Noob needing help with my 240

[the.rugger]

Hi,

I bought an S14 a few months ago and i finally got a couple of dollars together and im looking to invest in my ride

The car is a 98 and its all stock but the car has a buncha miles, 260xxx to be exact. As you can probably figure the engine and transmission are giving up.

I already did some frame work to it, and now im looking to do some engine/transmission work to it

*The transmission is original but its an automatic and its starting to slip and stuff, although it still has a couple thousand miles left in it.

*The engine is also original but its starting to loose compression and one of the injectors is done for, and im sure theres more stuff that i dont even know about + i want to turbo my ride

-At first i was looking to swap out the engine + transmission for an RB20 with a turbo and 5speed i was offered, but decided to not do it because i didnt have the money to upgrade everything to meet the RB's standards

-I havent seen any good deals for an SR20 lately and besides i probably dont have the money

One of my buddies told me to rebuild the KA and just ignore the 5 speed and another told me to buy a KA already with a turbo and a transmission and just go with that so i decided to just stick to the KA engines but i dont know what route

I dont have that much money and I dont mind taking this one step at a time. But if im gonna do transmission work, I might as well to the engine work and vice versa

Basically i want my car to have a KA24DET and a 5 Speed transmission but i dont know what route i should take

Like i said im in a tight budget, ill be leaving for college next fall and I dont want a half-a** car as my DD

P.S. Ill be doing some of the work myself, and some ill be seeking help from more experienced people

-I did search but i found no answer

Thanks in advance

[480sx]

Dont turbo. Just save your cash and research until you are completely ready. One of the first things you need is a manual transmission swap, just take small steps at a time. The auto transmission doesnt deal well with a turbos extra torque.

[the.rugger]

Dont turbo. Just save your cash and research until you are completely ready. One of the first things you need is a manual transmission swap, just take small steps at a time. The auto transmission doesnt deal well with a turbos extra torque.

shoul i just bag up the idea of doing engine work for now

should i even bother doing a few repairs on it?

[WDRacing]

Going to college and having a hobby car as a daily driver is a bad idea. I know many people that have had awful times do to time constraints and budget.

Here's how I look at your situation.

The car already needs some pretty decent work in order to run well. You never wanna boost a car that isn't in great running order. Unless of course you don't care that it craps the bed in short order.

So the motor needs help and you say the transmission is on the way out. Unless you have the money to do ALL of this at once, I'd say let it sit. Maybe get a cheap daily driver for now. Something that gets decent mileage and doesn't look the part of someone speeding. This will help when you're driving home drunk/high from those parties. Incognito is the way to be...

I digress...

Once you decide to move fwd on the 240, great car btw I love the 98, you can concentrate of the mechanical portion. Once you have the motor all freshened up and the 5 speed is in, the car is pretty fun to drive. Probably better then the daily you've been driving anyway. Then we can talk about how we can build you a beast.

Or whatev...

I can work with almost no budget, some duct tape and a few pieces of PVC and get you some boost

[sorrowfulkiller]

as others have said, get a dd that won't breake down, let the 240 sit on the backburner while you save up some cash for fixing it up and modifying.

I would do an engine rebuild and a 5 speed swap at the same time as it'll work out easier.

After you have that done, work on suspension, brakes and frame bracing. From there you can start putting stuff together for a turbo setup. I know others have said an FMU is the way to go but personally I would go megasquirt, e-manage ultimate or aem ems. A tune can make or break power and the abilities of the engine. Also... do your fuel system BEFORE you put the turbo on, no sense in having a turbo if you can't boost it at all.

Also, instead of an fmu it would be a good idea to atleast get a 1:1 FPR and a walbro