I think know the previous owner of this car.
1200 + KA24E
He had said that the install of this KA24E was pretty straight forward.

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The FWD SR20DE will not bolt up to any RWD transmission offered by Nissan. I know a few people who have tried literally every Nissan/Toyota/Mazda transmission with no success. The FWD SR is ALOT different than the RWD SR. The FWD and RWD CA18DE seem to be fairly similar, though, and yes the US market CA18ET/CA20E trans will bolt up to it. In the US the DOHC CA18DE only came in the FWD Pulsar. The 200SX you mentioned had the SOHC CA18ET/CA20E. The reason this turbo engine is listed as having similar power to the NA engine is because they ran very low boost. The conventional wisdom is that the bottom end won't hold up to increased boost, so getting more power out of these engines may be tough/expensive.

And any stock turbo manifold is going to foul the steering gearbox. You'll either need to convert to a rack & pinion, or have a custom manifold made. A friend here in the States started building one, but never finished it.

FWIW, my suggestion would be either an L16/L18 (dirt cheap to buy), or the later Z20E/Z22E (factory EFI, and still fairly cheap).

If you want to cut up the car, put the 5.0 liter Ford engine in -- that would be fun swap!

If you don't want to cut up the car, a CA18DET or SR20DET will fit without cutting the firewall. The CA18 is smaller, I here that if you turn up the boost a stocker will make more power than a stock SR20.

Your best low-buck swaps would be I think:
- turbo an A15, especially if you are good at fabricating parts (for the turbo plumbing)
- the KA24E or KA24DE. This has the intake on the right side. Twistex's is running dual side-drafts (see the Shasta 2003 pics). You can get one out of a Nissan pickup

All of these can get you a 13-sec car.

no, have you seen the Tech Section article What's the best engine to put into a 1200?

Oh wait, those are coupe engines. For a US Sedan, the best engine is the all-aluminum 60-degree Yamaha V8 from the Ford Taurus SHO V8. haha

Forget costly efi & turbo if you're on a tight budget, unless you absolutely must have an A-Series. ca18 and sr20 are still pretty exotic items, and may cause premature financial ruin unless you're pretty well setup, or have serious connections, or can do most of the work yourself. twistex has the right idea: ka torque and mystique (if you don't mind front end plough). Unless you find a deal on built L-series. But forget low bucks if you have to rebuild either. As far as going back to stock, that shouldn't be a problem as you source a spare stock crossmember, driveshaft, motor mounts, etc., because these items will have to be modified for the transplant. Oh, and don't forget that you'll need to cut the tranny tunnel unless your car was equipped with a factory auto trans. Oh, and your stock diff. might not hold up to the strain of the ka. Oh, and your stock brakes probably won't cut the mustard ...

I don't think he mentioned having a tight budget. He doesn't want to cut the car up, and wants an engine that can be worked on.

That's why I choose EFI - easier to work on. Carbs are hard to work on. Although if you never learned how to work on EFI, it is something new to learn

Quote:Yes, it is a Ford engine. With less HP than an A12!

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No, he didn't mention "tight budget," I was simply bouncing ideas around in response to your "low bucks" suggestions. Besides, when we try to give specific answers to general questions, a bit of inference is excusable. Also, notice that he said he didn't want to "butcher" the car. He probably knows by now that cutting up the car may be necessary for an engine transplant. Also, isn't it more accurate to say that EFI means less maintanance than carbs? Not easier to work on, actually more parts, more wiring, more things to go wrong, more things that need diagnosing, more things that need to be fabricated or installed to convert a NA car to EFI, and don't forget more expense, yes?

why not the SR20vvti , no turbo to worry about and 175? hp to play with all you have to do is run it with a programmable managment computer, easy to do! just ,might cost a couple of dollars.These engines are turning up in australia at the engine importers now