Nissan 200SX Club - South Africa

Ah come on be the under dog and go with a CA18DET, so many people go with the SR20DET and make big power but the CA18DET has alot of potential aswell, ask the calibrator about the bakkie he is busy with.

Gary I hear you. And after looking on the net I see that there are some parts like cams, cam gears, pulleys, manfiolds etc available for the CA18. So it's not a TOTAL lack of parts.

ONLY concern I have is that the 4CW crank won't hold the bearings under high boost. Maybe CRYO treating the crank will do the trick? I washoping the CA20 crank is 8CW cause then the CA18 block can jsut be bored to keep it all square.

Does anyone have head flow data for the CA18DET head vs the SR20 head?

Dude, it sounds to me like you're grabbing at straws for a reason to ditch your CA for an SR...

The ONLY 2 factors a CA has against it is age and availability of parts.

In many ways the CA is superior to the SR, the SR was an evolution, but not one brought by a need for power, but from a need for emissions and low manufacturing costs. It cost nissan more ot make a CA than it did to make an SR, its easy to se why, a CA is essentially a Baby RB, look at the FACTS:

CA has direct valve on lifter action, SR has rocker arms limiting max revs
CA has a cast iron block for strength, SR is aluminium to save weight.
CA uses a timing belt, SR has a timing chain for less maintainence.
.
But hey, it looks like you've made up your own mind, sell me your CA.

I would speak to Duane as he has a CA making big power and big boost, think it is at like 300RwKw. Personally I would keep the CA and be the underdog. Just think you will have the cost of the SR to put into the CA, that is some nice parts.

Dude, it sounds to me like you're grabbing at straws for a reason to ditch your CA for an SR...

The ONLY 2 factors a CA has against it is age and availability of parts.

In many ways the CA is superior to the SR, the SR was an evolution, but not one brought by a need for power, but from a need for emissions and low manufacturing costs. It cost nissan more ot make a CA than it did to make an SR, its easy to se why, a CA is essentially a Baby RB, look at the FACTS:

CA has direct valve on lifter action, SR has rocker arms limiting max revs
CA has a cast iron block for strength, SR is aluminium to save weight.
CA uses a timing belt, SR has a timing chain for less maintainence.
.
But hey, it looks like you've made up your own mind, sell me your CA.

Sounds like you are trying to convince him to sell the CA .

Yeah, Sell me your CA, I'll find an unsuspecting nissan 1400 bakkie to drop it into!

to build a CA is gonna cost 15k if you lucky....to buy an SR is like 8k... realiabilty comes obviously with the parts you put in, but also the boost you are using....stock for stock the SR makes crazy power compared... I would go SR if you talking the figures you are... You should be going RB.. also remember, no ones talking NM here... the CA wont make it up here.... dispalcement means lower boost levels for the same power and higher torque by far....SR is a superior motor, the RB is just over kill which makes it awesome

Well my CA has just under 300k kms on it and is still healthy as a horse. Made 160kw on the dyno last time caver ran it. This was at snail and at the flywheel, corrected. Not bad considering stock is 126. Only (Performance) mods are 76mm zorst, cone filter and electric fans.

Ran 15.1 in a hectic head wind at dragwars.

At the moment my hydraulic lifters are quiet but if they ever start making noises I WILL swap to SR immediatly. I hate that in the CA.

If the CA can make 250wkw reliably without costing me more than doing a SR swap and achieving the same power then I will keep it. Right now the SR seems to be the easy way out though.

(Ps: anyone of you guys running the upgraded cam belt on your CA? Perhaps a group buy is in order??)

(Ps: anyone of you guys running the upgraded cam belt on your CA? Perhaps a group buy is in order??)

Didnt even know you got such a thing.

Gary57 wrote:

(Ps: anyone of you guys running the upgraded cam belt on your CA? Perhaps a group buy is in order??)

Didnt even know you got such a thing.

Same

If the CA can make 250wkw reliably without costing me more than doing a SR swap and achieving the same power then I will keep it.

What will the SR swap cost??

250wkw....

do you know what you gonna need to get that type of power?

My car makes roughly that. And that's on high boost - which i've had the car run for about 2-3 minutes in TOTAL.

If you want that type of power i'd really suggest you get the RB. Or aim lower

CA has direct valve on lifter action, SR has rocker arms limiting max revs
CA has a cast iron block for strength, SR is aluminium to save weight.
CA uses a timing belt, SR has a timing chain for less maintainence.
.
But hey, it looks like you've made up your own mind, sell me your CA.

HAve you ever revved a CA to 9000rpm? I have revved SR's to that and over 8000 consistently. You will never rev a street car that high unless you have HUGE cams. so its not a point.

When was the last time you heard of or saw a SR20 block cracking in a street car?
I believe NEVER
CAm chains have there advantages like they dont break unless you ignore the load noises for a long period of time.

Therefore I have to believe that none of your points are valid in this context.

Yes you can make 300kw from a CA as long as you run a T66 2.2 bar boost and jungle juice you must also be prepared for boost that starts at 5000rpm

Face it the CA is in the same league as ox wagons they work but we have moved on to better things.

LOL - interesting post!!!

you can make the power figures you're after in any of the motors suggested here!!! that being the CA, the SR, or the RB.

lets look at initial costs: (i'm talking engine importers fees)

CA - R6000 (engine, no gearbox)
SR - R8000 (engine, no gearbox)
RB - R10 000 (engine, no gearbox)

you already have a CA, so that will cost you nothing. but a rebuild will cost almost as much, if not slightly more than buying another import motor - maybe even as much getting an import SR!!!

but you dont seem happy with your current power, so the argument then is for the SR. in comparison, the stock SR puts out a lot more than the stock CA. so might satisfy your thirst for more power with an SR, but you still want a lot more than stock power, right? and that will take money!!! unfortunate, but true!

so my recommendation is this, get the RB. the stock RB in bruno's car is currently making 199rwkw's. there are some ancilliary upgrades, the major one being EMS, but for the most part the engine is still stock.

that RB of bruno's is as easy to drive as any stock standard 200sx, and its really quite quick. will give a hiding to many other sx's that i know!!!

you can have that for a base price of R10k.

now I haven't mentioned other costs here, i know that, but if you're going with anything else but a CA, you will have other costs that wont differ too much between the two engines.

you will still need:

EMS
gearbox
wiring
radiator
etc

so also dont forget about the other costs.

RB= Good power
Rb= costalot you can double the cost of the motor and then add some more if you want it done properly
Rb= not one single spare part in stock anywhere in the country.

You can argue all you like but for ease of fitment, power and availability of parts local and imported you cannot beat the SR.
Now if we were in say Australia I would be singing a different tune.

fokit - he's right.

just go get a 1uzfe like i said on page 1!!! LOL.

toyota rocks!!! (and nissan sx stripes are gay)