I was just wondering if the wiring of a CA18DET into a 1200 is actually hard work? From my uderstanding, if you sat the engine and gearbox on the floor of your garage, and gave to fuel and spark, it should fire up and run, correct? Keeping this in mind, if the engine is installed and running, would it go ok with only the engine harness and loom connected up, or are there other sensors, ancilliaries and wires that need to be done before it will be properly driveable (apart from the starter etc). Being such a common conversion, there must be some kind of rule of thumb when it comes to wiring up and starting it.

I'm sure a few people would benefit from this information.

Thanks,

Leigh

Great Question, would luv some info

Cheers
Peddler

i'd be up for some info on how to wiring wise and if anyone has done it in a 120y that would be great too

Using Stock ECU and silvia engine bay and cabin loom.It's basically plugs, then you just have to splice a few wires into the existing ignition loom, like when the key is set to on and acc, batter wire, but I was told to just use the existing starter motor wiring to start it. I am no expert but dattodude(Chris Shoesmith) or CA18DET_MAN (Andrew Denniss) would be abel to shed better light on the subject. Basically newer cars are just connections you just have to plug stuff in, where as the good old A series engine, mainly is straight wires, so you have to sometimes hack into them to re route them.

Cheers
Damo

if there is one thing that lets me down when it comes to cars in general it is electronics........I will be meeting Andrew in teh next few weeks to get crossmember done so i might chat to him then

Cheers
Peddler

Quote:In an old-school car, yes. 12V to the coil, electric fuel pump, jump the starter and she's away running. I've started a hundred engines sitting on the ground or on a pallet this way.

But for an EFI engine, the injection system needs all kinds of wiring, which thankfully is included in the wiring looms.

yeah it is posible b4 buying my Ca18det tha shop had it goig dont no how but they did cause i wanted 2 see if it was ok the motor that is! it sounded good and was perfect before i got it fully rebuilt! HEHE

Quote:

Yeah, thats whats got me worried. I'm sure it won't be a major drama after the starter, coild and fuel system are hooked up bu yeah just want to make sure. Obviously I am going to have a lot more trouble if I get an engine and loom that used an auto trans right? I know when I put an sr20det in my pulsar, the loom that cam with it was for the auto box it was matched up to and therefore had a heap of extra plugs and wires coming off. I ditched that loom pretty quick and used the stock sr20de one....worked a treat.

Don't be afraid of all of the wires. Theres some extra relays (They are the tricky bit).

Most of the wires from the engine, go from the sensor/device, and then straight to one of the computer pins. The computer generally "earths" things to make them work.

If you have a full loom manual/automatic, then it's not so bad. To fit it in a datto though, you need to cut 2 foot of wire out of most of the loom, because the silvia is so much longer. With the standard loom, you could almost mount the ECU under the back seat.

I recommend identifying and labelling all connectors. then pulling the wire tape off the outside of the bundles of cable. Put the engine in the car, plug all of the connectors back in then figure out where you want to route the cables. You'll have wires to the computer, wires to the relays, wires to the dash (not required, except for tacho), and wires to fuel pump relay.

Quick note. ALWAYS use thick wire to the fuel pump. We did a test the otherday, and using 1x 3mm wire to feed the fuel pump in the back of the car, resulted in a 2.5V loss over the length of the wire. The pump was running at a little under 10V. We ran a second wire and it jumped up to over 13V. So don't underestimate the wire guage for the fuel pump's 12V feed.

Chris