The Obituary of Project 240sx was supposed to be the last iteration of Project 240sx on the site but I came up with a little something extra. What we have here is a basic teardown of the bare ca18det that was found in Project 240sx in a quick photo journal style. You can read the comment below each picture to get an idea of what you are looking at. This may give those that follow a little insight...
(NOTE: A lot of this information is covered in the FSM. You can download the CA18DET FSM here and check out the engine mechanical section. Background Replacing the timing belt on the CA18DET is a simple, though somewhat labor intensive task that can trip up new owners of the CA18DET. This guide will explain the process as well as a couple of shortcuts that will demystify the timing belt for new...
Related Articles CA18DET Inline Oil Cooler (UK Factory Oil Cooler) Preface As I mentioned in the Inline Oil Cooler Guide the inline cooler leaves room for the addition of a thermostatic switch style oil sender that can be used to add another oil cooler to the system. These senders (also called sandwich adapters) are traditionally used in front mount oil coolers. The thermostatic variant includes...
Background I stumbled across this oil cooler while scavenging a local salvage yard for Ford EDIS parts for a megasquirt install. This particular cooler comes as factory equipment on UK market CA18DET’s. As with most things Nissan, there are a lot of interchangeable parts and it just so happens that I found one of these oil coolers bolted to a late 80’s Nissan Maxima. (I forgot to...
Related Links CA18DET Over the Top (CA16DE) Intake Manifold Install (Part 1: What and Why) CA18DET Over the Top (CA16DE) Intake Manifold Install (Part 2: Prep) CA18DET Over the Top (CA16DE) Intake Manifold Install (Part 3: Vacuum and Wiring) With the new manifold prepped and installed, you now need to install the vacuum lines and modify the E.F.I. slightly to relocate a couple of plugs...
Related Links CA18DET Over the Top (CA16DE) Intake Manifold Install (Part 1: What and Why) CA18DET Over the Top (CA16DE) Intake Manifold Install (Part 2: Prep) CA18DET Over the Top (CA16DE) Intake Manifold Install (Part 3: Vacuum and Wiring) Whereas part 1 covered the what and why of installing the Nissan Pulsar over the top intake manifold onto the CA18DET, this second part covers the ever...
Related Links CA18DET Over the Top (CA16DE) Intake Manifold Install (Part 1: What and Why) CA18DET Over the Top (CA16DE) Intake Manifold Install (Part 2: Prep) CA18DET Over the Top (CA16DE) Intake Manifold Install (Part 3: Vacuum and Wiring) This is part 1 in a 2 part series that details the steps required to install an over the top intake manifold from a CA16DE motor onto the turbocharged...
This FAQ is a general reference for those interested in the CA18DET swap. What is the difference between a front clip and a motorset? What are the specs of the CA18DET? What additional parts are needed if I ordered a motorset? How do I wire the motor? What gauge cluster can I use? What motor mounts can I use? What turbos can I use? What is clocking the turbo and how is it done? Where can I find...
This tutorial covers the steps necessary to replace the factory flexible intake with a solid, metal pipe unit that will always draw ambient air from outside of the engine bay. This will ensure that the turbo is supplied with the coolest air possible and will provide a little less thermal load on the motor and its supporting systems. Additionally, running a custom hard pipe instead of the flexible...
Installing the larger KA24DE throttle body onto the CA18DET intake manifold is one of the rare free mods that has no drawbacks. Although a gain in horsepower is usually not evident when swapping a larger throttle body onto a pressurized (turbo charged) intake manifold, increasing the size of the throttle body will improve the motor’s on/off throttle response as well as boost response. The...
If I were to ask you what your vices are, what would you say? Now what about your automotive vices? What preoccupies your mind when you are working on a project? What grabs a hold of you and makes you a slave to the build? I myself have a few and one such vice is efficiency. More specifically, I’m talking efficiency of design, efficiency of cost and efficiency of power. This latest...
This page highlights the progression of the CA18DET swapped 240sx’s water/methanol injection install. Future tutorials will be appended when the project is complete. Images are from newest to oldest. To view the pics in order, start at the bottom. This image is here to show what the compressor blades looked like before water injection. I’ve decided to use placement #4 from this...