Head Sawp

[TeckniX]

As promised here are some pictures. Hopefully they will be helpful.

I should be getting some dough next week, so hopefully I can order all the timing stuff and the headgasket

[glacier985]

Well its 12:10 and here is all I have so far. This is a basic list of all the parts I used. I still need to get a picture of one part.

1. DE Head2. Intake Manifold3. Exhaust Manifold4. SOHC Head Gasket5. DE Intake Gasket6. Blue RTV Sealant7. A piece of sheet metal (1mm thick is what I used)8. DE timing chains and guides9. DE spark plug wires10. SOHC distributor11. A coolant elbow on the lower timing cover (this is very important and will cause you a nightmare) I'm going to get a picture of this tomorrow.

There is a bunch of other parts I used, but nothing big, just stuff like vacuum lines, wire connectors, sensors, spark plugs, etc.

Now for a little explanation of what I did. I started by taking off my old SOHC head, removed my power steering reservoir, and alternator. The next step was to remove crank pulley and then the lower timing cover, make sure you keep all the bolts and somehow mark where they go. Don’t forget to remove the oil pump before removing the cover, because there is a bolt behind it. Remove the timing chain and guides. At this point I cleaned off the entire old gasket that was left on the block. I also removed my AC and all the lines.

The next step for me was having the head machined and cleaned; I also had the DE distributor hole welded shut. When I got the head back I put the gasket on the block and then hand tightened the head down so I could time it and put the bottom cover back on. Here comes a hard part, getting the DE chain tensioner and guide to work with the SOHC block. I couldn’t find on thing that worked, I basically shaved the inside of the timing cover and parts of the tensoner until it fit.

And that’s where I’m going to stop for now. I hope that’s enough to some guys started. All that took me about 2-3 weeks to do.

[nab911]

Well im not machining my block... i still have the timing chain hanging from the e block so im going to make sure its on the crank and pull it up but i did notice the chain guides were hitting the upper timing cover and stopping it from going on.

[glacier985]

your going to have to use the DE guides, the E's are too long

[240convertedme41]

wow.. all that and no end in sight. man that sucks. maybe the other option is better sohc pistons in a de motor. Who knows maybe the engine gods dont like a dohc head on a sohc block lol.. Ill keep an eye out for this. As for me im either trying the sohc pistons or just buying some je pistons. Either way all motor is gonna be sweet!

[glacier985]

I think what happened to my car is I cut an ignition wire when I was chopping up my harness. I just havent had time to look at it. I havent touched my car for three weeks.

[nab911]

Well if its that much of a *****... im dropping my sohc block off the stand.. pulling the dohc block up and just putting the e pistons in....

[91StanzaPusha]

Did you make this work yet??

[91StanzaPusha]

Yes?? No???

[glacier985]

no, between, school and work I haven't had time to touch it, but it will be running by next spring.

[glacier985]

Just to give you guys a quick little update. I have narrowed the no spark issue down to either, the wiring harness or the ecu. One is bad, or maybe both. I dont know, I'm waiting for my ecu to get here to find out.

[DRFT24O]

Hey man this is slick, i cant wait to hear further progress. How do you plan to extend your lower cover to fit the de cover? You plan on running a de or e distributor? looks like some nice work so far. Keep it up!

Hey bro, off topic, but im looking to get the same bumper cover you have on your car for my 91. Any fitment problems or advice you can give me?

[deviousKA]

my bumper is oem 1990 240sx w/lip and oem foglights. Im not sure whats required to mount to 91 but i assume it bolts right up?

[DaydreamDrifter]

I am having trouble with the lower cover meeting the block flush with the head on it. Do i just have to muscle it?

[deviousKA]

Make sure you headgasket is clear of the lower cover and it isnt keeping it from fitting in. Id suggest leaving the upper cover off while you do this it will make everying easier to see. Dont muscle it to much unless you see that everything is clear first, the lower cover does fit in snug and may give you some trouble but you dont want to mess up the front portion of your headgasket.

[DaydreamDrifter]

I know the chain tensioner gets some grinding down to it, and i have done this. I was about to cut the ****ing gasket end off, does the indide of the lower cover get any grinding done to it? WTF?the top will meat the block but the lower won't, if i try to do it all at one it stays out about 3/4 inch both top and bottom. Oh, and what is the black plastic box on the E's front cover ( passenger side)?

[deviousKA]

You are using the sohc lower cover correct? Aside from the top part of the tensioner and guide that has to be modified, nothing should be keeping that cover from going on because nothing has changed. They fit in there really tight, try scraping off all the old silicone gasket material from the oil pan and inspect the underneath of the headgasket for any apparent problems. That little black box thats on the side near the thermostat is the pcv.

[DaydreamDrifter]

so the left side guide has to be modified? It would be alright to just cap that thermostat off right? I can't think of what PCV means right now. Oh and if the guide needs attention what would it be like? Thanks a bunch!

[glacier985]

you cant cap off the thermostat, that would cause the engine to overheat,. There would be no way for the coolant to get from the radiator to the motor. As for your problem the left side guide. I used the DE one and it was cut down and so was the timing cover. It takes some work and in the end its still a very tight fit. I'd get some close up pictures of the area your having problems with but its about 27 oustside and snowing.

[DaydreamDrifter]

I don't think i meant the coolant thermostat because the indside of the tube seemed to have black crude **** in it.

I have a DE as well, A picture would be greatly appreciated if you didn't have to take your cover off just to do it.

Did you have any lentgh problems with your throttle cable?

[glacier985]

I don't think i meant the coolant thermostat because the indside of the tube seemed to have black crude **** in it.

I have a DE as well, A picture would be greatly appreciated if you didn't have to take your cover off just to do it.

Did you have any lentgh problems with your throttle cable?

I think your talking about the PVC tube, I'm not sure if you can close it off. And the throttle cable is to short, I just ran mine over the valve cover. If you look I have a picture showing it somewhere. It might even be in this thread.

[PureInsanity]

Any updates on this yet? Im considering the same swap and would like to see the results.

I went thru and read the whole thing the other nite, but I dont remember if you said you checked/changed the rotor for your no spark issue. If your getting fire thru the coil wire, but not out to the plug wires chances are good the rotor is shorted out.

Forget the multi meter, get shocked and do it the old fashioned way. Remove the cap and hold the coil wire near the center contact of the rotor, if it jumps to it, rotor is shorted out. Working properly the rotor shouldnt ground out at all and should just transfer the spark to the contact to fire the wires at the cap.

HMMMM I know how this works, but Im not sure if I explained it correctly. Basicly if the coil wire will jump a spark to the rotor change it. Check the coil wire to a good ground (eng block or whatever) first to make sure the coil is firing first tho. And chances are you will get a ZAP, it sucks but chances are it wont kill ya. LOL!

DO NOT lean on or touch the car when your doing it. Then you can become the ground and youll get a shock. Hold the wire back a ways from the tip also.

[bongnak]

did u check the grounds, behind the head, intake manifold and ecu?

is the fuel pump is still working when you have the key on the "on" position; cuz theres a reason why the fuse popped before. also check the maf is it the de? hope this helps

oh and almost forgot check the plug wires did you cross them

ps why would sr injectors be needed arent they too big for an N/A motor

[dutman94hb]

Can you do this same swap on the motor in a hardbody(it's a ka24e)as well I've been tryin for months to get the info on this swap but always come up with nothin useful. I want the DE head for the parts expansion and TURBO

[deviousKA]

Yes you can do it on a D21 ka24e, it will be physically and functionally (is that a word?) the same as 240sx KA and will require same modifications. As far as the intake manifold setup is concerned, you can do it a couple ways. If you use a frontier ka24de intake manifold and throttle body you can use your factory ka24e d21 harness. If you want to use a 240sx ka24de manifold you need to modify and tune your ecu differently, as well as a few wiring changes (all definately possible). Your other main option is swapping to the 240sx de harness and ecu.

Or you could always run standalone and have the luxury of swapping any kinds of parts on or doing and sort of modifications you could ever want.

[dutman94hb]

I have an employee who says he knows how to make stand alone management useing the megasquirt system

[Skelo]

So it's been 10 years now, and here I am: got all the way here and read the entire post, could you please share the pictures of your process and if possible tell me how it ended? I'm really intrigued, my mechanic tried to achieve the same goal, plus turbo, but did a very poor job, so now I'm looking for info to start doing/fixing it myself.

Cheers, thanks, and congratulations for the great attitude around your build.