Yeah, if we want to compare apples and oranges ...
*cough* RB 413 Maxie *cough*
Crusty old Dodge taillights look just as good whether you\'ve got a CA, SR, etc etc etc.
The biggest problem with posts of this variety is you get 99% of uninformed people spouting 99% of the automotive world\'s advertizing endeavors.
Magazine cars, dyno \"shoot outs\" etc etc sell stuff.
... don\'t even get me started on the Internet.
No offense to any of you that really are certified ... but I\'ve had to go into a number of dealerships for friends or family members and educate service techs and managers about some pretty rudimentary problems, Nissan, Honda, GM, Dodge etc. Because it\'s all re and re, no diagnosis.
You have problem a) so you replace part a)
No finding out why part a) broke, whether or not it will break again ... you do what the book says.
The SR was a cost effective replacement for the CA. AFAIK when Renault took over a fair pinch of Nissan\'s debt load, they realized it made no fiscal sense to build the CA.
I do doubt the CA18 is a lopped off RB. The ca18e and ca20e were around before the RB to my knowledge.
The FJ was built for racing. Then the classes changed disallowing turbo motors. So Nissan punched out their 1.5 indy motor and stuffed it into passenger cars. No big surprise it was the first MPI motor available in a passenger car.
A lot of the SRs fame comes from time. The tuner craze hit full stride, and when it did, the cars that became desireable had SRs.
If the tuning craze had hit in the early 90s, everything would have been CA this and CA that. Hell, they would have been putting ca18dets into Hondas in F&F.
This just like the 350 vs 302 Chev vs Ford debates.
There is no answer to \"which motor is better\" questions. In all honesty, in stock trim, a CA or an SR is lunch meat.
As soon as you start tuning, it\'s no longer valid for comparison.
A motor is not just a HP switch. You don\'t just turn it on and pound out a set HP. And you don\'t just turn up the power either. There is a science to it.
Everything that determines power delivery is alterable. Once you\'ve started tuning, the only thing you can ask is \"is MY motor better than YOURS\"
If you can\'t figure out that stock numbers are for impressing peons, odds are you can\'t put a package together, let alone pick a cam.
If you can\'t do that, then someone else is going to do it for you, and they will follow a pre-set pathway. So your motor will be just like a lot of others.
Which becomes \"is the motor I paid for better than the motor you paid for?\"
Which leads to confusion and flame wars on the internet, because the owners of those motors can only rehash the numbers they were told, without ever knowing what it means, or why it happened. And they know they paid through the nose for it, so they won\'t accept anything that would indicate they made the wrong decision. And they constantly reference to \"a friend of mine\" or \"a magazine article\" as reputable sources of information. My friend put coolant in the oil because it was the only cap he knew, and he figured that all fluids would go in one common place. Would he be a good source?
And these SR and CA powered cars are getting eaten alive on the streets here. Some even by hopped up NA KAs.
As for the SR or CA18DET eating any SOHC Nissan motor ... well, the SR and CADET powered S12s are running about the same 1/4 mile times as the ca18et cars. The only people running under 14 second time slips (well one guy who runs 9s *lol*) is an FJ. And those are verified numbers, not just claims. An VG30ETs will last at power levels SR owners dream of.
IMHO there is no answer, none worth knowing.
Buy one, and start undoing what Nissan did at the factory to make the motor a PASSENGER CAR MOTOR.
I\'m not flaming anyone here ... just trying to put a stop to an argument that won\'t go anywhere.
If you want to get into a penis swashbuckling match over who built what or how fast your cousin\'s friend\'s mother\'s cousin\'s illegitimate son\'s car is ... don\'t do it here.
I don\'t care if you\'re Mr. Nissan himself, if you\'re not contributing valid information and trying to stir shit up, posts will be locked an deleted.
I\'d like to think we\'re un-simian enough to be able to actually hold a discussion without lobbing feces.