Help please...I need reliability and power

[SlidnSideways]

Things of this nature have been asked before im sure but when i searched, everything i found seemed to dance around the answer i was looking for. Please help as best u can and be patient with me if it may seem like this was asked before.

Im planning on going KA-T but the budget is kind of limited. I can get together 3 grand or alittle more but i want the engine built like a tank. Im looking for help with some sort of setup for a 300 whp car. The reason i want the engine strong is because i know i will definatly be upgrading later to hopefully a 450ish perhaps 500whp car down the road and really dont want to take the engine out again for another rebuild.

My internals include basically everything from BD heh supertech pistons, pauter rods, ARP studs, cometic gasket, toga main and rod bearings kit. I was also gonna go with the cam upgrade too. Does this seem like overkill for what will eventually be a high 400 to 500 whp setup?

The other stuff like turbo choice, injectors, and things like that i can get from search for the 300 whp setup cause i know its been asked 31807 times.

Any helpwould be awesome...THANX!

[fiznat]

The parts you want to build your engine with look good, as do your plans EXCEPT your budget. I really dont see how you plan on doing a fully built KA-T for under 3 grand. I suppose maybe if you have some hookups at a machine shop or are capable of doing every last thing yourself, but it just doesnt seem reasonable to make this happen for 3k. With those parts you are talking about and machine shop labor just to bore/hone and balance (the absolute BARE minimum), you're looking at at LEAST a $2500 bill right there, and you wouldnt have bought any of your turbo stuff yet.

Your ideas seem good, but the budget is realy just not even close man, sorry... To build the engine like you want and say use a S-AFC or a tuned ECU chip I'd say you should expect to spend at least 5 grand to do it right, and even that is kinda on the low end of what it will probably end up costing.

I'm sure you've heard this before, its almost a cliche now but: power, reliability, low cost. Pick two and only two. Thats the way building cars works...

Good luck though man, keep us updated!

[SlidnSideways]

Yea i have a machine shop that is going to do install and bore and whatnot for $100. They did my brothers SR and he helped them out quite a bit with publicity so they are cutting me a great deal. Im hoping my buddy that owns a performance shop is able to get most of the internals at a decent price too which would help.

The build up i listed are all things i would absolutly need for the power i want to make eventually?

Thanx for the help...and actually 5 grand was almost right on the money fiz...It came out to something like 5300 when i added all the numbers together though...unless...oh man did i carry that 0?

[fiznat]

Yeah, even with a sweet deal at the machine shop $3000 is really cutting it short. I'm glad to hear youve added up the numbers yourself though. Just keep in mind that you will never be able to accurately add up all of the money you will spend on this project. There are so many little things that come up, mistakes get made and stupid stuff needs to get taken care of-- it all costs money.

$100 is an absolutely amazing deal on a bore/balance/assembly though. It might as well be free at that cost.

Listen to your machine shop about what they think you need for your power goals. Basically you will need pistons (lower compression), bearings, ARP hardware probably, a nice headgasket, and an excellent race balance job (including the clutch!). Rods are iffy. I am using stock rods in my project, and I've been putting 430 hp/410 torque to the wheels with no rod issues yet. Ivan tested his rods and they didnt bend till a boost spike put him well over 30 psi. It depends on what you want to risk, though.

Again, good luck with your project man!

[SlidnSideways]

Fiz your awesome man thanx a bunch. I know about all the little gadgets and things that are gonna add up from me breaking stuff (probably alot of stuff lol) i added a bit of that into the total price but im sure there will be more.

Not getting the rods would send the cost down a great deal although i would probably have to get mine shotpeened or something. You think with the setup i would be running down the road, i would be ok skipping them? What about upgraded cames and valve train?

[fiznat]

Well, I personally did skip doing the rods, and I have one of the more powerful KA-Ts on this board. Granted, I wish I didnt skip them. I just didnt have the money when I was putting the engine together and I never did it, even though I would feel much better if I did have them. The stock rods ARE very beefy though. My machine shop guy was really impressed with him, and he is a hardcore v8 guy. He said at first glance they look like chevy 350 smallblock rods. That's pretty impressive for a jap 4 banger, ya know?

I'm not going to tell you that you definitely do not need the rods, but I will tell you that you most likely can survive without them. Make sure you dont rev the engine like crazy all the time (high RPMs tend to damage rods more than just high HP), and get a good tune. I've done it as well as others, I'm sure you can too. Again, it just depends on how much you want to spend and how much risk you are willing to accept.

As far as valvetrain, my machine shop insisted I get some high temp Ferra valves with my application. He said the intense heat from the turbocharging has a tendency to burn/warp exhaust valves especially, and was adamant about getting me to put some good valves in. I trusted him and his experience, and decided to do it-- but again there are others here who are running similar boost levels on the stock head with no problems. There will be a lot of decisions like this, so you know. The KA-T is still a fairly new idea, and while it has been recently becoming much more popular, there is still a lot of hearsay about what works and what doesnt. The answers are hardly ever absolute, it will always be "well this worked for me, but for that other guy it didnt." What you need to do is balance what you know and what you think is important (get as much advice as possible), with how much you are willing to spend. The people who dont know what they are talking about will always either tell you that you NEED all of the very best and most expensive parts, or they will tell you that you can last with almost nothing. The truth is usually somewhere in between.

Be careful man, and keep asking questions!

[WDRacing]

Wow fiznat you really are an amazing resource! Might I ask if you are single? I'm thinking about visiting New England soon and perhaps we could "meet up?"

I'm not kidding, I think I love You

[fiznat]

haha, everyone please realise that while WD's thread may seem to be dripping with sarcasm, its really not. WD is in fact the biggest flamer I have ever met, and it is a daily trial to beat off his constant advances.

[SlidnSideways]

...wow....thats uhhhh....well....wow....

[turbo98_240sx]

LMFAO I think you guys scared the newb. hehe j/k it was just WD but still, FIZ freakin a that was the most indept answer ever given to such a common q. like that. FIZ you should just write a newb FAQ cuz that needs little to make it most of what you should consider about goin T on your KA hehe

[SlidnSideways]

Yes please make a "newb FAQ" for people like me who like to ask questions instead of blow up thier bank account.

And hell...while we're at it we can make a cool guy section in the forum for all the people who know everything about KA-T's so they can sit and talk about how sweet their setup is and how much they hate how people ask the same questions that they prolly asked 12 times when they were worried about how their car would come out.

Sounds like a good idea to me....

[Remedy]

For what it's worth, I did a 30 over bore, Ross Pistons, (stock rods- they are really beefy) micropolished crank, and turbo (ingalls) cams when I did the rebuild. So it's just shy of 2.7 litres or so. I went pretty conservative on the compression: 8.5:1. I dropped the car off running, and naturally aspirated at a shop which does installs and machine work on the same premises. Not including the cost of the Kit (for info's sake, it's the GReddy kit, with the FMIC) I paid $6000. That included the parts and labor. It should be noted that it also included installing a Nismo 2 way, plasma cutting the front reinforce (so I could have that and the FMIC) and installing AP Racing Big Brakes and brake lines. I picked up the car running and never did have to work on it myself. Anyway, that is just one more story for you all of how one person did it. Needless to say I am happy and boosting around town without even one issue since. Not even a CEL or anything. Cheers.Jon

[eddiec]

Re: (SlidnSideways) "So it's just shy of 2.7 litres or so."

huh??

[WDRacing]

Uh...your WAY shy of a 2.7 homey....lol.

[Remedy]

yes. around 2.FOUR 7 liters. I wonder why I never post around here... I guess mistakes are more fun to respond to than questions. Anyway...

[WDRacing]

Jon, I respond to almost every post in this forum, dumb or not.

You just posted that you had an over bore of .030 done and that brought your motor up to 2.7 liters. That means if it goes uncorrected then a noob may read it and take it for fact.

This is a motor specific forum that deals with forced induction. Members don't come here to up their post count, they come here for knowledge. So if you can't take a simple correction in a light mannered post, then you should consider the problem to be of the personal kind. Not with the staff or the members here.

Thankyou for the additional story in any case.

WD

[Nismo_Freak]

Members don't come here to up their post count, they come here for knowledge.WD

I'm here for the post count.

[veilside180sx]

like you don't get enough in the suspension forum Nismo.

[turbo98_240sx]

I'm here for the post count.