Need help!

[captn cookie]

Hello all,
I am new to the hard body world, and have just bought a 1996 2.4 4x4 5 speed king cab hard body. When I purchased it the guy said he screwed the timing up doing a tune up at night with his buddies. I should have known that something was up but I bought it with high hopes. When I towed it to my house I fixed the timing which was way off almost as he did it on purpose. It ran but was rough I thought ok maybe he fouled out the plugs. So I do a proper tune up when doing so the oil smelled like pure gas. When i completed the tune up and started the truck it was knocking very bad. I called the seller he said he knew that and thought a tune up would fix it. The truck only has 145k miles on it so I am asking should I rebuild the motor? My intentions to do so are if it is able to is have the block tanked (cleaned), trued, bored .002 or as I say 20 over, honed, and replace freeze plugs. With that have the crank grounded and polished if possible. I have seen some rebuild kits on rockauto that come with new pistons, front seal, rear seal, rings, bearings, oil pump, and all the gaskets. I plan on purchasing new connecting rods and water pump. A master mechanic friend of mine said that he check/rebuild the head if need be to square away a friendly debt. I would have the head inspected to see if it needed to be trued and cleaned as well. So I basically would have a new engine. My question is any suggestions to this? I have rebuilt several engines So i am always looking for a project. Looking forward to all input.

[numbnuts240]

that engine is run on a timing chain, so if the timing was that far off, the valves are probably mangled.

[captn cookie]

Sorry for my vague timing description. Previous owner had plug wires in wrong order and distributor was just a little off. The question remains is that specific motor worth rebuild?

[numbnuts240]

the ka24de, which is what you have, is very stout and can last a long time. they're also plentiful, so parts are easy to come by. it's very easy to work on, as well, so if you have the know how, and can do it cheap, i'd go for it.

[captn cookie]

I was hopping for that type of answer. I have a decent know how always searching for more knowledge. I was a big chevy guy so those engines are like a cake walk for what parts to use and set ups to do for the applications I wanted. My next set of questions is this. What is a good setup for this truck? I don't do a lot of off road, but do love to play. I intend to put a brush guard, a winch, 3" lift, and 33's on it. I do want to have power for fun but not to bad fuel economy for it is my daily driver. Is the transmission, rear differential, front differential, and half shafts of good (decent) quality?

[captn cookie]

I was hopping for that type of answer. I have a decent know how always searching for more knowledge. I was a big chevy guy so those engines are like a cake walk for what parts to use and set ups to do for the applications I wanted. My next set of questions is this. What is a good setup for this truck? I don't do a lot of off road, but do love to play. I intend to put a brush guard, a winch, 3" lift, and 33's on it. I do want to have power for fun but not to bad fuel economy for it is my daily driver. Is the transmission, rear differential, front differential, and half shafts of good (decent) quality?

[numbnuts240]

can't help you out there, but this place can:

nissan-trucks-forum.html

and for all the engine info you'd ever want to know, here's the link to that engine's specific forum, complete with factory service manuals:

ka24e-ka24de-forum.html

[captn cookie]

Thanks for the help I will check it out.