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

[cheviotrola]

+1 on the coolant temp sensor. The dizzy wire will fit with a bit of re-routing (assuming your 18R-G isn't running electronic ignition - could be a bit of extra work there), there is also the wire which goes to the 18R-C carb (either the anti-diesel solenoid, or the auto choke, or both), which can be disconnected and tied out of the way. You will also want to add a new earth wire from your head to the body, and maybe even the starter motor housing to the body also, this will reduce any possible woes later on.

Fuel will be the same if you are running a mechanical pump, the changes to that system were all isolated to stuff which comes on the engine. The linkages will either need to be modified to suit, or deleted and replaced with a cable (more popular method).

Is it difficult to set up electronic ignition? Whats the benefit, better spark or stays on time at higher revs? I have a Crane XR module that I had with my injected 18RG (disassembled) with no instructions.

Also, can a radiator from a TA23 or Hilux (18R or 22R obviously) fit an RA23 and RA28? I been looking for one, the shops only have TA23 as reference and I dont have my original one, threw it out back in Feb. Does anyone know the standard dimensions of the core?

[Taff]

So the stock carbys will be up to the job? with these listed mods what kind of power would you expect? would it still be very drivable?

trying to weigh up my options for an engine conversion. 18rg is cool and suits the car but if i have to sink $3000 into it to get over 100rwkw i might as well spend a bit more and have a modern efi engine with stock internals/computer and also have a reliable and drivable car.

[masterofsinanju]

My old 23 with carby (webers though since nobody I knew at the time knew WTF to do with solex's) had an 18rgeu which was rebuilt with 9.5:1 comp pistons. From memory the block was taken out 40 thou and I think that made it out to 2.2L or thereabouts. The webers cam from a alfa and had no work done to them other than a gasket to bolt them up. I later found that the shitty running I got with the solex's was a result of a dropped venturi (4 different mechanics couldn't pick it).

It was never dyno'd but the mechanic who built the engine thought that the engine was probably giving about 120-130 rwhp. I had certainly had it up over 200km'h on one occasion when balls got the better of brains.

It ran smoothly and reliably. So seriously reliably it was astounding. Hot weather, cold it always started and ran.

It was fairly tractable around town and the power delivery was very linear. No surprises. Ran out of puff around 6500rpm which I think was more to do with how the carbs were jetted. Probably not a bad thing at that age for me. Spent more on suspension and brakes than on making power and it is something for you to keep in mind. Nothing quite like watching the warmed over 350 kingswood that ran you down on the straight spearing off into the scrub as you hit some corners (I wont bullshit about private roads, I was a bit of an idiot when I was young and am lucky I didn't hurt myself or someone else).

Plus, you can always go turbo later on if you decide you want more.

On the highway I always got better than 10L per 100km at legal speeds. Around town if I gave it stick, that dropped to around 13-14L per 100.

Before Owen and some others start bagging me because I've gone 1G in the new car, I do rate the 18rg (but I wanted a little more this time around).

[Taff]

Well i just bought a 18rg in bits. Once the panel work is done and the car is registered i will start to rebuild it from scratch.

The fun will begin in a month or 2.

cheers for the input

[Roscos]

So the stock carbys will be up to the job? with these listed mods what kind of power would you expect? would it still be very drivable?

trying to weigh up my options for an engine conversion. 18rg is cool and suits the car but if i have to sink $3000 into it to get over 100rwkw i might as well spend a bit more and have a modern efi engine with stock internals/computer and also have a reliable and drivable car.

If you look at Owens figures above you are already at the $3k mark and that is before you even start paying some one else to do some of the work.....


Roscos

[cheviotrola]

Hey masterofsinanju, what pistons did you use for yours?

[masterofsinanju]

Sorry mate, I really can't recall the brand. I doubt they were particularly renowned since I was on a tight budget.

I've dug through the filing cabinet and there really are no details. Might have rattled a few mroe memories loose though. I'm positive the compression was either 9.5 or 9.8:1 as we wanted to be sure to be able to use pump unleaded (so valves were done at the same time since super was still being sold back then). We may have sourced them through SSS automotive in Sydney.

[cheviotrola]

What did they look like, did they have value reliefs in them or were they like a donut piston face?

[masterofsinanju]

They had reliefs in them. To me looked like quite a dome.

[o_man_ra23]

The figures I put above may seem like a lot when compared with the cost of getting an import motor and throwing it in, however you don't need to account for a custom bellhousing, custom engine mounts, the exhaust you would have to do anyway, you don't need to spend countless late nights trying to route the intake, you don't have to fart around with electrics (for me that's a non-issue, but it's seemingly voodoo for many people), you don't have to get a mod plate (engineering isn't free), you don't need to put in a surge tank or baffle the existing tank to prevent surge (which kills EFI pumps). There are a lot of plusses with going the 18R, which you won't find until you decide to go another route.

With the 92mm pistons (140 thou over in the old scale - brings it close to 2.2L), you will get a lot more torque down low. I would suggest 100rwkw would be easily surpassable with the gear listed, and it would be torquey right from word go, unlike a 4A-GE which has so little down low that anything heavier than an MR2 really notices it. Basically you would end up with a really reliable setup, which has plenty of go throughout the rev range, and just wants to accellerate. Stock carbs, if jetted right, should be plenty big enough - you have huge amounts of throat area to play with.

As for the radiator - TA23 has wrong outlets, and the Hilux unit just won't fit. Closest match is the humble RA40, but I can't remember whether the RA40 radiator needs to be chamfered to fit the RA23/28 or vice versa. You could always get a JAR radiator from RiceburnaGTV - the one in my RA28 does the job real nice, and the one I had in my LN106 was a miracle worker (kept it cool half empty)

Electronic ignition is either hard or easy, depends how well you and electricity get along, and what unit you buy. The advantages are that they are set and forget - you don't have to adjust it all the time. Some units allow you to lock your dizzy and program the ignition curve separately. Most units will drive a better spark or a bigger coil, giving you less chance of a miss.

[Taff]

Yep, managed to find a runner. Thanks for the advice - another RA28 with 18RG will be on the roads in a few months

[leso]

...update on my rg....

been a long time coming , but nearly there. A bit of history first, rebuilt (by me) 18rgu with 253 head...pistons are 9.7 ...cams are wade 137 regrinds have a few specs, enough to say they are lumpy.... has twin 40 dcoe webers (unsure of full specs as yet)...have done the electronic dizzy conversion....

had it running a while ago started first go after rebuild, ran for 5 seconds then stopped. Strip carbies and clean old fuel deposits, took it for a drive around the block, ran like shit, so to the computer to study. First thing i learnt that there is no place to take off a vacuum advance line on dcoe webers.... (was coming off the balance tube) so disconnect that, goes a lot better . Advanced timing to compensate for no vacuum adv, denotation was not good. so back to factory timing settings and dentoation occurred only at 5k ...so drain fuel tank relace fuel with 98 vortex...slight advance on timing and fuck me dead...it goes good. will now sync the carbs when my tool arrives, hope this will smooth out the carbs that last bit and then i can look into the size of jets and venturies etc when they are sync'd.

it has been a long slow road...but worth every minute..

cheers leso

[Taff]

Hey guys, just wondering if you can ID these manifolds and nikki carby, it all came with the 18rg i bought. Also has a home made manifold to adapt the carby to the 18rg.







Cheers

[RA35GT]

They are factory manifolds by the looks man. the one with the interegrated balance tube should have something like 17111-88251 on it and the other one seems to be 17111-88231 or so.

[Taff]

They are factory manifolds by the looks man. the one with the integrated balance tube should have something like 17111-88251 on it and the other one seems to be 17111-88231 or so.

Is one better than the other? The factory solex are in pieces, the engine had the nikki carby on it.