Cefiro A31- CA20S - Best conversion

H

hooman

New Member
Hi there,

I'm posting a new thread as I think my car is kind of special for conversion. I have a A31 LH with CA20S eng as stock.
I believe this model was only sold in west asia because of more economic features.
I had this car for a while and it has 100,000KM on it. the car is in good shape and works nicely. I was using it as daily vehicle for a while until I bought newer cars and this one stays in garage for years. Now I want to do some project on it to make a fun car and use it again. I read a lot of forums but most of them did the conversion from a RB to another RB without that much of hassle. as my car is in good shape I want to make the conversion as smooth as possible.
After a little search I found out CA18DET conversion would be the most clean one without much modification.
I think CA18DET and CA20S have same block but different gasket and water lines. Does anyone know about these two motor similarities and differences? I'm looking for some help which part of the car should be modified if I want to do the conversion with less modification to the car. My main concerns are Gearbox, Diff, eng bay, ......

I appreciate any comment or help in advanced.

Thanks,
 
If A31s are the same as R32s, I think SR20DET should be almost bolt-on (minus wiring), lightweight and pretty awesome in general. Would be a proper fast car with a mild boost-up!
 
Ca/sr is near enough a bolt up job as said above. Front and rear s14 subframes bolt up, s14 prop fits fine, s14 front hubs and brakes and can use r32/33 rear hubs/drive shafts and diff. S13 coilovers and arms all bolt up

Then it's just wiring

Handles brilliantly to
 
Thanks for your prompt responds.
Do you have any diagram of SR and CA eng? I'm wondering if I can use stock gearbox and diff? Do you suggest it at all? I like to use car as street and daily use car so the comfort is another concern.
 
The CA box will fit on the SR if you swap the front half of the gearbox over (ie the part with the bell housing on it) but in your case it would be easier to just get a front-cut from an S13, or preferably S14. Then you get the front subframe and suspension arms and it all bolts up. The Cefiro rear subframes are almost identical to the R32/S13, so just check what diff you have (number of bolts on the backing plate, number of bolts on the half shafts, R180 or R200 etc) and find a LSD replacement. I think Cefiro rear subframes are like S13 and can take R180 and R200 diffs but not 100%. If it has 6 holes in the back of it then you're good to go.

But in all honesty, there is plenty of this info on the site so have a decent search first. If you're after specific CA/SR into Cefiro info there is a guy on here that has a CA in a C33 Laurel (same floorplan as Cefiro) so start by searching for that, reading his thread and messaging him for info as it isn't a common conversion.
 
hooman said:
Thanks for your prompt responds.
Do you have any diagram of SR and CA eng? I'm wondering if I can use stock gearbox and diff? Do you suggest it at all? I like to use car as street and daily use car so the comfort is another concern.
Click to expand...

My a31 with an sr in it was my daily driver. I did 2 drift days every month for a year as well as about 40 000 Km's in that year. I had 240 bhp ad full interior. I have a build thread somewhere on here
Cefiro a are my favourite car
 
A CA would bolt straight in and im pretty sure it would bolt straight upto your gearbox as the Ca20 block is basically the same just a touch taller if my understanding is correct.
that would give you 160hp but its fairly easy to tune one to 250hp.

an sr20 would also bolt straight In but you would need the gearbox as well.

obviously you would need intercoolers/radiators etc..

both would require wiring in but its fairly straight forward.
 
Tnx Gaz_Moose, Cefiro_Drifter,

Thanks for your comments, I might start my search on CA18det first as it's more interesting for me. It might sound silly but iron block on the CA gives me more confident but I have no logic behind it. for the wiring, I most likely use mega so there is not hat much concern about it.
one other thing is about obtaining the engine, do yo guys recommend to buy a S13 half cut or buying the engine separately and get a A31 nose cut?
one other thing, is there any difference between engines on LH and RH cars? my car is LHD so I'm wondering if the RH half cuts can be used too.
 
CA's are getting old, Wikipedia says last engines produced in 1994 but most ceased in 1990. So getting one in good condition that is going to be reliable is your biggest issue. If you can find one that has been reputably rebuilt and comes complete including engine loom and ECU then go for it. Same issue with an S13 front cut, getting old. I'd be going for an S14 front cut, plus you get the longer LCA's and 5 stud hubs with larger brakes.

Pretty sure there are no major differences on the LHD vs RHD, check the US forums for people that have done conversions using ex-Japan front cuts. You will need to ensure there is adequate heat shielding around the steering column and brake master cylinder. There are plenty of S13 shields available ex-USA that will fit.

You also realise your car is carburetor fed? So you will more than likely need a fuel injected A31 fuel tank, fuel pump and wiring for whichever choice you pick. Sounding like a lot of mucking around to me....
 
Nissan are proper lazy. I bet you can just swap the fuel tank tops over or the carb version is the injected one with a pipe blocked off.

wiring in the stock ecu is a piece of cake. after market engine management is more of a ball ache.

from someone who has built a CA powered ceff and been in/on/under SR ones id go for the sr20. if you can get a front cut shipped for a decent amount then you know its going to come with all the bits you need.
 
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