trevr

Here are my plans for my first ever motor swap. I got the car, I got the motor and ready to get it done. First thing I want to do is prep the egine bay. Right now, I have some rust about the strut tower housings, and a severe rust spot on my frame.





The strut housing I could easily patch up myself. But the cancer on the frame is going to cost me.



Yes, its so nasty it worked its way through the floor. Could of all been prevented with a heat shield.

My engine of choice is the CA18DET. It fit my budget. It easily puts out the horse power I want (250-275hp) with upgrades on the outside. I don't plan on doing anything internally with the motor unless I have to.






82,750 kilometers on the motor, about 44,000 miles. Compression per cylinder easily over 220psi

Once the egine bay is done, and before putting the motor in I plan on replacing the front and rear main seal. Install new clutch with pressure plate, new valve cover gasket, and new water pump.

Once that is done, I plan to installing the motor into the car with new engine and tranny mounts and then the pain saking task to get it running. Once I accomplish this, I will move on to the next step of making it realiable and silly fast.

Seems easy enough.. hopefully.... Any hints, tips or shortcuts are more than welcome! I'll keep adding to this as I go.




Here's my beloved KA24DE


Here is what is left. About to be pulled next weekend.

MS!3

iTrader: (1)

looks good. hopfully youll get it back together and running right. good luck with the swap.

zenkislider

good luck, heep us updated. i always like the CA

240's"r"us

nice whats the tq on the ca

trevr

CA18-DET Stock
Type: 1809cc EFI DOHC 16 valve 4cyl turbo
Power: 175hp @ 6400rpm (195hp @ 6400rpm 87-88)
Torque: 165ft-lbs @ 4000rpm (148ft-lbs @ 4000rpm 87-88)

KerosineK

Nice and good luck with it, should have just kept the KA though, my $.02

trevr

ahh yes, the KA. Loved it to death... true story. But as a hobby car, I wanted to perform a swap.

trevr

Click here to see Video

Here's a nice video of this motor in action. Its not the fastest CA I've seen but still nice. The motor is very rev happy being able to hit 8500rpm's with its smaller displacemnt and forged internals.

Click here to see Video

40 - 145mph

re037

gl on the cancer man

LA_phantom_240

lol. ur KA is a mess with all its vacuum lines and worthless emissions devices. Get rid of all that shiat on the CA.

motegineon

haha that last vid was 500hp what do you expect

trevr

I need help finding info on which vacuum lines to keep and which lines to get rid of on the ca motor. any help will be appreciated, and please don't link me to the search button!

trevr

I finally got in some wrench time with the ca18det as I begin planning goals for the install. This is my first engine swap, and as I stand at ground zero in my planning stage, I figure I would give my first impression on what I’ve got myself into.

I bought this motor solely because it was the most affordable high revving, turbo, JDM motor I could get my hands on in the shortest amount of time. Its here, it’s on a palette, and waiting for me to get it installed and running.

I knew going into this that the CA has been scrutinized for its age and lack of available parts. I’ve realized that parts are available, but affordable parts are scarce. After some research, I discovered the list of interchangeable parts between the ka24de and the 1988 pulsar motor that gave me hope that I can accomplish this.

I concluded on three upgrades to complete before putting the motor in the car; CA18DET Nismo Motor Mounts $247, XTD Stage 3 Clutch $147, and upgraded exhaust header, and down pipe I still need to decide on and purchase. I plan on using the stock t25 ktt garrett turbo for now.

The clutch made it here with no problem, as it is designed for the ka motor and readily available. The Nismo mounts are still on back order going on the third week now.

I began the clutch replacement, and noticed that the flywheel has heat cracks throughout it. I have a local company who can hopefully resurface it. If not, the best I can find for replacement are lighten flywheels that start at $300

I didn’t realize that the ca motor doesn’t operate with a distributor or spark plug wires. The motor is equipped with a coil pack for each spark plug. I hope they are functional; I priced out replacement coils at $87 a piece.

I think everything else can be worked out when the motor is in the car. I guess that is it for now. Just rambaling on here… I’ll add to this as I go


Coil pack


Flywheel before resurface


Original Clutch, it has wierd ware on it.

motegineon

hmm goodluck, i would think a resurface should work fine so long as it hasnt been resurfaced to many times already..and yea that wear does look weird..

sr uses coilpacks as well, jus thought id add that incase u didnt know

keep us updated!

trevr

Got some more wrench time with the motor this weekend. Here is what I got done...





Installed the newly resurfaced flywheel.



I planned to get the clutch replacement finished, but the pressure plate did not bolt up to the flywheel. It was said that a ka clutch would mount up to the ca flywheel, but it was completely different pattern. I need to take a closer look to verify I received the correct clutch kit.







With the clutch setback aside, I went on to install the header and turbo. Not to much to explain here. Made it through with no broken head bolts, or any other set backs.

Mounting the turbo was a pain in the ****. Bolts were difficult to get to, but once on I used self locking washers, and and healthy dose of high temp lock-tight on each bolt. I tighten each bolt to 27 ft lbs. I hope it will hold, cause tightening these again inside the engine bay will be tough.

The new position of the turbo requires the purchase of new oil/water feed lines. I'm sure I can get these almost anywhere, but any recommendations on where to get them will be helpful.

The Nismo mounts are still on back order going on a month now.

This is about it for now, will continue to add to it as I get parts in.