I am currently in the middle of the L18 into a 120Y conversion at the moment and the L18 has a worked head and twin SU's, and so far the converison has cost me about $400 dollars and that includes a complete 180B sedan which was licenced and a set of stanza struts with 200B discs and i got the calipers later. i have a TRX 5spd behind it and i might even be able to use the 180B tailshaft but i'm not sure yet. must look into it. but wil let you know.

for $4500 you can have a nice slightly worked street rebuilt L18 with 5spd and twin carbs and everything else done including a decent interior for that kinda dough as long as you put in the effort. just be on the lookout for good deals.

The 1.8 Litre L series puts out 104 HP standard. Whack on twin carbs and some extractors and you'll probably have about 115 HP. There are plenty of 5 speed gearboxes around, the boxes will handle 115 HP easily. Electric ignitions are a bolt on fit (series 2 bluebirds). The engines are torquey as. I hardly revved my engine past 3 G. most gear changes where at about 2.5G and this was enough to keep up with most modern cars. (My L18 was in a 1100 Kg car)

To get 115 HP out of an A15 may involve considerable cost. The torque will not be as good, 5 speed gearboxes cost s*@t loads. An A15 probably weights less than an L18 but the difference would not be much.

As for the CA18... forget it!!!! Doing an EFI conversion requires a lot of work and money. Save yourself the hassle....Whack in an L18 and have fun!!!

A normally aspirated CA18 may have more power (130 HP) compared to the L18, but torque wise, the L18 is probably pretty close to the CA18. (I'm not sure)

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we're talking about Datsun 1200s here...
they do have very different trans tunnels.

i'd also like to let it be known just what a fantastic thread this has become. we should sticky it, or put it somewhere for future reference.

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L18_B110 - there's no difference between auto or manual tranny tunnels in most datsuns (P310-11 and P410-11 are different) - the only cars with different tranny tunnels for autos are the K series corollas and early ford escorts / capris. even geminis have the same tunnel.

i am open to correction here but i would be VERY surprised if that were the case.

I think mine sits further back, as I indented my firewall by about 20mm, but is probably slightly higher, as i haven't touched my swaybar. (It does have what I assume to be a 120y sway bar in it) I might have a few issues though, as the engine sits fairly close to it. How do you go about spacing out the swaybar?? just put some 10mm spacers in made out of aluminium plate or something?? (that shouldn't be hard... uncle works for a boat builder... )

Mine has a modified sump which helped with x member clearance. someone cut out the back half of it, and raised the back 2/3's of it by 10 - 20 mm. I can't see any problems with that, as long as i change the oil a bit more frequently.

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that's exactly the way I approached my conversion - engine as low and as far back as possible.

but the drag link is the same height as the x-member. And unlike the x-member, it rises when you turn the wheels. How did you get the sump to clear that?

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yep, me too.

Quote:auto tunnel, I assume?

Quote: just the opening in the rad support to accomodate the wider core, or did you cut the top of the rad support (where the bonnet catch is) too?

Quote:all 4cyl water pumps and pulleys are the same from wht I've seen, and I've used L16, L18 and L20Bs. Are you referring to the Bluebird viscous clutch fan? I simply threw the engine fan in the bin and use a VB/C/H thermo fan which mount in front of the radiator.

well heres my thoughts on the situation. i first off went turbo a12 in my 1200 sedan but for the price of a turbo rebuild an carbon seal i have basically completed my l20b conversion (turbo seals were gone). i picked up the car (series one bluey wagon) for fifty bux with slipping clutch and no rego. I did all the mounts etc myself using works welder so no cost there. new clutch, radiator recore and shortning, tailshaft and exhuast is all that i need to fork out for. i attacked this conversion differently than what ive read here as i wanted the engine to sit as low as possible to fit downdrough webber and hat for future turbo conversion (not for a while). to achieve this i modded the crosmember, cut 25mm out of the centre and rewelded it giving me extra sump clearance. aslo had to make spacers to drop swaybar down to clear oil pump. trans tunnel needed no mods just ground off old mounts, gearstick sits back approc 100mm. used bluey clutch slave and rad as well, cut complete rad support out for clearance, used l16 water pump and pulley to gain extra front clearance due to l20b having that hydrulic coupling. this setupwill provide plenty off fun with huge scope for further mods. i have also driven a a15 in rally car with twin carbys and monster cam etc and to be honest it felt slow (supposedly 55rwkw). tuorque is great thats why i went the extra capacity, just some food for thought.

Quote:Well at least you agree with me.

On second consideration, some may prefer the long-chain sound of the L-series. I however prefer the super-quiet sound of the A-series. I'm not talking about exhaust notes, but about the underhood/underbonnet sounds.

And since when is an OHC engine easier to work on than a pushrod engine? If you are changing cams, maybe ... so again it's subjective. Depends on your point of view and what kind of "repairs" you might have had to do.

Yes, the L-series is super dependable. I would even say more so than the super-dendable A-series.

The the BIG ADVANTAGE of the L-series is simply displacement. "There's no substitute for cubic inches". Since there is no 1800cc A-series, let alone 2-liter A-series, the L-series will beat it hands-down in the power category every time -- not because the L-series is a better design, but because it's bigger. I'm not saying the L design isn't more sophisticated (it certainly is) but that the more sophisticated design doesn't matter on the street.

Why not be different and go a Nissan SD20 or LD20. Plenty of torque for the street, can tow things easily, they sound good and most of all, nothing beats the sight of diesel lag chugging into the air.

Diesel Gemini's look out.