motor for me

hey guys, ive been doing lots of reading again, and am not to sure what motor i should focus all my attention on. id really appreciate your help and patience with this topic as i know it has came about a lot.

ive got an 86 with a ca20e. the motor has about 160K miles on it, and runs fairly well. after doing lots of searches there are numerous swaps that can be done, but to no avail im not sure which one will fit my needs. now to clear things up before i start spouting out my worries and questions, i will say i am not looking for big power by any means. im thinking around 150hp to the wheels as my maximum goal, as reliability is a more important issue until i decide i want a lot more. id prefer the swap to be a direct bolt in, with around a weeks worth of down time. i do have an engine stand and engine puller, so i can do a build while still drive the car as usual.

now saying that id like the engine to be a bolt in, i am a little turned off at rewiring to such a great extent (thinking ca18et, sr20det,) so id like to steer clear of those unless im guided otherwise. the stock ca20e is a slug, and i dont expect a great deal out of it unless i can be proved wrong.

at the moment im thinking a vg30 engine will best suit my needs. from what i have gathered it will bolt in using the vg30 engine mounts and tranny mounts. i read here and there that i would need the crossmember, but a definitve answer was skeptical. there was also a lack of info about the shifter lining up in the same spot as mine does. my guess leans towards yes, but i could be wrong.

the tricky part is the wiring. i have a digital dash and have had bad luck in searches about what people do with there digital dash's. im doubting the vg30 ecu utilizes the same connections/connectors as the ca20e, so i would need help in this area. what other things am i overlooking? what motor would you gurus suggest for my application? what are the odds of 150 whp out of a ca20e? oh and do keep in mind i have around $1300 to do a motor/tranny swap, or build. thank you very very much in advance, and im looking forward to hearing some of your suggestions :p

I would have thought the CA18ET plus a donor car would be plug and play. It would seem that either the CA18ET or VG30ET would both suit your purpose if you have a donor car. Buying bits and pieces means you will ALWAYS forget or be missing somthing and it will annoy you hehe.

ya ca18et with ecu and engine harness and maf is all you need.. you can easily push 175-190hp with plenty of reliability

wouldn't you need to beef up the suspension if you swap from a CA to the heavier VG?

the problem here is that i do not want a donor car. i kinda blindly walked into this one, and have yet to get ajunkyard near me with a donor car. i can get an engine the harness the ecu and the maf. again im not looking for big power at all.

From what i have read there is quite a deal of rewiring to be done with the ca18et. i could be wrong, but without going 13 or 14 pages deep in a definitive search, i have read that there is a great deal that needs rewired. im really good at wiring stuff up, but without an engine harness diagram for both engines i could be staring at a brick wall. i also came up short on luck with people that did this same swap and still used the factory digital dash.

i was honestly contemplating a small build on a ca20e, but searches have prooved that it is not to great of an idea. is 150 whp to far out of reach on a ca20e or what??

is there any possible links i have passed up that discuss the ca18et swap in greater detail? thanks again gurus :-P

I think that 150 whp on the CA20 is gonna be tough, especially N/A. It really shouldn't be that tough of a swap going to a CA18ET, and it'll be just as much work going to a VG30, but the VG30 puts a lot of extra weight on the nose, which would mean you would most likely need different front springs (and the VG30 cars had 5-lugs and bigger front brakes).

If it was me, I'd grab a CA18ET with harness and ecu, get a FSM, and wire it up. I think the hardest part about wiring is actually starting on it. Once you get going with it, it's really not all that tough.

You aren't going to get 150rwhp out of a CA20E without dropping rediculous amount of money in it. You might as well go ahead and go ahead and forget about that idea unless you have a lot of knowledge and a well equiped shop.

so ive decided to do the ca18et. hopefully i can get one at a food price from a local junkyard. im deffinitely doing a rebuild on both engine and tranny before they go in. thanks for the ideas and whatnot. hopefully soon ill have one in my garage here shortly :D