What Happened To The 18det How To Write Up In The Faq?

[sam31183]

Sure, it wasnt complete and some of the info was a little bit sketchy...but it was all we really had on the forum for how to swap the 18det in. Yah, you can go and look at the s12/ka and s13/sr swap guides for some info....I saved the majority of the write up tho on to my comp...And I was going to eventually post an real write up with pics and ish after my car gets done having the exhaust and fmic and everything welded up then i wire her up. I will still do the write up tho...but in the meantime there isnt even an half done write up on the forum.

[Umai Naa]

it wasnt complete and some of the info was a little bit sketchy...

There's your answer right there.

There was soo much confusion and speculation in that thread.

I think most people who have dropped a CA18DET into their S12 have fitted an aftermarket ECU, instead.

[Julie]

we really need to have a accurate and easy to follow wiring diagram

[Umai Naa]

Good luck.

US-built S12s are wired different to Jap-built S12s.

Also, there's soo many different variants of the S12, each with there own requirements for certain markets, it'd be very hard to do a universal schematic for everyone.

[yhave8]

we really need to have a accurate and easy to follow wiring diagram

i second that

[sam31183]

in my book something half assed done is better then nothing. Now when someone comes and asks about wiring we dont have that to point to.

[drfts12]

"ok long process so here we go i will add more every night!

I have the 1987 nissan 200sx ca18et motor

new engine:ca18det from a 89 180sx clip

First thing! DISCONNECT BATTERY
remove the harness from the 200sx, and please be carefull not to cut and chop it. Remove it a cleanly as you can. Do not touch anything else and mark the plugs where the engine harness connects to the car/lower/electrical harness. Remove the conncetions to the alternator, starter tranny, mark where they go.

Once the wires are out, unbolt the drive shaft at the middle joint. 2 size 17 nuts, a bit rusted so be carefull not to round them off, this is to be done later you can just loosen them a little at this stage. Then with the car placed firmly on 4 stands. Put the car in gear, then with a size 12 wrench unbolt the first of the nuts at the drive shaft, just loosen it. Put the car in neutral, turn the wheel to get access to the next drive shaft bolt. Repeat this process untill all 4 nuts and bolts are out. Now you can safely remove the 2 17 nuts and disconnect the drive shaft in the middle. BUT MAKE SURE YOU MARK IT FOR LATER ALIGNMENT. SOme white paint accross will do. Now drain the oil from the tranny remove the drive shaft at the out put shaft just pull it out and a rubber melot if need be but it should come out easy, drain engine oil, coolant. Disconnet the rad and remove it. Disconnect the fan and remove. SAVE the bolts! AND REMOVE ALL THE VACCUM LINES, fuel lines that attach into the engine, clutch master ETC. Basically everything

Now you can safely hook up the engine and tranny to a crane. Just loosely hooked up. PLace a stand underneath the tranny or a jack and remove the 4 bolts at the tranny mount. Then remove the bolt nut combo at the engine mounts. Nut can be accesed from top, bolt from underneath, both 12 size wrench.
Now it's time to put some stress on the crane and lift the engine a little until the tranny is loose on the jack. Remove the jack from underneath. And pump the crane up a little. Shake the engine on the side while bringing it up little by little until the engine is clear of the bolts that are on the engine mounts(remember you are removing it with mounts still on the crossmember, be carefull not to tear mounts if you will reuse them)

Once the engine is clear keep bringing it up and pull the crane away from the car little by little.
Once the engine is out, take a breath, drink a beer and relax for a little.

Next you can clean now all you want in the engine bay, remove mounts if you want to change them when the new engine is dropped in etc. Personal preferences come into play, paint, cleaning etc.

Now it's time to turn to the clip. Make sure the clip is well off the ground. I put the front wheels on mine and raised it up with stands on the back.
Remove the harness and ECU as cleanly as you possibly can(# and mark everything you take off is HIGHLY reccomemded). Grab all the relays if you have a clip(will come in handy later).
Remove vaccum lines, plugs to the tranny etc. Then if you chose to use the 180sx mounts then unbolt the engine from the mounts. If you want your stock mounts then remove it from the bracket. Either way it's easy.

Remove the tranny mount making sure you have a jack under the tranny. Hook up the crane and the same idea of removing an engine follows as when removing the ca18et engine.

Once both engines are down then you have to make 2 decisions
if you will use stock 200sx mounts then swap the engine brackets with the ca18det. If not then you already have removed the stock mounts then don't worry about it.
Next if you will be using the DET tranny then you need some costum work which i can't help you with since i didn't do it.

I just swapped the trannies together, make sure the slave cylinder is fine, and use an alignment tool just in case to check the clutch hasn't moved while removing it. Bolt the et tranny to the det engine.

Now with a friend lift the new CA18DET engine with ca18et tranny bolted to it on a crane and walk over to the 200sx. Lift it up and someone will have to lower the tranny part while the second guy is pushing the crane towards the car and lowering the crane a little. Carefull not to scrape the firewall and hit the brake booster.
Once the engine is in it will be a lot of fiddleing around to put the engine into the right groove and finding those little holes can be a PITA but they are doable so have some patience!
Now that the engine is in place a jack under the tranny and pump it up. Bolt down the tranny mount loosely and the engine bolts. See if everything is right then bolt down them tightly.
Bolt down the clutch master make sure it's fine, bleed the system and test it.
Put the drive shaft output into the tranny and hit it with a rubber melot until it's in.
The 200sx should be still on 4 stands. Bolt loosely the driveshaft U joint to the body and losely connect the 2 pieces of driveshaft, REMEMBERING TO ALIGN THEM. Then the reverse process of taking the bolts off applies here to put them on. SHOULDN"T BE much trouble.

Next after the engine and tranny are properly bolted down get the ca18det harness and connect everything to the intake mani plugs as you # them before. The det harness has a big U so undo that to make it long and to actually route it the same way the et tranny went into the cabin. Via left front fender. IT IS LONG ENOUGH IF YOU OPEN IT. Make sure you tape it with some electrical tape or whatever.
Connect the wires to the alternator starter, plug the plugs at the tranny etc. At this point, fill the engine with some OIL, connect the fuel line because the fp will be working(yes i know it is weird but it does) and give it a crank. It should crank. If not check the connection to the starter and make sure bat is full.
Once done this disconnect the battery.
Connect the vaccum lines if you are worried about emissions and the brake booster.

Now where the det harness used to connect with the 180sx car harness there is a big plug there. CUT THAT PLUG and expose the wires. I don't have ac in my car so i didn't worry about it.

YOU should find the wires mentioned below. MARK THEM

Black / Pink stripe
Fuel Pump Relay


Green / Orange stripe
Transmission Neutral Sensor


Red / Black stripe
ECU Relay


Green / Yellow stripe
AC Relay


Red
ECU Backup Power


Black / Red & Blue / Red (Note: connect 2 wires to 1)
Main Ignition Power


Black / White stripe
ECU Power

Blue / Green stripe
AC Relay


Black / Yellow stripe
Idle Air Control Valve Power


Brown (to O2 sensor)
O2 Sensor Power
Any 12v switched source


Going to the ecu and where the harness close to the ecu connects to the car harness the following wires will be needed. Cut the det plug there.

Yellow / Red stripe
Tachometer signal

Yellow / Green stripe
Speedometer signal

Orange
Ignition start

Black
Ground

Blue / Green stripe
AC signal

Blue / Black stripe
Water temp signal

You should find those wires and mark them."


haha, i saved it a long time ago.. working on my swap right now. I have a usdm 88, ill tell u guys how well that wiring goes.

[sam31183]

i had it saved to..but decided not to repost it...heh.

[salps12]

MM ca18det... such a nice sounding engine

Very easy swap, didnt do it myself tho

[Draconis]

in my book something half assed done is better then nothing.

Sam, that is crap imo.  Sorry to say.  Something half-assed done, esp. wiring is more of a waste of time.  There will be issues later that could either lead to more headaches and money going out the window or just plain endangerment to people.  It's okay to have a basic understanding and put forth a possible setup saying that the idea is more a template and needs to be improved/modded for the person who attempts it.

I agree with the Aussie dude above.  US cars are very different than Jap.spec or even Aus.spec.  For instance, when I got my clear JDM marker lights from those guys down under, the wiring harness for them were completely different than what we have up here.  I had to get USDM MKI marker light harnesses just to make mine work.  There are too many variations and too many differences to make a universal set of directions unless it included every possible variation, which is more than I'm sure any of us have thought of/want to attempt.

The instructions I received to drop my RB into my S12 is utter crap.  Randy thinks the guy was pulling our leg.  I think the guy had a totally different setup, so we had to waste one week attempting to do everything he did to find we had to start from square one and basically do it ourselves.  Yes, I have the SE, but we had the 4-cylinder items he used available and they still didnt work the way he described.  No offense ib6Ub9 and anyone else who sent us info.  It is much appreciated.  It was just frustrating that after about a week of work to come out with nothing.  It gave us a good start and ideas of where to adapt our setup from.

So, with these cars, we need to do it right the first time.  That is why most S12s out there are utter crap.  After so many years of half-assed ghetto work, people dont like the S12 and they get a rep. for being crappy cars.  They are awesome cars.  One just needs to put the time, effort, love and dedication to get it done right - just like any other car.

[yhave8]

i know somebody somewere has done a ca18det swap in a 85 s12 turbo,and knows what exactly to do im still confused a little myself.

[sam31183]

Well, if there was an warning typed into the write up saying, hey, this is what worked for me...nissan switched a lot of there wiring around from year to year, especially from mk1 to mk2 then someone can pick up an fsm and figure it out a bit easier with the ground work layed out. When I get an free couple of hours I am going to go back over all the info I have on the 18det swap and type up an how to. It may be different from even what I have, but I am going to go back and edit it and add to it after I find things out for my mk1, as all the info I have is for the mk2. But the thing is....its like just 11 wires or so. My brother and I have poured over it and figure the wiring should take us an afternoon....

On an side note, the reason I think all the info you got on the rb20 swap was wrong is because I belive the usdm 20e mounts...and maybe even x member are different from the ausdm ones. It would be nice to atleast compare them tho with an australian member over the board thru a couple of pics. I just think tho that having atleast something can be benificial as we can point to it when someone asks and say hey...go thru this, it will give you an good idea, but realize it isnt the same for every s12. On the 18det forum right now I just tell people to go and look at the sr/s13 swap and the ka/s12 swap and you can figure out the wiring that way....anyways, I am done ranting for the time being. I got some pics uploading right now of the b tranny mounted to the 18det block I need to go post into the 18det forum here soon....yes, it bolted up just fine nay sayers.

[Indecisive]

^^^ I was one of those "nay sayers" until I found out it was the b/c transmission and c/b bellhousing...

its THAT connection people have trouble with.  The bellhousing bolts are the same.

[sam31183]

wait...what do you mean by b/c transmission and c/b bellhousing...do you mean the c bellhousing on the b tranny doesnt work? And vice versa.

[Indecisive]

one has a smaller bearing and bearing hole.  

you CAN get them to work, but you have to either bore out the hole or use the larger bearing, depending on which way you're going.  do a search on transmission and bellhousing info posted by alex frost.

[sam31183]

I think I get it now...it seems like alex for some reason tried to use an b tranny bellhousing on an c tranny....wierd sauce.