New World Datsuns...

haha^^ Sorry man.

But on a good note. That welding and cleaning up of the welding looks awesome. Good on you.

Fuck it.

CA swap is on. I dont think the L series is ever going back in.

Why? because I decided its now or never.

Why now? seems like a good idea to me. When I crashed the car and up until april or so, there was a looming threat of me moving, so that demotivated my ideas. After quickly referencing my bank account, and knowing a few things, I think Ill be able to pull it off relatively easy. Car is already down. Motor is out. Im getting antsy, and I dont like the idea of having the Saturn be possibly faster than the Goon (I dont understand how a 100hp car is so zippy). Plus the Saturn is so cheap to drive its not even funny. Once the goon is swapped I expect it to be a 30mpg+ car.

Plus Turbo.

So this weekend. Im pulling the motor out, head is coming off and checking for flatness.

I have been researching this swap for so long now I feel like I could do it blind folded, I have looked at things from every direction I can think of, and have concluded its all going to be ok. Im sure I will find things I have not thought about, but after years and years of seeing how people swap KA-Ts and SRs into 510s, Im sure Ill figure anything out.

No idea on how fast this goes, depends how much I need to spend really. But $400 radiators are not my thing.

Laecaon » Sat Aug 16, 2014 2:20 am wrote: I have been researching this swap for so long now I feel like I could do it blind folded.

That barely sounds cocky at all.

Laecaon » Sat Aug 16, 2014 3:20 am wrote:Fuck it.

CA swap is on. I dont think the L series is ever going back in.

Why? because I decided its now or never.

Why now? seems like a good idea to me. When I crashed the car and up until april or so, there was a looming threat of me moving, so that demotivated my ideas. After quickly referencing my bank account, and knowing a few things, I think Ill be able to pull it off relatively easy. Car is already down. Motor is out. Im getting antsy, and I dont like the idea of having the Saturn be possibly faster than the Goon (I dont understand how a 100hp car is so zippy). Plus the Saturn is so cheap to drive its not even funny. Once the goon is swapped I expect it to be a 30mpg+ car.

Plus Turbo.

So this weekend. Im pulling the motor out, head is coming off and checking for flatness.

I have been researching this swap for so long now I feel like I could do it blind folded, I have looked at things from every direction I can think of, and have concluded its all going to be ok. Im sure I will find things I have not thought about, but after years and years of seeing how people swap KA-Ts and SRs into 510s, Im sure Ill figure anything out.

No idea on how fast this goes, depends how much I need to spend really. But $400 radiators are not my thing.

It's because the saturn has some torque, and its made of plastic. Even the crank and pistons are plastic

You can do it!

DRIVEN » Sat Aug 16, 2014 6:25 am wrote:

Laecaon » Sat Aug 16, 2014 2:20 am wrote: I have been researching this swap for so long now I feel like I could do it blind folded.

That barely sounds cocky at all.

Haha. Ok, um yea... Im just at the point where I dont think I can do research anymore without actually having anything in hand.

You can do it. Just Stick THE Inter COOLER outside of the engine compartment and it will make stuff way easyer

Well head is off. Should have done that sooner... I realized the motor didnt turn over like it used to (read 2 years ago). So I figured I didnt care about setting it to tdc. Finally pulled the timing belt. And the Cams spin great. Ok... Well once I got the head off, I see why there may have been a blown head gasket...

Actually the HG looks mostly fine, but more like its just old and came apart from removing the head from the motor. But it also came apart too easy. IDK. Im not going to even try to guess what happened. I found a new head complete with cams for 100 shipped. Done.

As for the block. Wow, I dont think I have seen L series look that bad. Its like water went everywhere! Sigh. Need to figure out what I am doing there...

Have pictures, will post tonight (well my tonight is much later than yours)

Couple of observations. This motor is small! From flywheel mount to front of Waterpump clutch is a solid 1.5" shorter than the L Series flywheel mount to end of waterpump pulley (no clutch). Also from middle of crank up, it would appear this is a little shorter too. I held the CA head gasket up to a L head and its considerably shorter.

Doing some research, I think I might end up with an Ebay Mazda RX2 crossflow rad. Only 13.25" tall, same side inlet/outlet at 1.5", cap location on driver side and its out on its own about an inch back, which should allow the rad to be mounted as high as possible and allow the cap to avoid the hood. Only problem is the outlet exits at a downward 45 angle. Whatevers, I can just have the guy at work weld it if it doesnt work. *Edit, this is just a narrow version of the CXRacing 510 rad with a terrible outlet... no point in that.

Intercooler, I dont want anything massive, I think the CXRacing one is way too large. I stumbled upon a brand, Yonaka, which seems to have decent reviews, and they make moderate size intercoolers! The one I am looking at has a core of 18x9x2.5. I think it might be a tad wide, but I probably can get it to work. I really like the size of it when I hold the tape measure to my core support.


I totally didnt take pics of the block... tomorrow...












This motor is so cool. I really like it, the design, how tiny it is. I need to get an engine stand...

My engine stand is just sitting infront of my garage.

Well I ordered a rad. A CXRacing knockoff. Happens to be the dimensions I want. I saw Dislexicdimes problem with the cxracing rad, figured, they aren't all bent. But if I was going to pay for shit, might as well I pay the least amount. And the Visa/PayPal combo. We will see.

Also I got the motor free. Bores look way cleaner now. Motor spins mostly free. Rough spot on the inner two bores makes it hang a bit in one spot. I'll worry about it more when the pistons are out. I think ill order one piston ring to check ring gap. Decide what to do next.

I need to start writing things down. Make a list of each catergory (fuel delivery/coolant hoses...). There is so much random things I need to do, like Volvo cruise control module to control the intake butterflys (which are awesomely on a table in the ecu so I can edit the curve for when and how fast they turn off!), and KADE TB and KAE MAF(which requires chipping the ECU...), and, and, and...

I have noticed mist people say that radiator falls a part after year. Just a heads up

Havent read those reviews. Just ones from guys like Duke.

I just dont like any of the other radiators on the market. And Im not justifying being cheap or anything, I just dont like the size/shape of most of the radiators that seem to fit.

Just paid a guy over from NicoClub(which seems to have the best forum for CA18DET information), for a Super clean complete head (With Cams/lifters/valves), doesnt look like any oil residue on the thing. Its also coming with used ARP headstuds. He is also throwing in the Coilpack bracket (mine is in 4 pieces), and an injector resistor (mine looks like a mouse tried to live in it...). He did list an ECU which I wanted to have as an extra, but he cant find it now. I just dont want to mess with my head being warped and all. Well I think its warped, it has a bow to it compared to the block. All for 110.

Depending on the condition of the bores, I may have to go up a size. Which kinda sucks, and kinda not... Sucks because you cannot get OEM/OEM style oversize pistons (yes I looked all over ebay UK and Australia, its like they dont exist), but you can get Forged all day long. Best price I can find is $450 for forged pistons (course then the machine work on top, and probably want to get things balanced too...). I dont want to spend that on a motor that will never likely see any power that warrants needing forged, but Im also not completely opposed. Also going up to 83.5mm bore will make the motor perfectly square bore to stroke ratio.

Got my battery. Deka ETX18L. 340CCA. Its technically a Motorcycle battery, but there are reports all over the internet showing this is more than plentiful for LS1s and what not. And considering the Odyssey started the L19, and its only supposed to have 200CCA... Its a little bigger than the Odyssey, but at only 3.5" thick its still small.

I used shiruken battery in mine . They are made by the same people that make the odyssey how much was the decka?

$85. I know it has more CCA and a better AH rating, but it is a little bigger.

*Addendum: Guy with the head found the ECU, so getting that as well (doesnt hurt to have an extra of something that isnt easy to find).

Also 2 packages tomorrow, radiator and intercooler.

I have seen a lot of the Odyssey battery in the LS converted classics cars.

I want to start selling Odyssey battery and tray kits.

Got some Battery terminals to convert the motorsport battery to SAE posts.



Also Radiator came in, with all of its silver paint goodness (none transferred to my hands). Also it is kitchen table tested to be straight (my kitchen table is a heavy solid wood table). Its wide, super wide.



Ill probably have other pics up as I work on the car or something...

And oops, I read "Friday" and saw an "8" and assumed today, but alas it is next friday for the intercooler.


Also, sorry about the sudden terrible pictures. My actual camera is MIA (I dont have the memory card in the computer, so its not likely nearby). And my phones flash (has Xenon flash), went out, which has resulted in all but the brightest pictures looking like crap.