A long wait over.. Another Ka-T on the streets

[480sx]

Well i finally got all the major bugs worked out in my build, its been going on since February! Took it out on my street today and abused the stock clutch. I was amazed at how much power the stock clutch will hold for a little bit, i expected it to slip instantly. Its pretty much smoked now though lol.

Heres my setup.. -Zenki 96 S14 124000 miles (actual reading when i took it off the road, it was a sign!) -Franken turbo, t3/t4 50 trim .63 ar, brand new garrett 360 degree center section and new wheels -Enthalpy ECU tune + SAFC 2 -550 cc Sard injectors -performance 255 fuel pump, Nismo rising rate FPR-Boost Designs manifold -Tial 38mm WG -SARD R2D2 Bov -Seriously modified Boost Designs matching downpipe. Its really a custom job at this point... -Multi layered steel Cometic HG (a big fat FAIL on this one.. Swaped it out for a fel-pro) -Stock head/block -Big ebay FMIC + Custom tiged IC pipes with T-Bolts (no couplers to blow here..) -DIY McMaster-Carr oil pressure line, JGS oil drain kit(best value ever, >100 bucks, all turbo oil plumbing done) -Zeitronix WB02 -Electric boost gage/turbo timer -Chrome moly lightend flywheel, spec stage 3 clutch (need to install) -JGS poly motor mounts (they are stiff, you feel more vibration in the chassie but the motor doesnt flex at all A+ This is a personal preference thing, to be honest you might be better off with the JGS rubber mounts for a daily, but i dont mind the extra vibration and noise. It makes the car feel fast at idle.. )

Iv got a little bit of a boost spike issue, i blame on my boost designs manifold. Its WG dump tube is routed at a pretty weird angle and i dont think it can keep up with a 3 psi WG spring in. Once i put in my new clutch/flywheel in ill swap it out for a 12 psi wg spring and see how it does from there.

For the brief time it was on the road though, damn it was fun! Im running open DP so it sounds nasty as hell.

Heres a few pics of the completed engine bay.







Picture of my CAI



The money shot!



More to come as i get the cat/exhaust hooked up, and make it daily drivable.
Modified by 480sx at 6:45 PM 12/19/2007

[boznuttz]

Awesome! I can't wait for this winter break, I'll be going KA-t......again.

I have a similar size turbo actually, but I'm going to just get it running to begin with on a very low boost setup, lol.

Stock injectors8:1 FMUTiming at 18 degreesno intercooler to start with

I'll make a thread about it sometime soon, but this setup won't be seeing over 3 to 4 psi for the first few weeks.

[WDRacing]

Glad she's all done and running well. I'd change the CAI location though.

[S13FX]

More to come as i get the cat/exhaust hooked up, and make it daily drivable.

Congrats and OPEN DP FTW, who needs an exhaust anyways just wear ear plugs or play your music really loud:p

[ilovecoupes]

aren't you worried about that intake sucking up a bunch of water?and hydro locking that motor?

[boznuttz]

The main concern would be turbulant air from the electric fans messing up the MAF readings.

[neverlift]

open d/p ftmfw!!!!!! I <3 my 2.25 turndown at the d/p... kinda chokes it tho.

I'm gonna be the first to tell someone to clean up an engine bay strange. but your **** looks like mine did.

[2FourTee]

The main concern would be turbulant air from the electric fans messing up the MAF readings.

Not to mention you could be sucking in hot air from the radiator, which kinda eliminates the point of a Cold Air Intake.

Setup is clean, but definitely move that filter from behind the radiator.


Modified by 2FourTee at 4:56 PM 12/4/2007

[S13FX]

The main concern would be turbulant air from the electric fans messing up the MAF readings.

Thats actually pretty much the only real reason why he wouldn't want the filter there.

All this sucking hot air from radiator and sucking in water is not really that big of a concern.

Especially pre turbo. If he by some godly chance he did get enough water in there, at the worst he would blow turbo seals, but no way enough water will ever get through the turbo and the IC to get in the engine.

At the same time the heat from the radiator not that bad at all over there it's actually one of the cooler spots for it.

[480sx]

Well the picture doesnt really do the CIA justice, its sitting below the fans and 75 percent of it isnt behind the radiator, and none if it is behind the fans. This isnt going to be an all weather car, iv got a jeep for a backup. Im gona have some super aggressive tires on there that are most likely going to suck in weather anyway. Regardless, ill think about moving it. Im thinking that maybe if i make a sort of scoop/diverter it would be ok. Have a thin sheild of alum that wont allow fan air to hit the filter, but i dont think i have that problem as it sits.

I know thats one hidious engine bay, but most Ka's are lol. Its not jerry-rigged at all either, well except maybe for my custom injector plugs..... Lol see if anyone can figure out what i did..

Im really hating the blue theme with the red ebay special wires the most. When i get spare cash(lol, i forget what that even is anymore now that i have a boosted car) ill swap them out for some blue taylor wires.

I was going to run the CAI where the stock airbox was, through the fender on the driver side. However when i was doing my IC piping i got lazy and wanted to run it with the least amount of bends as possible so i lost the space. I think that location will be fine for fair weather driving. Im also going to add an aluminum scoop on the bottom of the car where the splash guard was to divert air onto the intake, if i keep it where it is.

Little update.. I was going to do my clutch/flywheel tonight but no one has GL-4 OR a freaken clutch alignment tool.. Pissin me off, so i think im gona see if i can get the tool from the dealer tomorrow and i got a lead on where to find some AMSOIL gl-4 gear oil. Royal purple makes an oil that claims to satisfy both gl-5 and gl-4 requirements but i wasnt ready to jump on that train, sounded a little shady. Id much rather go with a specialized oil.

For now, i cant even stress how nice it is to have a turbo charged car i can go over to and start up lmao. Oh how iv missed my baby..
Modified by 480sx at 6:49 PM 12/19/2007

[CHICOSCUSTOMSHOP]

where did u get ur injectors

[480sx]

Ebay! 220 shipped, perfect condition

[480sx]

Well i handed in a final paper for PLS 211 at about 4, then spent the rest of the day working on my car. I started with the small stuff, getting my blitz turbo timer/boost gage working. Fixed my dash lights, apparently it helps when you plug in the dimmer switch! Fixed a vac leak, although im not really sure i still dont have another one, although i cant really hear one when i use my boost leak detector. Car ran really strong, but still stumbled once so im not really sure what the deal is with that. Im still having some stalling issues, most likely because of my VTA BOV..(I was going map sensor damnit! I think im gona switch to a blow through maf soon.. )

Then i went onto putting the front bumper back on. Heres where things got interesting. It wouldnt fit on correctly, my IC pipes were just barely in the way. Used a little ingenuity on this one, i took something that was designed to cut plastic stencils(NIB, my mom used to buy all kindsa crazy **** she never use's lol) and used it to cut through the areas that were giving me a problem. It worked like a charm, i was amazed. The tip gets to 650 d, which is perfect for cutting through any type of plastic/poly/w.e. After i cut out the spots that were in the way i took a rasp and got it all even, then used a big file to make everything smooth. The results were impressive, i was left with a decent looking finish on the poly. I coulda spent some more time finishing the freshly cut surface up but no one sees it anyway so i wasnt worried about it. Heres some pics of what i cut out, and the tools i used to do the job.

[spooled240]

Nice work man! it's nice to see another ka up and running. I have a half-bar green (7.25psi) tial wg spring f/s if you want it. I bought it when my wg was closed but found out it was the vac line so I don't need it anymore :gapgrin

Did you connect the second o2 sensor? I know that you don't have an exhaust yet..

[480sx]

Nah i switched to an Enthalpy s13 ecu, the s13 ecu's didnt make use of the second sensor. Even at a half bar of boost the car pulls hard, i cant wait to put the 12 psi wg spring in after i get my clutch installed. We just got a duel post lift for our shop and im waiting till we get it in before i do the clutch. Makes pulling the transmission and doing the exhaust a snap. Still have to hook up my WBO2 too, but that will come with the exhaust.

More to come...

[480sx]

Well, i decided to take it off the road again so i could figure out the backfiring issue i was having. A little history on that.. I was having problems getting my MLS head gasket to seal, and i had the heads off the car 3 times. The third time i finally got it to not leak, and hold steady compression. This was back when i was tuning with megasquirt. So im sitting there messing with idle, and all the sudden the car starts to pop, little backfires. Basically, even though i followed the FSM instructions perfectly, somehow i warped my head .003. I dropped it off at the machine shop today, and got it back within 4 hours resurfaced and flat. Im waiting on a Fel-pro HG in the mail, along with a new set of ARP hardware. After that, its getting thrown back together yet again!

For the record, i think a MLS, multi layered steel headgasket is about the dumbest thing you can do to your car. The ONLY time its worth the hassle, is if your going for over 500 HP. I have read so many damned horror stories about them its not even funny. Wish i had read them before i bought the damn thing... Fel-pro has repeatedly proven itself up to 500 hp, and beyond. No reason to mess with MLS for now.

I also spent 230 bucks on some DIY stuff from the master.. Mcmaster that is, man i love that website! I bought all the stuff to run coolant to my turbo, to run a fuel pressure gage on stock lines, and the stuff to make a oil catch can. I even got color matching hoses(6.30 a foot for 500 degree hose! OWCH).. My engine bay should look damn nice when im finished.

Thing is, i could have driven it. I knew though if i started to drive it on the road with that issue, i would have never wanted to take it off the road to fix it. Currently im daily driving an Acura Integra GSR.(i have a love affair with 'tegs, if you ever drive one you'll know what im talking about) So i figure while i still have it i might as well make my setup 100 percent.

Im also going to be switching to a blow through setup in this time. Since i have the valve cover off, and the front timing cover im going to get those powder coated. Also going to fab my catch can and get that powderd up.

Hoping to have it back on the road early january.

[emo_tactical9]

This is a good read. I can't wait to get mine going. I still gotta sell my subie. But when that's gone i'm going to get real serious on it.

[480sx]

I have been workin on this thing like a freight train man, if i can get the head studs and fel-pro HG in it will be done(haha) by this weekend!

So today i spent the whole day re-doing my intake manifold. Making sure there was no possible way i could have a vacuum leak, and polishing the runner ports so they will resist carbon buildup from the fuel. Also polished the runners up themselves. Im going to find some type of metal-sealant-spray-paint type stuff to coat them with. Sandblasted aluminum just soaks up grease like none other. It looks bad real quick.

I found a pretty simple way to run coolant to my turbo, so i will be doing that. Heres the writeup i did on that.. ---> zerothread/300407

I had to do some crazy stuff to get my Nismo FPR to fit(80 bucks, brand new, another STEAL from Nico classifieds).. I thought that the nismo for the ess arr worked with the Ka. However this isnt really the case. The bolt that allows you to change your fuel pressure runs directly into the heads, making it so your intake manifold wont bolt up. After staring at it for a little bit, i figured out a practical solution. Went inside, and checked that thread with the cross section of the Ka's head. Made sure there was no water/oil galleys in the area that the bolt was hitting first, to see if my idea was feasible. When i checked, there was nothing but solid metal there, so i got the idea to drill some of the head out to make the FPR bolt fit.

First though, i took the bolt out of the FPR and took it to the bench grinder and ground off the head of the bolt, so i was just left with a threaded rod. Then, i took some paint and dabbed a bunch of it on the end of the bolt. After that, i put my intake manifold on and let the bolt touch the head, so i could get exactly where i needed to drill on the head marked. Started with a small drill bit, and drilled about a 3/8ths inch deep hole at a downward angle into the head. Then i used three other bits to expand the hole to the size of the threaded rod/bolt from the FPR. Worked like a charm. First try, the manifold lined up, the FPR fit, and we are in business.

Only catch is, is that i have to adjust the FPR with a pair of needle nose plyers now, which really isnt that big of a deal. Ill toss up some pics tomorrow of what i did.

[quick_blaze]

thats a sick ka man! cant wait till i get mine boosted!

[Florida240sx]

I have no idea why you are drilling your head? I have the megan racing should be same as that nismo. I had to get the Nismo B adapter. You remove the stock FPR then put on this adapter so you can run your external FPR.If you can get some more pics of your water-line install I'll add it to the articles.

[480sx]

Well, heres a pic of my Nismo FPR, its for an ess arr. I knew that you could use that adapter, but i already had the one designed to fit into the fuel rail and i wanted to make it work. The one i have wouldnt fit without doing what i did. It really sounds a lot worse than it is, i drilled a tiny hole into the excess casting of the head.

Heres the FPR with the head of the bolt taken off. As you can kinda see the head of the bolt sticks past the flange of the intake manifold.



This is the intake manifold on the heads, with the bolt going into the heads itself.



I was going to add some more information and pics on my water line setup as it unfolds, i had to scrap the nuts and bolts of the project because the line i had was to hard. The line was ment for compression fittings, not barb fittings as i found out after i bought the line. The compression fittings had to be a plastic material, with a 400 degree limit.. The turbo would roach those suckers the first time i got into boost most likely. So its back to the drawing board as far as that goes. I could just use normal heater hose for it, and still use the barb fittings from McMaster. Im kinda paranoid about the lines melting though with all the radiant heat coming from the exhaust housing and the manifold. Im going to try to see how hard it would be to make custom stainless steel lines for it.... We'll see, its a work in progress.

Modified by 480sx at 6:52 PM 12/19/2007

Modified by 480sx at 7:57 PM 12/19/2007

[480sx]

Well its been a while since iv posted, had a few things done since my last post. Iv spent a lot of time polishing the engine bay and doing odds and ends to the motor, so its taking some time. I got the intake manifold and exhaust manifold back on tonight.

A few things iv done.. -Built an aluminum catch can from scratch. -Added a second PCV valve to the backside of my valve cover.-Powder coated the valve cover, front timing cover, and the catch can.-Used exhaust wrap to wrap up my turbo manifold, and downpipe.-Coated the wrap, and the exhaust housing with 1500 degree silicone spray.

Heres a pic of my engine bay after tonight.

A few pics of my turbo manifold wrap job.



Heres a few pics of the aluminum catch can as i brought it into life. We have a bunch of aluminum sheets, and square tubing that we got at a sweet deal from a Verizon auction. We stole it from them really.. You can see in the second picture me drilling out the holes for the aluminum fittings i picked up from McMaster. I used a lathe to take off 90 percent of the threads, then just welded the fittings in there. I also tacked a piece of thin aluminum to the inside of the can, to act as a oil condenser. Its welded as a divider between the two tube fittings. It basically prevents the majority of oil vapor from getting back into my charge air.(IC pipes, turbo, IC, ect)





And the money shot..

I have also found that it is a huge freaken pain in my balls to adjust the fuel pressure now. Im going to have to do something about that in the future, but for now its set at 43-45ish so im fine.

[WDRacing]

Wooot, I love seeing dudes fab stuff. So many people just go buy crap these days.

Looking good, how's it drive?

[eazye2000]

+1 for DIY man

Looks very clean. All the hard work is paying off, that's for sure.

Did you pressure test your catch can?... I did, with 120+psi of air pressure. ...doesn't work so well anymore. Shoulda just filled it up with water and let it sit....

[480sx]

Nah i didnt pressure test it, i guess i should have but i mean just looking at the welds you can tell the things built solid.

I still have to throw the cooling system back on, and finish off my coolant lines. I worked most of today on the steel coolant lines. Heres a link to the writeup for that.. ----> zerothread/300407

Heres a pic too



I should do a test drive tomorrow sometime later in the day, we'll see how it goes.

[spooled240]

Looks awesome bro! I love diy..I can see it now, people dying to know where you 'bought' that "tight blue catch can" lol

heat wrap looks well done, it's all falling into place..keep us updated

[480sx]

Well misfortune has found my build, and i blew my first Ka on Saturday the 12th. I at first thought that a boost spike of 23 psi threw a rod into the block, stoping the crank from moving but it doesnt look like thats what happened anymore. Regardless, the boost spike issue is going to get fixed, i dont need to hit 23 psi when im not trying to. My boost designs manifold is going under the knife to try to fix its awful dump tube, the reason for the spike. Dont know exactly what im going to do yet, but we'll see.

I was really hoping to have a bent or broken rod or something cool but what i found sucked. It seems like there is no damage to any of the cylinder walls, pistons, or rods. There however is a crap load of powdered metal in the oil pan, leaving me with only one thought. The dreaded oil starvation. From what i can tell, i must have spun a bearing. The first thing i saw when i poped my oil pan off really hurt to see, man was i pissed at myself. The gasket that goes in between the oil pickup and the oil pump was only being held in by one bolt, meaning the other side of the gasket was just dangling out the back side of the assembly. I even have a fkin oil pressure gage, man i feel so dumb about this one.. I was watching to many other things when i was driving, never even thought about the oil pressure gage. I mean before i redid my oil pan(for the 4th time.. with the engine on, fun stuff..) i had great oil pressure. Never really dawned on me to worry about it. Ish happens, tomorrow im pulling the engine out of my front wrecked 95, and piecing it all back together to drop in my baby.

Pulling a KA is actually remarkably easy, the WFO engine bay makes it a snap. Took me like 4 hours tops to do everything. We dont have any engine hoists or anything fancy around here so i just used this..



End result



Here are a few pics of my completed(and doomed..) engine.

[steve s14]

Sorry to hear that, it happens to the best of us.I blew my first motor from being stupid. At least your mistake was an oversight that could happen to anyone. Mine could have totally been avoided if i would have been more patient.Anyhow, hope you get it fixed and back on the road without a hitch!

[WDRacing]

Bummer man...thats a mistake you'll only make once.

I removed the one huge pic from your post up above, it made this thread way to hard to read.

Best of luck with the new swap. Keep us up to date on the progress. It frustrates me to see that BD is still causing people heart ache.

WD

[480sx]

Bummer man...thats a mistake you'll only make once.

Tell me about it, mann.. What pic did you remove, do you remember? I looked over the post but i couldnt find anything missing. All my stuffs on photobucket, surprised there was any sizing issues at all.

On the plus side, all this means my setup was good for spikes of 23 psi which kinda amazes me. Definitely wouldnt run that without meth injection, but it still gives me faith in my tune and the overall quality of my build.

Im thinking KA number two should be a beast.

More to come O/C... Never let the dream die!
Modified by 480sx at 7:25 PM 1/16/2008