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Possible to control KA24E with CA18DET ECU?

Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2019 8:11 am
by Vetal
Hello guys. I'm considering putting KA24E from Nissan Terrano into my S13.
Would it be possible to control it with my current CA18DET ECU? As I understand, major difference is that KA24E does not have individual coils. How does it fire the plugs, sorry for noob question? Is it just 1 signal for all 4 plugs?

Re: Possible to control KA24E with CA18DET ECU?

Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2019 11:56 pm
by Vetal
Anyone has any ideas about that? :)

Re: Possible to control KA24E with CA18DET ECU?

Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2019 11:58 pm
by Vetal
Is this forum dead or am I asking stupid questions? :)

Re: Possible to control KA24E with CA18DET ECU?

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2019 3:55 am
by airman
It's a niche forum but this is a super niche topic :D

I don't think you'd have anywhere to start with but I'm not going to say it's impossible. Fuel and spark mappings would be different, MAFs are different, surely a lot more. You'd have to repin everything. I believe the KA ECU is 16-bit and the CA ECU 8-bit.

For the CA18DET ignition output, it's 4 separate signals - one per coil. You would need to retrofit a cam position and crank position sensor to the KA, possibly using a a different (custom?) optical disc in your KA distributor to mimic the crank/cam position sensor for the CA ECU, maybe some sort of toothed wheel on your crankshaft pulley.

If you can do it you may be the first person who does, it'd be one hell of a thing. Why do you want to do this?

Re: Possible to control KA24E with CA18DET ECU?

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2019 8:13 am
by Vetal
From what I realized later, KA don't have any electronic ignition control at all... So all I need is to switch on 4 injectors at certain time. Surely KA24E has something for the ECU to know where crankshaft is?
Doing this because I already have ECU and Nistune for CA18 as well as experience :) Whereas I won't have all of this with KA24E

Re: Possible to control KA24E with CA18DET ECU?

Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2019 3:34 am
by airman
Makes sense. You're looking at a lot of work though, but would pay back some novelty factor. The KA up to 94 (?) uses the distributor alone for the crankshaft position signal, after that a camshaft position sensor was added as well.

For ignition you may be able to use the stock KA stuff or find a coil-on-plug that the CA ECU can trigger and work with the KA, but you'll have to find a way to fire the coil in time.

Re: Possible to control KA24E with CA18DET ECU?

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2019 1:15 am
by Vetal
So in pre-94, ECU takes crankshaft position signal from distributor??

Re: Possible to control KA24E with CA18DET ECU?

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2019 11:04 am
by airman
That's my understanding, after a certain point the cam angle sensor was added but the distributor signal was kept.