increasing power band on ka

[drunkmonkalan]

hey

ive always heard people say that you cannot race a ka motor because the powerband is not high enough (i dont care what they say... i like the .4L extra over the sr). but anyway, i was wondering what i would need to do to raise the powerband.

what i thoguht would be needed:

headscamsuh......

now that u realise how lost i am, would you be willing to lend ur ka brother a hand? as well as any companies that sell the products if possible?

[MikeMurphy]

to totally move your powerband up with little change ---underdrive pulley <--**** will move it up unchangedlightened flywheel <---**** will move it up unchangedlightened driveshaft <--**** will move it up unchangedget rid of crank belt fan <--**** will move it up unchangedheadersproper exhaust

To move it up but modify it some---CAI <--not "pop charger"cams <---likely lose on lower RPM but gain on highhead work <---$$$ but will help upper end. Pretty good for entire band.

im sure there are more but I cant think of em

[Altiman94]

If an intake shifts a powerband, why wouldn't a header. You see more gains from a good header than any good intake.

[Altiman94]

i/h/e/p don't give any horsepower, then simply free up wasted horsepower. Theoretically, you should be able to get 155 wheel horsepower by freeing all the lost hp throught the engine/drivetrain. But everyone knows that is nearly impossible.

[MikeMurphy]

HUH? Last time I checked,

Letting the engine breath better is creating more power! Lightened drivetrain components free up power wasted power, not the other way around last time I checked.

Intake can definitly change the velocity of the air coming in, which can have an effect on low end torque.

Headers I suppose can change it a bit but generally the hp/tq numbers stay the same more then a CAI changes them.

[drunkmonkalan]

yeah... i agree with mike. i thought intakes would create horsepower while maybe headers and exhaust would free up hp?????????

[C-Kwik]

i/h/e/p don't give any horsepower, then simply free up wasted horsepower. Theoretically, you should be able to get 155 wheel horsepower by freeing all the lost hp throught the engine/drivetrain. But everyone knows that is nearly impossible.

A well designed complete system from intake to heads, cams, headers, and exhaust that are designed to work with each other and compliment each other can make HP. This is especially significant with header and cam designs where if properly matched can create some very good exhaust pulse tuning which actually draws air out of the cylinders. In some extreme cases and for a short RPM range, it can be set up to pull air in all the way from the intake. This will be found more on high overlap cams which means it will likely be unstreetable.

[Asleep Altima]

dont forget the ka's willingness to be force fed. ka's wake the hell up when you give them boost or nitrous. remember too that you can use an altima exhaust cam and add power as well, since the altima cam has a different profile than its brother, the 240.lol, the lightened drive shaft remark threw me off at first cuz i automatically was thinking altima...

[C-Kwik]

Using a 91 S13 cam should be a better option according to most 240 owners. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but the 91 KA cams had the highest lift of any of the OEM KA cams.

And any motor that is force fed will respond well assuming it can handle the additional load.

[Toms240420]

uhh, so totally decked out, no turbo or nos, anyone know about what the full potential "in HP" is.

[Asleep Altima]

Using a 91 S13 cam should be a better option according to most 240 owners. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but the 91 KA cams had the highest lift of any of the OEM KA cams.

And any motor that is force fed will respond well assuming it can handle the additional load.

its not always about lift though. when you buy cams from jwt, they sacrifice lift for duration. the ka with the right management, can handle nitrous and boost pretty damn well. i met a guy over the weekend with a beautiful 240sx pushing 333 horsepower at the wheels with his turbo and he installed it 50k miles ago. stock internals. its all about management and knowing when to stop.

[Scott McLellan]

Freeing up horsepower and making horsepower are the same thing. Making the engine more efficient at moving air in and out of the engine creates hp or "frees it up"- which ever you want to say it is the exact same thing. As for moving the powerband, cams are probably the key. Most cams are limited somewhat because they are factory regrinds that are shimmed. A good port and polish will also help. Porting is usually meant to stay streetable but if you find somebody who knows what they are doing, the ports can be masaged into more higher rpm tuned ports. This would probably include the intake manifold being ported as well. If you do this though, there is no turning back. Once it is done it is done. Another thing you might consider is a high performance ignition of some sort. Some of them improve the spark at high rpm's drastically which would help considerably. Another thing I just though of is if you still have the factory mechanical fan. These things rob power at high rpm's by causing unneccary drag. Just swap in an electric fan setup. Hope some of these ideas help.

[Asleep Altima]

ive got the msd digital 6+ on my car and the difference was very noticeable. nice power in the lower revs.

[C-Kwik]

its not always about lift though. when you buy cams from jwt, they sacrifice lift for duration. the ka with the right management, can handle nitrous and boost pretty damn well. i met a guy over the weekend with a beautiful 240sx pushing 333 horsepower at the wheels with his turbo and he installed it 50k miles ago. stock internals. its all about management and knowing when to stop.

Lift and duration both increase power. But I don't know the duration differences so I didn't mention them. There are downsides to both, but for duration, it's that depending on the lobe separation angles, you may get too much overlap for a turbo.

[C-Kwik]

ive got the msd digital 6+ on my car and the difference was very noticeable. nice power in the lower revs.

If that actually helped your car and you're not turbocharged or running Nitrous, you may have had some ignition problems. It's either that or you are imagining things. The factory ignition, if in good working order, should not have any significant misfire issues and gains would be negligible.

[Asleep Altima]

im running a 75 shot with advanced timing. so very not my imagination.

[C-Kwik]

ahh..ic

[Asleep Altima]

said the blind man. true though, just going to the aftermarket ignition wasnt that noticeable, with stock plugs... once i went to the 2 step colder plugs though, its a different story. the engine got very laggy even with advanced timing. the msd actually brought all of my power back. -note- reading this post sounds wierd, just to get it right, i went to the colder plugs and nitrous before i had the msd. after installing the msd is when i noticed the difference.

[drunkmonkalan]

thx alot guys... all ur posts have been really helpful. i just had to start this thread bc i couldnt find ne info on ka powerband =)