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

[damian]

Nope, I have the electronic dizzy in mine, those plugs are the ones recommended by NGK. (www.ngk.com.au look under japanese imports)


Your Vehicle:
9/1978 - 6/1981 TOYOTA CELICA 2000 - 18R-GEU

Spark Plug Part No.
Recommended Plug BPR5EY-11 (These are around $7 ea)
Iridium Option BPR5EIX-11 (These are around $25 ea)

The iridiums are meant to last longer (and for the price, hope you do get full life out of them!), but since the plugs are easy to change on 18RG's I don't bother. (since there would be bugger all difference to performance)

I've used both these plugs in both my cars, and noticed no difference. My motors aren't mental monsters however.

so I run the standard plugs in my daily (well, did and will do when it's back on the road, got the motor back in and started last week yay!) and the iridiums in my track car. why? just cause, and i've already got a set.

And maybe in the back of my mind I know i've done my best for my baby. Feels like Russell Ingall should step in here and say something like "look after your baby"...

[o_man_ra23]

Without going mental on compression or going to a heavily boosted application, I can't see a reason the standard NGK wouldn't work perfectly. Wouldn't touch a Bosch plug in my car though. Once you have spent a LOT of money on your motor, and either have some really massive domes on the pistons, or a decent snail on the exhaust side, then Iridiums will hold a spark better.

[TRD184]

i had a set of bosch plugs, car always missed, i only brought a new set of denso's last week, miss gone! wtf! my dad had the same thing happen with his datsun A12 engine, bosch plugs and leads, engine miss, put NGK ones in, better!

[JustenGT8]

Champion Gold copper core....always come out in top 2 in any plug test. cheap to change if you foul a set too

[Suavemechanic]

my 2 c on the fly wheel thing..
i used to pit on a rotary powered race car started with a basic engine and stock fly wheel
went up to a 9 thousand rpm unit and better fly wheel
then a 10 thousand rpm one and a special racing beat one from america ...
and single handedly destroyed a cheap fun racing class....
the stock one probably wont fly apart at standard revs

when i was an apprentice our head machinist refused to pay to have his fly wheel faced as he had a brilliant brand new mill.... we whipped it out and he faced it , we popped a new clutch in and he was back in a day ,i assume its a clamping issue or perhaps they just face up better if spun ?

i had a few kg removed from my old monaro fly wheel and really didnt notice much difference ,heavy car warm six, enthusiastic street use

find a friend who works in a dealership....for whatever reason they change out the irridium plugs quite a lot with low ks on them ,its not usually the plugs at fault.
for a street car should be fine ( and besides i have an order in for a dozen ! )

[wal_ra40]

Net trawling has turned up a formula that works out the effect of a light flywheel as an equivalent weight reduction of the body of the car.

Would anyone be able to weigh a stock 18r flywheel (to the nearest 0.1 kg)?

will post results

[river]

Hi,

Not sure what a stock flywheel weighs. The "effect" of a light flywheel is more pronounced in the lower gears. It won't add much, if anything, to your top speed, but it will help with acceleration.

seeyuzz
river

[Shifty]

Hi,

Not sure what a stock flywheel weighs. The "effect" of a light flywheel is more pronounced in the lower gears. It won't add much, if anything, to your top speed, but it will help with acceleration.

seeyuzz
river

I'm surprised there's so much talk about flywheels... it's a bit of a no-brainer.

Stock flywheels are fine for stock & mildly modified engines, and if you go past that then you should upgrade. A good rule of thumb is to replace the flywheel:

* if you're going more than 10-15% above the stock rev limit, or
* if you need a high-clamp button clutch, or
* if you need a super-high-clamp full face clutch

Obviously this is case-by case.

Personally I would NEVER modify/lighten a standard cast iron flywheel and would ALWAYS get a billet replacement but at the same time there are tens of thousands of 'lightened flywheel' cars out there and bugger-all that have ever had any issues.

[Shifty]

Net trawling has turned up a formula that works out the effect of a light flywheel as an equivalent weight reduction of the body of the car.

Would anyone be able to weigh a stock 18r flywheel (to the nearest 0.1 kg)?

will post results

Approximately HEAPS. Standard cast flywheels are crazy heavy on most engines (can't say I've ever picked up an 18RG one though). Might be nice for a guide but at the end of the day there's no "rule" as powerband, torque output, usage, weight, gearing, etc will all have an impact.

[river]

Hi,

Personally I would NEVER modify/lighten a standard cast iron flywheel and would ALWAYS get a billet replacement but at the same time there are tens of thousands of 'lightened flywheel' cars out there and bugger-all that have ever had any issues.

Agreed.

Also, if you are going to the trouble of having a lightweight flywheel then you want to take into consideradtion the weight of the clutch. May as well go the lightest (in weight) possible on all rotating masses to get the max benefit. Same I guess for lightweight wheels.

seeyuzz
river

PS: When I mention lightened flywheel in my posts I mean lightweight billet flywheel. I don't condone lightening of a stock unit. Leave as it is.

[lilcrash]

Where is everyone finding lightened flywheels? I've found a few different weights at lc engineering but they don't send to australia. Next question. Is the lightest option best or should I just stop at half weight?

[Shifty]

I'm slowly working on trawling through this thread, but in the interim... what do I want bottom-end wise?

I have an 18RC bottom end, so that means I'll have weaker rods, lower comp pistons, smaller oil pump, but otherwise mechanically identical? Anything else I'm missing, or that I should add? Also what is the useful rpm of stock rods (atmo?) as I'd prefer not to replace if they're useable.

[o_man_ra23]

lilcrash,

After months of being arsed around, I ended up with a Fidanza flywheel from the US (bought of fleabay) as it was the only one with a lead time less than 3 months!! As for weight, pretty much all the light flywheels I have looked at are 4.3-4.6kg. That 300g won't make anywhere near the difference the drop from a 12+kg flywheel will. I tried getting a CrMo unit, however they just weren't readily available. The aluminium unit was about the same weight, had a replaceable steel insert for clutch friction surface, and a ring gear. The thickness of the heat treated aluminium is quite good, and I can't imagine it would be susceptible to failure unless there are very severe conditions (ie worse than what my engine should be capable of putting out). The aluminium will also dissipate the heat from the clutch friction better than CrMo.

Kameari and Jun also make flywheels for 18R's (CrMo), however please refer to my earlier availability woes.

The best option will depend on availability, material choice and cost. The lightest may or may not be the best option (in my case it was).

Also, my clutch is heavier than my flywheel...

[o_man_ra23]

Shifty,

Unless you are going crazy on compression and power, the stock 18R-C rods should be fine. Get them crack tested, de-stressed, peened, and put in ARP fasteners (will require line boring of the big ends), and they shouldn't give you dramas in a non-boosted application. The fact they weigh less than the 18R-G units (as I am led to believe) should make them handle higher rpm a bit better than the R-G units. You will also want to balance the rotating assembly quite well and have all the bearing tolerances matched. New gudgeon pin bushes are a must too.

I would suggest turfing the 18R-C pistons and getting oversized 18R-G pistons (steer clear of 18R-GUE pistons, as the rings are impossible to get). You can take this opportunity to go to a 92mm bore (approx 2.2Ltr capacity at the end), but this will also require a Cometic 92mm bore HG. Or you can just go 0.5mm over the current bore of the block. Realistically, if you are concerned about revving past standard, just replacing the rings and honing the bores won't be sufficient.

Your best bet is to work out what you want the engine to do, and how much you are willing to spend on the engine. If you can get your desires from the $$ you want to outlay, go for it. If not, work out if you can get more $$, or reduce your desires suitably.

[Shifty]

No specific requirement/intent for the car - just a fun thing to drive around. As such no major plans or big investment:

* Pistons @ 92/92.5mm & 10.5 comp
* stock rods prepped & ARP bolts (if agreed useable to desired power/revs)
* Modest cams
* EFI
* Bang-for-buck tidyup on the head
* Standard valves
* Absolute max 8000rpm (like to keep lower if I can)
* 160hp-180hp crank (assume not too hard as they were 140hp stock so all being equal taking it from 2.0 to 2.2lt should be 154hp before cams/compression/aftermarket efi)

Anyone got a pic of RC vs RG rods? Ones at the start of the thread no longer display.