Im picking up a bog standard 200sx and dont want to mod it, just want to get it as reliable as is possible with a ca18, and just use it. Mileage is high on it, 170k isk. Timing belt was done not long ago. What steps can I take to prevent the inevitable death happening? Certain oils, oil pumps, baffled sumps etc etc? What is the done thing? I know they cant be as bad as people make them out to be. Any help appreciated, cheers!
I reckon just stick some fresh crank bearings in and clean all the breather systems out so nothing gets pressurised unduely? But i dunno, im not that up on CA's other than them doing bottom ends.
tbh, if it isnt broke dont fix it. you can spend a few hundred on an oil cooler, a few hundred more on a sump, a few more on loads of oil changes. but weigh it up. a second hand lowish mileage can be had for £150! so is it really worth it? if its done 170k, its likely to die sooner or later, go out there, make a positive effort to destroy it, youll prob find it goes on for ages
I agree with Jack. Just give it a service. Make sure it's running ok and go have fun when it blows get a lowish millage ca for £200
Theres no engines over here, so id have to ship one over from your island, which would probably cost a bit But yeh, im just going to service it and see if it actualy runs. Intercooler pipes and mani were off so didnt get to hear it properly. Ah, I just thought there might be a few little tricks with them from people whove had a few! Breathers, new oil and filter, and catch can ,thats what ive heard so far!
the crank breather under the inlet manifold likes to block this will be highlited by the dipstick popping out. a decent oil pressure/temp gauge and decent cooling. try and leave it as standard as possible as in my experience they die more around 300bhp at 170k it will be on borrowed time anyway unlees its had a new engine or a fair bit of work. nissan recomends new shells at 100k
Yo dudes, just found out that it had had a rebuild by a previous owner, then was used on and off for 2 years or so with differant owners, so I 'may' have a bit of hope for it being actualy healthy? It will be kept standard or near on, ie, air filter, straight through, then posibly a fuel pump and a top mount intercooler as I may have a core here to do it with
Some are great, others arent. Id highly recommend the double breather/catch can system, and after mine Id be looking at a modified sump pickup, or ideally a baffled/different sump. Leave the bottom end until it breaks, for sure.
Unless it's been nannied from new - it's highly unlikely that it's on its first set of shells or even the original engine. Unless the engine has some funky bits in it (rods, pistons, head work etc) it's not worth taking the engine out of the car and rebuilding it. If I was you, I would get the engine you have running so you know the car works and then go drive it. In the meantime, buy yourself a cheep £150 long block and give it to somebody who will tear it down and give it a good check over. (if you get stuck, give me a bell) Wash and face the block Skim the head Crack test and polish the crank Hone the bores New shells & rings New Oil pump New standard head gasket (standard bottom end won't be reliable past 300hp anyway) Clean out all the breathers and put it back together. You should have something that's pretty bullet proof. That's how you gain piece of mind and reliability. But it costs money to do - if your pretty handy with a spanner and you like changing engines then you can use the CA18 as a disposable component and keep throwing in £150 - £200 engines and running them till they go bang. For a rebuild: By the time you have bought the engine, done the machining and bought the parts & gaskets your probably not going to have much change out of a £1000. In real terms that’s 3 or 4 engine changes (taking in to account oil, plugs, gaskets etc) and the inevitable downtime between. Do you want something you can get it an drive anytime to and fro with piece of mind? Or are you happy with a “cassette” engine? That’s only a question you can answer.
A rebuild can means many things, just changing bearings and piston rings is not the same as rebore & hone. At 170k the cylinders are likely to be oval shaped, so i hope it has been rebored. Can you get some infos on this ? Ownership changing that fast is usually a hint on its (poor) condition :/ If you want a reliable CA, go for a fuel pump and intercooler (the oem one is really too small, heat soaks and prevent you using the 5000+ rpm power band as it saps power) . straight through exhaust & intercooler will most likely kill the turbo in a couple thousand miles if it is old, so be prepared to change it. Exhaust is not needed, neither is aftermarket air intake. They will increase engine response and set base boost higher. OEM maps are pretty safe, stick to them. You can use a stage1 map but then only use high octane fuel, and dont use high boost when the weather is hot. It WILL do a lot of difference in engine response and increase HP a little though, your choice. A stage 1 with 0.8bar boost is more pleasant to use than an OEM mapping with 1bar boost (at more than 0.8bar boost the OEM intercooler is useless and will limit power) You can get some gauges too, to stop before it is too late... OEM water gauge is crap, dont use it. water temp, oil temp, oil press is a nice combo. If you get high temps, add a better oil/water cooler, there is no need to change them prior of needing them. No need for very expensive oil, but if you are using it on a track a 100% synthetic 10w50 will do nicely. i am using silkolene from opie oil, fine and not that expensive. You can add 0.5L of oil to the max too, will help. No need to change pump (unless it is used and does not give recommended pressures, they are 11psi min when hot at idle and 45 to 51 psi when warm at 3000rpm. Please note that when oil needs a change, it will show by having lower oil pressure than usual) or sump. Also, some oil catch tank will help. There is no need for pricey ones, empty aluminium beer cans do the job perfectly and are widely used in rally events If you really want to see if it is healthy, you can try a compression test, but it will not tell you if the bearings are any good. the only way to check this is to change them. If the engine has been rebuild, you have a good chance the crank has been reground too, so dont use numbers on crank/block/conrods to source new ones, use plastigauge to get the correct ones.
Thanks for the post and answers! I should probably have pointed out that this is a track only car, or a missile car as I like to look forward to it as im still driving the cefiro on the road. Idealy I want to spend as little as possible on the car so id say i should, going by the lack of history and miles, just put some decent oil, filter and breathers in and then drive it and see what happens? Getting it to run smoothly will be a task though..intercooler pipes were in shit in back of the car , so I just hooked the afm straight upto the inlet to get it to start to listen for knocking...didnt hear any. Standard tubbys are easy got are they? Or is there any direct bolt on alternatives?? Thanks guys
t25g would be a slight upgrade and I beleive they where stock on the red top SR'd 180's. if it was me I'd rebuild it before hand making sure the pistons and rods where matched and the crank was ballanced. since I rebuilt mine acl pistons and rings, balanced and matched, power enterprise big ends, acl race mains, mhg, ported head, DE inlet cam. S15 t28, + more. its done the last 3 years of shows and passenger ride days and my skid days and hasn't missed a beat other than a woodruff key dieing.
If I planned to have it as a reliable and long term drifter Id like down that route but its a 500 quid car so I dont want to put money into it a I said above, and aparently now it has an s14 turbo on it, so was jsut seeing if maybe that was a t25g?
right, im pretty much in the same boat as you dude. ive got a 200sx running a ca18det that i want to abuse alot and be as reliable as possible aswell as cheap. mine has been solidly abused for the past 3 years with no record of any engine work being done. the car is curently on 180k. im running a full stage 2 setup aswell, and its internally standard. i take my time to warm the engine up and cool it down. the engine gets very regular oil changes 3-5k, infact i need to do one actually. the engine itself has never let me or the previous owners down iirc (apart from splitting my rad sunday) so my theory is drive it til it blows. also i have two spare ca`s that i will be building into one decent one for when mine dies. have thought about balancing, machining, etc but i cant really see the point when they are so cheap.
Yeh, I reckon that fairly sums up what ill be doing with it Id say. If there was more ca18 engines around Ireland id be much happier on this theory but unfortunately there isnt Im always good at leaving things heat up/cool down etc so if anything I reckon itl be down to engine conditions more so than my driving style tbh!
Oil temperature gauge Oil cooler 5W50 quality oil Warm it up to 65-70 before ragging (this takes quite a while, 5-8 miles on my car) Change oil frequently (every 3k, yes this will be expensive) Keep oil and water temperatures below 105 This has been the basis of my bulletproof, more than 1000 miles on track 280HP reliable setup for 3 years
thats fair enough chap. in that case I'd make sure it gets an oil cooler and an uprated rad, and regular oil changes. but there is always the possibility it'll die. and a decent water temp oil temp and oil pressure so that you don't let it get stupid hot. hopefully its been looked after reasonably well in it's past. if it's an S14 turbo its most likely just a normal T28.
