Pulsar Ca18de Head And Ecu Swap On Ca20e Block

so far ive gathered i will need:

-ca18de head
-ca18de crank pulley
-ca18de or det ecu
-ca18det ebay turbo manifold or kit

(the reason for the turbo is not being able to find a LHD ca18de rwd header, so 7lbs)

-the timing belt i read about that is one tooth longer

of all my searching, i cannot seem to find an exact recipe for this head swap

it would be very helpful to know:
-which head bolt has been found to work?
-will the 4-cut ca20e pistons hit the ca18de cyl head?
-what is the c/r of the head swap using the stock pistons and the 18de head?
-would the ca20e rods be good for daily driven 170hp with frequent high rpm usage?
-does the ca18de/t ecu make for a direct swap or does the plug need to be modified and extra wires ran?
-do i need all the ignition components from the pulsar i would be pulling from? i would think so..
-if running just the n/a ecu (provided it works) will only a piggyback suffice to tune the fuel for the 7lbs of boost??
-will the ca20e oil pump flow enough to handle the dohc demand?

it would be great to know these very important details. 88 pulsar heads can be had for cheap, as with their ecu's and ebay turbo kits are a dime a dozen. exhaust is no big deal, as for the s-13 suspension swap. at this point my biggest concern is the head swap so i can have something nice until i can save up for a full ca18det swap.

anyone with information regarding the EXACT components required to do this build please contribute. thnx

Candellan would be the guy to talk to.

You'll have to measure on the CR. I don't know that anyone has done a DE head on a CA20 other than Candellan.

There's somthing with a custom modded crank pulley for the belt I think.

cool, hope he's still around.

is it more practical to just bolt in the ca18de and use the center feed intake? or has the head bolt been crossed over to a matching bolt that is easy to find? all i need is some sort of manual to the ca20e and ca18det that gives the bolt differences and tq spec so i can hunt a working bolt.  

i just rear that the mk1 and mk2 have different trannys.
b and c
it seems c tranny bolts to any caXX block. however, it seems the b does not.

this poops on my idea of just swapping in a de..unless its something plug and play do-able with swapping parts from the c series to the b series.

also dont wanna say for sure the pulsar had a non intercooled center intake pipe that crossed over the valve covers, just saw fwd pics of that.

.

This is a USDM CA18E Pulsar? I can't seem to find you location.

I'll try to help, but consider I may be wrong; I've never done it.

From the top;

Which head bolt?; Probably the DE head ones
CA20 pistons hit DE head?; Not from what I understand*
What is the CR of the 20 pistons wit DE head? Roughly .5cr more than than a 1.8*
  *I think the CA18DE N/A used High CR pistons. I think the CADE-T & N/A have the same
   head, the difference was in the piston. Take the CA18DET comp and add .5cr.
CA20 rods take 170hp etc?; Maybe, to 6.5k yes, and management is critical!
Does CA18DET/DE ECU direct swap? Probably not/No. You'll need an FSM or two to rewire.
          Two different ECUs there; Managment is critical for boost.
Do I need all the ignition stuff from the CA18DE? Yes, and a DET ECU if you want boost.
Will a piggyback suffice? Maybe if you piggy the ignition to. I'd go outta my way to get
           atleast a CADET ecu, then piggy both the fuel and timing.
Ca20 fuel pump work? Don't know.

I think any trans you unbolt a CA20 from will bolt to any CA18.

You can run a top mount intercooler, Custom tubing for a front mount, or wait for a CA18DET intake to show up, maybee on E-bay.

A few people have run the CA20 harder than most say you can. Management is critical for boost. I've never had my CA20 over 6.5. With good cams and a DE head, I'd bet it'd scream past 6.5k and with boost it'd go over 170hp easy.

PM Candallen, and ask if he could help in this post. He's an AUS member and runs the only CA20DET I know of.
Candellan's link;
http://www.club-s12.org/forums/index.php?s...&hl=CA20DET

There shouuld be others also; Search CA20DET

Think I Remember him saying somthing about the block needing retapped for DE head bolts to. Also think turbos get thicker valves than N/As for removing more heat, and turbos have bigger injectors.

hi jon, thanks for your contribution as well. its good to know that the cr wont change drastically, and that the pistons clear.

i have tried to contact cand. but havnt heard anything..but i guess usually, ppl who have already built an engine dont go lurking for info on how do it all over again, so i'd prolly have better luck posting this in a "show us your wheels" thread lol..

the more i look at it, the more practical it seems to spend the 1k on the ca18det complete swap. im not as ultrageeked on the idea as a i was a couple days ago, but it still would be rad. esp if i can source all the componentry i need for almost half the cost aside from the turbo kit stuff. i just like the idea of making the 20 become something it wasnt intended to be due to a relatively simple pnp hack.

if you think about it, the 20 rods are basically comparable to the d15b7 rods. so what im thinking is just using the same approach as one would to turboing or mini-me'n a d15b7, which ppl do every day. considering its a 1.5 though, it would kinda suck if the c20 rods were the same width as the b7's.  i had a d15b7 and used to rev it to redline, all the time. it gave me no troubles, ever. of course, the d15b7 head is superior in terms of flow design when compared to the ca20e(i am only assuming this from memory) bc the 20e seems to have small ports.. and the exhaust manifold is suprisingly small. the b7 ports arent that big either, but do seem to allow more flow, and the manifold was a bit bigger.

so if ppl can have turbo mini me b7's putting out 160-170hp, than there should be no reason why the 20e block cant take it imho.
what i truly want tho, is custom rods and ca18det oil squirters, and ross nitrous coated pistons, upgraded valve train componenets for the de head, the ca18det girdle, fab my own nice n/a header and wrap it, the ignition and fuel management needed, and have a nigh revving n/a ca20de that can rev to 10k with no problems and put out around 240hp.  never hurts to dream =)

-which head bolt has been found to work?

You need CA18DE(T) head bolts. The bolt holes in the CA20 block are too small so they'll need to be redrilled & tapped.

-will the 4-cut ca20e pistons hit the ca18de cyl head?

Nope.

-what is the c/r of the head swap using the stock pistons and the 18de head?

Dunno mine was a CA18DET head - 8.5:1.

-would the ca20e rods be good for daily driven 170hp with frequent high rpm usage?

Only if you completely rebuild the motor, shot peen the rods, upgrade the cooling system & regularly change good quality oil (like any other motor that's pushed hard). Mine is currently 270rwhp & the only problem is blowing stock head gaskets running 15psi.

-does the ca18de/t ecu make for a direct swap or does the plug need to be modified and extra wires ran?

You use the whole engine loom & splice in the power/earth/IGN/etc. The starter loom is retained for the oil press/etc.

-do i need all the ignition components from the pulsar i would be pulling from? i would think so..

Grab everything under the bonnet basically.

-if running just the n/a ecu (provided it works) will only a piggyback suffice to tune the fuel for the 7lbs of boost??

I have only run chipped ECU or PowerFC.

-will the ca20e oil pump flow enough to handle the dohc demand?

Yes, but read the 2nd answer above.

Other than that the fuel pump will run it (just) but you'll need to keep the revs down.

The timing belt path is the hardest to mod. You require either a custom built crank belt gear or mill the CA20 one to fit inside the CA18DET one as the CA18DET crank is thicker. That will also require a custom adjuster pulley mount made on the from the of the block as there's no hole for it as the CA20 in single cam.

As you can see this is not a cheap or easy mod. Buy a CA18DET & freshen it up if you want to save money.

i see. welp, so mch for the ca20de project.