BTL ka24de-t Build thread (steady going broke)

[BTL_nissan]

Hey NICO! Ive been putting this off for a while but I'm going to get my build thread started.

Heres a little history of myself and my nissan conquest....

For the past 5 years I've been honda this honda that. Ive owned multiple hondas with the usual B swaps. After hanging with Mark (mod) and my other nissan friends I started to lean toward an FR platform. I was literally in the middle of building a 300 hp turbo honda when I met a guy with a stock turbo KA24de.........

After being forced into the passenger seat of his turboed ka s13
I was hooked! I intantly fell in love with the torque of the ka and the style of the S-chassis.

well anyway I began my search for an S-chassis and lucky enough Mark had a virgin s13 hatch that he had planed on slutting. I decided to buy it and it all started. The shell had a catastrophically failed ka in it which the previous owners robbed the head off of. So i started looking for a swap.

Broke at this point and 4 cars registered in my name (98 mustang gt, 96 honda civic that i daily, 95 honda hatchback current project, and my motorcycle) I decided to put everything up for sale.

Pics of the rides









Mustang sold in a month and I now had 2500 bucks to put toward the s-chassis. At this point I still had no swap so I kept looking. 2 weeks went by and I came across a guy with a Ka24de long block for sale for 700. I decided this was my engine. Called the guy up and he ended up having the entire swap. Engine, harness, transmission, ecu, drive shaft and even mentioned some coil overs he said he wasnt going to use.

Well me and the guys were going to baytown Ifo and the guy lived only an hour from our hotel so we set off to what we called 'DINGLE d!ck TEXAS' This guy lived in the middle of nowhere!!!! We arrived at his house and started snooping around. Mark used some of his jew tactics and when we left we had the entire swap AND a set of brand new Meagan racing Track series coil overs in the back of the truck! My cost........ $600

Guy bought the car and pulled the swap for his rb26 build.

Started pulling the the engine apart and she was beautiful, no scars or anything, block still had crosshatching in the cylinders.



So I started spending money

My first invoice

Wiseco forged 9:1 pistons
Eagle rods
ARP head studs
Supertech valve train
Oem head gasket
Godspeed intake manifold
Xtd stage 4 clutch and 12lb flywheel
CXracing radiator with dual electric fans

Now for some pictures











pulling the blown ka


Unmolested radio harnes


started with the manual swap




brake pedal next



the good KA



pulled it all apart. looks great



Sent the block to the machine shop. Got it back like this













Parts!!!!















clutch






the meagan coil overs


OEM Nissan head gasket



More to come!!!

[Jmoore124]

Looking good so far. Keep us updated!

[GTR PrYdE]

Lookin good!
So what are your other plans for the car, particularly:
What turbo?
Cams?
Injectors?
Tune?

The stock trans will hold a little power, supposedly in the upper 300s, but in the future you'll need something like a Z32 transmission swap if you want to take advantage of that built engine.

[BTL_nissan]

Lookin good!
So what are your other plans for the car, particularly:
What turbo?
Cams?
Injectors?
Tune?

The stock trans will hold a little power, supposedly in the upper 300s, but in the future you'll need something like a Z32 transmission swap if you want to take advantage of that built engine.

My original plan was to build a safe 350 hp car. Being completely new to the nissan game I was unaware that my build is good for around 500 or so....
Im still going to stay with my 350 goal for now.

as far as my choice for turbo, I'm still torn. Ive heard so many people suggest so many turbos (even have a thread on here about it)

I'm 99% sure I am going to be running a precision 5454e. A journal bearing turbo that I was told by the shop is good for 400+ and I should see boost around 2800-3000 rpms. Powerband is a huge factor to me. 500 hp for the length of 2000 rpms isnt my game.

As for now I am keeping the stock cams. Ive been told that changing the cams in the ka is putting serious balls into my build. As in huge hp gains. In my opinion anything above 350hp would be completely useless in a base model 240. At least until I get some more money sunk into my suspension. I dont think ill even be able to put all 350 to the ground.

For tuning I'm going to go with nistune for now. Seems like my best bang for the buck. Not to mention sinking an extra 1500 into a stand alone is a little above my price range.

And yes I'm pretty certain the KA trans isnt going to take much abuse. Ive decided Ill run the one that came with my swap until it blows then try one my ka trans to give it the benefit of the doubt being I have no idea how many miles are on mine. Then if that one goes Ill be running the z32 trans. My buddy Mark has a couple tt trans laying around that I will prolly snag from him.

Forgot to mention ill be running yellow top 540cc subaru injectors.

[GTR PrYdE]

Everything sounds real solid, not a thing I would change! I'm in the same boat as you on the trans. If this one gives out, i'll have a cheap replacement ready and then start prepping for the Z32 trans lol.

Another Q. Clutch choice? Comp Clutch has a "white bunny" setup that uses a 250mm flywheel (as opposed to our 225mm IIRC fw.) They have a full face which holds 400 and a 6 puck thats rated for 500. Cost in the 300s for both clutch and flywheel.

[Jmoore124]

I run a stage 3 spec clutch in mine with a lightened flywheel. I was expecting my driveability to decrease significantly but its honestly not that bad. My build is somewhere in the 500 range.

As far as turbos go. post4211675.html?hilit=s258#p4211675
The s258 borg warner is a beast of a turbo. Read through that thread and if your interested I have one just like the one being sold. Its what I run on my KA.

[BTL_nissan]

My clutch is shown within all my pictures. I just ordered an XTD stage 4 clutch and flywheel kit. Got them both shipped to the house around 300. Did a ton of research before I ordered the XTD. Some say they loved it some say "they knew a guy that hated it" so I said screw it and ordered it. Couldn't beat the price. Even if my clutch disc explodes ill just replace it name brand. The pressure plate actually looks identical to the exedy PP just painted lol.

As far as turbos go. post4211675.html?hilit=s258#p4211675
The s258 borg warner is a beast of a turbo. Read through that thread and if your interested I have one just like the one being sold. Its what I run on my KA.

We've already discussed this in my "turbo choice personal suggestions" thread. I'd love to pick up your BW but damn it are the prices high on those things.

[mnofal225]

good to see another louisiana native on here. I know Mark myself i bought a sr20det swapped s14 from him which was a beast. but im about to get this s14 soon and get started on a ka-t build myself. You are getting me to excited and cant wait until next week until i get my car as well. Hopefully we can meet up sometime i live in Baton Rogue myself. You should go to the drift event in NOLA this sunday.

And good job of switching to the nissan team. LOL

[300ZXttZMAN]

Adam, I'm glad you finally got around to making a thread of your build, I'll add your thread to the "table of Schassis build threads" here in a moment.

Mnofal225, we will be coming to nola and stuff once we get our cars to that point. Are you going to be going to the belle rose IFO? I'm pretty sure I should have my Z squared away and ready to make the cruise by time it comes.

Subscribed

[BTL_nissan]

OK guys time for some catch up pictures.

We got the pistons and rods installed a few weeks ago and got the head cleaned up and assembled.





check out that reflection


Went to Toyota and used their parts washer/steamer


all clean and assembled, we didnt get any pictures of us assembling the head it was definately something to see lol

[BTL_nissan]

Oh yea cant forget about the oil pan

got my weldable 10AN fitting in



Just got to drill a big a** hole in my oil pan.... feels so wrong!!
So after 30 min scrubbing and cleaning with the parts washer the oil pan is clean, with the hole drilled and prepped to welded.



Brought my fitting and pan to the local welding shop. Cost me a whole $15 to get it welded

outside of the pan


inside


I think the welds look good myself. he promised it wouldn't leak.

[300ZXttZMAN]

[BTL_nissan]

Ok guys I do have quite a bit of pics to post up on here but I ran into a problem last night.........

My intake cam has a very small chip on the top of one of the lobes. Pretty sure I will have to replace it. Should I stay OEM cams or just say screw it and get some aftermarket turbo cams???

I need help guys, and like stated in the title I steadily going broke on this build. Would the cam swap be worth the money? Should I just up my power goals and make 450??? I'm stuck!

[GTR PrYdE]

Well... If you're budget affords it, why not help out your built engine breathe? Kelford makes good cams. I would recommend them highly over BC, just off my own research of quality.

[300ZXttZMAN]

Well... If you're budget affords it, why not help out your built engine breathe? Kelford makes good cams. I would recommend them highly over BC, just off my own research of quality.

How do you feel about JWT cams for the KA?

[Jmoore124]

I would personally look for a couple 248's and swap them in. Anything larger and in my experience you lose a solid idle and a bit of drivability. Not to mention the 500.00 bucks

[GTR PrYdE]

How do you feel about JWT cams for the KA?

Haven't heard anything bad, I never really looked into them much once Kelford started making cams for the KA

I would personally look for a couple 248's and swap them in. Anything larger and in my experience you lose a solid idle and a bit of drivability. Not to mention the 500.00 bucks

I'm not convinced on this either, a lot of what Ive read is you give up alot of low end with this setup. I can only guess it has to do with being a mismatched set.

Kelford makes a 256/264 setup, and while I don't have first hand experience, I know a turbo 2.4 can benefit from a matched set of turbo cams. I honestly don't think drive ability will be affected much.
FWIW I drive a 2.0 with 280/272 cams and drive ability is not bad at all. I've been daily driving my evo for the last 70k miles with those cams.

[BTL_nissan]

I know I havent posted in a while but with my recent income tax return I have order quite a few new parts I'm proud of.

Got the the precision 5454e journal bearing turbo brand new for 669 shipped. Its been 2 weeks and I'm still waiting because they had to make me a T3 housing, but I can't complain.

I contacted Autovaughnperformance and sent my ecu to nistune installed for 320 shipped The guy over there is really easy to work with and has excellent customer service. He uses his cell phone has his work contact and suprisingly returns my calls within 30 mins. We have chit chatted on multiple occasions and for a $50 intall he got my bussiness.

I went cheap and ordered the godspeed top mount tubular manifold and I have to say for $100 shipped this thing is damn good. Awesome looking welds, they even port matched the flanges and cleaned up the slag, all the welds are smooth and strong. The wastegate flange is very hefty and they have even included some bracing to prevent cracking. I am very impressed with the quallity of this $100 manifold.

Mark and I scored another parts chassis with a good gas tank that I'll be using since mine sat for 8 years and rusted out :/

I ordered a brand new innovate digital wideband for 150 shipped and am very impressed with what was included for the price.

Got the glowshift 3 gauge pillar pod the fits PERFECT over my oem pillar. They even have a $10 3 gauge wiring kit that ties all the power wires, grounds, acc, illumination, and a couple other wires to make wiring a breeze.

Ive got a ton of pictures to upload that will be uploaded soon!!! Hope you guys are still watching!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BTL_nissan]

Oh and I almost forgot!!!!! I also order nismo 740cc injectors with ka orings and clips for 560 shipped!!! Brand new!!!

[300ZXttZMAN]

Yeppp we did score another parts chassis... BTW, if anyone wants to buy a Z32 TT brake/hub conversion PM me.

Adam, pics or banned.