some KA-T questions

[captain nismo]

Hey guys. Im a bit of a newbie in the topic of KA-T's. I was looking into getting an SR:rolleyes, but with the popularity growing bigger and bigger every day, i was thinking more along the lines of doing a KA-T. So you could say that i swithed bandwagons:ylsuper . Anyways here are some questions and concerns that i have:1) My car is a 89, so it has the KA24e. Is the KA24e as good of a platform to work off as the later model KA24de? All the premade turbo kits i've seen for the KA are for the latter models.2) Since there are no premade kits, im thinking that i might piece together all the needed parts. Im sure you guys here this alot;) , but i eventually want 300-350whp that will be very streetable and be able to be daily driven every day. I have a bit of any idea of the pieces that i'm going to need to do this, but any light shed on the subject(internals wise) would help me out alot!

Thanks for help guys,Chris

p.s. What sort of tests should i put the engine through to make sure the engine is fit to be boosted. It has 165,xxxkm on it right now.

[95_240sx]

I would definately use the search button as there is a LOT of info on the ET setup.

Rick

[gore]

search button sucks for the most part.... searching through half thoughts and topics that went astray fun stuff

[95_240sx]

Not if you use it correctly.

You can also go back and look at old threads.

Rick

[MidnightSlide]

The Ka24E is supposedly better for turbo than it's big brother the Ka24DE ... every nissan guru that i have spoken to has told me that my car is an excellent platform for turbo...

HOWEVER....

The Ka24e came in the 89=90 240's so chances are...it has lotts of miles.. so it is not really a good idea to start throwing boost at those old tired rings... I learned my lesson the hard way, it took less than a day...and poof #4 ring = gone...

Anyways... if you plan on rebuilding the motor or it is rebuilt, then go for it!! Myne is getting rebuilt with my old rods shot-peened ($80 through my local machine shop) , and total seal rings($185.00 from total seal).. plus new bearings yada yada yada... So if you can get a good price on a turbo kit, and do the motor work yourself, then that would be a good route to go, and way cheaper than the sR motor ( faster too ).

[lbrowne]

so what you're saying is, get a junkyard motor for cheap, do the timing chain kit, and other seals/gaskets. then you're good to go for some low boost applications...thats if everything else checks out fine on the motor and then the remaining drivetrain.

[MidnightSlide]

Prety much yeah... if the compression check comes out ok.... but i would spend the ectra 200-300 bux to get total seals in there and shot-peened rods... then boost my heart out.. ( don't forget fuel tho...)

[WDRacing]

The rods are shotpeened from the factory...waste of money IMO. If your going to tear down the rotating assembly, you might as well change all the bearings while your in there. Unless I'm doing all forged internals, then my head won't ever come off and the block won't be touched.

The E is a good is as good a turbo motor as the next. Might actually be easier considering it already has top feed injectors.

WD

[lbrowne]

Ok so if you wanna prep a KA...what should you look at?

MY 240 went through 2 women owners who never drove it in the winter, and never droev the thing hard. They were 40 year old women, no kids.

Anyways, for 110K she pulls like a rape ape for what it is. I wouldn't mind a lil boost in the uppers rpms

[MidnightSlide]

do a compression check... if everything comes out well, then go for it... unless you want to run high boost, in that case mabe some total-seal rings and/or some forged internals.... you might as well replace the bushings while you have the block apart...

[WongFeiHung]

Which bushings are u talking about?

[MidnightSlide]

sorry...meant bearings..not bushings...must have been thinking about someting else at the same time i was writing that... lol...

[aleph1]

I hear Total Seal rings arent the best for the KA-T E or DE.

"When ordering the pistons from ROSS, I purchased them with a set of Total Seal Gapless rings. The pistons were cut specifically for the Total Seal rings, but I later found out that the Total Seal rings didn't hold up well on the turbo 240SX. A few people who ran them informed me that they literally broke into pieces. This put fear in my eyes and I contacted Andy at Specialty Engineering (Andy is like the YODA of all Nissan racing) to discuss my findings. We spoke briefly about my findings and he was able to point me in the right direction in a matter or minutes. I then called ROSS again and we spec'd out another set of rings to use. This wasn't a problem, but it resulted in having to re-cut the oil groove on the piston to accept the new rings. But that's taken care of now."

Taken from Kyles KA-T page.

[MidnightSlide]

alot of people don't hone the cylinders correctly when installing the rings. Alot of shops think that they know the correct honing procedure for all rings, but the total-seals require a special angle (22-24 degress if i remember correctly) and if it isn't honed right they will never seat, or other evil stuff will happen to them...

Just my 2 cents..

[WDRacing]

Thats why I use a self centering ball hone. Honing is only removing the old ring glaze from the cylinder walls. Alot of people actually damage there own rings on install, whether it be onto the pistons or into the block, done wrong can lead to weak rings.

WD

[MidnightSlide]

yup yup...

[C-Kwik]

The Ka24E is supposedly better for turbo than it's big brother the Ka24DE ... every nissan guru that i have spoken to has told me that my car is an excellent platform for turbo...

Name some names. I've never heard this. The DE has a better breathing head, better valvetrain, piston oil squirters, and a center spark plug.

Any motor can be turbo'd with minimal prep. The amount of boost it can take may vary. I'd put my money on a DE as far as power output is concerned.

[andrave]

with the same amount of prep I'd wager my money on even numbers.