If you cant find a turbo one converting an NA one is a good choice.
Ive seen an NA converted to turbo make 270kws atw with 12psi and used as a daily with no issues at all for 4 plus years.
They are really a cheap engine with good support.

I my opinion unless you can prove that it's healthy then it isn't worth more than a few hundred dollars. Not worth the risk on unproven engines.

I bought a complete ca18det setup for 1100

For what it's worth...

I bought a CA18DET from Rocco's Performance 12 years ago for $2300 and it came with air flow meter, gearbox, wiring loom, comp and other bits and pieces.

IMO $2500 seems reasonable if the kms are right. A compression test shouldn't be a problem if the bloke has nothing to hide.


Mine was in a Sunny Panel Van. Tuned to 160 RWKW with T28 and Series 5 RX7 front mount, (by Scott @ Insight), it was very decent indeed. And never had a problem with the gearbox.

I also bought an N/A with loom, gearbox and comp for $200 a few months back which now has the turbo stuff bolted to it, but that car hasn't been driven properly yet......

I payed $700 for complete ca8det and gearbox with only 40,000 km on them.

That seems like a lot? Aftermarket ecu? The pop up pretty cheap sometimes mate, like around the $1k mark for reasonably decent ones.

In the wagon its different cause you can change gears while in the back :)

whats wrong with a silvia box??
i used a ca20 box out of a pintara in my wagon and it ran 20psi all day and lasted almost a year of hard driving, then i put in a silvia ca18det box and was even better handled the power of the ca no worries, if its the length, its not that bad the shifter actually sits in a nice position in my opinion

you probably wont want to use the silvia box either

i would want some compression test results for that price

not unless it rebuilt, if you arent in a rush they pop up for 1000 to 1500 most the time