91 hatch ka-t project

[silvia s14.5 rb25det]

I decided that since I'm going to school to be an automotive master tech, that I might as well re build the Ka in my 240sx.

all the turbo parts are probably not going to be for a while due to me being a full time student, and having to get a s**tty job because no shops in Raleigh are hiring part time techs ahhhhh, but the ka will have a fresh new look and be ready for boost

I started with ripping the motor completely apart and cleaning any and all things I could re use, and replacing everything that needed to be replacedI only have a few mods for this ka as of now, arp main,head and rod bolt studs, a triple layer metal head gasket, ngk spark plug wires, and a msd ignition set up. oh and my hockey puck motor mounts. the head was sent off to the machine shop for milling/ cleaning/ cam rotation check, and a vacuum check after I lapped the valves in. I also got all new shims for the valve clearances which are now all an even 4.5 thousandths.I want this first project to be a DD for school and work. after doing some research I found that the ka could handle around 350hp plus with stock rods and pistons. a good fuel system and a professional tune and of course all the rest of the turbo parts needed to boost the Ka . So I think i will have a pretty solid motor when it's all said and done. I'm not all exactly sure specifically what turbo parts I'm going to use but i have set my goal at 350hp.I have a pretty good idea about the turbo set up I'm going to use.here it goes.

Gerret t3/t4 hybrid ball bearing turbo. i may just go ahead and get a Garret gT30 ball bearing turbo since i will be having some 720cc injectorssteel braided turbo oil feed lines/w oil filter adapterxcessive ka24de intake manifoldwalbro 255 fuel pump Megan racing fuel pressure regulator/w gaugez32 fuel filtertop feed fuel rail w/ steel braided fuel lines 720cc top feed injectors top mount turbo exhaust manifoldz32 maf sensorhks ssqv blow off valveebay intercooler and pipingdown pipe 3" buddy club turbo exhaust/w dual tipkoyorad radiator electric fan( already have)aem stand alone ECUaem true boost gauge type boost controller aem wideband

Heres what I have put out so far with the pics. The whole motor is put together and hanging on a hoist ready to be dropped in. I have the manifolds off right now so it will be easier to get the top bolts on the transmission threaded in. so I'll finish uploading the pics when I'm done dropping it in.enjoy!











































s**t looks good as hell

Modified by silvia s14.5 rb25det at 12:12 AM 7/2/2009
Modified by silvia s14.5 rb25det at 8:37 PM 7/2/2009

[Hooked on 240]

I have NO clue why not one person has responded.

Its looks freaking fantastic!

If my 240 wasnt my daily. id be at this stage....

GL! and rememeber, the more pics the better

[Carl H]

autotragic car?thats different.are you on carolinanissans.com?if not get on there!

[silvia s14.5 rb25det]

auto tragic? yeah, gay. I need money for the swap. but that swap isn't S**t

carolina nissans - silvia15RB26
Modified by silvia s14.5 rb25det at 8:45 AM 7/7/2009

[silvia s14.5 rb25det]

still have a few more things to do

[krazydriver]

Man that looks good!!It's only going to get better with boost

[WDRacing]

Looking good man...really good I'm not a big fan of orange blocks, but thats just personal preference. I always tend to use black...

WD

[silvia s14.5 rb25det]

its actually red. the MAF is candy apple red, but looks orange in comparison to the red block.

[shotgunhunter4]

Very good job man. Looks great, and best of all clean!

[silvia s14.5 rb25det]

well I'm done putting everything on. all the fluids are in. the ignition timing still needs to be done but i fell asleep under the car before I could do it. so heres alot of pics of the finished motor. the more the better.

[silvia s14.5 rb25det]

Yeah I know I should have put this build in the N/A KA forum but, I'm boosting this motor soon, and plus i'm not trying to post this whole sh** again.

[chaos2000]

seen you have the hockey puck motor mounts. i was thinking about doing that, how do they feel when you drive? uber clean car dude!

[silvia s14.5 rb25det]

i don't know yet dude.i just got done with the build last night and i tried to start it after i put the battery in and it wouldn't even crank hahaha. so i have some diag work to do before i find out what the feel like. i know they will defiantly feel a lot rougher than stock. you will feel the vibration from the motor in the car rather than the motor swaying back and forth in the engine bay. the torque is transferred to the rear allot more and you get more positive torque to the wheels.
Modified by silvia s14.5 rb25det at 8:59 AM 7/25/2009

[Idahos13]

Check your grounds. And also make sure the timing is correct. Good luck with getting it started man!

[silvia s14.5 rb25det]

everything was wired correctly. it was actually the positive battery terminal that kept popping loose. i tried cranking it after securing the battery cable. it cranked but didn't start. i had already primed the fuel pump. remember i haven't set the ignition timing yet. I'm going to do a compression test to see if it's holding pressure before set the ign timing. all grounds good, wiring connections good.

last day of heating and A/C tomorrow so hopefully during the break I'll be on the road.
Modified by silvia s14.5 rb25det at 1:02 PM 7/27/2009

[silvia s14.5 rb25det]

it's been a few months. a few days after the last post i set the ignition timing correctly, and then set the advance/retard using a timing light. it was loud as crap when i cranked it.it ran for a few min before it started miss firing. it ended up having a huge vacuum leak, so we did a leakdown test on all 4. when we got to the 4th one it wouldn't hold any pressure.

we cranked it over to the compression stroke and checked each valve with shop air after we unbolted the in and exhaust manifolds. we tracked it to an intake valve and an exhaust. they were sticking open cause i didn't have the money for the manditory valve job. so i took the head off, got a new tripple layer metal head gasket and got a free valve job at this local shop. great right!?!

no. the raddling noise i didn't notice earlier while i was listening to the new valve job as the car idled. i reved it a couple times and didn't notice it. the raddling noise can only be one other thing because i checked everything else. like cam lobe, and cam balance measurements. the machine shop i got all the previouse work done on the head checked everything else.....but.

the bore/ out of round for the hydrolic buckets. so now i need a new head and head gasket. and probably new arp head studs(how many times can you reuse those ? anyone?)

i got pulled test driving it without tags and registration. the cop gave me a non moving violation, so all i have to do is get it legal and show up to court and get the charge removed.

i start my last semester of automotive tomarrowautomatic trans is gonna suck a%#!

1-5-2010

[cheezy240]

That is a great build! your engine looks clean as hell.I live in Mooresville NC maye when I get my 240 here soon we could meet sometime?But good luck with everything and I can't wait to see your turbo on her

[Lonismos14]

Very clean imo take your time.

[youngmoney]

after all the work you've done the only question is how did you get your valve cover to look so nice? did you sand it then polish it or...??

[NISMOTIVE]

Hey man this is Alex, the guy you just got the parts from. Figured I'd go ahead and check this out, looks nice'n'clean hopefully you can put those parts to good use hit me up when you get it all sorted out and running with three pedals.

[WDRacing]

after all the work you've done the only question is how did you get your valve cover to look so nice? did you sand it then polish it or...??

The best way to get your VC to look like that is to sand first then buff and polish. IIRC I used a 600 grit paper first, then 1200 and then I hit it with the buffer and some cheap Finish 2000 wax I had lying around. It came out like glass, but it was definitly some work. I'll see if I still have some pics, it was a long time ago.

WD

[youngmoney]

i just realized you're intake mani. is uber shiny too. did you sand that and polish is or paint it?

[Romeo_rus]

Is it a ka-t or ka section?

where is turbo stuff?

[airman86]

Yeah, he said he was going to be boosting it soon - and didn't want to repost everything.

Looking very clean man, I am planning on doing the exact same thing! As far as the ARP studs go, they are said to be completely reusable. If you're really curious, you can measure them with a caliper before and after cranking them down and see how much it stretches, if at all.
Modified by airman86 at 8:35 AM 1/10/2010

[silvia s14.5 rb25det]

yeah pretty much what wdracing said. start with course sand paper, and work your way up to fine. i used a wire wheel to get all the paint off before i did anything. then for the polishing i used a cloth wheel and course to fine polishing compound. and yes it takes forever if you don't a high speed polishing wheel. same with the intake, but i didn't polish it. so if you want to do that you have to put a clear aluminum metal protective coating over the intake, cause if you just leave it raw metal it will corrode from moisture. or you could just polish it which also takes forever.

[silvia s14.5 rb25det]

i picked up a 5-speed transmission/w the cross member, clutch and flywheel, and the 5-speed drive shaft. the clutch, flywheel, the transmission mount, and the driveshaft will soon be replaced with aftermarket performance upgrades.but for now i'm just trying to get to 3 pedals i still need a clutch master cylinder and hardlines or stainless steel flexlines(frsport) $40clutch pedal, and break pedalthrow out bearing, 5-speed pilot bushingshift boot.(came with a short shifter.shift boot and bracketalso the lower 5speed transmission harness and 5speed ecmbut i might not need the harness cause i saw that you can just splice some of the wires to the reverse, park and circuit completion. and i'm not sure yet if you can use the auto ecm. it wasn't in the list of needed parts on the nico 5-speed swap thread, so i don't know. anyone?

[NISMOTIVE]

Auto ECU is fine to use lots of 5 speed guys use it because it has a higher rev-limit and no speed limiter it also runs more aggressive afr's and timing for the extra torque an auto requires at lower rpm's.

Also as far as the cometic HG goes i wouldn't bother just get a fel-pro there are a number of people making 450whp on ka-t.org with no problems plus if anything goes a headgasket is cake compared to a rebuild.

As far as turbo's check out the dyno section on ka-t.org if you're still shooting for 350 at the wheels like you mentioned a T3/T4 57 Trim .63a/r is perfect I had a friend running this set-up on a peakboost mani'd built ka and it would spin tire into 4th at over 100mph he made 350hp and tq at the wheels. since you probably won't be revving higher than stock with OE rods and pistons a smaller a/r may do even better for your setup and spool a bit quicker although i didn't notice any lag like i've seen on other 2 liter 4 bangers.

As for a clutch I just finished going poly motor and transmission mounts and added a B&M and a 1 piece alum shaft. I am running this with a white bunny setup consisting of a exedy 350Z OEM clutch $200 brand new on ebay and an XTD RB20DET 12lb Cro-MO Flywheel $200 brand new on ebay plus $50 for balancing. It feels like stock drops like 5lbs of weight and with the new mounts I got no chatter anymore and never a slip it is rated to hold 300ft lbs in a 3300 lb z but I have no doubt it will easily do 400ft lbs in a 2600 lb 240 cant be beat for $450 total

you should put this on CarolinaNissans.com its alot smaller and you will get much faster replies.
Modified by NISMOTIVE at 6:07 PM 1/20/2010

[silvia s14.5 rb25det]

interesting.does that pressure plate/clutch and flywheel setup just bolt right on? cause that sounds sick. or are there more modifications you have to do ?