Ok to start off stay off here if all your going to say it's not worth it or it's too much money. Guess what I don't care I wanna build a ca20 for fun. Thanks.
Now I've looked and can't find parts for this motor like at all. I'm building adrift shut body is almost don't and just want a little more power. So anyone know of any parts at all to swap out to even make the smallest upgrade don't care what it is I wanna try everything lol
Thanks Logan
Take it from a guy that's been driving CA20's for 25 years - It's gunna blow!! - but that's ok, have fun with it and don't mind the negative comments you are about to get, lol
Yup, your going to get alot of people thinking/saying its not worth it when 240sx guys tossing ka's out all day on craigslist. but fuck the haters. we need people like you to waste money to prove things work. I love my little ca20e daily driver. Just curious of what you already did to your ca20e? any bolt on mod's? tuned or anything like that?
I have nothing done but ngk wires and spark plugs lol new cap. Well takin care of motor. Old/filter changed all the time. I wanna do bigger injectors but not sure how big I can go. Also wanna do k&n cold air intake. Going to do a nice 2.5 or 3 inch straight pipe soon. I'm guess ing with those thing done I can pull 125 130hp out of it? Lol but someday I wanna get a ka24et put that in with a t25g and then just build a monster ca20et with whatever I can get on there. Heat treat the block to it won't blow out the side lol. Just find any parts that can fit on there. And get my hands on. Id like to do some upgraded valves or something?
It all maters on how much money you have. Do as much reading on clubs12 as possible. "search is on the right >" they always say in chat room. :) Im still unsure on how much info you know or your searching skills and your mechanic skills so its sometimes tuff to explain stuff to people. It took me 1 year before i even had a clue on this forum. I have a silvertop ca20e and loved it as a daily driver but im moving on to something i can upgrade for cheaper. I gathered a little info over the last year im going to dump for you really quick if you dont mind. Anyone correct me if im wrong. and for real. please do, so i know for when i talk to the noob's about the ca20e. let me know if i leave anything out or got mixed up. this is all on the top of my head.
Do some simple things.
Cold air intake: I seen aftermarket 240sx cold air tubes ran over the radiator, yuk!. that is the simple route. I went the other route and put my battery in the trunk so i can do the short ram intake. Battery cable and battery terminal block came out a bmw from junkyard. then i used all stock ca20e tube's to run the plenum(check out my build thread). when battery is out the way you can easily run any intake setup you want. as for that trap door air sensor thing. you can't upgrade to modern strait threw design. your stuck with the trap door(i heard the miata might work and has little bigger bore, maybee the celica also?). you can get the adapter for cone filter from any autoparts store. i think its mazda miata that somewhat fits. just drill two extra holes.
Throttle body: the "pig nose" 240sx single over head cam ka24e throttle body fits onto the ca20e intake with little bore to the intake manifold. Its a direct bolt on. But i suggest you do little bore to the intake so its not a pointless mod. I didn't do this yet. but i plan on pulling one from junkyard for the hell of it.
Fuel and timeing: I put higher octane gas in my car and bumped the timeing tord the firewall. I didn't slam it like other told me to do on clubs12. i just bumped it up a little. i slammed it once and didn't seem to notice a diffrence so i went back to just a bump. This was free, besides the gas. haha. it gave the car more crisp feel takeing off from the line. I was amazed. If you strapped for cash sometime like me and can't afford good gas. just bump the timeing back down away from firewall and it run just as good. You can leave the timeing when going from good to shitty gas if you want. i do. but i think its smart to always keep your car in time for the type of gas you using. if you don't understand this part do some reading. it took me a timing light and 4 days to understand. im not a fast learner.
Coil: i heard to ditch the stock coils asap and get aftermarket one's for any muscle car. I didn't im a broke ass and still yet to find them in junkyards. haha someone said and i quote "a coil's a coil" i don't know if that is true. but the expensive aftermarket one at pepboys or autozone works from the pictures ive seen on google images and clubs12.
another thing about the coil. Some people bridge the two coils together so intake and exhaust is always fireing and one don't cut off anymore like stock. Some say its stupid and pointless. other claim it works and give you little more pep in your step. i tryed it and went back to stock 10mins later. so im a disbeliever.
Exhaust: Pacesetter makes headers. I heard they just sound cool. got deap growl but really dont' do shit at all. i see them on ebay every once and while new and used and still debating on getting them. i cut my cat off first day i had my s12 and brang it to the scrap yard and got my $60 and that payed for my crap exhaust work i got done at a local muffler shop.
Injectors: im unsure about this as i dont' think it really going to help. if so. the ca18et rail and injector's fit and little bigger flow. Can't you just get a aftermarket adjustable fuel pressure regulator and turn it up a notch? max out the stock one's? what would more gas help a n/a motor anyway? this is something i know nothing about beacuse i didn't read up on it yet. I just got done blowing my stock fpr from installing a walbro 255 that i got for free. I ended up cut my fuel rail and put a aftermarket fuel pressure regualter on. I wish i did that few months ago. or when i first put the walbro255 on.
Cam: i seen the "EURO CAM" many times on ebay and heard no fuss about it at all. If anything i heard its a waste of time and money. but everyone is going to say that about the ca20e no matter what. its something you get use to or you move on to bigger and better things. lets face it. the ca20e is a daily driver with "match stick rods" as everyone says.
Did i leave anything out? Oh, custom 1 piece drive shaft. maybee a alum flywheel?(i never looked into the ca18det and sr20det(something about removing the guide pins and sr20det fits on ca18det and the ca20e is ALMOST the same as ca18det) flywheel bolting up) i think that might be my search string for the night. haha
Just keep your spirit alive like you seem to have about the ca20e in your first comment on this post. we need more people like you. I had high hopes that got crushed within a few months. i let it all get to me and lost faith in the ca20e. it seem rednucleus didn't and kept on loving the ca20e. makeing the ca20et possible. Other going to try to crush your hope's and dreams. And now after a 2 years i understand why. the ca20e has poor flowing heads, even port and polish and all that stuff. just no room to go in the thickness of the head or/and intake. so no matter what aftermarket parts we find out bolt up or tweaks we can do to this motor. it still going to not flow. someone once told me tot think of motor's as a big air pump. you can put a big ass cold air intake on the motor. you can put great flowing exhuast. you can try like other with time and money to blow have done. but in the end. its the head design that is stoping it from being a good platform to dump money on.
Do it man, don't worry about our opinion if you should or not, and just go do it. I took my whole CA20E apart and put it all back together at 162,000 miles, still looked great inside. They are solid 90hp motors, I bet you can get to 110-115 with some thought out mods.
ne2rk on 07:06:18 PM / 11-Feb-13 single over head cam ka24e throttle body fits onto the ca20e intake with little bore to the intake manifold. Its a direct bolt on. But i suggest you do little bore to the intake so its not a pointless mod. I didn't do this yet. but i plan on pulling one from junkyard for the hell of it.
ne2rk on 07:06:18 PM / 11-Feb-13another thing about the coil. Some people bridge the two coils together so intake and exhaust is always fireing and one don't cut off anymore like stock. Some say its stupid and pointless. other claim it works and give you little more pep in your step. i tryed it and went back to stock 10mins later. so im a disbeliever.
ne2rk on 07:06:18 PM / 11-Feb-13Exhaust: Pacesetter makes headers. I heard they just sound cool. got deap growl but really dont' do shit at all. i see them on ebay every once and while new and used and still debating on getting them. i cut my cat off first day i had my s12 and brang it to the scrap yard and got my $60 and that payed for my crap exhaust work i got done at a local muffler shop.
Thank you guys for the info. It will help a lot and Justus u know I understand car talk lol I'm 19 I've been S.E.A. certified for 3 years now and next year I plan on going to collage for auto. I love my ca20 and I wI'll build it tell it blows then do a fully built ka24et.
So plans it looks like I'm going to do in the next 2 months. Straight pipe. ka24e intake MAF. fuel rail. bigger injectors. Advanced timing. K&n intake cone. Program my ecu. Electric fans. And try and find a new ca20e head. I think all that for now I can put 130hp to the wheels??? Look for my parts to sell soon and my build soon on here once I learn to post pics. Thanks for the help. Fill free to post any links for parts!!!
hey there keep up the enthusiasm do what you want to the motor, its yours not anyone else's. all the mods people have mentioned are great and if you do all that stuff you can of course port your head like i did on my ca18et and i also put in a bigger cam from webcams they make a couple different grinds and i felt a major upgrade when i did the cam. i also put in stiffer valve springs so i could up my rev limit to take advantage of the cam and ported intake head and exhaust. hope you get all that you want from the ca20
Im not one to tell you not to do im currently in the process of doing a 400hp single cam ca18et that I was told it couldnt be done but i will do it zo fuck the haters and keep it moving just make sure you post vids of it smashin on shit ....
Don't do a strait pipe, its going to rob you of your bottom end torque. a muffler gives you back pressure and that gives you your bottom end. unless you only looking for horse power and high rev's then go for the strait pipe. I have my exhaust dumped out the side before the axle with a crap muffler. when i had a exhaust leak it had no bottom end at all and was super slow. when i drove home from muffler shop i had huge smile on my face from the low end torque. not trying to tell you what to do. just saying...
And its the ka24e throttle body. not the maf. we stuck with the trap door with the ca20e. unless you know mad skills to program the ecu to understand the ka maf. i read on clubs12 of people pipe dreaming about this. i dont' think its possible at all!
How you program your ecu? maybee piggyback it with apexi type unit? im unsure about this subject(i messed with miata's and honda's apexi). but i never heard of anyone doing work to the stock ca20e ecu. if you do. make sure to post info. we rely on people like you young bloods to do the dirty work for us, well the older guys doing awesome stuff also. just be sure to share your info with the rest of the clubs12 community if it fails or works out for you.
oops. i did leave out something. the electric fans! i got two blue 12inch 12volt electric fans from ebay for only $40. i think that is like 3hp or something like that. quicker rev's? when you go to put some aftermarket or junkyard fans in your s12. grab a blue nissan relay and wire that up to a temp sensor or a toggle switch. i went with the temp sensor beacuse i forget to turn "dummy" switch on and over heat my car like a idiot i am. hit me up if you need more info on this mod.
as for posting pictures. get a photobucket account. upload your pics. then when they uploaded to photobucket you can grab a link that is embedded and take that source code and enter into clubs12. its super easy. and even easyer if you have a android phone like i do.
what you plan on doing to the fuel rail? i seen a bunch of alum fuel rails in junkyard i was thinking of finding one off any car to customize to the ca20e. but i think we stuck with the stock metal tube rail's that the ca20e and ca18et has. What i did was cut the rail and double flange it so i can put a aftermarket afpr and soft line clamped onto the stock rail. easy and well worth your time. cost me $30 to do that mod. again. i wish i did this when i first got the car or atleast 3 months ago. it would of solved alot of my stupid problems that i ran into.
keep the info rolling. keep the ca20e thread's alive. i love learning about this daily driver motor. i need and want to know more about this subject. i think i have over 3 weeks of "ca20e" search addiction up my sleeve. 80percent of it was... don't waste your time. but don't let that stop any of us. like jeremy said. "Keep up the enthusiasm"
Get a ca20 powered. Nissan stanza Ecu I believe that's the one that for some reason can have a nistune put on it
Thanks for the info guys. Wish u guys lived here in wa lol I have no one to really help me with mods like this.
And ne2rk I'd like to know about how to put the fans in like wiring them up? Also the ecu I'm having a buddy do it when I drive up to see him. But go and ask him what he does. He's on here but I forget his name here. His real name Bryan bastian. Look him up on fb.
Easiest thing for the fans is to just run them to a switch on the dash somewhere so u can run them whenever you want. There's a write up here tho about wiring them up I think in the how-to section.
Cool I'll take a look
Or depending on the year you can run the fans to the a/c temp switch (if you dont plan on using your a/c) thats what i did and the fan kicks on automatically and you dont have to worry about forgetting to turn them on....
using the stock a/c! that is neat idea. stuff like that never cross's my mind. i think that be super cool option.
Its been a few months sense i did this job so my mind is little fuzzy and im too lazy to confirm my info before i write this out. so work with me and correct any mistakes if you can guys. im sure by this quick writeup you guys can tell im not that smart at all. and i never correct my spelling. so beware grammar nazi's. i just got good google searching skills. i just type it out from the top of my head with hopes of helping out. if my info is wrong then just google search everyday. always be on a mission to learn from this super powerful thing people use and abuse called the internet.
you can order a electric fan kit for way too much money. they over $40 for a stupid relay and colorful wires. what a waste. i will use that money for other car parts. if you got money to spend then its easyer to just ditch out money like any idiot. But with the internet at your finger tips and wanting to learn. you can find 100's of write-up on muscle car websites/forums. you can do it for almost free. plus if you self teach yourself this you can do it to all your buddy's cars for the next 10 years like i did. :)
what i did was search google images for the diagram that someone was kind enuf to draw up for the rest of the world. Then i got a blue relay from junkyard for free. got some wire connector's that fit into the relay. i already had the wires laying around. blue, red, yellow and black. ordered a "temp adapter" that you cut into your radiator hose(you might be able to use the stock temp sensor location, but then you might loose your dummy light on the interment cluster). i payed $4 for a blue temp adapter from ebay. amazing deal. you have the option of running a toggle/kill switch in the cab. you can always do this in the future. go to autoparts store and get a temp sensor at whatever temperature you want your fans to kick on at. try to go to autoparts store where the guys know what they doing and not sitting infront of a computer asking what year/model/make your car is. i hate those fags. they always give me shit. lol make sure its same thread as temp adapter.
just don't run hot wires into the cab and start a fire. that is what a rely is for. think of the relay as a remote toggle/kill switch. again. google image search for the diagram so all this mess i write out makes some sense. haha.
the relay needs 4 wires.
1st is strait battery power with inline fuse(yellow). use same size wire as electric fans have. this is your source
2nd is the positive from the electric fans(red) ground the fans black wire anywhere your heart desires
3rd is a ground to chassis that the relay needs. it can be a skinny wire(black). this helps toggle and switch the relay to "on" position.
the last is the toggle wire that you run to the temp sensor to let the relay/fans know when to turn on(blue). that wire i call the toggle wire can be bridged to a toggle switch in the cab if you want control over the fans. this can be same size as the relay's ground wire. if you don't want to use a temp sensor you can just run a skinny wire to the cab to a toggle switch and rely on yourself to not forget everyday. everyone will forget at least once. so better off with temp sensor with option of toggle switch in cab.
what the temp sensor does is when it hits the temperature its rated at. like as when you want the fans to kick on automatically. it grounds itself to the chassis. completing the circuit. that tells the relay to turn on. the relay flips to "on" and opens a gateway to allow the 12volt battery wire to power up the fans. just like a toggle switch you flip with your hand.
when you figure this out. its a joke. when i did this first time 10 years ago i didn't even know what a relay was. i just looked at the top of the nissan blue relay and looked at the drawing with squiggly lines and got my handy test light that every human should own. that didn't help much so i ripped one open to see how it works. because that is how i learn sometimes. i messed around with a battery and test light and blew 2 up and smoked them like a idiot. it was fun. i figured it out tho. only if i knew how to search the internet at that time i would of saved myself alot of trouble. now i install them on all my friends cars with hopes of 2-3hp and quicker rev's. its all fun and games in the end.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/26MM-1-10-Water-temp-Sensor-Adaptor-Gauge-Radiator-Hose-BLUE-/140906066144?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item20cea7f0e0&vxp=mtr
you can order the mishimoto rad and e fans for just over 200 get the one for the ka as it has the inlet and out let setup the same way the ca does...
good call. somehow i didn't ever think of that search string or didn't stumble across those deals. i searched "240sx radiator fan" and got massive amount of results. $120-200 for alum rad and fan no shroud. for $250 you can get alum radiator and fan and shroud. $8-15 dollars gets you a relay kit(universal) i guess my price check of the relay kit from jegs/summit or at local autopart store nothing like the price on ebay. radiator relay kit vs. universal kit. huge jump in price. even tho its the same shit. I will be ordering a 240sx ka radiator really soon. thanks for the info. im still learning everyday.
Hope this might help with the fans
http://club-s12.org/retro4/index.php?topic=32814.0
Ok all I need now to do is a intake. Im not sure about what I can deleate out and what I need to keep? Also tonight or this weekend I will be doing the timing. Car has been running amazing. After tonight I will start to find out what im getting for mpg