Article: installing a KA24 into a 510, by Danny Youngs.

[continental_drift]

- Nissan KA24 install article. By Danny Youngs



Nissans KA24 motor can be installed into the Datsun 510 in many different ways and forms. In this article I will cover every facet of installation and the different parts you can use to do this. I studied many different ways of doing the install before I actually did mine. I tried a few different ideas myself while installing the motor. I haveadded reference pictures from my collections through-out this article.

This motor is very popular because of what it offers, and the increasing availability. Many donor cars are starting to show up in the wreckers, and there is also a large supplyof KA24's becoming available from 240sx owners doing the SR20DET swap into their cars.In stock form it produces a large amount of power and impressive torque compared to theL-series motor. It would take a very carefully built L-series motor to equal the power and torque of the KA24. It has a very fair redline and will easily spin the tires in lower gears. If you are converting from the average L20b with mikuni's or built L16/L18 you will be happilysurprised.

In the first section I will go over the different types of KA motors. The next section will cover the installation of the motor.

section 1:

- The Different breeds of KA24.

Pic of a 89/90 240sx KA24E using Mikunis. Pic from http://www.dimequarterly.com.

Pic of Dan Gallmeister's 89/90 240sx KA24E conversion.

Pic of a bone stock KA24E truck motor. Notice rear sump pan.

Pic of a 91-94 240sx KA24DE, going into a 510. Submitted by Kim Woo from Fresno, CA

Pic of a 91-94 240sx KA24DE conversion by Mike and Bill Kenyon of Vallejo, CA.

The KA24 motor comes in two moderately different styles.First is the 12 valve,single cam KA24E engine, and second is the16 valve twin cam KA24DE engine. The blocks are essentially the same, but the cylinder heads are quite different. Both engines are EFI motors, except for some very rare exceptions to Non-U.S.spec 12 valve truck engines that were carburated.

First engine I will cover is the 240sx 12 valve. This engine is found in all 1989-1990U.S. spec 240SX chassis. This is the most popular engine to swap into the 510 in EFI form. It has a larger more attractive two piece intake with a sidedraft forwardfacing throttle body. The upper pieces of the manifold has ECCS engraved on it, which is Nissan's EFI system for that era. You will want the 5 speed transmission version most likely. The exhaust manifold exits very rearward towards the firewall. This engine also has a girdle that connects all the main bearing caps together inside the crankcase. Theoil pan is a front sump style on this engine. The block casting engulfs the entire surface where the transmission mates. The pulley and belt systems uses a modern grooved serpentine belt. These engines were cast and manufactured in Japan.

section 2:

- Installing the KA24 into the 510 chassis.

There are many different ways that you can install this motor into your 510. The other interestingfact is that if you choose to do your brackets one way, it doesn't really dictate what pan you needto use or what transmission crossmember, or even what transmission you need to use. This enables you to workat your own pace and choose junkyard parts or fully custom parts. You can get virtually every partyou need from the junkyard or wrecker.

First I will cover the brackets. There are basically three different ways of doing this. The most popular way you will see is using the stock 240sx brackets. These brackets have the same placementon both the single and twin cam motor, and they will also bolt to the truck block. You can mount theseonto the stock 510 rubber motor mounts. The trick is to move the rubber mounts down so the top boltholes on the mount bolt in to the lower threaded holes on the crossmember mounting surface. This is a verygood solution and you will notice that the rubber mounts only bind ever so slightly, not enough to even noticereally. The motor sets at a very appropriate height this way. The second way is getting some custom brackets made for your install. The third way is using the stock truck engine brackets which make theengine set very low and the rubber mounts bind a little more than you might like. I have also seen people use a variety of different Nap-Z, L-series, and KA brackets, with different sized spacers to get the engine where they want it. You will notice the block has bolt holes to accomadate different brackets.

Dan Gallmeister's 510 using stock 240sx brackets.

My 510 using stock 240sx brackets.

Randy Yorks 12 Valve install using custom brackets.

Of course the oil pan is always an issue in any motor install. You have a few different choices in thiscategory. The most popular route is using the front sump pan and losing the stock sway bar. Youcan do this by installing a reversed front crossmember. You can either cut and reweld the center sectionof the crossmember in backwards, or cut out and reweld the a-arm pivots in backwards. The crossmemberwill bolt in either way. This allows the engine to fall right in with the front sump pan on it. The KA truck blockwill also accept the front sump pan. You can either run without a sway bar, have a custom sway bar bent to fit, or use a custom 3 piece racing bar which are available. You can also break open the wallet and get a custom rear sump oil pan made. The main issue with the stock truck rear sump pan fitting is center link clearance, and ground clearance. Forget about reversing the centerlink, cause it will be even more in the way.You can notch the back of the truck pan to clear the center link, and it will work, but the pan also hangs low to the ground. No more speed bumps at all! People have also used a conglamoration of cut up L16 pans and KA pans to make something work. Dry sump systems are also available for the KA, but are extremelyexpensive and overkill for a street application.

Randy York's 510 with custom oil pan, this retains the front sway bar.

16 valve KA using carbs. Notice the front sump pan and reversed crossmember.

Mike Kenyon's custom Speedway Engineering front sway bar setup. Car uses a HL510 front crossmember with front sump pan.

Dan Gallmeisters custom bent sway bar setup.

Which transmission do you want to use? The most likely choice is the factory KA 5 speed that came with your motor. This transmission fits perfectly fine and uses many of the same bolt spacings and patterns as the ever so popular Z-speed. The KA slave cylinder works just fine with the 510 clutch master cylinder.You can even make that cut up, slotted, and spaced out transmission crossmember you have work with theKA transmission. There are a few custom crossmembers available that make it bolt right in with either a 240Zinsulator or a stock 510 4 speed insulator. The driveshaft needs to be shortened, even a little bit more thanfor a Z gear box. The transmission tunnel will need to be cut quite a bit to fit the bulky shifter mechanism up intothe tunnel. Some clearancing is also needed on the sides of the tunnel with a hammer for the large bolt headsthat are on either side of the transmission towards the rear. Nothing that can't be handled in a few minutes though. You can also use a normal Z 5 speed gearbox on a 12 valve motor by using a Nap-Z bellhousingfrom a Z20, Z22 or Z24 with a manual gearbox. This allows you to use your existing driveshaft that wasshortened for a Z 5 speed conversion, and your existing cut shifter hole and mechanism assuming youallready had a Z 5 speed in the car.

My car using 280ZX 5-speed, Z24 bellhousing, and a Dave Carrol 5 speed crossmember.

What about the radiator? You are pretty much homefree in this category. Anything will work. I would tendto shy away from the smaller units such as the rabbit or even the stock two row. A stock style 3 row will coolit just fine. If you take your old grungy stock two row to theradiator shop they can construct a three row out of it and ad a upper coolant inlet on the other side. Any of the larger VW units, or the fiero radiator should work great. A lot of these radiators have the inlet on the upper drivers side which means you will have to run a crossover tube to get to the coolant oulet on the KA which is on the passenger side coming out of theintake manifold.

Single cammer with EFI using a Fiero style radiator unit.