Blew up the CA18ET

I had a nice stock car, and now I have a lawn ornament.
I'm still not sure what happened.  Something popped good, it dumped out plenty of oil and coolant, and they are mixed in the oil pan.
I'm thinking that it threw a rod, but everything looks ok from under the hood.  I'll investigate more when it isn't 1AM and raining.

I'm not going to miss the CA18ET, but I would like the ability to put one back in in the future.
I want to keep the body of the car completely stock.  Is it possible to do a swap into these cars without modifying the body at all (however minor the modification is - such as opening up the hole for the shifter, denting something for clearance, etc.).
The body of my car is perfect and I'd like to keep it that way.
It's an '85 turbo so I have the B trans.  I like the idea of a KA24DE but honestly wasn't planning on swapping this car.  Now I'm in a bind and need to get it rolling again.  If I found a CA18ET nearby I suppose I would fix it but I'm not sure.
What do you guys think?

Depending on which transmission you use, a lot of swaps require no modification to the body at all. I have a S14 SR20DE in my 86.5 notchback. I made a jumper harness so that way I did not have to modify the body harness at all in case I ever wanted to put it back to stock. I used the S12 "C" trans that was in the car, so all I had to do was swap the SR bellhousing onto it, and nothing else was needed and everything lines up the way it should. KA would be the same way, just have to find a S12 "C" trans and drive shaft, then swap the KA bellhousing onto the S12 trans.

If you need to get it rolling again as 1st priority, drop in another running CA18 - unless you really dislike the motor and have other needs for the car. Should just be a weekend project that way. Cajun1guy is a good source of info for any questions you may have on this motor. Sorry to hear yours died, and glad you want to keep your car stock. Not too many left that can claim that.

ca18det

you probably shattered your ring lands or you dropped a valve which in turn usually puts a hole in the piston or you melted a hole in the piston by detonation. that usually happens down the side of the piston

put a ka24de in it...its the cheap route easy to fiind and a super easy swap

I couldn't really snap a great picture, but there is a connecting rod sticking out of the engine.

Newb question: is the mk1 body identical to the mk1.5 (or mk2)?  The C-Trans bolts right up without modifying the shifter hole or anything?  It's the S13 trans that requires that sort of modification?  My B-trans shifts horribly anyway.

cory matthews on 07:40:25 PM / 29-Apr-13I couldn't really snap a great picture, but there is a connecting rod sticking out of the engine.

that, and if you need a replacement T2 I have like a few lol

Get a CA20E in there with your turbo bits, get running, then leisurely gather your KA24DE swap and associated parts. No, it isn't hard in terms of what has to be done, but with any swap there are unexpected things that happen differently with every car, and no matter how competent you are, you haven't done this particular swap before. If you had the luxury of some time I would say DO IT with the KA.

While we're at it - is the SE V6 transmission and mounting exactly the same as in a mk2 CA20E car?

The VG Bellhousing is different

If I'm swapping bellhousings anyway is it otherwise the same?  Is the mounting different?

Cory im in buffalo too! do you go to cruise night @ Lancaster at all? there was like 30,000 people there last week - ton of 240s up there.. a lot of them probably have sources for ka's but in our general vicinity most of them have sr20dets for some reason? if you are planning on swapping over the winter maybe we can get together and help eachother out as I am planning on either a KA swap or an SR depending on which one I find more reasonable
Post Merge

Yeah man we'll definitely meet up some time.  I think I was the only S12 guy for a while.

So I bought an engine today.  Got a '93 KA24DE that is currently in a '92 240sx.  It is still the guy's daily driver, but he's swapping in a built turbo KA in the next couple of weeks.  I didn't have my compression tester handy, but I went for a ride in the car and everything seems to be in order.  He says it has about 140k on it.  I'm willing to take the gamble.
I paid $300 and it includes the wiring harness, ECU, bellhousing, and an S14 exhaust manifold.

We'll see if it turns out to be a decent deal.  I really didn't feel like spending a lot of time looking.
Oh, and it was less than a four minute drive from where I work to meet up with the guy.

that's pretty cheap... I would do a rebuild on it before you actually drop it in though.. are you swapping your engine yourself? and if you need any help let me know - I need to learn how to do the ka swap and am probably going to need some help as I have no prior experience with these cars (JDM). only swapped and built American muscle ;)

I've never swapped a motor on these cars (I've done countless AWD Mitsubishis), but it seems pretty easy.
I definitely wouldn't mind if you wanted to stop by.  My car is actually sitting on gravel, and somebody is going to have to help me push it to the paved section of the lot...

I would definitely be replacing gaskets/seals, etc, but I'm not sure if I will at this time because of the fact that I have no garage and the car is sitting outside on gravel (I have no place to store the engine when I get it, and no truck to transport it around easily).
Once it's in there I'll probably end up driving it to my parents' house and borrowing some garage space or something.  Although there's only a 30% chance of them being ok with that.

hah well whatever happens we'll figure it out.. I mean we cant be the only 2 s12 owners in WNY.. but who knows as these cars are actually pretty rare. like I said though im down to help and 2 heads is better than 1 with a project like this hah