Chris's 1993 240sx (rebuild?) Build

[Nis-240sx-san]

Hey, here is my build up on my 1993 240sx.

I bought the car around the end of June. When I bought it, the KA had a very bad knock. Story behind that is that the guy who owned the car before I bought it had rebuilt the engine, and did not change the crank, which was bad. So the KA was rebuilt and lasted 9k miles before it spun a connecting rod bearing again. So thats why it had a bad knock. Now I just happened to have an extra KA24DE in my garage, which I had got as an extra from the first 240 i bought about a year ago. I was a little sketchy about dropping in a engine that had been sitting in my garage for a year, but I went along with it. Here is what the car looked like before I bought it.

The car is like 95% Rust free!

So heres where I start. My dad and I drove down to Albany NY to pick it up.

About 3 days after I got it back home, I decided to start working on it. The first thing to do was to take out that knocking KA. With the help of my friend ken, we were able to do this in about 2 and a half hours.

So after we pulled that KA, I had to swap the appropriate parts from this KA to the KA sitting in my garage.So I started by removing all emissions equipment. I blocked off the egr, and welded up the spot on the exhaust manifold. BTW, the exhaust manifold is an aftermarket one, I'm guessing its an ebay one. Then I started cleaning all possible parts of the engine up before I dropped it in, because then it would be hard to clean While the engine was out, I also repainted my engine bay. I know in the pic there are some spots that are still red, but the whole engine bay is black now.

I also bought a new exhaust from ebay. I remember reading a thread on here about how good the exhaust was, so I went ahead and picked it up.Here is a pic of the 3 inch cat-back, next to the "aftermarket" exhaust that came with the car.And here is the exhaust installed on the car.

I also ordered a SPEC stage 2 clutch from enjuku racing.

While cleaning up the engine/engine bay, I decided to repaint some things.First, I got very bored, and decided to paint my transmission Then to match, I painted the valve cover as well.It really doesn't look that bad.

After about 2 days I was ready to drop the engine in. So my friend ken and I dropped the new KA in and started reattaching everything. I did have some problems with getting the driveshaft reattached, but I got it back in with a little adjustment.I went to start it up for the first time, and it turned over and turned over, but didn't start. I made sure I had fuel and spark. The first problem was that the fuel pump was not turning on when I clicked the key to ON. I referred back to NICO Club on why this could be? I ended up finding a rather large ground wire that we had forgot to connect. This solved my fuel problem, but it still wasn't starting. So I then returned to the NICO technical section, and redid my distributer timing. I got it all back together and still.....not starting. So I decided to 180 out the distributer, and then the engine fired up right away. Its running rough, but I'm sure I didnt get the timing spot on, so I still have to adjust it and all. Here is how the engine bay looks now.

The car currently is 3 colorsI also bought some LEDs for the gauge cluster.

SO this is it until I have more time to work on it. ALl of the above happened within about 2 months. I would like to thank all who helped, and NICO for my troubleshooting problems

I will be repainting the car, and getting rid of the doughnut tire Updates asap.

[TK_Encore]

nice man, keep us posted

[srpowered240sx]

good work. now gotta attack that exterior.

[StandardProspect]

looking goodnice projectkeep us posted

[sr20deTsomeday118]

def lookin good!!, im liking the green transmission/valve cover . keep us updated, wats next?

[J0SHYee]

How does that cat back sound?

[zalicar]

Im really liking it so far man, great job. BTW the green kicks a**.

[Nis-240sx-san]

The catback sounds pretty good, but not as of right now, the car is outta timing I just got a timing light, so I'll have to do it. Just to make sure, for timing, im aiming for the last white line, furthest away from tdc?

[hbpignosePA]

looks good so far, maybe rattlecan if ur on a budget? cant be worse than multicolor

[thomatt12]

Good job man! I really like the cat-back exhaust you installed and that green paint on the valve cover, I'm feelin' that color. Keep us updated.

[MastaYu]

I like that green

[Nis-240sx-san]

haha yes, the green is kick *** but not when the car won't idle I don't get it, then the car was far from the correct timing, and running 3 different types of spark plugs, it idled nice, and reved up with out hesitation. But now that I set the timing correct, and changed the park plugs, it will not idle at all, and it hesitates very badly. I'm so confused!

[Nis-240sx-san]

I am going to try to clean out the MAF, and redo the timing again.

[zalicar]

if incorrect timing and different types of plugs work for you, then just do it lol, but i understand how pissed u are i got another car with pretty much the same prob as you and dont know of a solution , perhaps i should get some different plugs?

[boyka240]

you are an inspiration to me. i love the color scheme. I need an other motor soon. and to tell you the truth, your paint looks pro. compared to mine Haha. no joke

[santana56]

nice ride...keep it up

[Nis-240sx-san]

if incorrect timing and different types of plugs work for you, then just do it lol, but i understand how pissed u are i got another car with pretty much the same prob as you and dont know of a solution , perhaps i should get some different plugs?

haha, I was running 2 NGK, 1 bosch, and some other one i dont remember. maybe that'll work for you

you are an inspiration to me. i love the color scheme. I need an other motor soon. and to tell you the truth, your paint looks pro. compared to mine Haha. no joke

Thanks alot man. I took my time while doing the paint, it was tough for me because im not really a pianting person, but it go done.

I'm going to try to adjust the idle speed screw. maybe that will keep my car idling, so I can figure out what the real problem is? I'm still so confused.

[presidential]

Probably should have waited to install the valve-cover until after the motor was in (or used a crappy spare).

[zoneoneoni]

Can't wait to see more, great work mannn.

[hellonwheels8506]

i really like that green, whats the name of it???

[Nis-240sx-san]

Probably should have waited to install the valve-cover until after the motor was in (or used a crappy spare).

Yea, I know, but I actually had to repaint it anyways, so I didnt really care.

i really like that green, whats the name of it???

I bout it from advanced auto, it dupi-color engine enamel ceramic. Its the 500 degree rated paint, it was the only green color they had, not sure on the specific name though?

So I think I figured out why my engine is not idling and not reving past 3k. Well ken came over and we started trouble shooting everything. We decided to make sure it was firing on all cylinders. Here are the results:First: Unplugging each plug wire once at a time.Cylinder 1- engine stalled after 2 secondsCylinder 2- engine stalled after about 5 secondsCylinder 3- no changeCylinder 4- engine stalled after 2 seconds

Second: Unplugging each fuel injector Cylinder 1- engine stalled after 2 secondsCylinder 2- engine stalled after about 5 secondsCylinder 3- no changeCylinder 4- engine stalled after 2 seconds(same as the plug wires)

So now I see that I am only running on 3 cylinders.I checked to make sure I am getting spark to cylinder 3, which I am. SO it must be a bad injector...I hope.I will update once I change injectors.

[Nis-240sx-san]

Okay! So I had an extra fuel rail complete with injectors sitting in my garage. I dropped that one in just to see if it worked and guess what......it did! The engine is much much smoother, it revs past 3k, but the idle is still rough. I know I adjusted the idle screw when I thought it was just my timing that was messed up. and not an injector. So i'll have to go back and adjust the screw again, but thats not biggie. I'll record a sound clip of the exhaust for everyone once I get the idle correct.

[Nis-240sx-san]

So I got the idle correct, and it runs/revs like it should Now that I have that mess solved I can start on the body.Well, I had some spare lights in my basement, so I decided to put them on the carThey have little LEDs around the rim, it looks pretty cool.

Then I threw on (on the front for now) the rims/tires that came on my first 240.

After I get it painted, I will be buying some Ksport pro kontrol coilovers, and I should be getting some adjustable tension rods in about a week. For rims, I plan on going with sportmax 002's. Updates when I can

[Nis-240sx-san]

So I took some pictures today, but for the car, its hesitates a little from idle to me stepping on the gas. BUt here are some picsI will have a soundclip of the exhaust soon

[idahotuner]

nice pics. that car seems to have alot of surface rust i hope you fixed before you painted the engine bay. lol your motor looks like mine cept a ka the way you painted. i am glad am changing mine up now lol

[MastaYu]

looks like its coming along

[Nis-240sx-san]

sound clip of the exhausthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEqztqKAEZo

[Nis-240sx-san]

alright, so I decided to take the car for a qucik spin today. I noticed the car warms up, and then over heats. I cant figure out why? I swapped rads too. Everything is hooked up correctly. I am going to try a new thermostat.

[nissans13240sx]

Check your water pump. If it was sitting for awhile then it probably rusted out.

[Nis-240sx-san]

that was my next option, well since i have 2 extras, i might as well replace the thermostat as well. Good thing I bought a water pump gasket and thermostat gasket 4 days ago