Heavy Abuse Reliability.

[DrNix]

Alright so I got hosed on a 240sx my parents acquired for me. It was 1700 and had many problems, upon lifting the hood you could see it had been in a front end, there was an old leak, the lights werent even, the ac was just hanging on its lines, its belt was shredded and caught in the other belts.

Anyways I drove it, I didn't know what exactly I was doing. I hit a tree from park at 5mph and made it a little ugly (was changing cd didnt put it in park.. gas is sensitive dont ya know? :P) The engine eventually started making horribly scary noses and i had been putting in a quart nearly every other day and everytime i had ended up flooring it. It finally began knocking real loud when i was making a Uturn to go to nappa and get oil, funny thing some other 240 all tricked out came blazing over the hill i was on and i floored it to get out of his path and i was int eh turn i guess (i was already low on oil) the oil slid away from the pickup and bam, the horrid knock started, so what did i do? I put a quart of thick oil in and drove it another 30 miles!

Anyways enough story. I want to keep this, its my first love.

So get a rebuild of course, but I want to go with some increased performance mods for NA performance. So now what Im wondering is if I reinforce the engine heavily (forged rod, bearing, piston, all of that etc etc.) will i have a reliable car to drive at high speeds all the time? What things can you do to make the block itself more reliable.

I dont really care for racing as it tends to become a matter of who has more money I just want to enjoy my drives, tear it up and be a jack *** 90% of my driving time and not end up where i am right now at 150k.

Thoughts? (I've read the entire thread about boosting NA performance that was posted recently)

[HashiriyaS14]

The KA is a pretty stout engine in general, so just in terms of constant high-rpm driving at stock compression, reinforcing the internals may not be necessary.

One of the best things you can do to any car that will be seeing lots of hard driving is to install an engine oil cooler. Cooling is always a #1 priority when driving hard.

To be honest though, from what you're telling me about other aspects of the car, you need to go over the entire car with a fine-toothed comb first, as the engine might be the least of your worries. Your in TX, so rust isnt' much of an issue, but check to make sure there hasn't been any frame damage or anything before proceeding any further or spending any more money.

[dickie]

^^agreed. it wont matter what kind of engine youre running if it will never run straight, or you cant make good traction because of the meesed up subframe, etc...

[Kenrik]

Yes... ih the body is screewed sell it and get a good frame... With all the SR swaps these days it's easy to find a good working KA for $200-$300

[dfw240_EE]

I recently had a mild fender bender, and I got off lucky. I didn't bend anything too bad. I don't think it's perfectly straight but it's very close. My camber on the left side is off abit but it's fixable.

Now onto your problem. The oil loss thing sounds ALOT like the front seal blew on you. Mine was leaking to the tune of 1quart/month. A friend's dad who is a mechanic told me that if that seal totally went out it would "leak oil like the oil filter was left off"

Of course it could be a myriad of other problems but my gut is telling me front oil seal.

[DrNix]

So its impossible to fix the frame? I've been unable to find a 240 around here for cheap, especially since the popularity is going up alot. I looked for an engine and no luck so far, haven't checked in about two weeks. It was definitely the oil problem and yeah i think it was actually the rear seal. I called yesterday a mechanic in my town and a rebuild would cost me 1400 at max.

Oil cooler huh? Ill check that out.

[DjPantsSpecR]

my front seal leaked at the tune of a quart a day or better... if we wanna talk leaks lets talk about losing a gallon of water every few miles.... thats another story though

if it were even possible for the front seal to entirely blow out then, yeah it woulda been a done-*** deal for that motor.

anywho, 1400 is ridiculous to spend on a conditioned KA, you might as well swap a CA in there for that.

don't do that of course, but a KA should cost between 200-500 (i know i have one of each), just keep looking, they will find you

Oil cooler is always a great idea, plus they are so readily available you can find B&M ones at your local checker/schucks/kragen...

[dfw240_EE]

The only counterpoint to that is with a conditioned KA, especially if done by a good place, will be almost like new.

With a $200 to $500 used one you can't be totally sure what bucket of troubles you are getting.

[DjPantsSpecR]

i bought a 200 dollar one and put new bearings in it for a little under 150

either way you should be able to put pistons and rods in for 1400.... but buying a full rebuild kit is about 3-4 hundred. thats still less than half of 1400

[DrNix]

Well I don't know this rebuild is a total rebuild, hot tanking, cleaning. CA is better than KA... NA? heh...

If I bought a rebuild kit would it even be possible for me to do it myself?

Reminded me of a story DjPants. I was driving a 60 mile drive (I had no hood, this is after the tree incident, and the incident where the heavy duty bungie snapped and my hood ran away...) and water starting spraying on my window so I pull over 'wtf'... wait for it to cool, pour some water on and in it and start driving off, not even a mile its overheating again so I pull over again and start inspecting it real good, my radiator hose is busted, the lower one... cant get to it at all! So I decide **** it, nobody is going to stop and even let me use a cell phone because I don't have tits so I get out a tool set and start taking off everything, eventually make it possible to take off the lower radiator hose, i luckily have engine degreaser with me, so i degrease it real good and put on about a whole roll of electrical tape. and walk about a quarter mile back and forth to a giant building off the highway that seems like its a heavy machinery repair shop and fill up a 20ounce bottle with a hose.

My friend eventually arrives looking for me along with the texas highway roadside assistance people who let me use a cellphone, give me some hand cleaner and duct tape and leave. so i add the duct tape to the hose and put everything back together. drive off, car overheats after about 10 miles. Leave it at my moms work and spend about 10 hours the next day replacing the thermostat... *shrug* i had problems with it being vertical and alot of holdups and 8hours of it was probalby relizing i needed to replace the thermo

[HashiriyaS14]

Ok, I was saying that you should address the frame first IF it needs it.

I haven't seen the car, obviously, so it may be fine. You need to have someone professional take a look at it and tell you whether or not everything is kosher.

[DjPantsSpecR]

i couldn't agree with that more, the KA is the least of your problems, like i said a KA is cheap cuz no one wants em

is the frame is trash, no matter how much you want it, just keep lookin

[DrNix]

Well something new, awhile back a guy let me look at an 89 he had and the transmission was out on it but I couldnt hear or see any immediate problems with the engine, the frame and body is fine and the same color as mine. He wanted 900 and I told him forget it but now he wants my trans for 200 or 300 for his car. It has 91k on the engine but due to the transmission being out already it makes me wonder. If I did get it I would have body parts I need as well as the engine but i would be going from DE to E. as far as frames go its a coupe and not a fastback so i don't know how i would make use of that or if it would be useful if mine was out of wack