Hey Nico, This is another post because i'm not sure if this should go in the non-T forum or this one. sorry.

I've been on Nico for quite a while now; mostly just lurking with the occasional post here and there. I introduced myself a long time ago and posted a few pictures. Well I haven't made much progress since then. I've been busy with school and was lacking funds big time.

Short story short, I've got a freshly rebuilt KA24DE at stock specs sitting in my garage right now. I bought it for $500 which seemed like a really good deal and it probably still is.

I have a few questions though. Would it be worth upgrading it while its still not in the engine? I figure I could always just swap in the new engine and slowly rebuild the old engine to how i want it. But what would be the better choice? The car isn't a daily driver so its okay if I take my time with it.

Basically:
Should I swap in the rebuilt engine and work on the old engine that is going to come out of it?
Is it more worth my time to upgrade the rebuilt engine while its out of the car since it will be easier to work on?
Should I pull both out?
Did I get ripped off?
Or should I just sell both and get me something else?

Thanks. Sorry if a thread like this exists already.

If your money is comes in slow then,swap the rebuilt and work on the old one,if you blow money like u drink water,swap the new one and go f-ing nuts on the old one!!!

if the old is virgin use it, otherwise its a wash imho.

the old one has valve problems and has a decent amount of miles on it so its due for a rebuild.

jbracy7, so youre saying swap in the rebuilt one regardless and work on the old one?

Yep for sure

yeah a virgin block is what you want, the head is fixable 3 or 5 angle with new seals and valves.. As far as I know no one has ran over 300k with a rebuilt ka, nissan made many motors go over without being touched. I know I've had better luck from stock bottom ends than rebuilds.

Upgrades depend on power goals. If you want big power, upgrades should be part of the equation. If you want 350whp or less, just use the rebuilt motor and crank up the boost.

Rebuild the spare KA at your leisure.

depends on who put the motor together imho my motor was a grenade waiting, lucky no oil pressure made me open her up, so much wrong I wont start.. oem spec means part store crap most of the time.

Great info here guys. Thanks

My power goals are pretty mild. I was thinking maybe 200hp, 250hp idealy. Just enough for some cruising.

The block was rebuillt by my uncle's buddy. He said he trusts the guy a lot. The block was originally rebuilt to be put into his s14 but he ended up scrapping the project kuz he got a good deal for the shell. I dont think it would have been cheap parts store rebuild since it was for his own car. I know i wouldnt use cheap parts if i were to rebuild my engine. Was $500 a good deal?

IF oem parts were used and matched up right yeah its worth 500.

oic for 250 use either lol

I remember being told the person spent $1200 to rebuild the engine? and the word "forged" came up a few times XD so it leads me to suspect he used parts a little better than OEM?

so 250 is a pretty easily attainable power goal then? I was thinking of using a small and simple turbo set up and running it at around 7-10 PSI... sound like i can get at least 200hp out of it?

T28 turbo kit, 550cc injectors, N62 MAF, Enthalpy ECU tune.

Well thats a conversation YOU needed to be there for, if a shop did the work yeah it cost 1200 bux to rebuild,does not mean matched grade oem parts were used, ya know? Well the forged stuff IDK I did not install them, best bet is contact who bought the parts originally. Either way the only important thing on any ka turbo setup is fuel and timing control, be it 500hp or 200hp.

That is a better tuning setup than an fmu/walbro/retard, but for such a small goal he should be fine at 8psi on a 7:1 fmu. Dont get me wrong, currently 10psi 630cc n62 custom tuned is my setup, probably does around 230 safely.