Silvia Club of NSW

Hey everyone,

My name is Cody.
I'm new to Australia, new to this car (s13 silvia) and new to this forum.

I recently just bought a 1990 Nissan Silvia ca18det, and find that when I am in the lower gears 1,2,3- when I let off the throttle, the bearings inside of the gearbox sound very rough and loud. Once I am on the throttle, the tranny sounds quiet and smooth. The previous owner told me that he drove it like this for a while with no issues, however I want to replace it as soon as possible because of my fear of getting stuck somewhere.

I have thoughts of eventually swapping to a different motor, whether it be an SR or an RB motor- with that said, what would be the transmission of choice if I eventually want to go that route? What other transmissions are compatible with the ca18det?

Also, how should I go about finding and buying one? Second hand? Rebuilt? New? What is the best bang for your buck?

A local mechanic told me that for a second hand tranny and install would run me about $1000. Now I am willing to take on the task of the install depending on how involved it is-

thanks,

Cody

Hi Cody and welcome to the forum.

Your mechanic's quote sounds about right to me.
~$500 for the box,and same again for install including labour,oil and seals.

If you've done a RWD clutch job before and know your way around that,a gearbox swap isn't difficult.
The bellhousing is a tightish squeeze around the firewall in a silvia,so the front half of the exhaust has to be disconnected,and the engine tilted back. After that,there's a little tail-high wiggle trick to get off of and back onto the input shaft. It's nothing complicated.

I'm not sure if the SR 5 spd or 6spd can bolt up to the CA as I've not looked into that myself. One of the other older guys on here could probably answer that bit.
If they do,and you want to do an SR20DET engine swap later on,getting a front cut now and using the gearbox from that to replace your worn one would save you a few bucks in the long run.

RB engine swaps are out there,but I don't recommend that route for a street car.


Justin...

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