CA18DET or SR20DET

[Ecotec]

Ok guys another engine swap question for you.

 

CA18DET:

- high revving

- lower cost

- unique

 

SR20DET

- more power stock

- more power potential

- newer

- more info for the swap

 

 

Obviously the SR20DET is the better motor but the CA18DET is pretty cool and unique and not that much different than the SR.

[Skib]

only thing I can think of is that the SR might be easier to find, I dont see many CA's around. a CA would be cool cuz you never see them

[yellowdatsun]

If I had the choice I'd do the CA18DET, because it looks like a small RB26. The SR20's are getting to be what the VG30 was a few years back, too popular. Here's where doing something different is a good thing......different motor, but still in the Nissan Family.

[cjr198car]

Slightly off topic:

 

Ive had an SR powered 240 coupe and my VG 510. I dont have experience with the CA. What I have gathered is that I enjoy the VG driving experience more than the SR. The SR created more power and was peaky (very fun, great freeway car). The VG gives smoother power delivery (great for autoX and daily driving). Cant go to the junkyard and get an SR or CA where as the VG came in about everything and can be had for about $300 in my area (thus why I use a liberal amount of nitrous). If you are starting from square one you might want to look at a few VG setups (cheaper, easier to source parts, smooth power delivery). I just wanted to throw the idea out there.

 

If you are dead set on the SR or a CA I would do the SR due to more parts availability and tuning knowledge (in my area atleast).

 

-cjr198car

[sssr20det510]

Not trying to be a dick but do you even own a 510??? if so post up some pics. If not work on getting a 510 first then worry about a motor swap, or buy one with a swap already

[b210in]

the sr is an awesome engine. but, when was the last time you went to a car show and said, "dam, that sr swapped into anything is hella cool." you lift up the hood and it's more "been there done that. it's hard to stand out with an sr swap.

 

for power per dollar and parts availability, you should swap the sr. if your goal is a more race than street car, i would go sr.

 

personnally, i'm partial to the ca. the ca is becoming more of our generations "FJ" status engine. it's a little harder to get running good since parts are becoming more scarce and fewer people are swapping them into their cars.

[nick_m]

Man you think SR swaps are common in the states you should see New Zealand.

NZ doesn't have a local car industry so jap imports aren't taxed that bad. SO basically that means sr20's and 13b's have been swapped into just about everything you can imagine.

 

But back on topic basically either one will be cool. They are both great motors. Only thing I will say against ca's is the coils f$ck out, heaps of my mates have had problems with them. Its sometimes easier just to give them the ass and change away from the coil on plug coils.

[ichorid]

http://www.turbophile.com/technical/faq.html#3

 

that goes over a great amount of this discussion. Get the SR honestly its going to be easier to deal with in the long run.

[jnec510]

i would go with a ka. much larger motor= more power potential. i have be in a ca car an wasnt very impressed. sr car made me smile. but a turbo ka car made me shit myself. had so much more power then an sr or ca. no it sounds like your into reinventing the wheel, so why notake the road less traveled an go with one of those 3 cylinder geo motors. bad ass:p

[freckles]

i would go with a ka. much larger motor= more power potential. i have be in a ca car an wasnt very impressed. sr car made me smile. but a turbo ka car made me shit myself. had so much more power then an sr or ca. no it sounds like your into reinventing the wheel, so why notake the road less traveled an go with one of those 3 cylinder geo motors. bad ass:p

 

ide have to agree with jay on this one CA's arent to popular and hardly anyone does a proper KA-T and SR's are somewhat fanboi imo,,everyone and there moms have one. KA24E-T FTMFW! or CA18det to be different..choice is yours though

Edited June 10, 2009 by freckles

[LeX]

if you guys are into being unique but want a factory turbo option then do CA18ET or a Z18ET.. Z18et is hard to find but it's unique. There's one really nice swapped Z18et one thats blue you can find easily online.

 

CA18ET i dont know of anyone with one of em in a 510.... since they are single cam people almost give them away if they are swapping a dual cam or SR into their S12... why dont you try one of them..

 

or in the states a FJ is pretty cool cause people dont really run them at all.

 

I personally have a SR due to availability. I couldnt find a FJ and i didnt really want to run a CA particularly much cause i factored in what I wanted and for the money the SR seemed a better option. Over here on the East Coast nobody in my state runs an SR in their 510 (let alone in a wagon) so it's unique enough over here except everyone with a 240sx has one in there

 

 

z18et 260whp @15psi but with a lot of work done.

 

ca18et

Edited June 10, 2009 by LeX

[ichorid]

if the debate is now, SR vs CA vs KA24DE-T

 

 

KA24DE-T ALLLLLLLLLLL DAYYYYYYYYYYYY a well built KA-T will destroy any of those engines. But WELLL BUILT not ebay turbo kit and cheepo parts. read up on KA-T.org and find a valuable setup. You would end up with a powerful DD that can pull on any car around.

[b210in]

i disagree with your assesment of the ka. a "well built" ka will nearly double the price of an sr. while the ka can be built to run with any engine, the investment of power per dollar just doesn't make any sense, when compared to the sr.

[freckles]

i disagree with your assesment of the ka. a "well built" ka will nearly double the price of an sr. while the ka can be built to run with any engine, the investment of power per dollar just doesn't make any sense, when compared to the sr.

true in a sence..but a buddies 75$ ka24e with a z31 turbo and a rom tune blows every sr ive seen out of the water and its reliable,with stock internals @ 9 psi

 

again single cam turbo ftw!

[yellowdatsun]

I personally have the VG30, and LOVE the torque. No need to shift gears nearly as often, pulls very hard even from 1k. Plus, as mentioned already, they sold a zillion of these things. You have a ton of intake options, different exhaust options, and everything cost nearly nothing at the JY. Plus you can go to ANY parts store and get what you need. Even ECU's are dirt cheap, just because they are so easy to find. They are also indestructible, seriously. They will hit 300k without much problems. Mine has probably 225k, and has only had valve seals put in a few years back. Still runs perfect.

 

Heck, I had bought the Z31 to do my swap for $250. The WHOLE car for $250. Used the engine and tranny, then sold the rest and made a profit.

 

 

Mine is geared way to high with a 3.36, but, it just lopes along on the highway. I did it for the 1000 miles jaunts to Shasta from Phoenix.

[Ecotec]

I personally have the VG30, and LOVE the torque. No need to shift gears nearly as often, pulls very hard even from 1k. Plus, as mentioned already, they sold a zillion of these things. You have a ton of intake options, different exhaust options, and everything cost nearly nothing at the JY. Plus you can go to ANY parts store and get what you need. Even ECU's are dirt cheap, just because they are so easy to find. They are also indestructible, seriously. They will hit 300k without much problems. Mine has probably 225k, and has only had valve seals put in a few years back. Still runs perfect.

 

Heck, I had bought the Z31 to do my swap for $250. The WHOLE car for $250. Used the engine and tranny, then sold the rest and made a profit.

 

 

Mine is geared way to high with a 3.36, but, it just lopes along on the highway. I did it for the 1000 miles jaunts to Shasta from Phoenix.

 

 

Nice. I guess the big question is, how much power can you get out of a VG30 for not a lot of $$$? What about a turbo VG30? Is that a whole lot tougher swap than a N/A VG30?

[defdes]

[ichorid]

with that picture you know you win...

 

Honestly even non-turbo KA's are great to drive.

 

I also disagree that a well built KA would cost 2x the price, KA's are REALLY cheap and get torn out for SRs all the time. SRs have an SR price tag, and its not cheap to rebuild. A nice kit for your turbo KA, can be made/bought for under 3500 dollars. And you can get a well built KA-T safely up to 320rwhp and 300lb of torque. I dont know any one personally with an SR20det 510. But I have seen plenty of 240sx SR swaps, even when those guys were saving money by just buying low mile SR20s and not rebuilding em they were costly to source.

 

By well built I don't mean some crazy race crate KA. Just a KA with modest modification, rebuilt, upgraded suspension, and brakes. but those same things should be in an SR swap too. So they dont really change the price battle. To each his own though, if every one had a SR or KA that wouldnt be fun.

Edited June 11, 2009 by ichorid

[yellowdatsun]

A turbo VG30 is WAY harder than an NA VG30, because of the exhaust and mounting the turbo. You lose engine bay room really fast. But a 510 with the turbo VG30 is absurdly fast. I've ridden in a lot of 510's, and the turbo VG30 one is the only one where I've said "holy $h!t" when he rolled onto the throttle. WAAY more power than you need in a 510. A normal VG30 has plenty of torque and power for these little cars. Plus, like I said, since they have a lot of torque, the power curve is very flat and not peaky like the SR20. My buddies SR20 needs to hit 4k before he get's a lot of HP, where as mine get's going at 1k.

 

 

The stock VG30 with an intake/headers/exhaust is a little under 200hp. Stock from the factory they are around 160. But it's the torque that makes the huge difference. Here's a pic of mine before I changed the color to grey:

[Ecotec]

A turbo VG30 is WAY harder than an NA VG30, because of the exhaust and mounting the turbo. You lose engine bay room really fast. But a 510 with the turbo VG30 is absurdly fast. I've ridden in a lot of 510's, and the turbo VG30 one is the only one where I've said "holy $h!t" when he rolled onto the throttle. WAAY more power than you need in a 510. A normal VG30 has plenty of torque and power for these little cars. Plus, like I said, since they have a lot of torque, the power curve is very flat and not peaky like the SR20. My buddies SR20 needs to hit 4k before he get's a lot of HP, where as mine get's going at 1k.

 

 

The stock VG30 with an intake/headers/exhaust is a little under 200hp. Stock from the factory they are around 160. But it's the torque that makes the huge difference. Here's a pic of mine before I changed the color to grey:

 

 

 

So what do guys do to get more power from a N/A VG30? What would you need to do in order to get 230hp + 230ft lbs at the crank?

[Gary]

we've got CA's and SR's, FJ's and Z series a plenty in aus

 

CA's - old :( full rebuild before you start or else you WILL have dramas. peaky but they revvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv! awesome engines, id love to go nuts on one NA someday

 

SR's - stout, torquey, common, good aftermarket, generally tuff. honestly worth forgetting about being 'different' - id put 'getting what you want' ahead of being different (such an excuse never really justified a shit result :D) typically smoooth engines compared to older ones like FJ

 

FJ - epic cool :D essentially an older, harsher SR20 (theyre not really, but for comparisons sake). i dont know a lot else about em, aside from that theyre strong engines

 

have you done conversions before? id steer clear of anything tricky straight up if you havent done one before... all good and well to say 'yeah im putting xx engine innit!' but doing it is another thing entirely :)

[b210in]

 

this is pimp status, very nice

[yellowdatsun]

Unless you build up the internals you won't get 230hp from an NA VG30. Getting a VG33 from a newer pathfinder of pickup would help though. I've had mine for 6 years now though, and I'm still happy with the power output.

 

Plus like mentioned before, there's something to be said about how common these engines are. I can go to any JY or parts store and get anything I need. Plus it's all dirt cheap.

[defdes]

this is pimp status, very nice

 

Thanks, I try to keep my pimp hand strong.

[thisisastickup]

while there's a thread up about it, should i do a KA or VG30? a friend is swapping out his KAfor an SR in his s14, and i could get KA + trans + everything else he takes out for about 350-400. which one is more worth it? which one will make more power and torque?