I thought the attached pictures might be of interest to many of you. They are of the Eaton supercharger (from a 3.3L V6 Nissan Xterra) that I mounted on my Frontier KA24DE engine with 240SX upper intake.

Notice how well it fits in place of the original 240SX plenum. The blower case itself of the Eaton supercharger already has an internal plenum built into it, so all that is required to fit it up to the 240SX upper manifold is a ½” thick flat plate made of aluminum (If you look closely in the pictures I used a ½” sheet of oak plywood to make an initial pattern for fit up of the supercharger which I will then lay over the ½” aluminum plate in order to cut & drill it correctly). The blower case just clears the alternator by ¼” and on the other end just clears the starter by about ½”, and then it just clears the smaller Frontier type oil filter by only 1/32” so it is a very tight installation but does work (I might change out to a remote oil filter arrangement in order to make it a little easier to change the oil filter when required).

Note that I have replaced the original power steering pump V-belt type drive pulley with a 6 groove serpentine type as well as the adjustable tensioner idler pulley with a 6 groove type as well (the power steering pulley is from off a Nissan Altima, and the idler pulley is off an ’01 3.8L V6 Ford Aerostar of all things…both fit perfectly!). I had a custom crank dampener 6 groove drive pulley made that bolts in place of the original V-belt pulley for a Hardbody KA24E type dampener, so that is what I used on the DE engine (it turns out that it all fits on the DE crank perfectly and even weighs exactly the same as the Frontier’s one piece crank dampener…also, they are both neutral balanced so they are interchangeable).

The only thing that I haven’t completed on the drive system is the two ¼” steel plate brackets to support two smooth idler pulleys (from a ’98 GM 3.8L V6) that are required to get the 6 groove serpentine drive belt to wrap around more of the circumference of the supercharger & crank pulleys for greater surface area contact so the belt won’t slip while driving the blower & power steering pump. I have the upper idler pulley support plate cut out to size but still have to drill the mounting holes (it will replace the original Frontier front brace plate).

The lower idler pulley support plate will be a bit more difficult to make since it has to be made to also double for support of the alternator since there are no good bosses to support the idler pulley off of other than a few mounting bolt points on the timing cover and the alternator mount points (I have it all figured out on what to make, I just haven’t gotten to the point of actually making it…it just requires so damn much time to get it all figured out!!!)

More to come when I finish the remaining items!

Looks interesting, though I'd definitely recommend bigger injectors before you do any major throttle excursions, as it's likely to go super lean at higher RPMs with a supercharger.

super tyte man +2 for the post

Yeah, it does have larger injectors. I am using 370cc SR injectors with a JWT reprogrammed ECU that is set up for those injectors & the stock '91-'94 240SX MAF unit. JWT says that setup can handle up to about 260 crank hp total (of course the Eaton SC conversion will probably only make about 250 crank hp total or 210 RWHP).

Awesome man, good find. I cant wait to see real test results when its running.

hey tloof can you give me the measurements and of the supercharger you are using. I just wanna have an idea of what kind of fitment issues i'll have when I try to do this.

when I do this it will be going onto a kae

Hey tloof, go call up Thomas Knight and tell him to get ****ed.

i love how you made the adapter too, thats exactly how it should have been done. screw that 20k in R&D that knight claims.

now he wants to sell that plate you just made for $1200....

anywho, its KA owners like you that actually get **** done that make me proud to be a part of this group. Plus, i think you beat me to the punch by about 2 years.

now i gotta get back to work trying to make as much power as you will be sans boost.

Attached are two more photos of my supercharged KA24DE project showing a view from the front to give a good idea of how the pulley layout works out, and a view of the bolt-on custom 6 groove serpentine crank dampener drive pulley.

Hey DjPantsSpecR,

Yeah, I never understood why Thomas Knight kept saying that it cost so much to develop & produce his SC adapter plate! Hell, it only took me about 4 hours total to create mine by hand using a $15 sheet of 1/2" oak plywood to make the pattern. I first cut & mounted the plywood to the upper intake (with the engine upside down on an engine stand), and then set the blower onto that plywood sheet & then lined up the drive pulley with the crank dampener pulley using a straight edge. Next I positioned the blower case as close to the engine as I could until it just touched the small type Frontier oil filter. Lastly I marked the outline of the blower & all the mounting bolt holes on the plywood sheet and then pulled it all off and cut the plywood sheet to match...it was really no big deal at all!!! Now the idler pulley brackets are a bit more involved, but the upper one is fairly easy to make (the lower on is the tougher one to develop, but I now have come up with a simple plan for it as well...all of the brackets are being made out of 1/4" salvage steel plate with 3/4" OD round bar spacers to allow attaching to existing mounting bolt locations on the timing cover & alternator mount bracket.

Keep in mind that my SC conversion is on a Frontier truck variant of the KA24DE engine which is slightly different from a 240SX type (my adapter plate moves the SC slightly farther forward than the one that Thomas Knight sells on ebay for the 240SX since he drives the same SC off the stock 4 groove pulley on the crank dampener that drives the alternator...personally I think the 4 groove belt is NOT wide enough to drive the blower without some slippage at higher boost pressures, but at the 5-7 psig boost that I am limiting my SC conversion to who knows for sure?). My 6 groove serpentine drive pulley setup on the Frontier KA (which I think is far superior to Mr. Knights method) will not necessarily work the same on the 240SX KA (though they will be similar). Note that the 240SX has the power steering pump located on the drivers side vs the Frontier which has it on the passenger side. On the 240SX KA there is no power steering idler tensioner pulley like the Frontier has but instead the power steering drive belt drives both the water pump & power steering pump (the water pump is driven by the alternator belt on the Frontier KA). The power steering crank dampener drive pulley is a bolt-on type on the 240SX DE engine (similar to the Hardbody KA24E engine except it is a 3 groove sepentine type vs a V belt type on the Hardbody truck KA), so you could mount the same custom 6 groove serpentine crank dampener drive pulley on to the 240SX crank pulley set that I had made for mine as well as change the power steering pulley to the 6 groove Altima pulley, but you would have to add some sort of idler tensioner pulley into the system (you could possibly use a Frontier power steering pump support bracket to bolt this additional idler tensioner pulley on to since that bracket will bolt-on to the 240SX head, but you will need to make a few spacers to get it to mount up to the front timing chain head cover and you will have to notch the back of it to get it to clear the temp sensors on the front of the 240SX intake manifold). If the above were to be done then you would also have to run the water pump off the alternator drive belt (using a 240SX SOHC KA24E type water pump pulley will allow that to be done since it will line up with the alternator pulley and has the same 4 groove serpentine type drive belt). The two additional idler pulleys required to get the optimum belt engagement could be mounted virtually the same as I am doing on the Frontier engine, but different thickness spacers will be required to fit just right. I will give more details & pictures on all of this later when I finally finish my idler support brackets.

And Scruffy63,

Yeah, I can give you the dimensions of the blower itself that I used (it is from a 3.3L V6 Nissan Xterra), but I should mention to you that I had previously mounted this same SC on my SOHC KA24E (Hardbody truck version) that I previously had swapped into my Nissan 720 truck and it fits perfectly onto the lower intake manifold off a 240SX KA24E variant (that is the manifold I used on my 720 conversion). When I made the adapter plate for the SOHC engine I used a 1" thick plate with a 1/2" milled out internally for more plenum volume, but that did raise the blower case extremely close to touching the hood on my 720 truck, which I'm sure is taller than the 240SX. In retrospec, just using a 1/2" thick adapter plate is really all that is needed, and it will gain an additional 1/2" of clearance to the hood. The only problem with doing this SC conversion on the KA24E engine is that there are no 370cc injectors that are a direct fit onto the E's fuel rail, so you will have to ante up for the more expensive custom fit 550cc injectors that JWT supplies for boosted KA24E engines. They can reprogram an E type ECU for boosted applications, but you also have to upgrade to a larger MAF unit since the E type is limited to about 230 hp according to JWT. Anyway, your greatest problem is whether the blower case & drive pulley will clear the hood on your KA24E powered 240SX!

Brilliant, brilliant BRILLIANT!!!

Definitely looking forward to making this a homepage article....

AZhitman wrote:Brilliant, brilliant BRILLIANT!!!

Definitely looking forward to making this a homepage article....

hey tloof us kae guys can use 2nd gen rx7 injectors. well I think its 2nd gen. I believe its the 1988 model rx7 they use 450cc that need minimal modification to fit.

Hey would it be possible to move the sc towards the front of the car, get the crank pulley extended a bit further than you did and get a longer bolt made for the old ac idler pulley. wouldn't that make things easier?

Scruffy63,

Using the RX7 injectors won't work with any of the JWT reprograms that they have for the Nissan ECU from what I understand (they have a 370cc program or a 550cc program for the E type ECU). If you go with another type aftermarket ECU, then perhaps that won't be an issue.

No, it is best to mount the drive pulley exactly in the same position I did simply because if you extend it further forward the drive belt will hit the clutch fan. Also, using the AC idler is of no value at all because the idler pulleys need to be mounted on the same side of the engine as the blower drive pulley in order to maximize the drive belt contact area on the crank pulley, blower drive pulley, and power steering pulley.

genius! we have a new supercharger kit and the member who actually created it to promote

But for the kae how could I use the powersteering pulley as an idler pulley. Remember the sc would be to the left of the valve cover.The sc pulley would end up to the top left side of the power steering pulley.

its not exact but that generally where it would end up. That is also the way i'm thinking about running my belts.
Modified by scruffy63 at 7:36 PM 9/13/2006

scratch that i'm not running my belts like that

Scruffman,

You are sort of on the right tract but you are missing the vital way to mount the required idler pulleys on a KAe SC'd application.

The blower's drive pulley will sit just above the stock KAe's power steering pump drive pulley when mounted to the 240SX type lower intake. The best way to handle the belt layout for the SC'd KAe is to relocate the power steering pump to the drivers side of the engine just above the distributor by making a custom bracket out of several pieces of 1/4" steel plate welded together (use an Altima power steering pump with its stock 6 groove drive pulley for such a relocation since it has the inlet on the opposite side of the pump that will in turn work well with a later '91 up DE type drivers side power steering pump reservoir...also change out to the power steering oil lines from a 240SX DE version for the same reason).

Next relocate the adjustable tensioner idler pulley shaft onto the original power steering pump bracket that you will leave bolted onto the head (you can simply use a piece of flat 1/4" steel plate with a 90 degree tab bent on it bolted to the front of the power steering bracket that is slotted the same as the original adjustable tensioner idler pulley bracket). Replace the original three groove tensioner idler pulley itself with a smooth idler pulley from a '96-'04 GM 3.8L V6 engine that is designed to apply pressure on the smooth side (backside) of a 6 groove serpentine belt.

Add one last smooth idler (same pulley type as above) down low on a custom 1/4" steel plate bracket that doubles for support of the alternator (same as I am doing on the DE engine too). By running such a pulley arrangement you will get the maximum contact area around the crank drive pulley & blower drive pulley with the power steering pump acting as an idler pulley on the drivers side of the engine. Draw up the belt routing as I describe above (like you did in your previous post) and you should get a pretty good idea of what I am talking about! (Note: In your previous diagram you are showing the blower drive pulley sitting too far out on the passenger side, it is actually slightly more inward since the blower will be flipped around 180 degrees on a SC'd KAe applicatiopn so that it blows air downward instead).

Oh yeah, the dimensions for the Eaton M62 SC that is used on the Nissan Xterra is as follows:

1) Mounting flange overall size - 8 1/2" wide x 16 3/8" long2) Main case size - 6 1/2" wide x 14 1/2" long3) Case height including mounting flange - 5 1/2"4) drive snout length - 5 5/8"5) total length (back of mounting flange to front of drive pulley) - 21 1/8"

Hope this helps you out!
Modified by tloof at 3:29 PM 9/13/2006

This is exactly what the KA needs, because its a low revving torque producing motor, its much more suited for a Supercharger. You will have a much broader power range than a KA-T.

Sweet setup if you can cram all that into the frame, I know from experience there isn’t too much space to work with on that side.

This is crazy..............never seen this done

Ok tloof you said the ac pulley is of no use but what if I do this. I'm pretty much set on making this simple.

1. thats the super charger pulley. 2. is one of the smooth pulleys for the back of the belt. of course a custom bracket will be made. and it can be bolted to the alternator mounting bolts.3. the ac pulley with the extended bolt I talked about earlier.

I'm running electric fans so I don't have to worry about extending too far. so with this design all I'll have to do is extend the ac pulley and build the bracket for the smooth pulley.
Modified by scruffy63 at 7:54 PM 9/13/2006

Hey 240TweakerNewbee,

The supercharger installation on both the KAe or KAde engine doesn't reduce the passenger side fenderwell clearance any more than 1" compared to the stock N/A plenum, so it won't be a problem fitting in the 240SX. The KAde installation does require an inlet elbow coming off the side of the blower case, but that will fit into the 240SX just behind the shock tower area so it is doable! Surprisingly it all fits perfectly as if it came from the factory that way!!!

Now, the fit of that SC'd KA24DE into my '85 Nissan 720 pickup is a different story, as it is a bit tighter than in a 240Sx, but it will still fit!

if anyone is interested, i think the blower is an eaton m60, the came on a lot of other cars too, t-birds and whatnot, im not sure if the housing is the same, but the flow characteristics should be the same. Ebay usually has a few on the cheap at all times if anyone wants to try an el cheapo build.

Hey SuperDorifto,

Actually the blower I am using is an Eaton M62 off the Nissan 3.3L V6 Xterra & Frontier, but no other M62 type Eaton unit used by any other manufacturer is as good to use because only the Nissan version has a built-in recirculation valve with side entry inlet port. Those two items alone make the installation SO MUCH easier...trust me on this!!

The Ford T-bird has a larger M90 (way too large for a KA) that requires a remote recirculation valve. While the early GM 3.8L V6 does use an M62 (the later version uses the larger M90 type) with built in recirculation valve, it has a rear inlet port that makes it very difficult to install into a RWD vehicle like the 240SX since the inlet is pointing straight back at the firewall with no room to fit a 90 degree inlet tube.

In my opinion the only blower worth considering for this swap is the Xterra/Frontier M62 version!!!

Just my 2 cents!

Scruffy,

While your drive belt layout does seem to create a decent amount of contact area on both the crank & blower pulleys, it will still hit the water pump pulley (even though you are running electric fans) since the inside edge of the 6 groove serpentine belt only sits about 1/4" farther forward of the alternator drive belt.

Also, your method completely eliminates the power steering pump, but in reality I recommend that you keep it in use (via the relocation method I mentioned in my previous post) since that will allow for better control of the vehicle.

If you are intent on eliminating the power steering pump, then simply keep the original power steering belt idler pulley in place that is mounted on the drivers side of the engine, and replace the pulley itself with a 6 groove one from an '00-'01 3.8L V6 Ford Aerostrar (it is a direct fit onto the Nissan support shaft and is also an all steel pulley). Then mount a fixed smooth idler pulley (from a '98 GM 3.8 V6) on the front of the stock power steering bracket via a flat steel plate bolted to it. This would then get the drive belt to clear the water pump pulley and maximize the contact area of the belt.

It also will allow you to keep your AC system in place (trust me, if you ever want any hot babes to ride around with you in your 240SX then you will want to keep a functioning AC system in it!!!).

Power Steering is really overrated. It only makes a difference when you're at a dead stop, or if you're a complete weakling. At speed, manual steering feels better than power steering.

and if you dont want to spend 150 dollars on a new pressure hose, because yours has a huge crack in it that shots loads of ps on the header....

i have some electric tape, and five hose clamps holding it together.thats been holding, including full lock pressure, for two months now.

tloof, i was always wondering, what cams have you selected for your supercharger setup? 240/232? or some sort of altima or frontier ridongulous cam swap no ones ever heard of?

I understand what your saying but couldn't I just have the crank pulley made long enough to clear the water pump. My method did not eliminate the powersteering. all the pulleys will be sitting closer to the front.(in front of the powersteering. I've had my car since mid 2003. My ac worked for maybe 3 months and that was on and off. so the ac came off.

I'm not sure about taking the powersteering off though. I plan on drifting the car so I probably want to keep it.plus wouldn't I have to get a non ps rack.

sorry for the missinformation, its been a while since i really looked int the supercharger idea...you are 100% right, it is an m62...good looking plate by the way, going to be sweet once its finished.

Scruff,

Yes you could have a custom crank drive pulley made that is longer so that the belt will clear the water pump pulley, but keep in mind that you will also have to have a separate 3 groove section machined on it in order to still drive the stock power steering pump in its stock location since the custom SC crank drive pulley replaces the stock Nissan power steering drive pulley. The only thing is that will require moving the blower farther forward to line up with that longer crank pulley, and that will most likely cause the blower driven pulley to hit the front part of the hood (if it doesn't already in the more rearward position I would have set it in). As it is you will have to use no more than a 1/2" thick SC adapter plate on the KAe's lower intake, so the total stack up is 6" from the manifold to the top of the blower case. The hood slopes downward at the front, so you might actually have more of a problem with it hitting the blower driven pulley itself because it sticks out in front of the blower case by another 5 5/8". On the KAde application I have moved the blower case about as far forward as possible to line up with the crank drive pulley and still allow the rear most intake port to be fed air from the SC plenum, but the KAe intake manifold has closer spaced intake port runners so you would be able to move it a little bit more farther forward if you wanted to. In my opinion, I would still keep the SC farther rearward for clearance issues, and run the power steering pump off the same drive belt.

If you do ultimately eliminate the power steering pump, then yes you will need to convert to a manual rack unit. Personally, I think you should keep the power steering system and also repair the AC system so it is functional...but that is just me!

For everyones info (since no one has asked yet), you can have the custom crank pulley made by:

Auto Specialties Plus, Inc.13408 Redfish LaneStafford, Tx. 77477ph # 877-928-8678(talk to Lee Cooper)

It cost me about $90 4 years ago for the one they made for me (that included removing the stock Nissan dampener off the old power steering crank drive pulley and repressing it onto the new custom 6 groove pulley), so I am not sure how much they will charge to do the same today.

DJPantsSpecR,

Yes, the cam timing I am using is a big secret!!! Ha

Naw, what I am initially using is a 240 deg intake cam from a '97 Altima & a 232 deg exhaust cam from a '95 240SX. I figure that will still be a good compromise to maintain decent low & mid range performance off boost, but still enable good high range power while boosting. A 232/232 combo might even be better for a SC'd application than the 240/232 but I will have to test that later after I get it all running. I do think that the S13 combo of 240/248 would probably not be as good for overall street use since it will perform worse off boost, but then again I may be totally wrong (hmm, I wonder if a 248/248 would work well with boost to cram in more air since the boost is always available instantly unlike a turbo? choices, choices).