Nissan 200SX Club - South Africa

Afternoon everyone!!

Hope your doing well

So I have a question for the current and ex 200sx owners.. I am looking at buying a neat SX in the near future and I need to know from you guys basically what the pro's and con's are of owning one? It is not supposed to be my daily drive but for reasons it will be at least a few months.

I often hear or read horror stories about the SX and that it is so expensive to maintain and gives problems and its unreliable (CA18DET) and all of that shiz. Would like to get some personal opinions about it. I have a friend who's been driving his one for months now daily and has no hassles or issues that cause it to stand.

Thanks ladies and gents.

Once you start modding the problems start. I have a std one since 2006 and no problems. Service items are cheap, just make sure you use good oil and changed often.

The cars are nearly 20years old so there are parts that are going to break. Still cheaper to maintain then most modern cars.

just go with the flo~ do as what your hearts say!
^^ if you want it as daily then keep it stock! if you modify it then problems will never end!

Thanks for the replies guys! So is this modifying thing only applicable to the CA18DET? I mean, many SRs and so on are modified and used as daily drives (as was my car) without any problems... Or are you guys referring to heavy mods?

Can parts be sourced at local shops or do you need to pull some strings to get what you need? This is now with regards to a stock one, serviced regularly, etc etc.

Hey buddy

Most of your service part are readily available and as the guys say "cheaper than most modern cars". I've had my sx (ca18det) for a while now, i bought it with modification in mind, The first tjing i do to any second hand car i buy for modification is a complete rebuild of the motor just to mke sure everything is good. It might cost some R but when that motor is running properly you have no regrets. i normally start the mods from that point, once i know all is good, then i go further.
You never know whats happening inside the motor of a second hand car, rather safe than sorry..

Thats just 50c

Assassin wrote:Hey buddy

Most of your service part are readily available and as the guys say "cheaper than most modern cars". I've had my sx (ca18det) for a while now, i bought it with modification in mind, The first tjing i do to any second hand car i buy for modification is a complete rebuild of the motor just to mke sure everything is good. It might cost some R but when that motor is running properly you have no regrets. i normally start the mods from that point, once i know all is good, then i go further.
You never know whats happening inside the motor of a second hand car, rather safe than sorry..

Thats just 50c

Assasin is right with what he said. Both CA18DET / SR20DET & RB25DET will give you shit if you start the moding, problem is, when you start you cant stop, like an addict....

The main thing is, do some reaserch, and do it right from the word go. Dont go cheapest as cheapest means you spend more in the end on going the easy cheap route out normally.

If you want to mod, do after market ECU and get it running right with a propper rebuild before hand to know everything is right as Assasin sais. From there do your mods. If everthing is going right and your AMEcu is running fine, then do the rest of the mods and it WILL be a mission of see what works and what doesnt, but the forum should have all the info you require.

Wish the CA and SR motors I know the most common issues are CAS, Plugs, Coils and boost leaks so check these are sorted properly first. And if you have a Std ECU, things like MAF and temp sensors can cause irritating problems you wont expect.

Hope this helps, and if you need info on SR, check my build, if you have questions, post and well try answer.

Kind Regards,
Mike

Hi Sir

Go with with your gut feeling , The amount of fun the car gives to the amount of problems it gives , is priceless !

Hahah, ya you should know!!

Not to put you off , The sx stands in the week and we fix bits and bops here and there !
But weekend , ooooooo Baby !

I enjoy my sx every time i drive it ,
And even moore now when i borrow it for a day or two from my friend ,

@ Grant ja i am sure you can vouch for that .

White Fang wrote:Hi Sir

Go with with your gut feeling , The amount of fun the car gives to the amount of problems it gives , is priceless !

+1 thats true but if you want fast reliable power i would say drop a sr20det in, the ca18det has a tendancy to have bearing knock after 280kms and parts for sr are readly available compare to ca18 and sr20 can take much more beating than a ca18det.

kyle, i'm gonna have to disagree with you their buddy, they dont call the CA18DET the baby RB for nothing.

But all to their own i guess...

Well you will get much much more power gains out of a SR20 and they last much longer than the ca18 an that a fact im running just managment and cam shafts,fpr,fmic,ball bearing rs28 turbo pushing out 220kw now you show me any ca18 with that little mods push 220kw im not saying the ca18 shit but they dont last long if you hammer them bottom line.why do you think as soon as ca18 gets a knock they replace with the sr or rb

Kyle, your running a jap spec T28 turbo. Only ball bearing on the compressor side....still a baby turbo. Only difference between yours and the S14 T28 here in RSA is the ball bearing compressor side.

Plain and simple put, some motors respond better on certain mods, some motors are cheaper to mod than others. You cant compare motors. Its just silly. CA18 is also a good motor but will cost allot of money for RELIABLE power.

SR20 makes good power with small mods. Like my old car that Kyle owns now....Parts are also easier to find and allot of the time cheaper.

RB also has different attributes! I love the RB motors. Ever since I drove Shane's old SX with a 300kw RB in it was amazing! Response is epic and the sound is awesome.....but its expensive to modify hardcore!

So its all different and I dont believe the one is better than the other.......

I know about 4people that ran ca18 dead in 6months i know nobody that ran sr20 dead in 3years that drifts with them light mods

mario_200sx wrote:Kyle, your running a jap spec T28 turbo. Only ball bearing on the compressor side....still a baby turbo. Only difference between yours and the S14 T28 here in RSA is the ball bearing compressor side.

Plain and simple put, some motors respond better on certain mods, some motors are cheaper to mod than others. You cant compare motors. Its just silly. CA18 is also a good motor but will cost allot of money for RELIABLE power.

SR20 makes good power with small mods. Like my old car that Kyle owns now....Parts are also easier to find and allot of the time cheaper.

RB also has different attributes! I love the RB motors. Ever since I drove Shane's old SX with a 300kw RB in it was amazing! Response is epic and the sound is awesome.....but its expensive to modify hardcore!

So its all different and I dont believe the one is better than the other.......

+1 very true