CA vs. SRI just picked up a 200SX RS13 with a CA18DET. I intend on doing a complete job for serious drifting. I have a budget of about $20,000. I've been following your S13 project and need some advice. Do I keep my motor, or swap for an SR20DET? I'm looking for a reliable 350 to 400 wheel-hp. The best gas we have here in India is 97 octane (UK rating) and the ambient temperature is 68 to 104 degrees F.Mohammed Imran KhanBangalore, India
If you were starting with a US-model S13, I'd recommend the SR20. CA18s went out of production in 1991, so buying a used CA18DET means getting at least a 15-year old engine. Buying an SR20DET for a few more bucks gets you more displacement, a slightly more robust design, an engine with much more aftermarket support, and at least a chance of getting an engine that's only 10 years old.
Since you already have a CA18, though, an SR20 swap is a lot more money for a relatively small benefit. You're better off putting that money into the engine you have. Because the tuning world so completely embraced the SR20, there is far less collective knowledge about the CA18DET's capabilities, but general wisdom is that a healthy stock motor can deal with something around 300 to 350 wheel-hp before things go kablooey.
You might think you need more for drifting, but I can point to plenty of AE86s that say otherwise. I say stick with the CA, go for 300 wheel-hp, and spend the rest of the cash on suspension, crash repair, and tires. Drifting is a competition of driving skill, not horsepower. Skill takes practice, and practice costs more money than you're probably going to budget for. Build the car for $10,000 and spend the other $10,000 drifting the crap out of it until you're actually good.
Square Peg, Round HoleI was wondering if you would be able to tell me the way to fit a 3.4-liter Ford Taurus SHO V8 into a 1990 CRX. I had the thought a while ago and would love to hear the redneck rumble from a teenie-weenie CRX. I just got the CRX, so before I make an ill-fated attempt at shoehorning this engine in, I would like to know the headaches involved. I know everyone under the sun is putting B-series and K-series in these things, but I would like to be a bit different.Eric BernardManchester, NH
What the hell are you... oh, never mind.
The SHO V8 only came with an automatic. In my world, that's a non-starter, but-in my world-that engine is too big and heavy for a CRX no matter what transmission it has. I don't know how things work in your world, but just in case you were thinking a CRX transmission would bolt to an SHO engine, you should know that you'll be stuck with the mushbox. If that's not a problem, you should also know that the engine probably won't fit, so don't take the following as any kind of encouragement.
Center the drivetrain side-to-side so the inner CV joints on the left and right side are equal distances from the wheels. Front-to-back, you want to mount the drivetrain so the inner CVs are in line with the front-wheel centerline. Vertically, you want the inner CVs as close as possible to the height of the center of the front wheels when the car is at its target ride height. If you manage to hit all these mounting targets, torque steer will still rip the wheel from your hands any time you hit the gas, but at least you'll be secure in the knowledge that you did what you could to minimize torque steer caused by axle angularity.
After buying custom axles with Ford inners and Honda outers, you'll need to fabricate all the mounts from scratch. This will be even harder than normal as Ford and Honda mount their engines in fundamentally different ways.