1.My rear end plugs have always come out pretty easily. I just soak them in PB blaster. Trans plugs on the other hand were a nightmare. I guess you can try an impact gun (for loosening ONLY).
2. Clutch. You're going to need a clutch, which sucks, cos you just changed your trans fluid and you'll have to drain it back out. While you have the trans out, do the rear main seal and either replace the flywheel or get it resurfaced.
3. The turbo RPM will be sky high without the pressure on the outlet side. It's usually ok for super short distances (and low RPM), but it isn't recommended for long term driving. You're probably better off installing everything (turbo, piping, etc) and just leaving the wastegate open all the time.
4. Oil line kit, coolant line kit (for the turbo), oil pan bung/oil return line, and determine how you'll be running your MAF. If you vent your BOV to atmospere, I HIGHLY recommend running a blow-through MAF setup, or speed density tuning (MAP sensor instead of MAF).

I didn't mention I have an automatic. My trans plugs came out very easily! It was a big pain to replace the pan though, 18 bolts or so to fit in against gravity, holding the pan with one hand, bolting with the other, gasket not lining up. *Protip* put the gasket on and bolts in first and the gasket will hold them in place, then just line up and hand tighten to hold, then ratchet.

I was planning on a maf, I will have to research what blow through and map means.

What would having the wastegate open do? Bypass the turbo and go out the back? It is internal wastegate. Can it send all the gas through in reality?

Leaving the wastegate open basically just prevents the car from running any boost. Essentially it bypasses the turbo. Some gas still goes through it, but not enough to really build boost and put your car in danger.

Blow through MAF just means the MAF is on the pressurized side of your piping. Ideally, you put it after the BOV, before the throttle body and Idle Air Intake Valve. That way, when your blow off valve hits, you aren't blowing off metered air.

So generally, it will be safe to run a turbo kit with no fuel upgrades, no tune, using your open wastegate suggestion. Even for say, 6 months?

Generally yeah. I mean, I wouldn't beat the crap out of it. There is the off-chance that your wastegate doesn't flow well enough and you'll see some boost creep (like 3ish psi). Even that shouldn't really hurt much.

You can blow-through OR recirculate.

ok guys im stuck and I don't know the best ways to go about this. I bought a 240sx that was set up mainly as a track car. The car has a hydraulic brake but doesn't have the stock e-brake. I want to use it as a daily driver however, every time I'm on an incline I can only put it in gear. I know this puts a strain on the transmission and you don't have the back up of the e-brake. My question is can I just put in a stock e-brake and have both functioning?

I don't see why not.
Who the hell removes the E-brake?!
The other option is to learn how to heel-toe like a badass haha.

So, when you install a downpipe, and then a catback... what is inbetween? The stock cat? Or is the test pipe people speak of the replacement for that. I think I answered my own question. What about emissions though. Do you use the stock cat or do you need an aftermarket one.

PapaSmurf2k3 wrote:I don't see why not.
Who the hell removes the E-brake?!
The other option is to learn how to heel-toe like a badass haha.

I know I thought it was a stupid move on his part.
I'll let you know how it turns out when I find an E-brake. Thanks for the help

I know the handbrakes I carry will lock in the pressure position at trackntrek.com

Which one do you have?

sarkazmo5 wrote:So, when you install a downpipe, and then a catback... what is inbetween? The stock cat? Or is the test pipe people speak of the replacement for that. I think I answered my own question. What about emissions though. Do you use the stock cat or do you need an aftermarket one.

It all depends on the system you go with. Some are designed to not have cats, some use their own cats, some use the factory one, etc.

I appriciate all the info. Thanks for indulging me. Next question.

Are there consequences to installing a bigger fuel pump on stock set up. Seems like with a fpr and stock injectors, a bigger pump would have 0 effect on the system. What about pump, fpr, and injector upgrades; if you regulate the pressure to a lower amount, wouldn't the bigger injectors and pump be able to produce the same amount of fuel as normal?

Again my goal is to install a bit at a time, whatever I can get away with.

sarkazmo5 wrote:I appriciate all the info. Thanks for indulging me. Next question.

Are there consequences to installing a bigger fuel pump on stock set up. Seems like with a fpr and stock injectors, a bigger pump would have 0 effect on the system. What about pump, fpr, and injector upgrades; if you regulate the pressure to a lower amount, wouldn't the bigger injectors and pump be able to produce the same amount of fuel as normal?

Again my goal is to install a bit at a time, whatever I can get away with.

The stock FPR *should* keep up with the bigger fuel pump (Like a Walbro 255) but injectors should never be upgraded without tuning. Yes if you had a wideband AFR o2 sensor you might be able to fine tune it, but why go through that trouble?? Injectors are not needed unless you have a power adder (turbo, supercharger, nitrous) and then you'd need a tune anyway.

theoretically, you might actually see an improvement if you went to a smaller injector and a higher fuel pressure (adjustable fuel pressure regulator).

Higher fuel pressure + smaller injector = same amount of fuel, but with better atomization.

You'll love this...

http://fuelinjectorclinic.com/flow-calculator

That's a pretty nifty calculator!

Not nearly as nifty as this one:

http://www.rimsntires.com/specspro.jsp

Edited post

Problem fixed

I just want to start it off that I have absolutely no prior knowledge in cars or engines or any of the sort. Seems like everyone here has been a car enthusiast since childhood so I am a little behind everyone being a 16 year old but I am trying to read and learn as much as I can. My uncle recently said to me he would be selling his s13 hatch to me over the summer so I am trying to learn as much as I can. Sorry I apologize if you think I have the dumbest of questions.

1. What would be a reasonably price for his single owner, s13 hatch with 225k miles?
1. About how many miles would it take for a stock KA24E to start having problems? (The amount of miles on the engine is 225miles)

Thanks guys!

1. That really depends on the condition of the vehicle. What year is it? Is it a 5 speed? Does it have any rust that you are aware of?
I've seen old 240s go anywhere from $500 to $3500. If it has been well maintained, doesn't make too many weird noises, drives well, and doesn't have too much rust, both you and your uncle would be doing well at a sale price of between $1600 and $2250. Most 240s that have had average maintenance would fall into this category. Less if its up in the rust belt and the body is swiss cheese.

2nd #1. It sounds like you have a single over head cam based on your engine code. Again, they are pretty stout little engines if the oil gets changed often. We've seen them go into the 300+ thousand mile range here on original timing components, etc. If your intentions are to simply pick it up as a fun daily driver, you can probably expect the same. If you're going to race/beat it, you'll want to get a rebuild on standby.

He said he would be willing to sell it to me for 1000 if I get a good SAT Score, so I know what to strive for now and he's giving me one hell of a price!

Alrignt that gives me around 70k miles of daily driving until I have to rebuild. I thought it was going to blow out soon so that is a relief. I know this a completely opinionated question but what is the order YOU work your cars? (Ex: engine > suspension > tires etc). I just want to know how the order others are going about working on their car so I can apply it to my own.

I'm an Engineer so I tend to take a DFMEA/PFMEA approach to it (google it and get your learn on).

Basically, I take care of drivability issues first and foremost. If there's something that can kill you if it goes wrong, you fix that first. Think like broken ball joints, tie rod ends, really bad tires, brakes, etc. Stuff like that.

After that it just depends on what condition the car is in. If the engine still starts every time and runs ok, but your suspension is blown, I'd fix the suspension. If you have a water leak or something that is really annoying, then take care of that.

Is the car his current daily driver, or has it been sitting for a long time?

Always down to soak new information so I appreciate that! So they way you look at it is that driveability stuff then making the car look "cool" (bodykit and stuff) The car is kind of both. It was heavily driven when my uncle first got it because he was a commenting college student but now, he takes it out about once every week or so.

Nice. So at least its in driving condition.
And I'm not a real big fan of body kits, but getting the car all one color, waxing it/washing it is never a bad idea, and it's cheap.

Welcome! This is a great place to start posting questions.

The car probably needs a good bit of maintenance to get it back in prime shape, so get it running perfect before doing anything else to the car.

Fix any fluid leaks or vacuum leaks, repair any faulty electrical (that's making anything act weird or run strange), when in good shape it should have good enough "pep" to be fun and get good gas mieage as well. By then you'll have a better understanding of how feasable it is to work on your own car, and you can procede to take on any projects you can think of. Good luck!

-Devin

Hi guys! Back again with some questions having to do with specifically with the engine. I am months away from having the car in my actual possession but I get so excited of working on it that I love planning what to do with it. After reading countless threads and arguments over weather the KA-T or SR was a better engine, I have made a decision to go with an KA. However I am not quite sure how to approach it. It would be a completely waste of money to do anything to my uncle's KA24DE with 225k miles on it correct? Is the best plan of action to rebuild the current engine or just buy a another ka24de with lower milege?

It depends on the condition of the engine.
I mean, you can always turbo something even if it isn't optimal. Just make sure it isn't your only mode of transportation haha.

Maybe grenade the first engine and use it as a learning experience while you build another one.

I doubt this will tell you anything about the engine and I know close to notbing about engines but I can tell you what happen from what I remember looking at the engine. It made a very distinct rattling noise and the battery died often.

Let's say the engine is in bad condition and I turbo the engine, wouldn't it just be a waste of money to choose to turbo it?

And by grenade the engine, do you mean drive it with absolutely no new parts added and fix problems as it comes till it completely dies?

No, by grenade I mean slap the turbo and everything on the old engine, and it explodes because either:
You didn't do something right with the turbo install
The engine is old and couldn't handle it
Combination of the 2

Either way, it'll be a learning experience, and all your turbo bits should still be good for the next engine ready to go in.