went to the Junkyard to get some parts for my 1988 Hyundai Excel and saw the KN13 (1987-90) pulsar with that same squared-looking engine. Even though my B12 was home in Florida, I again said I have to have one of those in my carb-powered E16S. Once out of the Marine Corps, I went to the Junkyards in Miami and saw an 87 pulsar with a CA16DE engine it that was wrecked. I made a trade with my Junkyard connects (two excels for the pulsar) and the changeover/swap-over began.
Around August 1996 I started my first swap and by January of 1997, I had a CA16DE with CA16 tranny, powered US spec Nissan sentra that was pretty damn fast compared to the E16S that originally came in the car. My first encounter was a B13 SE-R and I gave him with that CA16DE. I would beat-up on other car makers and their rice boys, but I knew I needed more power. So later in 1997, I turned to the CA18DE and upgraded the harness to the CA18DE's ECU. I was giving people a hard time with that CA18DE and the CA16's tranny, but it started knocking and the tranny couldn't take it anymore, so I turned to a friend of mine who imported engine from Japan and had him bring me an AWD CA18DET.
I swapped in the CA18DET and left the intercooler on top and at that time, I thought I was John Force or something. The car was fast with that N/A CA18DE ecu, but that be short lived because I melted the #4 piston racing a ford mustang on the highway. I was the first person (at least I was told this) in the U.S. in 1999 to get custom wiseco pistons made for the CA18 83mm bore. I got my shiny new pistons, installed them, got my U.S. Spec CA18DE ecu re-chipped by JWT (First one as well with this experiment) and my shiny new pistons were dead in less than 1000 miles.
I would get another CA18DET from Japan, continue to use the JWT tuned ECU on my car and then duplicated for my girlfriend at the time. Obviously, mines was faster, but hers was more reliable. That got boring, so I bought my first SDS EM-2 2nd hand from a guy here in Miami, installed it on my car and have never looked back. I got really good at tuning standalones, then got very good at building CA18 engines and here I am today. I have the BLUEPRINT to extract as much power from these motors than most can handle. Though I don't use my cars much, occasionally I get to build an engine or two for serious enthusiasts who wants them built right the first time.
That's my story in short order
Been around this game for a long time and love it. Don't care for the SRs nor the KAs. I've rebuilt my VQ35DE engine on my Maxima and it reminded of how much I hate timing chains. Timing belts all day everyday. Long live the CA, VG, RB, 4AG series, 7M series, 1J and 2J series and the mazda BP series. I may have been quiet for a while, but I'm still in the game