CA18DET into 316i

[zenyo]

Yo guys, doing a swap on my e30, dropping a ca18det into it (for those who dont know its a 1.8turbo out of a nissan 200sx s13) mounts are prety much sorted, but the wiring is confusing the fook out of me, now im used to hondas where everything is plug and play but this is a realy steep learning curve and thought il try rewire it all myself so does anyone have a clue on how you splice a loom? im guessing i just trace my wires back and splice them with the nissan ones?
now i dont expect someone to tell me everything step by step but i know theres some guru on here that can get me started much appreciated, full build thread coming soon once i get the hang of wiring
Peace all
lots of input wanted

[whipsey]

best bet would be to start with a wiring diagram for both looms

[maxfield]

I'm fairly certain the wiring on these is pretty complicated.

And also why this engine and not the SR20?

[n1tr0_9]

I did most of the wiring for Theo325's Nissan sr20det engine into e30 conversion. See engine swaps forum. Nissan wiring diagrams are pretty good for the S14. I imagine the S13's are similar. If you can get an electronic copy of the workshop manual, then it gives you a really good description of how the engine management works. That way you can know what you can and cant remove.

[zenyo]

I'm fairly certain the wiring on these is pretty complicated.

And also why this engine and not the SR20?

Reason is simple realy, I'm still a student so funds are limited and I got a good price for the whole running gear. Plus iv got a thing with using the lesser wanted engines, everyone runs sr20det's in drifting and the CA has a bad reputation for always dieing lol so I plan to build a 280/300 bhp CA powered e30 with a stupidly sick stance that should hopefully if I build it right be reliable
N1tr0_9 you don't happen to know where to find a diagram for the s13 do you? Going to research properly in abit, iv got a pdf file for a 325 I'm hoping its not to different to the 316

[n1tr0_9]

you may find one on sxoc.com

[HairyScreech]

nothing wrong with the ca18 if looked after, bung some new shells in there before you put it in and it will be fine.
mate of mine ran a vauxhall viva with a ca18 and gt28 on it, seriously scary car.

[zenyo]

nothing wrong with the ca18 if looked after, bung some new shells in there before you put it in and it will be fine.
mate of mine ran a vauxhall viva with a ca18 and gt28 on it, seriously scary car.

That's my plan t28 bb turbo off a s15 going to be mad in a car around 1000kg
And correct me if I'm wrong but don't you have to pay to join and view the forum on sxoc

[Theo]

And correct me if I'm wrong but don't you have to pay to join and view the forum on sxoc

You're wrong.

Consider yourself corrected.

[HairyScreech]

as long as i cant see the tarmac through the bottom of your car then thats a big improvement!

[Brianmoooore]

The engine loom on an E30 is completely self contained and separate from the rest of the car looms. The engine loom connects to earth at the front RH suspension tower, and to battery + directly on the battery terminal on cars with front mounted batteries, and to a fused battery live at a 'phantom' battery + terminal on the bulkhead on cars with rear mounted batteries.
All of the rest of the connections (on facelift cars) are via a 20 pin (C101) plug and socket just inboard of the fusebox. This socket has a green wire for ignition switched live, a black/yellow wire for the starter signal to the starter solenoid, a blue wire which is to the small (battery warning light) terminal on the alternator, and a purple/green wire which needs to be fed with 12 volts at appropriate times from the engine loom, which feeds the fuel pump via fuse 11 in the fusebox.
These are all of the essential connections required , to make any engine start and run. Everything else is instrumentation or 'details' like the unloader relays (disconnect electrical body loads while the starter is engaged) or the switched power feed to the ABS system.
I know nothing of the Nissan engine loom, or how integrated or otherwise it is into the body looms, or whether the instrumentation signals will be in any way compatible with the E30 instruments, but you will have to make it self contained, and fit an E30 C101 plug to the end of it, with all the essential wires connected.

[gareth]

Thread cleaned and unlocked again...

[zenyo]

Wooo thanks garath n yeah Brian that helped a lot , going to get my head down tomorrow and draw up the loom on paper how I think it should all work, I foresee a lot of head scratchin/bangin abusive language