New head.

[Mauk-1-Motors]

Hey i didn't know if I could put a newer head on a 93 240sx and maybe get some HP out of it.... any help would be awesome! thanks.

[laxands13]

Generally speaking you want to be a little careful doing that. If you put a newish head on a bottom end with like 175k more miles than the head you're putting yourself at risk of blowing your bottom end. That said, here's a link that hopefully will answer your question (I think) and give you some idea of whether or not it would be worth it.
http://www.zilvia.net/f/tech-talk/15458 ... -here.html

[kouki munster]

Generally speaking you want to be a little careful doing that. If you put a newish head on a bottom end with like 175k more miles than the head you're putting yourself at risk of blowing your bottom end.

I would like to hear a little more explanation on this as it sounds extremely far fetched.

[laxands13]

I'll go ahead and say that it's not from personal experience before I take this farther. Talking to my mechanic after I did the headgasket on my 280zx he told me that their rule of thumb is over 150K miles they won't rebuild the head if they take it off. Basically, by refreshing the valves and everything up top compression will be increased, and the bottom end is going to deal with higher compression on pieces that are more worn, giving them a greater chance of failing compared to an equally worn head with slightly lower compression. Again, not from personal experience but it made sense to me and thought I would attempt to possibly help someone out.

[daemonyk]

I'll go ahead and say that it's not from personal experience before I take this farther. Talking to my mechanic after I did the headgasket on my 280zx he told me that their rule of thumb is over 150K miles they won't rebuild the head if they take it off. Basically, by refreshing the valves and everything up top compression will be increased, and the bottom end is going to deal with higher compression on pieces that are more worn, giving them a greater chance of failing compared to an equally worn head with slightly lower compression. Again, not from personal experience but it made sense to me and thought I would attempt to possibly help someone out.

On the one hand the theory is sound, in theory, and I have experienced it to some degree with my suspension rebuild. But OTOH suspension is not engine so I can't really say, and I would wonder just exactly how much a new head would really affect the bottom end, unless the bottom end was already in really really bad shape. It's a good question, and now I'm a little curious, too. Be handy to know if it was a problem to do so.

OT, dunno bout *more* HP, but refreshing ANYthing on the engine is likely to help get you back to the car's original HP / run better. Pretty sure all of the KA-DE's in 240's were nearly mechanically identical (S13 and S14) except for some emissions nonsense, and rated to 155hp / 165 tq. Never really got any major redesigns. So it wouldn't be like mixy-matching 1G and 2G dsm 4G63T parts (mostly identical, but different turbos, intakes, crankshafts, and a few other things, mostly interchangeable). But I don't think anything like that is possible with a KA

[Mauk-1-Motors]

Its just the little 2.4 lol no turbo. just wantedt to see if there was anyway to get a little more HP out of it before going turbo. im doing a little head work and thought "maybe i could get a newer one....." thanks guys for the help!

[daemonyk]

Well, you could definitely get a newer head to my knowledge. There just wouldnt be any gains beyond stock power is all. Def go turbo. N/A limit is around 200hp for a KA IIRC, and it takes more work than you'd think to get there.

[Mauk-1-Motors]

Turbos are a lot of $$$$$ that I don't have haha i would love to get a lot of small stuff that would give me more HP without going turbo just yet! any help there?

[daemonyk]

Turbos are a lot of $$$$$ that I don't have haha i would love to get a lot of small stuff that would give me more HP without going turbo just yet! any help there?

Lol yeah I'm perpetually broke myself, sometimes because of car. Problem is, to get a N/A KA from 155 to 200 hp takes quite alot of money and work. Things like cams, higher compression pistons, bigger injectors, head / rod / cap studs, some type of EMS, a tune, and basically a rebuild to make sure the old KA can handle it. Sometimes stroking and / or boring, and forged internals, too. All of those are great for a turbo anyways, EXCEPT for the higher compression pistions. Turbo's usually run lower compression. Anywho, all of those things add up $$ pretty quickly, too.

However, a good place to start is by actually rebuilding the KA. I think the full oem rebuild kit is like $500 or so, but I could be wrong. Get it running as good as possible. It's something you'll want to do before turbo-ing a KA anyways, and it will probably get you some of the original power back and help it run smoother.

If you really want to, you can do all of that other stuff too, and just keep the same compression ratio pistons, or a CR that would work for a turbo setup, and then when you DO go KA-T you've already got most of the supporting mods needed, on a freshly rebuilt, tuneable engine.

Even rebuilding / refreshing the suspension makes the car feel heaps better.

Unfortunately, the reality of it is, getting moar power by adding a ton of little fiddly-bits and theoretically adding up like 2hp here 3hp there and so on, really doesn't work. To get proveable power you can actually feel and use, you will pass a grand or two very quickly.

That's just my 0.02 on the matter. By no means is it set in stone, just my take on things I tell this to everyone, but check out the build pages s-chassis-build-thread-list-t441933.html It's a good way to see how people are doing what, whether for N/A power or KA-T power.

I'm sure others on here might be able to give you a better idea than I.

Good luck!

[Mauk-1-Motors]

Thanks for the help man!! it sure is hard to fine mods for N/A and not a turbo......

[daemonyk]

Unfortunately on a KA without a turbo you're not going to get very far past 200hp even throwing every KA mod known to man at it. Even the world record N/A KA was still in the range of low 200 hp. Turbo is really the only way to get close to 300+ hp range. If my memory is functioning properly.

I will mention, however, that on my s13, I did purely suspension work first (after basic maintenance) and just taking the sag out of the stock faded suspension made a huge difference. After stiffening things up like I did, even with the stock KA it became amazing at launching from stop and high speed cornering. I hate to invoke something as hokey compared to the real world as Initial D, but it was alot like the whole "don't have to slow down as much for cornering so a higher speed can be maintained, therefore I can corner way faster than you and pass you anyways" thing. It's not "power" speed, but it does make the car "faster" in a different kind of way, is much cheaper than turbo, and refreshing the suspension is just a good idea anyways. Between the 4x4 ride height and sloshy useless worn out 20 y/o bushings, my car felt like driving a boat before I fixed that real quick.

Wikkid suspension won't give you street cred like having xyzomgwtfbbq hp and a lightspeed 1/4 mile, but it will give you a laugh when you go into a circular highway onramp and the guy behind you quickly fades away in your rear view mirror when he realizes his car can't corner that fast

[Mauk-1-Motors]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6Cj6nMPT4g
This is my 240sx and i would love to know what and where you got all your mods!

[daemonyk]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6Cj6nMPT4g
This is my 240sx and i would love to know what and where you got all your mods!

Nice!

The "where" is easy lol. Most of what I got I got from Enjuku. I've also ordered from phase2motortrend and nissanparts / nismoparts, and was satisfied there, too. Now that I have an RB I look forward to spending some money on RawBrokerage.

Now to the "what". All of my suspension arms and links are Circuit Sports - FLCA, front tension rod, RUCA, RLCA, rear traction link, rear toe rods. Isis coilovers and solid alum subframe bushings. Suspension Techniques front / rear sway bars with poly bushings. I had a Greddy front STB, but it wont fit over my RB with the stock intake . My brother is a welder, so while I had my subframe out, I cut some steel plates to fit into the mounts for the traction rods and toe rods to box them in, and he welded them in. Then I cleaned it and gave the frame a coat of rattlecan.

I get asked alot about the harshness of the ride. It's definitely way stiffer than stock, and it's clearly not designed to give the softest ride possible. But as my DD, I have no complaints as to the ride comfort. I have yet to be told "your car is too stiff, I don't like it".

This is just how I built my suspension, and I fully agree that there are better brands to go with. I went with these cos they seemed "good enough" for an enthusiastic daily driver. My only issue I've hit is, I tend to brake hard and late, and the front shocks don't seem to like that much, so I will be going to monotubes. Definitely check out what others have done, too. Never can have too many ideas

[Mauk-1-Motors]

Wow! thats awesome man! i will really be looking them over and see whats out there. i just got the car and... its my first car at that haha i had the head cleaned and looked over and il be getting her started real soon. i really want an idea of what i can do thats (easy) lol ....i know,,,, thats never gonna happn! lol but just some small stuff that i can do my self and feel happy about it is gonna be awesome and if you have any parts you dont want man.... im here! hahaha

[daemonyk]

Wow! thats awesome man! i will really be looking them over and see whats out there. i just got the car and... its my first car at that haha i had the head cleaned and looked over and il be getting her started real soon. i really want an idea of what i can do thats (easy) lol ....i know,,,, thats never gonna happn! lol but just some small stuff that i can do my self and feel happy about it is gonna be awesome and if you have any parts you dont want man.... im here! hahaha

First thing ANY new 240 owner should do is grab the appropriate one of these 240sx-factory-service-manuals-t549157.html and read it over, learn how to find things in it. Being not only your first 240 but also first car, and being a 240, basic maintenance is a great place to start, for learning the car, learning ANY car, and for keeping the car in good shape. First things I did when I got my 240 were oil / filter, fuel filter, upper / lower rad hoses, all belts, plugs / wires / cap / rotor, valve cover gasket, water pump, t-stat, radiator, plus anything else that needed attention. All relatively cheap and simple things to do, and all will help keep the car running good

Aside from that, there are tons of simple little things that can be done to a 240. Try skimming this http://www.240sxtech.com/ too. Lots of good info and how-to's.