How reliable can these be? I have a friend with a s13 coupe and he's thinking about dropping one in, just because its cheaper to get....I'm about to kick his ass for the reason, but before I do...How reliable? how much potential? Trust me, I'm an advocate for an SR, I just dont know much about the CA

 

theres lots of potential as proven by this video: 1/4 mi run http://www.paddy.co.jp/democar/hkssuperdragmeeting.wmv
dyno vid http://www.paddy.co.jp/powercheck/DEMOCAR_S13.wmv

its a 650hp ca18det

i have no first hand experience, but evidently the stock internals can handle around 400hp. what else do you want to know?

 

do they need more tuning or building (than the SR)to acheive decent HP gains? I know that they are stock 175HP and the SR is stock 205HP (s13) but I pretty much need a tutorial, pros, cons, has anyone done this swap, do they have tips? consiter me stupid on the subject. (as if thats not a normal thing) =)

 

the CA is generally considered to be not as good as the SR. they are know for being somehat less reliable. the only advantage they have is the valve train...but really properly phrased...the only WEAKNESS the SR has is the valvetrain. there is a memeber on this board (Martin - "180sx") that had a CA powered S13 hatch with Haltech e6k. he sold the car before he really tuned it but the guy he sold it to did 500+hp on a built motor.

it's funny that Gary quotes 650 Hp above as good potential...just earlier today i was looking at some japanese websites that has a standings for best power in different classes. the best car in the 2wd 4cyl class was a 2.2L SR pushing 915 or so Hp!! not that 650 is weak by any means, but SR's are capable of 500+ on bone stock internals when tuned properly. but i guess you can tell your friend if he wants to be cheap than to run with it, but the old saying always applies

fast, cheap, reliable.....pick 2

Scott

 

true, but dont cry for PSI.

 

the thing about the ca is this.

It's not a bad motor.
but you end up spending almost as much (save maybe 400-500 bux) when doing a proper setup vs an sr.

Now i personally would go with an sr if it was only 500 more, wouldn't you!

CA is a cool little beast, quite a bit of an underdog, but not to say it doesn't have potential.

It's just.. different in a turbo accord h22a sort of way.

 

if you are doing it to save money then its not worth, cause you are starting with a lesser motor and you are gonna have to pay up to make up numbers.
The motor has the potential, but not just like everyone said has less displacement, smaller stock turbo, the aftermarket world may be ok for the ca, but its nowhere compared to where the Sr20 is and will be.

2 cent

Mario

 

but that's just it, it does't have the potential the sr does.

 

is that a reliable 500? like daily driven reliable? i'm not being a smart ass, i'm just curious.