is a KA-T worth it with a lot of miles?

[nissan~240sx]

i got a KA24DE with 131,000 miles on the ticker. i have no idea how good a condition the stock internals are and the car has a really bad clutch. now doing an SR swap is probably the way to go but i don't have 4,000 dollars to spend on doing it. a good turbo kit will probably run me around the same price including new fuel pump and intercooler set up. i would also need a new exhaust system. i'm debating on which will be the smartest way to go. i need input. the KA is pretty old. would the SR swap with just a stock turbo be better than totally rebuilding my KA?

[480sx]

Your call, 131k on a modern day engine isnt a huge ammount, people boost their ka's with more miles on it than that. Just do a compression check and make sure your bottom end is alright before you make any plans.

I guess you dont know how to work on cars yourself? 4k is alot of cash to spend on a turbo project, you can do a KA-T for way cheaper than that.

[Jookmasta]

do a compression test check and then report the results. if all is well, then that's a green light...............

[nissan~240sx]

yes i'll admit, i don't kno much about working on cars. i don't have a shop, im goin to college for business, and my dad won't teach me nothin about it, even though he is a mechanic! but once im outta school, imma do my best to learn! when i go for the compression check, what kind of figures should i be looking for? and do u guys think the KA-T puts out more power than the SR20?

[spooled240]

I heard of sr swaps for about 2 grand now, depending on which one you want. Part of the reason I went ka is for smog issues, I'd rather pull a turbo kit off than taking an engine, trans, wiring harness, etc for a smog check. I think you can easily make a ka-t faster than a stock sr if you tune it right.

Oh ya I have 120,000 miles on mine and it doesn't burn a drop of oil

[nissan~240sx]

yea see mine burns oil i believe because whenever me and my friends roll out, they all tell me black smoke comes out when i accelerate. what do u guys think that is from? how come i'm burnin oil? i use synthetic oil on every oil change.

also, lets say if i were to go KA-T, which turbo company really is the best? i was thinkin garret but then again, i've never owned a turbocharged car.

[Florida240sx]

I got my old turbo setup for sale. KA's make more power than SR'sBlack smoke is your car running too rich probably got a bad 02 sensor

[nissan~240sx]

how much do u want for the turbo kit? does it come with intercooler? what kind of turbo is it?

[spooled240]

I got an ebay turbo, mani, wg, ic w/ pipes, exhaust, and a jwt ecu, mafs and injectors and basically pieced it all together. It has worked flawlessly for me so far for 3 months. I went w/ this route because I was on a budget and also in college. I'm not saying this is the best way to go, but it's working for me. If I had more money I would go JGS..

[nissan~240sx]

yea i see what u mean. basically what im tryin to do is get into drifting semi-professionally gearing towards professional. i need an engine setup that will help me achieve my goals. i've had talks about doing about almost every type of swap:2jzgtte-$7500

sr20det-$4,000

rb25det-$5,000

13b rotary!$6,500

even considered a VQ-$6,500

i mean the choices are endless. but i need a car that will help me to compete with the other big drivers and cars out there. a lot of people on here want to drift for fun. i want to drift for a living. and i am trying my very hardest to make something out of nothing right now.

[Zippy69]

Total JDM (advertised on nico) has a red top swap for $1900 free shipping.I am in the process of turboing my ka with @160k on the odometer, as long as your engine is solid you should have no problems. I've read of engines with over 200k taking considerable amounts of boost.All my research leads me to the fact that if your air/fuel ratio is correct and you don't get stupid with the boost, then your ka should be healthy and happy under boost for a long time.Forget that sr and go with what came in your car you already have more cubic inches to work with and a huge aftermarket.good luck with whatever you choose, and have fun!!!

[spooled240]

that's where I saw the red top for 2 g's! lolzippy's right, just get your tuning right and a high mileage motor will most likely stay running(granted you don't crank up the boost to 30psi) what hp goals are you aiming for? cuz you can probably build a low boost street car like mine for cheap (230ish rwhp) and you'll get good practice at drifting.I've never driven a sr but I've grown fond of the torque of the ka which is probably better for drifting anyway..idk, i'm not in to spending big bucks on engine swaps right now, i'm young, poor and i just wanna go fast lol

[Blue Ka-t]

My first ka-t setup cost about $1200 dollars. Ebay turbo, intercooler, homemade piping, jgs log mani, stock injectors, tail 38mm wastegate, 12:1 vortech fmu, walbro fuel pump, and obx exhaust

This setup on 8psi with no timing control at 17-18 degrees of base timing lasted me over two years. Ran a 13.7 in the quarter.

If your compression test comes out over 150 i say turbo the ka.My setup worked, but i recomend buying a good turbo, engine management, and 550cc injectors the first time.

If the ka is bad see about getting another one from a salvage yard, sr's are junkyard motors too.

The stock sr20 is also a good motor if you want a medium horsepower high reving motor. I have ridden in an t28 sr and i'm not going to lie they have great topend power. I perfer the midrange torque of the Ka, but respect the sr.

[480sx]

FYI, drifting well is really hard. Also, you dont need alot of HP to drift. Infact, all you really need is a 2 way limited slip dif and your good to go. It will be much easier to learn to drift without alot of HP. Once you get the feel for it, start to add HP. Get a cheap turbo setup, and spend 700-800 on a LSD. If your serious about drifting, you have to spend the cash and get a 2 way.

Or, if the car is your dedicated drifting car and not your daily driver, you can cheap out and get your dif welded.

[DroptopDrifting]

i have a t3/t4 .50 trim, fmic, 550cc inj., fuel pressure regulator, walbro, wideband o2, safcII, z32 mafs, turbo manifold, 3"down, 2.5" straight, msd ignition module, low temp plugs/wires, .38mm wastegate, BOV, and a nice big breather to cool my oil. turbo kit (turbo, fmic, wg, bov, piping, manifold) are all no-name but not from ebay. fpr and walbro are from ebay. z32 mafs, zeitronix o2, msd ignition, plugs/wires, safcII, and breather are all brand new (breather is like $4 btw) i spent a total of $2300 including the boost gauge and im running at 8psi daily and getting about 300whp on stock internals. ive safely ran at 10psi before and probably pushed around 335whp. supposedly i can still crank it up to about 11 or 12psi safely and reach 350whp. then again im the second owner of the car, it just reached 100k miles, and had perfect compression of 160psi.

just let you guys know...

take what you will from it.

im workin on gettin z32tt 4piston cal. for the front if anyone can help me out. just got brembos on the rear.

i wanna get a koyo rad. w/ 2 12" shrouded fans w/ ac therm from heavy throttle after that w/ maybe an oil catch can/return lines.

then lastly, suspension (coilovers,lsd, sway bars, already have antiroll bars. subframe connectors, and rollcage now that L*CON makes one for the vert.)

by then i kinda hope to blowq this motor so i can just pickup a crate shortblock from AMS Performance and add a stroker kit from Crower. 2.65L bishez w00t265sx anyone?

[spooled240]

then get 265sx badges, 99% of people won't know what the hell's going on w/ your car

droptop, when do you get full boost at 8 psi? I have a 57 trim and I get boost around 3 grand @ 9psi. I heard 50 trims spool way quicker.

Along the same lines of what 480sx said, just get a cheap low boost turbo setup with a conservative tune that will last you. There are a few stock 350z's drifting pro and if I'm not mistaken, a ka-t at 9 psi should hang w/ them. I know I can give an sti or an evo a good run

[DroptopDrifting]

not that much quicker. spools at 2800. but when im racing it it stays in powerband so its always spooling. i think even 3grand is fine, thats about where it shifts to for me. but then again, i went automatic because of the turbo, so it may be different with yours

[B-Boy DuB-L]

its all up to you. im probably goin to get the ams rebuild kit and then the jgs turbo kit and jwt ecu, and then piece everything together.

[SideWayz180SX]

do compression test. 150 psi or more in each cylinder i'd go for it, like the other guys said above.

im sure you can boost a stock motor up to 9psi safely.

as for doing ka-t i'd do it. its cheaper and maybe even a little easier. i've considered the sr20 route for quite awhile, now im going for a build ka-t and push 300- 350hp is my main goal.

its your call with what you want to do with your money, ka-t is definitely cheaper. with the right stuff and hookups, you can do a ka-t for about 1200-1500 easy, and still have it run safely.

for engine management, im gonna be running an EFI tuned ecu with an safc for fine tuning and leaning the curver a bit, not to mention runn higher octane.

good luck!!

[DroptopDrifting]

leaning the curve? dont run lean. you're gonna blow your motor. and you should already be using premium gas straight out of the factory.

[spooled240]

I don't have a wideband, but i heard some of these reflashed ecu's are pretty conservative meaning they give quite a bit of fuel on the boost curve so your eng. has less of a chance of pinging.

I was thinking the same thing, have a reflashed ecu take care of your timing, then a safc to fine tune the afr's. That way you could get max hp for every psi.

[WDRacing]

Back in the day I would have said boost it until she blows then swap a better motor in. But KA's are getting scarce.

Rebuild it or go SR...sadly...I would do a motor swap, but the SR IS NOT the motor I'd go with.

Want CHEAP power, swap in a carbed 302 or 350. Do you have any fab skills? If not then just rebuild the KA. Visit the Hybrids forum and see whats going on with new projects.

WD

[DroptopDrifting]

a wideband is a MUST for turbo applications if you want to tune yourself (w/ a safc or any piggyback)

$280 for a zeitronix is worth a whole lot more than headaches and cash when you blow your motor

never assume anything, especially your a/f ratio.

[Rusted_PS13]

If your going to school and your looking for reliability...KA-t isn't for you

[nelson8708]

i boosted my ka 3 months before i started college and havent had a problem with it. If ka-t is done right and you dont push the motor it will be fine. If you need it reliable i would say a safe tune and no more than 7psi.

JGS Turbo kit-1702$ and then you will need a fmic, piping, and fuel system / control.

[WDRacing]

Cheap and reliable = 7psi with a 8:1 FMU and NO tuning. It will drive like stock off boost, have NO idle problems and run forever if you change the oil every 3000 miles.

[el tigre]

yup, go ahead and do it! Mine has like 150k or close anyway.

[HighPsiS13]

I got my old turbo setup for sale. KA's make more power than SR'sBlack smoke is your car running too rich probably got a bad 02 sensor

Is the kit still available? I may be interested.

[spooled240]

[QUOTE=nelson8708]i boosted my ka 3 months before i started college and havent had a problem with it. If ka-t is done right and you dont push the motor it will be fine. If you need it reliable i would say a safe tune and no more than 7psi. QUOTE]

+1 safe tune and don't get boost hungry

or for about 2300, you can get a rb25dett on ebay. It's probably very reliable stock w/ low mileage... idk how much installing it is though..

like i said earlier, I believe it depends on your hp goals, you can make a high-mileage ka-t pushing low 200's hp... or get the rb if you want a reliable high 200's and have some extra cash. O ya and rb20's are dirt cheap now...

[Biggamehit]

as all of the guys above have stated its about what you wanna do.. i recommend also learning to drift with a stock motor.. focus more on suspension. power drifting does not exhibit skill to me personalty and you will find it hard to master throttle control etc .. i have been drifting for 4 years now, but just hit my first legal track event. let me tell you ... A WHole new world bro.

as far as the KA. i have been boosted for about 2 years now. my first KA that i boosted i got with 75k miles on it. beat it up for a year and then boosted it. and it ran strong for about another year until i neglected the fuel system and began to run rich/lean and eventually damaging the ringlands. Pistons are just the weak point in KA;s now im on KA number 5. Number 4 was perfect, but i had a freak oil pan accident.

My initial tune was just stock ecu, sr370cc injectors, and N60 maf. with out wideband. Now that i have wideband man its so much better able to smooth out my a/f.r in relation to temp changes in all. climate affects your tune a ton. You can have this thing dyno tuned at about 70 deg and go outside in the winter to about 45-50deg weather and your tune can be way off. so having a wideband system is a smart buy.

IMO

I love KA-T and pound for pound us ka-t guys have more skills/Knowledge overall than our sr counterparts.

ps

my initial turbo setup was 800 dollars and i ran a 13.7 at 104mph at 6-8psii with slipping clutch