How many of you have blown your motors?

[epokh]

Hahaha...this is a real encouraging thread for someone nearing completion of their build ......but some of these incidents are the very reasons I switched from stock shotpeened and polished rods to Crower's halfway through the process.And...Ivan cracked his block!??!???....caught me sleepin' on that one! I guess I should log on more often! Have we officially seen the limits of the KA block??

[TheOne]

Hahaha...this is a real encouraging thread for someone nearing completion of their build ......but some of these incidents are the very reasons I switched from stock shotpeened and polished rods to Crower's halfway through the process.And...Ivan cracked his block!??!???....caught me sleepin' on that one! I guess I should log on more often! Have we officially seen the limits of the KA block??

he explained some of it in the 500hp thread , #4 cylinder wall cracked, i'd still like to see pics of the block!

[Chezedik]

How close are you epokh? Just finished mine, sort of.

[epoch707]

Well right now Im researching on what motor I want. My goal is 290-300 whp and I want it to be reliable. I was thinking of either building the KA and turboing it or swapping an SR and putting a bigger turbo on it.

Reliability is a big factor for me, so i am still researching

check out my parallel thread in the SR forum on how many blew their SR's

" TARGET="_blank">zerothread?id=227435

I know its all about the tuning, but the SR's just "seem" more reliable.

[Chezedik]

For low power numbers you may be right, but if you want real TQ you go big. And as it's been said, ladies love the KA.

Also, I was talking to Epokh, he lives about 30min from me.

[nissanfanatic]

Please....

300whp is nothing for the KA.

[nissanfanatic]

And there are so many dumb *** n00bs(even a couple with ridiculous post counts...hint hint troll) and misinformation in that thread.. Don't read that trash..

One key piece of advice, don't ever listen to anyone that tells you to do something. Listen to people who give you information on one or both routes..

The KA head flows 242cfm on the intake side, and 180cfm exhaust side. It could use some porting exhaust side, but it works. Some dumbass said "its made for sucking air in"..thats gotta be something he watched on N00bTV or something.. Flow numbers don't lie..thats how much air can go through it at a set vacuum. For comparison, the SR flows 209 intake and 160cfm..

http://www.ka-t.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16531

Informative thread about head numbers..

Okay..."made for boost"... Hmm

What in the **** does this mean..?? I don't get it.. They are both internal combustion engines. Each of them have identical cast aluminum pistons and forged steel rods.. The SR does have a lower compression ratio so you can run more boost on a given octane fuel. This is the idiot boundary for most ignorant SR owners thinking they can **** off and run 20+psi on turbos too small for that kind of pressure.. A KA will blow much quicker in that instance.. There is no "boost bolt" or "Boost bearing" that gets put into an engine that makes it "made for boost". **** the LS1 isn't made for boost, the Viper engine isn't made for boost, the LS2 and LS7 aren't made for boost, and even the B series blocks from Honda aren't "made for boost" But **** a lot of them make crap-tons of power regardless..

So yea, weigh your options. I think they are both great engines and you will be happy either route if you follow the directions.. But don't listen to people who talk about how many engines they have blown or who say "do this"... More than likely they are justifying a mistake they made..

[Chezedik]

Says the resident stock block KA hero. So it's worth hearing. I like your work, and hope to rival it very soon. Keep it up fanatic.

[epoch707]

Yeah i agree with you

Im basically basing my decision on the ease of the install, money, and trouble shooting.

Although turboing a KA may be a little cheaper, I don't have the time or know how to piece together a turbo kit, build my 155XXX mile KA w/ forged pistons, and worry about fuel manegment

an SR swap just seems to be easier, but a little more expensive for the horsepower you're getting
Modified by epoch707 at 8:22 PM 2/12/2007

[Suicide.Veteran]

Whats with allthe 3rd cylinder problems? Anyway: Spun rod bearing in the 3rd cyl. twice LOL, and recently i managed to blow a steel gasket between the exh. mani and the turbo in half at 15 psi WOT but thats nothing.

Um headgaskets do count cuz aluminum warps fast and any head .003 out of straightness is too warped for me and is considered junk. Think about it, we have cam caps that can't be replaced or remachined. If the head warps, they do too, allowing the cams to wallow them out, then you have oil problems, rich cylinders bent cams, etc etc....

[epoch707]

And there are so many dumb *** n00bs(even a couple with ridiculous post counts...hint hint troll) and misinformation in that thread.. Don't read that trash..

One key piece of advice, don't ever listen to anyone that tells you to do something. Listen to people who give you information on one or both routes..

The KA head flows 242cfm on the intake side, and 180cfm exhaust side. It could use some porting exhaust side, but it works. Some dumbass said "its made for sucking air in"..thats gotta be something he watched on N00bTV or something.. Flow numbers don't lie..thats how much air can go through it at a set vacuum. For comparison, the SR flows 209 intake and 160cfm..

http://www.ka-t.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16531

Informative thread about head numbers..

Okay..."made for boost"... Hmm

What in the **** does this mean..?? I don't get it.. They are both internal combustion engines. Each of them have identical cast aluminum pistons and forged steel rods.. The SR does have a lower compression ratio so you can run more boost on a given octane fuel. This is the idiot boundary for most ignorant SR owners thinking they can **** off and run 20+psi on turbos too small for that kind of pressure.. A KA will blow much quicker in that instance.. There is no "boost bolt" or "Boost bearing" that gets put into an engine that makes it "made for boost". **** the LS1 isn't made for boost, the Viper engine isn't made for boost, the LS2 and LS7 aren't made for boost, and even the B series blocks from Honda aren't "made for boost" But **** a lot of them make crap-tons of power regardless..

So yea, weigh your options. I think they are both great engines and you will be happy either route if you follow the directions.. But don't listen to people who talk about how many engines they have blown or who say "do this"... More than likely they are justifying a mistake they made..

this is probably the most informative piece of information. Also unbiased

thank you (assuming everything you said is true)

[epokh]

How close are you epokh? Just finished mine, sort of.

I plan on being up and running by late spring, early summer. Deciding on how much head work I wanna get done and thinking about cams. Other than that, just a ECU tune and an exhaust away...(and lots of little crap, belts, bolts, etc..) Things that will prolly cause even more delays: gonna try and sell the BD mani\DP and go AMS .......and Vegas trip next month!!...I'll probably come back even more broke than I already am

Yours is running now!?Sorry all, didn't mean to thread jack!!

I actually think this is a great thread. A compilation of everyone's mistakes or problems can serve as a useful learning tool. I started collecting parts and researching almost 2 years ago!!.(I'm poor ) Along the way, I changed plans, replaced parts, and generally learned just as much, if not more, from the various failures that occurred as the successes. And mad props to all those who scrapped a motor and went right back at it!

(now watch my motor toss a rod or something within 2 days of start up)

[white90esex]

the thing is when people say they are "made for boost" that means from factory.

If you look at the SR its allready got the lower comp pistions, larger injectors, and its more "prepared" for boost. Im not saying its a better motor for this, it just makes turning up the boost easier.

To make 300hp in either car your going to need some sort of larger turbo, injectors, and a good tune.

The KA is a cool motor as long as you build it. I hear people going..... 300hp on a KA is nothing. But in reality thats with tons of crap done running a large turbo, injectors, ect.

Look at it like this....

Pay 2 grand for a motor that is factory turbo but will need afternarket parts to reach 300hp.

OR

Dont pay anything for your warn KA and dump alot of money into it to make 300hp.

Either way is a fine choice. In my mind theres that saying "theres no replacement for displacement" and when you thinking the 2liter vs the 2.4 liter you have to assume that the peak power of the KA could be greater than the SR's cause of the displacement.

IDK though. You could build a KA or swap an SR and im sure you will be EXTREMELY happy with either. Boost in general is fun especially since your getting away from the gutless "150hp" that the KA puts out.

[Chezedik]

Yeah, mine is started, now I am working on all the little things, I want to have it tearing up asphalt by the beginning or middle of March, we will see.

Who is doing your ECU tune, you could get the Calum board and maybe I could help.

[Biggamehit]

before i bought my 240 i worked on hondas alot but never owned them. so i got accustom to high reving.

well when i first got my 240 4 1/2 years back i didnt read up on how the motor was desgined so i was all up into hi rpms for nothing. blew two N/A KA's if i had the skill back then the second one could have been saved just spun bearing. the first one recived a swift punch through the block.

[nissanfanatic]

Quote »The KA is a cool motor as long as you build it.I hear people going..... 300hp on a KA is nothing. But in reality thats with tons of crap done running a large turbo, injectors, ect.[/quote]Wanna tell me what qualifies as "tons of crap" on my setup?

[Jookmasta]

i agree with cory, that posts is highly misinformed.................

[carnage240]

Hey guys, maybe you can help me out a lil, I'm new to 240's, like 2 weeks now, I'm coming from a honda background as well, where you have to rev high, I was reading a little bit about long strokes ect..? Well, my question is, what is a safe revving limit? 5.5k? My 240 is 158xxx so I haven't been horsebeating her so I think the highest i've gone a few times is about 5-5.8k, also considering this old girl has leaking seals in about every direction. I'm getting ready to order the ams build kit and talk to one of my shops, yay tax return, bills vs pleasure, I choose pleasure :P So yeah, if you had any info on this, it would be a great help. Until I can boost and dyno tune, this info would be nice to know, in case I get a case of heavyfootitus after I have it built. Thanks in advance!

[nissanfanatic]

I have 150k on mine and I bounce off the rev limiter.. Nobody is quite sure what is safe yet.. I need to have my rev limit moved to 7300 or so..

But you can almost always rest assured that the factory is always going to error on the side of safety. Taking your car past 6k in stock trim isn't going to help any though. Power peaks at 5800rpm.

[mikerbike]

So, that $230 'boost bolt' I bought was a scam? Damn... I wondered why the instructions just said to tape it to the side of the valve cover.

I blew up my first one a few weeks ago. It was a stock KA24E with a Cometic head gasket because I kept breaking stock ones. I lost all my oil for some reason and it seized. I still never found where the oil leak was, but it sprayed out 5 quarts in about 15 miles of freeway...

My (free) replacement has a bit of a knock and a stock head gasket, so maybe I'll be posting in this thread again soon, even though I turned the boost down to 5psi (from 10)...

[carnage240]

thanks for your help mikerbike, you told me exactly what I needed to know! Cheers!

[1995240sxSE]

ok someone needs to end this thread asap! I mean its bad luck for me. I fixed the 2nd blown motor and broke the 3rd since this thread has been going!

I am just playin but ka24de motors have it in for me!1=pistons exploded2=blown headgasket3=rod failure

#1 definately my fault got a lil grazy the 1 sile of kat 20 +psi untuned is bad#2 I was being dumb and knoceked of radiator hose and didnt realize it and overheated!#3 Ok it getting old I was leaking fluids(oil and anitfreeze) worse than I thought and now I have a bad rod knock!!! I guess having oil is good for a motor!

#4 will be overboosted but not until I have the 5th built woth forged goodies!

[Craving4Boost]

Why does the KA always have to be the "worn out" engine? Come on, SR's have been producing for a long time and started in the high 80's just like the KA IIRC. So what makes a SR so much less "worn" than a KA? A guy taking his KA on a bunch of only highway miles to commute to work makes it more worn out than a SR that has been sitting in the junkyard forever? I don't get it and I don't think it should be a factor. There are SR's more worn out than some KA's...and there are KA's that are more worn out than SR's....it should not be one-sided against the KA.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Every motor can blow... has anyone ever seen that video of the guy beating the crap out of a ferrari, then it shoots a piston through the hood or something? Hillarious...

[mikerbike]

Update!!!

t's amazing what you can find out after taking apart the engine...

No.1 Piston

Broken ring lands everywhere...

The top ring land on the piston with the hole looks like it has been melted for a while, probably since I experimented with maxxing out my 370cc injectors a few months ago.

Anyway, just last month, I was driving down some random highway and a Civic with most of a body kit passed me. After a few minutes, I decided to catch up and make fun of him. I passed him going slow. He came up and tried to take off, so I did too. When I shifted into 5th gear, it started missing and smoking (the hole was made...) Since there was a hole in the piston, oil was being pushed from the crankcase into the hole and burned or simply spat out the exhaust, through the turbo and settled in the exhaust somewhere.

When I stopped, oil wasn't touching the dipstick, so I put in 4 quarts and a bottle of Lucas Stabilizer. I drove about 15 miles, smoking and chugging, toward my house. Finally, it started knocking and the oil light came on and the engine seized. So, as I previously thought, it wasn't a gigantic oil leak that ruined the engine, although, ultimately, it did die from oil starvation. The bent rod was actually twisted when the bottom bearing was fused to the crank for a few mileseconds at 3, 000 RPM, not bent from too much HPs...

[PapaSmurf2k3]

I said it once and I'll say it again... Mechanical problems are soo much cooler than electrical ones.

[s14det]

I blew mine due to running lean on the Dyno. 13psi and 13 a/f with a AMS GT32. Was tuned but for some reason the day it was cold and the car was running in the 13's under boost with 91 octane. Day before was in the 70's and was in the mid 11's A/F. That was about 6 months ago I think. I also blew #3 ring land. Rest of the engine was in perfect shap and only had about 70K miles on it. Tuning is the Key for any boosted engine. I'm not sure how people go out and drive a boosted car without tuning it. The KA really needs a tune since it is not a engine "built for boost". By that I mean that the ECU does not have the timing and fuel tables to compensate for boost, where the SR is stock with boost so it can deal with a raise in Boost and what not a little better.

[BurnsAuto90]

hey guys. i own an sr powered s13, but have really grown to love the ka. a ka build it prob going to be in the future for me (...eventually..)

is the difference between how the Ka24e and the ka24de handle boost? Is one more fit for a turbo application than another?

I've heard that the single cam is a little better for a turbo app. but..thats just talk...

[mikerbike]

I think people just say that because it has a lower compression ratio. I'd rather have a DE but I've always been a fan of 'working with what ya got'...

[NateDogg]

What were you using to tune to 11 a/f?