KA swap

[lil89ram50]

i need info on the ka swap

currently i have a 1985 170 king cab, z24, 5 speed, s***ting out motor......

so i need to know what is all in the swap as far as what i will need, what i will have to custom make, and the general difficulty of the swap, and where can i get the parts from? like what vehicles had these, and which are the best to get? im not to up to date with these motors, are they turbo'd? and how much they they roughly put down stock? im lookin for about 200hp..... but jus wana drop it in for now, and do some ugrading as i go, so are these easy to get bumped up to that?

or......

a friend has a sr20 motor sitting around.... mostly complete except intake and exh and a few other pieces, and would deffinatley need to be rebuilt, for 500 bux..... which should u go for? cuz i know with the ka all i have to do is change bellhousing on the transmission, is it even compatable with sr swap?

give your best advice! really would rather do the ka tho!

[seang]

Check out the ka24 forums, alot of it is fluff with repeatedly asked questions, but some of the info there is subtantial. 165whp is my educated guess as to a naturally aspirated ka24's practical limit with bolt-on's, and thats the DE version. The sohc would be a tad less, but that is no reason to shy away from it. No ka24 was ever factory turbocharged, but there are certainly custom KA-T's.

ka24e truck version=134hp @ 5600rpm, 152 lb.ft @ 4400rpm

ka24e 240sx version = 140hp @ 5600rpm, 152lb.ft @ 4400rpm

ka24de Frontier version = 143hp

ka24de 240sx version = 155hp

[PEZi]

if i get a KA it will be the KA24e truck version... sohc... proper oil pan.... lots of room for play

[lil89ram50]

Check out the ka24 forums, alot of it is fluff with repeatedly asked questions, but some of the info there is subtantial. 165whp is my educated guess as to a naturally aspirated ka24's practical limit with bolt-on's, and thats the DE version. The sohc would be a tad less, but that is no reason to shy away from it. No ka24 was ever factory turbocharged, but there are certainly custom KA-T's.

ka24e truck version=134hp @ 5600rpm, 152 lb.ft @ 4400rpm

ka24e 240sx version = 140hp @ 5600rpm, 152lb.ft @ 4400rpm

ka24de Frontier version = 143hp

ka24de 240sx version = 155hp

ka24de 240sx version = 155hp these hard to find?

[PEZi]

the problem is that the 240sx ones are harder to put in... and the newer you go the more retarded wiring gets

[flinterman2000]

PEZi, for your application the KA makes sense, but for the average driver I do not see it being better. The Z24 puts out 103 HP and 134 lb.ft @ 2800 rpm, where as the KA24 is 134 HP and 152 lb.ft @ 4400 rpm. Yeah the figures are better but at higher rpm, meaning more gas. More gas means shorter engine life. Does it make sense for the average driver?

[PEZi]

i'm confused... are you saying that the Z24 is technically better for the average driver than KA? because as far as engine life the KA was made a bit better and is fuel injected and stuff. the KA was built like a tank while Z24 had a few quality issues since they made it an emissions engine... like the head for example won't hold up near as well as the KA's does

[lil89ram50]

well here in my situation, we are jus trying to building a fast truck, cuz this this one is in bad condition, so a sleeper as some would call it! but we want to see how cheaply we can make it! jus for fun, and will eventually build up later, might auto x it too, but want around 200hp..... and i a have heard i can jus sway a ka head on a z24, and do a few things in the head like port & polish, upgrade valves & springs, and shave...... then for bottom end, hi comp pistons......

but what if i jus tossed on a turbo?

[PEZi]

turbo on a SOHC.... win

http://forum.ratsun.net/showthread.php?t=15113

[seang]

turbo on a SOHC.... win

yup

Stock pistons and rods will handle 7lbs of boost, everything else will handle more, and the crank is very strong. Weakest part of the ka24 is the stock ringlands on the pistons, and then the stock forged steel rods.

[flinterman2000]

Technically, yes for the average driver. Thats another reason the Z engine carries so much torque low down. Because of the attempt to be efficient, the engine was designed to keep the RPM down. At higher RPMs, even the valve seals and seats don't last long. Do you guys think it makes sense to turbo a Z engine?

[coupe240sxguy]

the ka also came carburated in the 89-93ish pick up trucks...

the sr motor bolts directly on to the ka transmission

[PEZi]

Do you guys think it makes sense to turbo a Z engine?

you'll blow the head straight off

[coupe240sxguy]

i agree... the z also came with some different oil components. just get a turboed z motor... it is stupid to turbo a n/a motor imo

[flinterman2000]

If done right, it makes great power. I only know of the Z18 that comes turbo and thats an 18ET, rated at 135 HP but for the japanese market only.

[240_fun]

the ka also came carburated in the 89-93ish pick up trucks...

the sr motor bolts directly on to the ka transmission

No not at all... you have to swap bell housings or just use a SR trans.

BTW I too am interested in swapping a KA24DE into a 720 Z24 2wd. I have A spare 240 KA but I hear there are oil pan fitment issues? Can i Just cut an weld the pan to clear the cross member or sway bar or whatever is in the way or is it the oil pickup that would be in the way? wiring is no big deal im more concerned about fitting in the stock position and using the stock trans (IIRC The Z24 Trans and KA motor bolt up?)

[PEZi]

you can just steal the pan off the truck KA i think... pretty sure they're the same except for clearance of suspension parts

[lil89ram50]

ok so i need to know, i can get a 240 sx, dohc ka24, running and driving for 300 bux! has been hit in the rear, but still drive able.....

so who has done the swap? i would do transmission and motor, im not too worried about making mounts, as i can do that stuff pretty well..... i jus not good at wiring, but a buddy is good at it... but what do i need to do to get this to work?

the ka truck oil pan? custom drive shaft?wiring?fuel pump upgrade?radiator?

please help!!!! i cannot for the life of me find this done on the net, but know it has been done!

[breadbox]

look to see if xtrra 2wd KA are rear sump and grab one of those DOHC.

If you are going from carb to efi the there is nothing to stop you from choosing on motor over another except trucks are rear sump pans and cars are usually front sump.

[breadbox]

you will probably need the following.

MotorECUTransAll fuses boxes and full harness from 240sx or at least full motor harness.A custom oil pan or finding a rear sump oil pan to fit the KA24DE. You may find that the 240sx driveshaft fit or that the stock 720 haft works so I'd wait on the worrying about driveshaft til later.And you might have to fab one side for a motor mounts and maybe weld a trans mount. Gauge cluster DOHC from 240sx

[lil89ram50]

from what i know, my transmission will work, and so i will jus keep this one for now, and as far as wiring, my biggest worryr, doesnt sound hard at all! and the motor mounts, no problem for me!

http://forum.ratsun.net/showthread.php?t=549

[lil89ram50]

i will be picking up a ka this weekend for 300 bones! that is a complete and runing motor, with wiring and ecu! but it came out of a 1995 s14, so i need a lil help there as ive heard those wiring harnesses suck to work with

[breadbox]

the suck is wiring into another harness. Easy part is that there is almost no wiring to take out of the engine, so you are just wiring up the 720 bay however you want, you could wire tuck or recreate an s14 bay kinda.

[lil89ram50]

got the motor, will post pics laater i not suree how we guna make this one work, keep hearing different things..... but i think i am going to cut oil pan flange off, and mount it back on 180*, and extend oil pickup tube to rear

[breadbox]

Sweet, take lots of pictures. This could be epic.

Did you just get the engine harness or did you grab the whole body harness?

[lil89ram50]

i only got engine harness.... he has a 240sx and swpped in a sr20det, so he needed the body harness

[lil89ram50]

not sure if thats how we will paint the box yet, we jus tossed it on there like that to see how it looked... i think i like it and here you can see jus how s***ty the walmart color-place flat black applys i got some satin black that you can see i tried on the drivers door will be spraying all new black real soon

finally got the gf in the shop with me today! she loves working on vehicles, so we started the removal of z24.... got the exh, cut off the stock manifold, got the bell housing bolts out, got motor mounts off, got all wires/sensors off, ready to get a cherry picker in there!!! and she was such a doll, she even kicked a** and took care of the over spray all in all, it was a progressive and fun day hoping to have it on the road within a few weeks

[breadbox]

nice and the pressure plate looks pretty clean the clutch might be good.

Hope all goes smoothly. z24 is easy to get out.

[yankabilly72]

i would like to see more of this swap

[lil89ram50]

dont worry i will update every day till she runs! well today i walked into my horribly messy garage/shop, and found a little tire iron.......looked old, and kinda s***ty, and well useless so i made a new shifter! also painted my valve cover black, will get valce cover pics later