Engine Re-building (Buying Question)

[Neejay]

1991 fastback (I think its a SE cause it has a sunroof and leather and a few power options) with 171k miles.

I dont plan on swapping an sr20 or anything too serious like that. And as of now, I dont plan to autox (gotta get the driving skills first, cause I cant even drive stick yet). So Im wondering if I were to get this 91 w/ 171k miles for $1750, how much and what would I need to replace to rebuild the motor to last? Pistons, rods, belts, etc? I dont know if I plan to go turbo or not just yet, so Im looking at making it a fully built NA.

I know all the common sense tune-up type stuff, but internally what would I need to do?

I live about 20 min. south of Atlanta, GA, so there arent as many 240sx's for sale that arent auto around here. All of the low mileage ones are either too expensive, or automatic...sucks. And just for the record, I looked into getting a 240sx just to be different from all the hondas. Not to join the new "drift bandwagon" (not talking about every owner, no offense) I totalled my civic almost a month ago now.

[EazyBreazy]

get the block machined, make sure its in spec. then decide what you kinda pistons you need for your application. the stock crank and rods are strong. may need to rebalance them and get them re shot peened. your best bet on this line of questioning is to do some research on the engine talk forums for the ka24e, 24de, 24et, and 24det. theres alot of information about this stuff in those. its up to you how mild or wild you wanna go

[NISTECH]

You should do nothing more then tests at this stage to determine the engines condition. Especially since you are unsure of weather your gonna go turbo or not. Heres a good starting point. do a compression test first. then do a leak down test. both test tell you nearly the same information but leak down is more of a preciese measurment of how sealed your combustion chamber is. then do a visual inspection of the valve train and chain area. inspect the chain links for cracks. inspect cam shafts for abnormal wear and any obvious signs of poor maint. If all these mechanical tests turn out ok your engine condition is fine for a driver till you decide to up its horse power. Thats when the reasearch through the forums comes in and I strongly recommend you do your homework in that area. You could practically build one of these cars from the ground up with the information on this site. After all mechanical tests are done you need to do a computer inputs and outputs inspection. this would require the use of volt meters and DSO. You may need to contact out for those tests since DSO's are very expensive pieces of test equipment. what you would be looking for is the O2 sweeps and response time. TPS setting and voltage sweeps, Airflow meter base voltage at idle and its voltage sweeps. Base idle setting and IAC valve function/respone under load. Fuel leak down test to make sure you dont have leaking injectors. Timing at base idle and its advance under accel.

These are basic test that should be performed before deciding to rebuild any engine. No rebuild should be done before a final decision is made on adding forced induction or not since some of the internals may be different from one to the other. Good luck with your knew ride and I hope this info helps you out.

Welcome to Nico and enjoy the ride.

Scott....