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Advice Nissan 200sx engine in an Hilman imp?


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Right my mate is going to put a (now i am not technical so apologise now) nissan G reg 200sx 'redtop'? engine into his hilman imp and wants me to find out what upgrades to do on the engine for maximum power,

 

i.e what intercooler, turbo's, induction etc etc,

 

Any advice much appreciated :)

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Yeah, use a different engine, the s13 200sx engine is silly putty seriously, for the amount of work he is going to do just for the engine to let go, I'd be annoyed..

 

He's definatly using that engine as i think he picked it up for free or swaped it for some wheels??? :lol:

 

Not a good engine then

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Right my mate is going to put a (now i am not technical so apologise now) nissan G reg 200sx 'redtop'? engine into his hilman imp and wants me to find out what upgrades to do on the engine for maximum power,

 

i.e what intercooler, turbo's, induction etc etc,

 

Any advice much appreciated :)

 

Confusion right from the start, the Nissan engine referred to as the "red top" is actually a SR20DET import engine,fitted to the RPS13, and has different plenum etc,

The CA18DET is actually a pretty good engine and if you do something about the weak point, big end bearings and up rate the oil pump they are fine for reasonable power, and fully built you would be very surprised;)

for just a straight swap you would be better off going for the SR20DET the physical size is not much different, and the SR engine is quite light being an all alloy motor, they will both be problematical to fit, like any engine transplant, why not go for one of the N/A derivatives.

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Confusion right from the start, the Nissan engine referred to as the "red top" is actually a SR20DET import engine,fitted to the RPS13, and has different plenum etc,

The CA18DET is actually a pretty good engine and if you do something about the weak point, big end bearings and up rate the oil pump they are fine for reasonable power, and fully built you would be very surprised;)

for just a straight swap you would be better off going for the SR20DET the physical size is not much different, and the SR engine is quite light being an all alloy motor, they will both be problematical to fit, like any engine transplant, why not go for one of the N/A derivatives.

 

My CA18DET engine has a redtop?..... (I get confused as to why people refer to the cam cover colour)... I will continue to disagree with regards the CA18DET, mine didn't loose the big ends OR the the oil pump. It ended up with the rings going due to borewash I suspect. Once the rings had gone slightly the piston ended up eating the side of the block, and not the first one either, there are at least 2 other engines that I know of that had exactly the same issue.

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Yeah the CA18DET engine has a red top, but its not "the red top engine";) funny in all the time i had one i never heard of one dieing from that, just big end failure, but they have a bit of an undeserved reputation due to that, for instance mine had over 120K on it and was running 1-0 bar and making 270 bhp and was sweet as, there was one in Japan with built engine and big turbo doing the drags with around 700bhp, and the Norris designs/Richie S13 was around 600bhp.

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Is he just using the engine?

 

How does he plan on mating it up the gearbox, I doubt very much the standard hillman gearbox will take the extra torque, neither will the diff.

 

Therefore you are talking engine/gearbox/diff/prop and a LOT of fabrication, this isn't a 2 second drop the engine in job.

 

A while back I did a morris minor conversion from a 1098cc to a built 1275cc A-series (a lot of additional work went into the A-series engine) which means I kept the same mounting spots, but it very quickly highlighted issues with the older cars. Gearbox went bang, diff followed shortly... the brakes on the morris are past awful stock. In order to upgrade the brakes required new hubs/wheels...etc and so on.

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Is he just using the engine?

 

How does he plan on mating it up the gearbox, I doubt very much the standard hillman gearbox will take the extra torque, neither will the diff.

 

Therefore you are talking engine/gearbox/diff/prop and a LOT of fabrication, this isn't a 2 second drop the engine in job.

 

A while back I did a morris minor conversion from a 1098cc to a built 1275cc A-series (a lot of additional work went into the A-series engine) which means I kept the same mounting spots, but it very quickly highlighted issues with the older cars. Gearbox went bang, diff followed shortly... the brakes on the morris are past awful stock. In order to upgrade the brakes required new hubs/wheels...etc and so on.

 

the hillman is just a shell so he wants to use prefrebly one of the cars engines & gearbox's he has (200sx or sunny gtr) but is open to suggestions as to what would be the best option.

Edited by jonahjones26 (see edit history)
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Cut the shell off the 200sx leaving the floor plan, and weld the hillman shell over the top... Might sound extreme, but that is probably the EASIEST way to do it.

 

Think thats what he was going to do? he just wants to know the best way to increase the power & what products to use.

 

*he knows how to fix & fit engines but a novice a tuning*

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Cut the shell off the 200sx leaving the floor plan, and weld the hillman shell over the top... Might sound extreme, but that is probably the EASIEST way to do it.

 

JustGav,

 

he is getting a bespoke frame made and using the 200sx engine gearbox & diff after market intercooler but what turbo should he go for???

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Yeah the CA18DET engine has a red top, but its not "the red top engine";) funny in all the time i had one i never heard of one dieing from that, just big end failure, but they have a bit of an undeserved reputation due to that, for instance mine had over 120K on it and was running 1-0 bar and making 270 bhp and was sweet as, there was one in Japan with built engine and big turbo doing the drags with around 700bhp, and the Norris designs/Richie S13 was around 600bhp.

 

I don't know about undeserved. Mine suffered the same fate as did at least one other member of this forums.

Personally i'd look at GM's series of turbo engines fitted to Saab 9000s. Practical performance car magazine have been featuring these recently and they can easy run 300+ hp on standard internals, and they mate upto vauxhall RWD transmissions. As so many of these cars have been scrapped now, they are available for next to nothing.

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t34 top mount

tomi cams

tubular manifold

fmic (not saab)

good induction kit (blitz)

streight through exaust (de-cat 3 inch)

nismo 555 injectors

z32 amf

apexi power fc (with custom map)

fully uprated internals (1.6mm trust head gasket)

should be good for 350bhp minimum:cool:

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t34 top mount

tomi cams

tubular manifold

fmic (not saab)

good induction kit (blitz)

streight through exaust (de-cat 3 inch)

nismo 555 injectors

z32 amf

apexi power fc (with custom map)

fully uprated internals (1.6mm trust head gasket)

should be good for 350bhp minimum:cool:

 

thanks for that much appreciated :)

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The Imp uses a transaxle, and had an ultra lightweight engine and transmission. This is the sort of project that will need the services of a proper fabrication shop and the throwing of suitcases of dosh. Anything heavier than the OE engine will cause alarming weight distribution, polar momenst of inertia and probably C of G issues. IE, it'll probably be lethal and a cock up.

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