Would you do anything different, engine wise?

[Robert90sx]

Tomorrow is the day that I buy my engine. I am leaning to the CA18det a little, but am also thinking about the RB20. I have my reasons for both, but I would like to know what your feelings are on your choice of engines.

Ever been smoked by something really pathetic that you makes your second think your engine choice? What kind of gas milage are you getting? Really any useful info to sway my last second choice up.

Before any advice on researching is given please dont, I have been researching for over a year.

[articzap]

Tomorrow is the day that I buy my engine. I am leaning to the CA18det a little, but am also thinking about the RB20. I have my reasons for both, but I would like to know what your feelings are on your choice of engines.

Ever been smoked by something really pathetic that you makes your second think your engine choice? What kind of gas milage are you getting? Really any useful info to sway my last second choice up.

Before any advice on researching is given please dont, I have been researching for over a year.

If gas mileage will effect what engine you choose, you're doing this stuff for the wrong reasons.

[themadscientist]

the engine you choose will depend entirely upon your needs and desires. You need to think about what you want in your engine first. Factors like cost, parts availability, power potential, complexity etc. THEN you need to look at all the possible engines and find the one that best meets those metrics. Don't start out with an engine in mind then think about what you want, you will just skew your expectations towards the predetermined engine. You mind find that after you really think about what you need and want the old KA24 or whatever engine is already in the car will get you there.

[Robert90sx]

I got to be honest, I got much more useful info on the RB forum where I posted (almost) the same question. I do not mean to be disrespectful, but I know people weight out different options before they chose which route to go.

This is not like there is a equation that can be punched in and produces the correct answer. I was just kind of currious about maybe a situation where you thought to your self that man I wish I would have gone with an SR or dang I with I would have gone with an RB.

For example, I had a Mustang that I took out a loan for and purchased an ATI supercharger. It was easier at the time to install and cheaper. After about 9 months the supercharger broke, and it was under 1 year so it was fixed for free, but thats when I really thought that I wished I would have gone turbo from the get go. I can explain why, but the point is I would have done things different had I do it over again.

[bias]

I understand what your asking. The thing is? Well for me, picking the Ca was and still is the best decision. From what I read in CA forums it's mostly people that can't get it to run that wish they had picked a different engine.

Oh and the only way you can get smoked by something pathetic is if you don't get one!

[Two-Fortee]

For one, install will be way easier with the CA. Really though, you can't go wrong with either engine. Both can handle 300whp on stock internals. However, the CA is a lot lighter than the RB. I'm not an expert on either engine, but either way your not going wrong. I still say CA18, but do what you want. Hopefully some one with some more info on here can help you out.

PS: TOMOROW !?!? Jeeze man, these seem like pretty simple questions to be asking last minute.

[mmm240]

I got to be honest, I got much more useful info on the RB forum where I posted (almost) the same question. I do not mean to be disrespectful, but I know people weight out different options before they chose which route to go.

I hear ya, I asked just about the same question before I decided on the CA. Remember that the RB forum has three different engines and they all happen to be the skyline engines. So you get skyline fanboys plus 3 times the traffic cause of more engine choices.I still chose the CA

Also remember that the CA came factory in the pulsar in the USA. Meaning you can go to any auto parts store and get replacement parts. Not so with the RB.

[ruckus-racing]

This is Jon AKA Not_A_SR.

do a 1jzGTE swap they are bad ***.

[AFSil80]

Not tryin to be an *******, but if you don't know what you want, then dont go with a CA18.

Awesome motors, I love my CA18 to death, but it's like bein a priest...it takes a call from God to go with this motor and love it.

[Robert90sx]

Well, I have chosen the CA.

Reasons, likely the best gas milage if driven easy(yeah right), easy to install, and for the price of the rb and mounting hardware I was going to buy, I can get a nice FMIC and do some other stuff too. Also lighter than the comp by a bit.

I am slightly concerned about where I am buying, but in theroy sounds smart. I am buying from Nagaski Motors, and have read some horror stories, but in the manner I am buying I have chosen to buy from him through eBay. Now please do laugh at this just yet. I looked at his feed back and he has had a few issues, but ALL issues have been resolved. I figure that eBay as dumb is it sounds would be the worst place he could screw me over because I can leave negative feedback, where as directly he can do as he wants with out the worry to reputation.

Any feedback and or comments?

Also, I am feeling a little lazy, but have any of you used down pipes, or fmic kits for the SR with much luck?

[themadscientist]

Ah yes, E-gay. Why would you knowingly entrust your cash to anyone at all iffy? I have never understood such a cavalier attitude with money.

[AFSil80]

DO NOT BUY FROM NAGASAKI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I have chosen the CA.

Reasons, likely the best gas milage if driven easy(yeah right), easy to install, and for the price of the rb and mounting hardware I was going to buy, I can get a nice FMIC and do some other stuff too. Also lighter than the comp by a bit.

I am slightly concerned about where I am buying, but in theroy sounds smart. I am buying from Nagaski Motors, and have read some horror stories, but in the manner I am buying I have chosen to buy from him through eBay. Now please do laugh at this just yet. I looked at his feed back and he has had a few issues, but ALL issues have been resolved. I figure that eBay as dumb is it sounds would be the worst place he could screw me over because I can leave negative feedback, where as directly he can do as he wants with out the worry to reputation.

Any feedback and or comments?

Also, I am feeling a little lazy, but have any of you used down pipes, or fmic kits for the SR with much luck?

I REPEAT

DO NOT BUY FROM NAGASAKI JDM MOTORS!!!!!!!!!!

I got my CA18 motorset from them, and THERE WAS NO ECU OR WIRING HARNESS, MAF, intercooler, etc.

They told me they'd re-imburse me AFTER I outsourced them. Got the harness from a guy on here (private sale) and ECU on 240sxforums (Also private). Totaled $280, and it was 32 days after I got the motor. I call them up to tell them and remind them of their end of the deal and they waive me off because it was already past the 30 day start up warranty. Please tell me, how am I supposed to check the startup without a harness and ECU?!

**** those mother****ers. Buncha crooks.

Search on Zilvia and 240sxforums, it's nothing but horror story experiences with them. Here was a guy's post about them:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yup!! I agree.. these guys live about 10 mins away from my house.. biggest scam artists ever. When they get their engine in from container.. they are just stacked one on top of the other with just a piece a cardboard between. all the holes are exposed.. ive even seen rocks in the intake manifold. I think they have a chop shop and these are stolen engines. One of my friends came out of there once and 2 undercover police officers are asking him a bunch of questions like "whats your business here?" and etc. So sketch

They also sold my friend a RB25 with no harness or ECU they said its coming on next shipment.. time and time passed still nothing and refused a return after 30 days

Just for the record these are both one and the same company. Check the phone number are addresshttp://www.nagasakijdmmotors.com/http://www.na ... otors.com/

[rico05]

I bought from JHot on eBay four years ago. And guess what I still drive every day. My CA that I bought from JHot four years ago.

I actually converted 2 potential SR guys and one potential RB guy to the CA camp. I run a full SR exhaust except for the manifold (SR T25G turbo, 3" O2 housing, downpipe, test pipe and cat back). My intercooler (an ARC SMIC) is from an SR. My BOV kit is from an SR. Everything but my throttle body and intercooler piping is from an SR actually. And I have quite a bit of goodies under the hood.

If you do an RB, don't waste your time with the RB20. Not a bad engine by any stretch of the imagination, but the gap between RB20 and RB25 is far greater than the gap between the CA and SR (as there is none in that case )

[Robert90sx]

Well its kind of a little late now, so lets hope for the best. My thoughts on ebay vs any other means of purchase is if I buy from another company I could still get ****ed over. With eBay at least the seller knows that I can hurt his business with feedback if not fixed. I am a little worried now, but looks like if anything bad happenes he will fix it accourding to the feedback I have read through.

[mazikowski]

I purchased an engine set from Nagasaki. I have not gotten my swap completed yet (S13 CA18DET into KN13 Pulsar), so I have not run the engine yet. After reading some of the stuff I have seen about Nagasaki, I will admit, I am sorta worried about how the engine will run once I do finish the swap.

I will say, thought, that when I purchased the engien set from them, it was shipped to me rather promptly (seeing as it was coming from BC to Alabama). I was missing the ECU and called them right away asking about it. He told me there must have been a mistake and it got left out when they shipped it, so he sent me the ECU. Other than that, my only real complaints are that there was no AFM included and the AFM plug had been cut from the harness. Other than that, I received a complete uncut harness. Unfortunately for me, having an uncut harness means nothing since I am using the FWD CA16 harness and swapping over the ECU plug. Also, the turbo was leaking oil (bad seal) so I went ahead and got it rebuilt.

I purchased the engine in October, so I have no chance of returning it on the 30 day start-up warranty =/

I've simply not had time to do very much work on my swap due to school and weather. I am hoping that when I finish up the swap, everything will go fine for me and I will be a lucky one...

Just my 2c.

[themadscientist]

why do people make excuses for operations that screw them over? Seriously.I read these horror stories and then the person starts offering possible reasons it's a mistake or a mix up YOU GOT ****ED!It is not that hard to inventory an engine. At the very least make sure your customers are recieving a complete set of parts. Make a checklist for each engine and hire a trained monkey to check each one before it goes out the door. These repetitive "mistakes" are not mistakes. They are at at best the result of bad quality control or worse concious effort to hoodwink customers. I'll let you decide which.

What happened to people? When did people start paying good money to be cheated and then just laugh it off? If I slap down $1.00 for a McDonalds cheeseburger and it's at all less than what it should be me and the staff are going to have a little talk and I am getting a new cheeseburger! Yet someone will suck up a bait and switch like these with several hundred dollars on the line? WTF is wrong with people. I refuse to deal with shady people so this crew wouldn't pass the filter to get my money in the first place but if I did miss something and they screwed me on the back end I would give them the opportunity to fix it. if they did not there would be reprecusions involving a couple of jugs of gasoline and a lighter.

This is how business should be conducted.

A long while back a member needed a bellhousing. I had one so I set up the deal. I tore the transmission down and waited for the money. Money arrived timely and I went to clean it up before packing. At that time I noticed one of the slave cylinder mounting holes had been "repaired" with a helicoil. Had I noticed that I would have informed the buyer from the beginning. That was not the case so I felt restitution was in order. i contacted the buyer, informed him of the discovery and offered him a full refund and have a nice day or a partial refund and a bellhousing. He chose the latter and both of us were satisfied.

That is how business should be conducted. Take care of your customer. You don't screw them and play the odds that they will move on and hope some new sucker bites. Do your research, pick a solid seller with a good consistent history and make sure you get what was agreed upon. To gamble with some seller with a spotty track record and hope he cares about some bad press so he won't screw you is possibly the dumbest move I have ever seen. You must not like your money. IF you go with this guy and he screws you don't even come back in here with a sob story and expect the gang to give you a shoulder to cry on.

[AFSil80]

^^^^

Someone give this guy an award, seriously!

I realized there isn't one legal THING I can do to them since they're in Canada, so I've resorted to slandering their name on every site I post on. All my friends know where I got the motor from and they will NEVER go to them for anything.

I'm not looking for sympathy. I'm just wanting everyone to hear what a buncha thieves they are and run all their business out so they have to shut down.
Modified by AFSil80 at 10:25 PM 3/22/2008

[themadscientist]

Glad you are sharing your experiences. It may save someone else some heartache down the road.

[mmm240]

why do people make excuses for operations that screw them over? Seriously.I read these horror stories and then the person starts offering possible reasons it's a mistake or a mix up YOU GOT ****ED!It is not that hard to inventory an engine. At the very least make sure your customers are recieving a complete set of parts. Make a checklist for each engine and hire a trained monkey to check each one before it goes out the door. These repetitive "mistakes" are not mistakes. They are at at best the result of bad quality control or worse concious effort to hoodwink customers. I'll let you decide which.

What happened to people? When did people start paying good money to be cheated and then just laugh it off? If I slap down $1.00 for a McDonalds cheeseburger and it's at all less than what it should be me and the staff are going to have a little talk and I am getting a new cheeseburger! Yet someone will suck up a bait and switch like these with several hundred dollars on the line? WTF is wrong with people. I refuse to deal with shady people so this crew wouldn't pass the filter to get my money in the first place but if I did miss something and they screwed me on the back end I would give them the opportunity to fix it. if they did not there would be reprecusions involving a couple of jugs of gasoline and a lighter.

This is how business should be conducted.

A long while back a member needed a bellhousing. I had one so I set up the deal. I tore the transmission down and waited for the money. Money arrived timely and I went to clean it up before packing. At that time I noticed one of the slave cylinder mounting holes had been "repaired" with a helicoil. Had I noticed that I would have informed the buyer from the beginning. That was not the case so I felt restitution was in order. i contacted the buyer, informed him of the discovery and offered him a full refund and have a nice day or a partial refund and a bellhousing. He chose the latter and both of us were satisfied.

That is how business should be conducted. Take care of your customer. You don't screw them and play the odds that they will move on and hope some new sucker bites. Do your research, pick a solid seller with a good consistent history and make sure you get what was agreed upon. To gamble with some seller with a spotty track record and hope he cares about some bad press so he won't screw you is possibly the dumbest move I have ever seen. You must not like your money. IF you go with this guy and he screws you don't even come back in here with a sob story and expect the gang to give you a shoulder to cry on.

I know what you're saying. So much so that I just got into a business that will help protect my rights.

Shoot me an e-mail if your interested.

[psilocyben]

I agree totally why the f**k would you buy something from some one with a shady track record. I went on the SR, RB and CA forums and read everyones post on where they got theirs and if they would do business with that company again, plus found plenty more searching the net. Then I went to the better business bureau and researched the company. (There is a section for canadian company's also.) If the company was not in the data base it went low on my list of who to buy from, or if they had a bad report. Dont wast your time or money on people who suck!

[ca18detgabby]

why do people make excuses for operations that screw them over? Seriously.I read these horror stories and then the person starts offering possible reasons it's a mistake or a mix up YOU GOT ****ED!It is not that hard to inventory an engine. At the very least make sure your customers are recieving a complete set of parts. Make a checklist for each engine and hire a trained monkey to check each one before it goes out the door. These repetitive "mistakes" are not mistakes. They are at at best the result of bad quality control or worse concious effort to hoodwink customers. I'll let you decide which.

What happened to people? When did people start paying good money to be cheated and then just laugh it off? If I slap down $1.00 for a McDonalds cheeseburger and it's at all less than what it should be me and the staff are going to have a little talk and I am getting a new cheeseburger! Yet someone will suck up a bait and switch like these with several hundred dollars on the line? WTF is wrong with people. I refuse to deal with shady people so this crew wouldn't pass the filter to get my money in the first place but if I did miss something and they screwed me on the back end I would give them the opportunity to fix it. if they did not there would be reprecusions involving a couple of jugs of gasoline and a lighter.

This is how business should be conducted.

A long while back a member needed a bellhousing. I had one so I set up the deal. I tore the transmission down and waited for the money. Money arrived timely and I went to clean it up before packing. At that time I noticed one of the slave cylinder mounting holes had been "repaired" with a helicoil. Had I noticed that I would have informed the buyer from the beginning. That was not the case so I felt restitution was in order. i contacted the buyer, informed him of the discovery and offered him a full refund and have a nice day or a partial refund and a bellhousing. He chose the latter and both of us were satisfied.

That is how business should be conducted. Take care of your customer. You don't screw them and play the odds that they will move on and hope some new sucker bites. Do your research, pick a solid seller with a good consistent history and make sure you get what was agreed upon. To gamble with some seller with a spotty track record and hope he cares about some bad press so he won't screw you is possibly the dumbest move I have ever seen. You must not like your money. IF you go with this guy and he screws you don't even come back in here with a sob story and expect the gang to give you a shoulder to cry on.

Common sense is over rated I suppose?

btw EBay of all places is the easiest place to get scammed as the only standards you are upheld to are feedback. No BBB, no real internet forums are going to single out a single seller unless they do it SOOOO many times.

idk why anyone would risk it? hell there about 10 threads in this forum since I have been here about how ****ty that company is.

Jhot on the other hand are great guys and I have ordered a bunch of goodies from them.

personally if I was anyone who ordered by CC I would contact the CC company and report them as not sending what they promised(or w/e the credit card people like to refer to it as). Money out of their pocket is about the only way they will ever care.......

[r34 gtr]

Mazikowski, if you have problems with your swap I probably have a spare of whatever is not working. Also, I didn't hear from you over the break. I looked around the target in Jones valley but didn't see a pulsar. If you run into those high school kids with 240s though, they all know of me. I don't really associate with them, but they always flag me down and ask me to pop the hood.

[DriftingisLame]

I was always planning on swapping a CA18 into my s13. When the time came, I had the money saved, and the vacation time, I could only find an RB clip within driving distance... I would not buy a motor that I hadnt seen first. I bought my rb20 clip from Custom imports in tacoma (regretably), for $1700 with all the panels/interior and a blitz BOV.

When I was as excited as I was to finally have the time and money to put a new motor in, and I discovered that I'd have to wait a few more months for a CA, the extra power of the RB, and convenience of its location EASILY swayed me.

I've been driving around my rb20 for 3+ years now.. Do I regret it? You see me on the CA forums dont you? Haha.. My rb20 and I have had a love hate relationship from the start. Its given me a lot of grief both in the original swap, and trying to get it running properly through its whole life, but let me tell you.. It has given me the most invaluable mechanical/electrical skills. I look back occasionally at the CA18 and think to myself.. "damn, that looks so simple, and easy to work on... damn damn..."

I like the CA's simplicity, I like that its designed exactly the same as the RB motors, I like the simple 8 bit ECU, and cam on bucket valve train, and the incredibly compact and light construction. I like that most of the SR's external bits (exhaust/fmic/intake) parts are interchangable, I also like how you only need 4 of everything instead of 6!

The one thing I really dont like about the CA, is when I come to this forum and want to read all I can about the motor, and only find 1 1/2 pages of info!! That really bothers me.. Because, as far as this forum goes, my learning stops there! The RB forums may be for 3 different motors, but I can assure you there's more information on there than this...If I had to pick a couple more things I dont like about the ca18, it would be the dissapointing power everyone on here is making (sorry!), and the seemingly late spooling turbo's.

My good friend back in oregon had a CA18 installed for him, completely stock minus an exhaust and a MBC @ 10 psi. I would Kill, and I mean KILL him in a straight line. The gap in power/performance with 2 stock swaps was immense. Yet I envied how easy his was to work on, and how much less we had to wrench on his compared to mine.

I saw your post on the RB forums, I didnt get a chance to respond.. I'm glad I cought up to you on here.

Good luck with whichever motor you choose!-Max

PS: if you buy an RB and live in a warm climate, invest in a good radiator, and replace ALL your external gaskets/coolant hoses.

[themadscientist]

Trust me when I say the CA is as much of a PITA to work on as the RB20. If I knew who at Nissan was responsible for all those tiny unusually shaped hoses under the Intakes of CAs and RBs I would sterilize him with a hammer.

[ca18detgabby]

BAHAHAHA I nearly peed myself laughing when I read that. So many vac lines..........

[ca18detgabby]

I was always planning on swapping a CA18 into my s13. When the time came, I had the money saved, and the vacation time, I could only find an RB clip within driving distance... I would not buy a motor that I hadnt seen first. I bought my rb20 clip from Custom imports in tacoma (regretably), for $1700 with all the panels/interior and a blitz BOV.

When I was as excited as I was to finally have the time and money to put a new motor in, and I discovered that I'd have to wait a few more months for a CA, the extra power of the RB, and convenience of its location EASILY swayed me.

I've been driving around my rb20 for 3+ years now.. Do I regret it? You see me on the CA forums dont you? Haha.. My rb20 and I have had a love hate relationship from the start. Its given me a lot of grief both in the original swap, and trying to get it running properly through its whole life, but let me tell you.. It has given me the most invaluable mechanical/electrical skills. I look back occasionally at the CA18 and think to myself.. "damn, that looks so simple, and easy to work on... damn damn..."

I like the CA's simplicity, I like that its designed exactly the same as the RB motors, I like the simple 8 bit ECU, and cam on bucket valve train, and the incredibly compact and light construction. I like that most of the SR's external bits (exhaust/fmic/intake) parts are interchangable, I also like how you only need 4 of everything instead of 6!

The one thing I really dont like about the CA, is when I come to this forum and want to read all I can about the motor, and only find 1 1/2 pages of info!! That really bothers me.. Because, as far as this forum goes, my learning stops there! The RB forums may be for 3 different motors, but I can assure you there's more information on there than this...If I had to pick a couple more things I dont like about the ca18, it would be the dissapointing power everyone on here is making (sorry!), and the seemingly late spooling turbo's.

My good friend back in oregon had a CA18 installed for him, completely stock minus an exhaust and a MBC @ 10 psi. I would Kill, and I mean KILL him in a straight line. The gap in power/performance with 2 stock swaps was immense. Yet I envied how easy his was to work on, and how much less we had to wrench on his compared to mine.

I saw your post on the RB forums, I didnt get a chance to respond.. I'm glad I cought up to you on here.

Good luck with whichever motor you choose!-Max

PS: if you buy an RB and live in a warm climate, invest in a good radiator, and replace ALL your external gaskets/coolant hoses.

it isnt a lack of knowledge or disscusion. between lack of members(as 90% of the nissan guys I know dont even know what kind of engine is in my car..... NO IT IS NOT AN SR!) and the fact that the search button can solve 2/3rds of your issues.....

to the op

the only thing I would have done different was a little extra research(as im always grasping to find new things and make more power)...... I would have upgraded a few things PRE install(SR T25, FMIC, Injectors, KA24DE TB), but this is because I now know what Im doing and more about the engine than I did when I plopped her in.

WHEN.... def not if......... WHEN I get another S-chassis it will def have a CA. Sometimes parts are a little harder to find, but on the other hand MOST of the products are top quality instead of the knock off **** SR guys deal with.

as for compared to the RB20........... parts finding is about the same from what I understand. INstall is a little more difficult. Power is a bit better.....

"not to be a d!ck" as you put it yourself, BUT why are you unable to choose what you are going to do with YOUR car. It isnt clean cut for us without knowing you, BUT assuming you know yourself........ you should be more than capible of making the choice yourself, if you can handle installing it.

[DriftingisLame]

and the fact that the search button can solve 2/3rds of your issues.....

This is what I'm trying to say, 2/3 is still 66% of the information that the other engine forums have. Am I on crack, or is that not significant?

[ca18detgabby]

This is what I'm trying to say, 2/3 is still 66% of the information that the other engine forums have. Am I on crack, or is that not significant?

more than 1/2 the posts here as of late are those asking how to get the dam car running because they 1/2 a$$ something or got a ****ty motor set from a canadian dealer.

rarely if ever are there any posts of people making much progress. those who have made progress and are moving up the scale are much more humble about it I would say. should I be posting everytime I do something neato?

[DriftingisLame]

should I be posting everytime I do something neato?

Sharing your progress with the community is the whole idea of a forum like this, so everyone can benefit from your hard work.

[ca18detgabby]

Sharing your progress with the community is the whole idea of a forum like this, so everyone can benefit from your hard work.

I suppose I could it just is mods I do for me and to meet what I want.

though I guess I perfer about hearing new ideas than seeing what steps I followed from others. If I go off the beaten path then I feel the need to speak about it.

if people are curious......... I can share.