You definitely can use a CA20 box on the CA18 but you will need the CA18 clutch and flywheel.

A lot of guys with bluebird retain the CA20 box because it makes the conversion very straight forward with everything bolting back onto stock mounts.

The problem is that the CA20 box won't hold up to nearly as much abuse as the CA18.

Quote:

I don't think anybody was implying this.

I'd say some of you have but for others i'd suggest reading up about the carnot cycle. It's basically an ideal heat pump (car engine) and you can use this theory to work out the maximum efficiency for any engine. What it basically says is that the maximum efficiency for a heat pump is (T(high) - T(low)) / T(high). where T high is the temp at which your fuel burns at and T low is your low temp reservior (ambient). For this you need to work in degrees Kelvin (add 273).

For instance lets say it's 20 degrees ambient and your fuel burns at 1000 degrees. That makes

(1273 - 293)/1273 = 77%

Already we have lost 23% just through the design of our entropic universe!!

Mildman,

The theoretical point where you get 100% thermal efficiency is exactly that, theoretical. What the original statement means though is that the lower the temperate in your exhaust (ie closer to the inlet temp), the more efficient the motor will be running. THat is assuming consistent fuel mixtures.

The less heat you are wasting out the exhaust the better as it means more of the energy has been turned into kinetic energy rather than heat.

It's been a while now but I believe that the most efficient a 4 stroke petrol engine can be is about 40%.

As for the turbo part, turbos do make an engine run more efficiently. Like you said they utilise that otherwise wasted heat energy.

Yeah bad earths are often the problem with these mystery electrical situations.

Also with the dull headlights, Set them up with a relay and run power straight from the battery to the lights. Use the original power wire to signal the relay. This will give them a bit more juice!

You only need a small fraction of the current to pass through the guage to understand the total amount of current going through the system.

EDIT: Sorry didn't didn't read previous post!


But it is true. I havent read that link but if you stick a parallel circuit over a componant with some resistance (prefferable much higher than the componant) you will draw a small amount of current through that resister. The trick to understanding current is to imagine it like plumbing. Most of the current will go through the main componant with little comparitive resistance (ie large pipe) and a small amount will go through the higher resistance componant (ie small pipe).

If you have a 7K resistor and a 3K resistor in parallel, 70% percent of the current will pass through the 3K resistor and 30% will pass through the 7K resistor.

In the case of an ammeter it would be more like a 10K resistor and a 1000K(1M ??) resistor in your ammeter. So the amount of current passing through the ammeter will only be 1% of the total.

Sorry to all you electronics buffs for my crude interpretation and use of lingo!.

Yeah no worries.

If twincharge wants to organise freight he can have it otherwise you can come get it. Where abouts in melbourne are you?

The box cost me $130 so you can have it for that plus freight.

Hey Twincharged,

I have a stumpy box with a CA bellhousing I'll sell ya if you're keen. I was keeping it for a spare but the primary isn't even getting used as the car doesn't go!!

I'm in melbourne

If you consider your car a hobby and enjoy working on it then the money will always be worth it.

You learn something, you get pleasure from results and in the end it is still worth something!

I like to compare my car habit to my girlfriends clothes habit. We both have about the same amount of disposable income to play with, I choose to spend it on cars, she chooses to spend it on clothes. Once bought, clothes are worth nothing where as you still get some sort of return on your car. From this point of view it's not a bad hobby.

It seems I didn't get that many good photos....

Anyway how do I put photos in the thread like there already are?