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

[wal_ra40]

G'day all,
A few months ago my bro and I rebuilt an 18rg using stock pistons, cams and solexes for our hillclimb ra40. It was better than the old 18rc but now we want more acceleration and are prepared to spend around $2k on engine parts to build another NA 18rg.

There seems to be a lot of piston and cam options, can anyone suggest anything specific that will give us more mid range acceleration? Are there any other engine parts (valve springs etc) that are worth looking into?

Thanks,
-Wal

[o_man_ra23]

High compression 92mm Arias pistons, Cometic head gasket, Crane or Crow valve springs, Tighe cams, Fidanza 4.3kg flywheel... there's a good start for you. The high compression oversized pistons will make the most difference. Depending on what fuel you use, you can go as high as 12:1 or more compression. I have many contact details for parts including pricing if you require. Seriously though, $2k might be a bit low ball, though will give you a good start.

[Blue23]

High compression 92mm Arias pistons, Cometic head gasket, Crane or Crow valve springs, Tighe cams, Fidanza 4.3kg flywheel... there's a good start for you. The high compression oversized pistons will make the most difference. Depending on what fuel you use, you can go as high as 12:1 or more compression. I have many contact details for parts including pricing if you require. Seriously though, $2k might be a bit low ball, though will give you a good start.

If im running standard internals and want to upgrade toget more compression and power wat would be the recomemded? Or wat are people running at the moment?

Im interested in upgrading my pistons and cams. I think i am running the 270 headbut will check this tomorrow.

Does anyone know a website i can look into

Cheers

[o_man_ra23]

Blue23, for cams, have a look at:
http://www.tighecams.com.au/

For pistons have a look at:
http://www.ariaspistons.com/

The two best websites for info though are:
www.Toymods.org.au/forums
www.google.com

The last two websites will require you to do a bit of searching, and use your own common sense to determine what information sounds correct, however both have a wealth of knowledge concerning what you want.

Oh, and if it is purely power you want, I would suggest to lower your compression to about 8.5:1 (or raise in the case of 88270 pistons), and put a turbo on the exhaust, and EFI on the intake.

[Omegaman]

see also http://www.camtechcams.com.au/ for cam profiles.

[wal_ra40]

I haven't had much luck with manufacturers and distributors of 18rg pistons. Responses have ranged from asking for me to send a sample to no response at all.

From anyone who has purchased 18rg pistons recently, particularly 92mm ones, where have you got them from? Is there any part numbers that can help me out?

[o_man_ra23]

Paradise Racing in California. Louis was good to deal with, but does require you to pay via a wire transfer up front before he gets them manufactured.

Tell him you want a set with the same specs as the non-turbo ones he got for Owen Myhill in 2010, with the exception of that you want to change to xx:1 compression (assuming you want different to 10.5:1). I'll try and get the Arias job number for you.

[lilcrash]

Paradise racing can get the parts you need to be very wary when dealing with him, in past experience I ordered pistons and rods and I got the pistons after 3 and a half months and i still haven't got that rods. And that was 3 years ago. I contacted him after 4 months and he said it's been too long. I don't have records from that long ago.

[river]

Hi,

Sounds like Paradise Racing is to be avoided.

There must be local people or someone else who is more reliable?

seeyuzz
river

[lilcrash]

I'm just not sure if he ever sent them. He claimed he did and I never saw then. All he had to say is you should have contacted him sooner. It's like my pistons took over 3 months and I contacted you after 4 months. If you did send them. What's the harm in keeping customers happy for future purchases and send another set. They were only a set of eagle chromoly rods. Listed at $349. They wouldn't cost him that and I paid that at under 90cents to the dollar plus postage.

Sorry end rant

[o_man_ra23]

lilcrash, did you get a con note number off him when he sent them? That is always the first thing you need to get. I do agree though that 4 months isn't too long to keep customer details.

River, 1 bad experience doesn't make somebody unreliable. If there were multiple bad experiences, then I would understand. Personally I can't say he was anything but professional when I was dealing with him. Sure it wasn't the easiest transaction I ever had, but he was covering his own arse, which is understandable, and he delivered what I requested within a reasonable time period, and supplied relevant documentation when he dispatched the goods.

[lilcrash]

From the moment I ordered I never got one single word from him. No tracking numbers. Not even a receipt. From my experience he was just very unprofessional. Like yer I'm not a business but everytime I sell something I email through all receipt and tracking numbers. It only takes a few minutes to type an email. And I'm not just irritated because it didn't come. He refused to be helpful. And just so you know there is plenty of people that he has ripped off. There was a thread on custom tacos full of people with bad experiences with him. Its just sad that he is the only person I found that could get the parts I needed. For 2 years I had an engine sitting ready to go just needed conrods. But no he had to scam me out of my money. It's disgraceful. And Luis if you ever end up reading this just remember one day I will be able to afford to fly over there. This isn't the end.

[wal_ra40]

Who would have thought that buying non-standard performance parts internationally for a 30+ year old engine would be so hard?

Paradise Racing are one of the ones that haven't responded to my enquiry yet.

O man - an Arias job number would be tops

Also it looks like the Fidanza aluminium flywheel for 18R (part no 130181) appears to be out of production. Has anyone sourced one of these recently?

[o_man_ra23]

I got a 22R item, 22R ARP flywheel bolts, and an M11x1.25 tap, did the conversion to the 22R flywheel. Other than the larger thread on the flywheel bolts, there is no difference. Standard thread for an 18R is M10x1.25, so no big drama tapping it out straight. 130221 is the part number. Clutch is the same between 18R and 22R (just got to match the throwout bearing to the gearbox, there are 2 types, one for the adjustable clutch slave cylinder, the other for all the rest)

[SilverRA23]

I dealt with Arias Pistons / Atomic Speedware direct for my 18RG pistons at the beginning of 2010.

You won't have any problems dealing with them direct.

You will also need a Cometic head gasket to suit 92mm pistons which is listed as an 18R one on their website.