deciding what engine

buy the KA-T parts seperately.

Rotay ftw

there's no replacement for displacement, so I am going to take the KA-T route. If I can find a dohc motor and a harness, I will atleast swap that in, otherwise, turbo the single

Honestly, KA is cheaper and you can get some kickass power.. but in the end its not as reliable and you end up spending more money and time than you honestly would want to. My friend did a KADE-T and carrys a 260 peice tool set in his trunk labled "KA-T repair kit". His shit breaks all the time. SR20DET is more reliable and is pretty much a direct drop in like the CA, the only reason i wouldnt go CA is just the displacement...but to each his own.

If you can get a good deal on the ka I say go that route but I still think itd be cheaper to go the sr route what kinda of numbers are you looking for because if its around 300 or so Id say sr for the win. From what Ive been told the ka is capable of 400+ but if your looking for somewhere in the 300 range id say sr for sure

A-Town-SR wrote:

If you can get a good deal on the ka I say go that route but I still think itd be cheaper to go the sr route what kinda of numbers are you looking for because if its around 300 or so Id say sr for the win. From what Ive been told the ka is capable of 400+ but if your looking for somewhere in the 300 range id say sr for sure

i am looking for something around ~300 whp. But i am also looking for something with a good balance between torque and horsepower. I already found some harnesses for the dohc ka on ebay, and I am going to probably pick up an engine from victory auto wreckers. They said $300 with a 1 year warranty i think. so next time i come home for the weekend i am probably going to pick it up.

A-Town-SR wrote:

If you can get a good deal on the ka I say go that route but I still think itd be cheaper to go the sr route what kinda of numbers are you looking for because if its around 300 or so Id say sr for the win. From what Ive been told the ka is capable of 400+ but if your looking for somewhere in the 300 range id say sr for sure

dude....for 300hp, the ka is a better bang for the buck. Put it this way, $2500 for a swap and you have 190hp. Plus another $2000 for turbo and tuning to maybe make 300hp. Take $4500 and turbo the ka and make a ka-t with alots of power.

I am actually thinking about sticking with the KA24E b/c its not like i am going to be shooting for huge amounts of power, and i read on ka-t.org that it is so much easier to tune a sohc.

Just make sure you factor in reliability, turboing the KA which was not meant to be turbo'd will probably give you lots of trouble down the road. its an old ass engine and just has trouble holding boost. If you do plan on going KA you might want to look into getting a full KA rebuild kit first...

slidewayz240sx wrote:

Just make sure you factor in reliability, turboing the KA which was not meant to be turbo'd will probably give you lots of trouble down the road. its an old ass engine and just has trouble holding boost. If you do plan on going KA you might want to look into getting a full KA rebuild kit first...

now... this is the great part... I bought this car with a rebuilt engine . But, I might have to get lower compression pistons so there will be less chance of predetonation. I am pretty sure the 89' cam with 9.0:1 compression?

Does anyone ever wonder what the guys over at japan think of people here who turbo chare truck motors?(KA)

I actually just had that conversation with someone... if I ever lived in Japan, I'd import a KA and turbo it....

Im still curious why the sr wasnt in the pole. I mean cmon without the sr this seems a bit bias

the SR is a nice engine, but, because of the high demand for it, companies are selling them for too much. I got quoted by a guy on NICO for a complete CA18DET motorset for $1300. Most places are asking +3K for SR. I also could have gotten the RB for 2300 shipped.

either way, I think i am probably going to turbo my single since the potential is almost as high as the DE and as stated before, easier to tune.

but, if someone takes me for a spin in an SR, I might think about it if me likey.

I guess I'm just used to the sr seeing as I havent ridden in anything else besides a ka if anyone gets there hands on a ca or rb let me know im down for a spin

A-Town-SR wrote:

I guess I'm just used to the sr seeing as I havent ridden in anything else besides a ka if anyone gets there hands on a ca or rb let me know im down for a spin

i drove a CA18det s13 with a boost leak. once it spooled, it was pretty quick. hard to compare seeing as the enourmous amounts of lag when the turbo isnt bolted on tightly...

CA18's tend to spin main bearings, iirc. if i was ever to have a CA18, itd start with a full teardown and rebuild. new bearings, machined everything, everything balenced, reinforced, and perfect.

im still leaning towards a FD3S 13B-REW rotary motor for my s13 though. ~100lbs lighter than a SR20, lower center of gravity, more engine compartment room for a V mount (radiator and IC), and about 250 hp stock. (230ish to the wheels). just requires: custom mounts, custom driveshaft, stand-alone management, custom plumbing and wiring. not too bad to do.

Yea that isnt to bad especially for the pay off. Rotary 240=sex. Im yet to see one but Id imagine itd be quite original is it done much. Because I have never even seen pics of something like that

a guy in austrailia



one of my favs.

out of the choices you gave, id vote for the KA24E-T. ive been reading up on that idea as well for my 89. lower CP ratio over the KA24DE seems to be a good plan. the one thing that i heard people have problems with is finding a turbo manifold. a lot of the E-T guys end up making their own (the exhaust grouping sucks as opposed to the spaced out ports liek the DE). its deffinately possible, but i havent seen any dynos on the E-T motors. fuck, if the KA24E blows, buy a KA24DE and get a new turbo manifold. piping should be pretty much the same. (may have to change where it meets the turbo and the TB). if youre on a budget, id stick with the KA24E and turbo that.

RB Nuff said, ive driven James, and even got to drift it, it was fun and handled well extra weight where?? i didnt feel it

dc2_lsvtec wrote:

out of the choices you gave, id vote for the KA24E-T. ive been reading up on that idea as well for my 89. lower CP ratio over the KA24DE seems to be a good plan. the one thing that i heard people have problems with is finding a turbo manifold. a lot of the E-T guys end up making their own (the exhaust grouping sucks as opposed to the spaced out ports liek the DE). its deffinately possible, but i havent seen any dynos on the E-T motors. fuck, if the KA24E blows, buy a KA24DE and get a new turbo manifold. piping should be pretty much the same. (may have to change where it meets the turbo and the TB). if youre on a budget, id stick with the KA24E and turbo that.

They actually make a log turbo manifold and an equal length one for the E-T. KA-T.org has a ton of people that ahve singles turboed, and it seems like they are not haveing a problem with higher power.

I say get the dohc I just here they are alot more reliable is all

I dont see why the single would be less reliable. only difference is one less cam, 4 less valves and it doesnt have oil squirters. I havent read anything about reliablility yet. post some threads if you know of any that talk about it, and I will check it out or search myself after my two exams tonight.

I guess its not reliability but if you search nico there just seems like so many problems with leaks and what not but hey maybe they just have lemons. I also was wondering why most sohc owners go dohc?

Dohc base is like 20hp more. I know what you mean with the timing of Sohc, but as far as tuning... either would be easy. Its pretty much personal prefrence but the way I look at it, turbo sohc is just someone trying to be diffrent imo.

Either way, sohc or dohc, they end up being about the same except I believe the sohc has less torque.

Eh 3k for an SR motorset? Where are you looking? is that 3k swapped? If its 3k for a motorset then you must be looking in the wrong places...ive seen full SR front clips for less than 2500......