I just bought a 1993 Coupe with 100k miles in December and I've just picked up a spare KA, trans, ECU, etc with 130k miles from someone who did an SR swap.
So now I can rebuild an engine at my leisure, I'm just trying to figure out where to start and some sort of project plan for the build. A vague overview of a build order and some idea of what parts may be necessary. And... what tasks can be performed by a shadetree wrench turner and what should definately be handled by a pro.
I hope to add a turbo in the future while keeping it streetable, somewhere around 6-10 psi depending on how much extra trouble there going from 6 to 10 psi. I would be thrilled at this stage of the game to see 200rwhp someday.
Barring some sort of damage, should I reuse the stock (130k mile) internals, replace with OEM or ? Any other advice would be appreciated. At this point I'm just looking for a project overview.
My first priority is to rebuild the engine back to it's original new state or maybe shoot for a little better than it was brand new.
:help
Thanks
Engine build project plan for future KAT
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Kinesthesia
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TrunkMonkey
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WDRacing
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Why am I the bad guy??? DEMCJ has closed as many threads as I have...8)
I'll give a quick run down on what needs to be done for a 300hp motor, that will retain 100% daily driver ability.
Since you want to rebuild the block, I would have the crank and rod bearings changed. Then I would look around and find the cheapest set of forged rods and pistons on the market. The forgies are in no way required, but I believe in doing things the right way the first time. It would be a shame to find out down the road that you would like to crank up the boost, but can't do the weak rods.
After that is done I would hone the block myself, you can get the correct size cylinder hone from a ton of places online.
Use a nice set of gappless piston rings when you decide on whatever pistons to go with.
You could have the head and block decked to make sure everything is aligned on the same plain, but I wouldn't bother if the old engine was never overheated and never boosted. If the block is decked, make sure you know exactly how much material was removed. That way you can compensate with a head gasket or lower CR pistons. You don't want higher CR on a forced induction car.
I would then remove the cams from the head and examine the cam journals for wear. Also measure the valve shims to make sure they are within factory tolerence.
Then put the engine back together with as many ARP fasteners as you can find, and use a new timing chain.
That should have your motor running as good as it came from the factory. To add a turbo, which I'm not going into thoroughly, just buy a kit made for the car and use a fuel system that accomodates the amount of boost you want to run. 300 hp at the wheels is an easy goal for a KADET, you can run boost on a KA without the forged pistons, you just can't run as much. I would use 15 psi as an extreme and only if tuned by a pro.
As for any other information, please read through the threads we already have, use the search fuction if you need to. Then if you can't find any answers to specific questions, feel free to post them.
I'll let this thread stay for a bit...aslong as it stays on the topic of the engine rebuild.
WD
I'll give a quick run down on what needs to be done for a 300hp motor, that will retain 100% daily driver ability.
Since you want to rebuild the block, I would have the crank and rod bearings changed. Then I would look around and find the cheapest set of forged rods and pistons on the market. The forgies are in no way required, but I believe in doing things the right way the first time. It would be a shame to find out down the road that you would like to crank up the boost, but can't do the weak rods.
After that is done I would hone the block myself, you can get the correct size cylinder hone from a ton of places online.
Use a nice set of gappless piston rings when you decide on whatever pistons to go with.
You could have the head and block decked to make sure everything is aligned on the same plain, but I wouldn't bother if the old engine was never overheated and never boosted. If the block is decked, make sure you know exactly how much material was removed. That way you can compensate with a head gasket or lower CR pistons. You don't want higher CR on a forced induction car.
I would then remove the cams from the head and examine the cam journals for wear. Also measure the valve shims to make sure they are within factory tolerence.
Then put the engine back together with as many ARP fasteners as you can find, and use a new timing chain.
That should have your motor running as good as it came from the factory. To add a turbo, which I'm not going into thoroughly, just buy a kit made for the car and use a fuel system that accomodates the amount of boost you want to run. 300 hp at the wheels is an easy goal for a KADET, you can run boost on a KA without the forged pistons, you just can't run as much. I would use 15 psi as an extreme and only if tuned by a pro.
As for any other information, please read through the threads we already have, use the search fuction if you need to. Then if you can't find any answers to specific questions, feel free to post them.
I'll let this thread stay for a bit...aslong as it stays on the topic of the engine rebuild.
WD
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cnichols
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I've got a motor that I just pulled that was boosted and blown before I had it. Now that it's out and I've put a stock motor in to tide me over, I'm going to rebuild the original blown one.
I'm kind of leary about this and would rather have a motor I know is good. I don't know if the problem is with the piston, valve, or a crack in the head, etc.
I'm not familiar with what tests can be done to check for cracks in the head and in general how complicated/available they are. I'll obviously call my local machine shop, but otherwise, can anyone recommend a good place to send it? If I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it right.
I'm kind of leary about this and would rather have a motor I know is good. I don't know if the problem is with the piston, valve, or a crack in the head, etc.
I'm not familiar with what tests can be done to check for cracks in the head and in general how complicated/available they are. I'll obviously call my local machine shop, but otherwise, can anyone recommend a good place to send it? If I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it right.
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S14Zilvia
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by WDRacing "]Why am I the bad guy??? DEMCJ has closed as many threads as I have...8)
Because he didn't close mine
I was just a little mad that I had taken the time to read through all of the applicable threads that I could find, then posted the questions that hadn't been answered in other posts (as far as I could tell) and it just got nuc'd because it was on the same topic as the others. Usually off topic threads get nuc'd. If it's a turbo KA forum chances most posts will be about the turbo KA. I'd just like to see some of the more off-topic posts deleted before one with specific questions and an outline of a specific scenario get the axe.
I understand bandwidth problems, just not where the priorities are sometimes.
So since I can't post a new thread, I'll ask here.
I've heard of people using the 300zxtt clutch (which I have) on a KA, but everything I find in search says that you can't. Anyone tell me why or why not?
When I test my compression, at what point would I decide that the numbers are too low to start a turbo project before getting some rings?
Sorry to take up bandwidth with such unrelated queries, but my e-mail is not available right now and my thread was deleted, so I don't know where else to ask.
Because he didn't close mine
I was just a little mad that I had taken the time to read through all of the applicable threads that I could find, then posted the questions that hadn't been answered in other posts (as far as I could tell) and it just got nuc'd because it was on the same topic as the others. Usually off topic threads get nuc'd. If it's a turbo KA forum chances most posts will be about the turbo KA. I'd just like to see some of the more off-topic posts deleted before one with specific questions and an outline of a specific scenario get the axe.
I understand bandwidth problems, just not where the priorities are sometimes.
So since I can't post a new thread, I'll ask here.
I've heard of people using the 300zxtt clutch (which I have) on a KA, but everything I find in search says that you can't. Anyone tell me why or why not?
When I test my compression, at what point would I decide that the numbers are too low to start a turbo project before getting some rings?
Sorry to take up bandwidth with such unrelated queries, but my e-mail is not available right now and my thread was deleted, so I don't know where else to ask.
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S14Zilvia
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matt0941 wrote:You can make a new thread if there are no other threads talking about that subject, or if you can find some old thread on that certain topic, just reply to it and revive it.
Yes, I know. I already explained. Most likely all of the threads will be talking about KA-T's in the turbo forum, no?
You want to be a mod so bad, don't you
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TrunkMonkey
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yes, but all of them don't have to be "what do i need to do to turbo my KA?", " i only want to run X amount of boost", or "what do i need to make (the now famous) 300rwhp?". it just gets old. the same old questions with the same old answers. that's why alot of threads get off topic. people are tired of the same old same old.S14Zilvia wrote:Most likely all of the threads will be talking about KA-T's in the turbo forum, no?
oh yeah, i'm closing this one.
-demetrius