I am currently planing to install a ca18det,5 speed box, and hilux diff(shortened) into my 1200 ute. I was wondering has anyone performed this conversion or somethng simular? Any help on engine mounts/crossmembers etc would be helpful. I heard that there was an article on this conversion in a ZOOM magazine. Does anyone know the issue number?

hi there,

my mate is currently putting a CA 18 into a 1200 sedan. he bought a crossmember from maddat ($350 ) , which is just a 1200 crossmember with the original mounts taken off with a grinder and new mounts welded in at a lower point. i think cam mckinnon (cm510.com) is also making these, and i would predict they would be a fair bit cheaper. you then take a stumpy skyline gearbox and put a CA 20 bellhousing off a late model bluebird or pintara, bolts straight up and handles a lot of power. there are a number of rear ends you can use, i am not sure about the hilux, but i have heard the ute diff is quite good... and expensive so if you don't use it it could fetch a bit of money .

cheers

ME AND MY OLD MAN PUT MY CA18DET IN MY UTE AND WE MADE A SHORTER ENGINE MOUNT BRACKET FOR THE DRIVERS SIDE AND USED THE ORIGINAL ON THE PASSENGERS SIDE, WE USED VALIANT V8 ENGINE MOUNTS RATHER THAN STOCKERS... ENGINEER LOVES IT AND ITS F'N STRONG... COST... $80 GEARBOX MOUNT A BIT OF BOX TUBE ACROSS MY CA18 BOX BOLTED STRAIGHT THRU THE FLOOR WITH PLATES FOR A BIT OF REINFORCEMENT, DUNNO BOUT A DIFF THOUGH CAR IS OFF ROAD, I HEARD 1200 UTE DIFF WITH BLUEBIRD III CENTER IS QUITE TUFF, $120 FOR CENTER AND GET TO KEEP STUD PATTERN, SHORTENED 180B TAILSHAFT NEEDS TO BE SHORTENED A FRACTION BUT BOLTS STRAIGHT INTO DIFF YOLK AND STRAIGHT INTO CA18 BOX

WANT MORE INFO, LEMME KNOW,
COMPLETED PROJECT END LAST YEAR, REGO'D FOR A WEEK, CAB PULLED OUT IN FRONT OF ME, NOW SHE'S IN PANEL SHOP