For the love of a tractor engine: The life and times of the 18R-G

[river]

Hi,

its an 18R-GU with a ***53 head for what its worth. never known what the U meant.

The U means it is built to run lower octane petrol and has more anti-pollution controls on it, and the compression ratio is lower than the 18R-G/18R-GR models (8.7 or 8.3 to 1?). ALso have less aggressive cams.

The carbies are slightly different and there's extra piping around etc to help with anit-pollution.

Basically, it is the least powerful of the 18R-G variants that came out of the factory... circa 120hp. The 253 head is better than the previous 210/230 heads, but with all the other AP stuff the 18R-GU has a little over 80% of the power of the earlier 18R-G.

Mind you, with the lower compression ratio they are a nice engine to turbo.

seeyuzz
river

[TRD184]

Hi,

Mind you, with the lower compression ratio they are a nice engine to turbo.

seeyuzz
river

i like the way you think
awk cool, nice to know what it means 120hp is enough for me, still epic fun car

[o_man_ra23]

Rivsy, the 18R-GU from what I have read ran 8.7:1 pistons. The pistons that are in my 18R-GUE(T) are 8.3:1

Incidentally, my new Arias pistons have been made, and should be shipped before long. Will pick up the new block at Easter.

[Willofan]

Hi,

He should of turbo'd the engine. Would cost about the same and produce double the power.

seeyuzz
river

Hi river, Nup wasn't allowed to run turbo in the category.

Here are another set of the 18RG Argo custom made rods I bought for my build





These should last forever

[vpatrol]

How easy is it to get a balance tube? Mine looks like its got JB Weld all over it. Not sure what happened to it but doesn't look healthy.

Also, checking valves, I'm missing retainer locks and a few pads. Are these easy to come by? What about vibration damper (no.2)? I might try and rebuild the head first and then tackle the lower end.

Also, is the exhaust manifold the same on an 18R as it is on an RG? I'm hoping so otherwise I'm in trouble trying to find one!

[TRD184]

think it was mentioned a couple of pages back, the port spaceing is differnet ie:

18r

0....0.0....0

18RG
0...0...0...0

[vpatrol]

bugger. Anyone have one they want to dispense of?

[Steve M]

I got offered a set of new Pauter 18R-G forged rods through Atomic Speedware for (I think) US$792.

The PAUTER rods are billet 4340 X-Beam design with ARP2000 bolts.

I didn't get them because I couldn't afford them and there would have been some changes needed to suit the 22R crank set-up.


They look like this.

[Willofan]

bugger. Anyone have one they want to dispense of?

What do you want? an original cast manifold or a set of extractors.

Hardiman Performance in Milperra Sydney can supply the extractors and ship them over to you in NZ.

[vpatrol]

The original manifold was my first thought. What type of difference will the extractors make on this engine? I've just contacted the Redline distributor in NZ to see if they stock them. Would save on shipping!

[Willofan]

The original manifold was my first thought. What type of difference will the extractors make on this engine? I've just contacted the Redline distributor in NZ to see if they stock them. Would save on shipping!

If you are running standard exhaust and engine pipe, the cast iron headers are easy as they bolt up, if you are going a full 2.25" the extractors would be a good fit. The performance difference on a standard motor is bearly noticable, if you are running ported head and cams, good extractors are a must have.

[bholmberg]

sorry to jump in mid conversation...
I just got my 18rgu head rebuilt. It was recently rebuilt before i purchased it, not too sure how recently, but looked like it was only driven several times.
ANYWAY cylinder 4 had very low compression(130psi), and the guy who rebuilt it the other day said there was a lot of gunk around the valves on cylinder 4. Is this normal? does anyone have an explanation as to why?
My slightly educated guess is that the crank case breather was vented straight into the 4th carby, and all the 'gunk' got sucked straight into that cylinder from the breather essentially clogging up those valves. Maybe simply adding a catch-can would ensure it doesn't happen again? or am i way off the mark - any other suggestions? Thanks.

[river]

Hi,

The breather pipe connects to the air-box, thereby allowing all cylinders to suck in and burn it. However, most people remove the factory air-box and replace it with small individual trumpets with foam filters, in the misguided beleif that will give them more power.

If you don't have the air-box then put a catch can on the breather hole - though this is, I think, illegal, and therefore you may get pinged by the cops should they ever check under the hood and actually know what they are looking for.

seeyuzz
river

[bholmberg]

thanks river - great information.
so you think this its likely why there was compression problems on this cylinder?
i'll have to look into the legal aspect, but I think i'll be putting a catch can in like this one: http://lh6.ggpht.com/_tIpFJUSszWU/S6...0/IMG_3387.JPG

[vpatrol]

is a catch can kind of acting as a flame trap/pcv system? I don't have an air box on mine and the 18r one clearly won't do. However I've also got a volvo which uses a flame trap type system as its pcv. Wonder if one of those could be added?