For anyone who hasn't seen it yet this is what I did during the summer. Hopefully making this thread will prompt me to do a full write up. I have plenty of pictures too which I will try to add.
This is the second CA18DET powered Dolomite. James Deacon a good friend of mine owns the other, although it has been off the road for a few years and still has 'rough edges'. Mine is currently used daily.
Jon Tilson wrote:Think there are a couple in Oz as well....
Jonners
As far as im aware there is a CA18DE in Oz (non turbo) and x1 SR20DET which is similar.
Is the SR20DET the S14/15 2 litre 4 cylinder then? I thought it was the 2 litre 6 cylinder turbo as used in the lower output early Skylines (R32?). A mate had one of these bolted into an S13 similar to the one you scrapped for this project (till it met a tree sideways at 60mph) and I have a definite urge to stuff one in a Triumph 2000 Estate!
Steve
'73 2 door Toledo with Vauxhall Carlton 2.0 8v engine (The Carledo)
'78 Sprint Auto with Vauxhall Omega 2.2 16v engine (The Dolomega)
'72 Triumph 1500FWD in Slate Grey, Now with RWD and Carledo powertrain!
Maverick Triumph, Servicing, Repairs, Electrical, Recomissioning, MOT prep, Trackerjack brake fitting service.
Apprentice served Triumph Specialist for 50 years. PM for more info or quotes.
The SR20 is indeed a 4 pot 2 litre, chain driven as opposed to belt on the CA 18. The 6 cylinders are RB series and can be 2 litre, 2.5 and the daddy from the gtr skyline RB26. The RB lump was quite popular to fit into S13's
The SR20 is a bit bigger dimensionally than the CA18 and would be more of a struggle to fit I reckon. Dans conversion looks quite tidy
Although the SR is technically a better engine I went for the CA because I'm familiar with its big brother the RB having owned a few Skylines including an RB26 GTR. The CA & RB are slightly slanted too which suits the Dolomite's origin and helps to clear the brake master cylinder. It almost fits better than an orignal lump!
At the moment my engine is lightly modified. It has a slightly bigger intercooler from a Range Rover diesel, full 2.5 inch exhaust (even over the axle!), pod filter, electric fans and it's running 1 bar of boost on a stage 1 ECU. It should be 220-230hp. The good thing is with a turbo from an SR20 and bigger injectors it's instantly 300hp, which means if you get bored of the power it's easy to upgrade.
I like it as is because the turbo response is instant and it spins the wheels easily enough.
I have an R33 on my lottery list, but an RB20 equipped T2000 is probably all i'll ever be able to realistically afford!
My mate ended up with the RB 20 mainly because he was fed up with blowing up CA18s, apparently if you introduce a bit of extra boost and go drifting, the bottom end turns out to be made of cheese! But the RB 20 is a bostin lump, not only strong and powerful, but with a glorious soundtrack to accompany your progress. Shame it's probably too long to go in a Dolomite!
Steve
'73 2 door Toledo with Vauxhall Carlton 2.0 8v engine (The Carledo)
'78 Sprint Auto with Vauxhall Omega 2.2 16v engine (The Dolomega)
'72 Triumph 1500FWD in Slate Grey, Now with RWD and Carledo powertrain!
Maverick Triumph, Servicing, Repairs, Electrical, Recomissioning, MOT prep, Trackerjack brake fitting service.
Apprentice served Triumph Specialist for 50 years. PM for more info or quotes.
Theyre basically the same engine but the CA has the same stroke as an RB25. It's oil starvation that kills them not power, it's due to oil pooling in the head and not returning to the bottom end, an easy fix. I ran a standard RB20 for a year in a Skyline at just over 400hp and it was fine. A friend of mine used to have a 300hp CA S13 drifter which got abused for ages, so setup correctly they're fine.
I too would like an RB Dolly but realistically it's not possible so I settled for this. I would be interested in doing an RB 2000.
