NismoPick

The Z gets no love these days... I'm rebuilding my bro's KA24DE engine from his 92 240sx (currently has a bad ROD KNOCK)... here's today's work:

First engine bay wash:



Clearing the engine bay:



Yanking the motor:









After 2nd engine bay wash:



Next step: Degrease engine & take apart. And thus was day one of NismoPick's work. We shall rest for a while.

snwbrderphat540

build it for turbo....youl have good torque and good spool.

91zxtt

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Bardabe is going to be all over this thread.

Have fun....good luck.

CanyonCarver

You know it.

Bleach

drop in an L20b and send the KA to me.

NismoPick

Day two & three... dismantling of the engine. Oil pan is off... no apparent damage to any of the rods. Timing cover is next.

jfairladyz

I like the tool bench in the last pic there

NismoPick

Day four... (I've attached today's pics so this thread doesn't become a mile long)

Timing cover off... Top "cam chain" is loose & the exhaust cam appears to be one tooth off???

So... I continue on thinking the timing chain was flopping around causing the noise. Loosen the rod caps & remove pistons out the top. Removing piston #2 I find a wonderful surprise... A spun/broken rod bearing & crank journal scratched to hell.

Next step... trip to the machine shop.

bardabe

so it looks like you are going to need an oversized bearing. and possibly a nother crank. My recomendation.

get a nother block that is not scored or scratched (cylinder walls and Journals) get a hold of another crank (I think my friend has one) replace all Bearings, Rod Bearings, Piston RIngs, Get a metal Head gasket, and have intake manifold along with the block Dipped in that acid tank (cleans out all carbon/ sludge deposits on all cambers) after everithing has been carefully inspected and Honed N polished to specs Put it all back together (with all new gaskets ofcourse). KA is supper easy you can't Mess up like SR20 or RB25 everithing comes with a mark from factory. so the re asembly should be straight forward. and should only take 4 hours if done carefully. there are 3 options for pistons too. you can get Single cam Pistons to Up the compression (N/A power) but you need them to get milled a little bit for valve clearance. OEM pistons cleaned and coated if keeping it stock for DD. or Get Some Wiseco or CP pistons for Turbo. the option is yours.

NismoPick

Day six & seven... (pics of day five on another camera)

Block back from the shop (I'll post fresh block pics later).

Found out that every parts supplier is STUPID. Napa sells a KA24DE timing chain set for $309... FOR THE ALTIMA, which doesn't have the distrib in the same spot, so the idler pulley is different. Napa doesn't have a 240sx timing chain kit. AutoZone wants $460 for theirs, and Nissan wants $600. Whad I do? Bought one on ebay for $155 shipped. Made by "ITM Engine Components" it's supposedly a good aftermarket.

So today... I'm installing the timing chain kit, and open my engine gasket kit to install timing chain cover... NO TIMING COVER GASKETS. Call AutoZone: "Oh yeah... $9.99 and we can have it from our main store in 2 hours." Go pick it up... They ordered a crank pulley seal. MORONS. Turns out AutoZone doesn't have timing cover gaskets for the 240sx in their computer system. Screw them & go to NAPA... NOPE.... Napa's computer says to use silicone! Nissan parts now closed for the weekend. F*ck that... Go home and silicone the cover on.

[/rant]

Here's some pics.

SHADY280

sometimes them parts places are the worst for stuff. after all if i was paid minimum wage i wouldnt care either

snwbrderphat540

silicon.....sweet.......its goopy, and wheres the turbos? the forged pistons? dont you know anything about rebuilding a ka24de.....you make it a KA24DET.....gah, what would tim say at AMS.

NismoPick

If it was my car, I'd be doing the turbo conversion... but it's my bro's car on a budget.

snwbrderphat540

psh....budget.....its all or nothing....all you need is a turbo manifold forged low comp pistons intercooling and a turbo, oil lines for turbo oilage, and some other minor things...thats that...like 2grand....pshh.....

bardabe

Actually U dun need alot of money to turbo the KA, and the stock internals will be fine up to 300HP. Turbo manifold, T25, Down pipe, Intercooler Kit, 370cc Injectors, Oil Lines, Oil bung welded on Oil pan, SAFC-II and a Wideband, or A/F gauge. as far as the rebuild going it seems you took the stock route. not bad I say if he had any aftermarket stuff on there, get rid of it put in the stock airbox, headers, adn exhaust back on. get the NGK plugs, gap e properly, set the timing properly, and drive it normal don;t rev past 3000 for the first 500 miles, do an oil change, drive it normal after that do another oil change at 1000 miles and then U can let it rip.

emo236

It's his bro's DD on a budget. I don't think his bro cares about performance too much.

Bleach

KA's are awesome. Keep it.

I've alredy got the 16valve twin cam engine.

wreckedj30

G's bleach where were you hiding, man look away and all a sudden a million and one posts from the Bleach. I guess thats why your the man. Oh and nice motor.

apollo

You're tearin it up there, Nismo. Nice work. i want a garage to work in . . .

Those auto part stores are all run by morons. Most of whome have never been unfer the hood of a car, touched a wrench ir even graduated high school. Its always a hassle when you need something from them.

wreckedj30

Here's a pic of my mod motor. Or maybe for sale. I want to put her in a little nissan hardbody truck. Or similiar.

Bleach

do any of you guys have access to the KA24e Hardbody truck (2wd only) motor mounts? My friend needs a pair of them and for some reason all the 1990+ hardbodys are gone from Washington wrecking yards.

wreckedj30

Na, just tell your friend to buy another and strip the motor, that way he's got an extra motor and new mounts, and sell me the truck, then i'll get her done.

z-hag

gee--my z31, his truck--man, youngun, yer gonne have more cars and trucks than me, if ya don't watchit!!! i know what it is--yer lookin for a something to drive whilstya rebuild piglet and iron out her dings!!??

hey, 91zxtt--yagot my quote about livin short and hard--and not goin down pretty.

NismoPick

What day is it? Oh yeah... Day 8 of the project. I guess I'm just counting for my own sake... These are 4 hour days that I'm putting into this project.

Today I got all the accessories hooked back up... intake manifold back on.

Now... the tranny is still in the car. Do I pull it, attach it to the engine, and slide both back in at the same time? Or do I pull the tranny & man handle it onto the block from under the car?

I attached a pic of the engine just back from the machine shop.

apollo

Pull the tranny, cmon man. You know the drill.