Some of you may remember me - I haven't been around in a while.

I had finally gotta the CA tuned *just* right, but was not driving it often as the AC was still not fixed.

If you're interested in the original build, see here and here.

A friend was having car trouble and I lent him the 240SX until he got his car working properly - on the condition that it really, really needed new tires (the other reason I didn't drive it much).

He hadn't gotten around to replacing the bald tires yet when he was coming home one night, in the rain, on an poorly maintained asphalt highway (Eastbound I-30 as it approaches 635 for those of you in Dallas) when someone cut him off, forcing him to his the brakes.

He had a 240SX of his own, when he lived in Spokane, that had ABS... mine doesn't. Tires locked up, he went into the jersey barrier in the center of the highway, bounced off, launched into the sort-of ditch on the right side, taking out one of the wooden posts that holds up the chain (just a chain, not chain link) "fence" between the highway and the service road.

That was 9/12/2009. I just kinda dropped out of the scene and didn't hang out on the forums anymore, put the whole thing out of my mind until I finally had time and money and luck to get a new chassis because this one was beyond / not worth repair.

The engine still runs, but you can't really drive it anywhere. Have to stab the throttle repeatedly because the solid intake piping won't line up anymore so it's open throttle and no effective MAF, so kind of have to trick it into giving something resembling the right amount of fuel.

Photos of the wrecked car (click for really big images):







Fast forward to now, and as of 7/14/2011 I own a second 240SX which I scored for an amazingly low $800 that will be the recipient of all my undamaged goodies from the original car.

My new car (click for really big images):



Bonus: Now I have a HICAS, LSD, power everything equipped car with a decent paint job (compared to my old one, which was peeling and all kinds of bondo'd). Really the only thing "wrong" with the new car is that the KA24DE has a hole in the block at cylinder 3, but it can still move itself around the driveway fine, and its not like I bought it for it's engine either.

Won't be getting it swapped over anytime soon simply because its too hot and I have other priorities right now, just had to pounce on this car when it came up on Craigslist (guy I bought it from, had intended to do a swap himself, but had to sell it, hard economic times and all). This time at least I can take the time to do everything right that I didn't before (some things were rushed because it was my daily driver back then, now it's not the case).

biosehnsucht wrote: Really the only thing "wrong" with the new car is that the KA24DE has a hole in the block at cylinder 3, but it can still move itself around the driveway fine

That is the heart of a warrior, the f*** KA is like the black knight in Monty Python!

Well I suppose after many years being the mystery person, I figure it's about time I registered and posted here.
To make a long story short, I have helped him with his (old) car almost as long as he owned it. I did so much work on it (does helping him do half of the electrics and building the CA count?), it practically became "mine" and thus know it inside and out.

Anyway, the legends of the KA resilience is very true! His old KA24E just couldn't be destroyed. Long story:
I think it might've been 5 years ago when I helped him resurrect his 240 "again" that we messed with the ignition timing as one of the last things to be done. The timing as off and I was like "well, why not advance the timing also since it doesn't really hurt these motors?". So that's what we did. He took it onto the interstate and I rode shotgun. Holy mother did it run good! It ran good enough to actually feel your body mildly pushed into the seats. After a 2 mile run, he took the exit and we were about to head back to his house. As soon as he turned onto the on-ramp, I heard clatter. Oh snap!

I thought ok, I guess the timing is too advanced... let's just go back and set it back a little. No biggie, right? WRONG. Tried spec timing at 10 degrees, still clattering. Put it back to the horribly mistimed setting it was, same thing. I even tried putting in the shorter "ISO length" spark plugs that came out of my Mazda (and used in damn near anything modern Japanese) to further mechanically retard timing and to reduce chances of preignition, it only helped by about 100-200rpm. Needless to say, it started clattering as soon as you hit 2200 to 2500rpm, depending on how hard you were on the pedal.

I think he drove it like this for another year, maybe a little more. He drove it long enough for the clutch to almost fade out of existence. During this time he already bought a CA and ready for a swap. He was waiting for the KA to blow up but never did, most likely due to the granny shifting he always did. Shifted right as it started clattering.

Anyway, after we put the CA in, we tore down the KA to look at it and get it ready to be junked/parted out for sale. We were horrified at what we saw. Bio, do you remember taking any pics? Because I don't remember we doing so! After the head was off, I saw what looked like rubber bands in the oil and water galleries (mostly in the water galleries). It turns out it was solidified strings of RTV silicone sealant! Intrigued, I thought nothing of it until we got to the bottom end...

It turns out the noise was literally rod knock, but the KA ran smooth enough that it never did it at idle or load below 2200rpm. It ran without a single hitch! Spun bearings? No, because the engine was full of fresh oil and was using that baby blue Nissan oil filter! The conrod bearings were "pounded" into the crankshaft journals and I had to pry them off. The only thing I could conclude was that undersized bearings were used. In otherwords, this meant the KA was rebuilt before and whoever did it was a blithering idiot who had no idea the very basics of auto mechanics. So due to the fact that these bearings were undersized, the conrods literally "floated" on top of them and the entire reciprocating assemblies were literally "full floating"; both on the big and small ends (the wrist pins are full floating design in the KA for those unaware)! There was always a millimeter or two space between the conrods and those beat up undersized bearings. It's amazing it even held itself together with little lubrication and tremendous vibrations!





Short story:
Timing advanced, KA made horrible noise above 2200rpm. Attempted to drive it till it blew before CA replacement went in, never blew up. Found out some idiot rebuilt the motor with wrong size bearings which caused the conrods to "float", making horrendous noise.

More than 5 years, at least 6.5, since I got the CA running Dec 24 2004.

Glad to see you around again! TMS and I are both in the middle of llloooonnnnnggg rebuilds due to time. We both have builds up, but TMS got a little happy with the boost damaged something internally IIRC, and I had an oil filter fail and ruin the bearings and head. Maybe if we can get Tim on board, we could have an OG reunion, LOL.

Boost makes me do evil.

It'll be nice when I can again hear "VRrrrrr.... PSSHhhhh!!! VRrrrrrrr... PSSSShhhhhh!"

float, please tell me you didn't use fram

How did you know?

I guess the crystal ball sitting in front of me was working!

Welcome back to the pack bio. Glad to hear you've gotten the urge to regroup, re-assemble and prepare for round two. We've all been through some sort of slump and we must get off our butts and attempt to put some life back into the CA forum. I personally can't remember the last time anything of mine was recorded on video, but I got some innovative ideas including what could very well be the world for Nissan ?_?+ with a CA18DET in it. I promise to spill the beans when I get the car , but time is definitely not on my side.

boost_boy wrote:Welcome back to the pack bio. Glad to hear you've gotten the urge to regroup, re-assemble and prepare for round two. We've all been through some sort of slump and we must get off our butts and attempt to put some life back into the CA forum. I personally can't remember the last time anything of mine was recorded on video, but I got some innovative ideas including what could very well be the world for Nissan ?_?+ with a CA18DET in it. I promise to spill the beans when I get the car , but time is definitely not on my side.

I bet its gonna be an old GTR or bluebird.