Gearing up for a Carbed KA24E swap... need some answers...

[Tomakze]

I have a 1968 spl311 with a tired, finicky engine. I bought the car with the idea of swapping a KA into it from the get-go, so i found a 1990 KA24E and tranny for $210 this included the ECU, mass air, wiring harness, driveshaft, coil, and airbox!! well, that was a year ago, and nothing has happened. i have been way to pre-occupied just keeping the roadster on the road.

a few days ago, i was trolling the internet and discovered a pic of a 510 with a KA in it- with a twist. twin mikunis hanging off the side of it! he claimed 280hp!!!! (internals were thoroughly worked, but still!) this sent my head spinning with new ideas. i think this would take far less fab work, and be easier to tune in the future. plus, it retains that classic feel. when i told my machinist friend about the idea, he volunteered to build me a custom intake manifold... for free! well, i have spent many days researching this, and i can find pictures of tons of cars with the swap, but little to no info about it... here is what i have gleaned so far from google...

1: almost any carb will work. i have seen everything from motorcycle carbs to webers. solex seems to be the holy grail. (no suprise there...) jetting it is the only problem.

2: the stock distributor is ecu controlled, and must be switched. i heard the dizzy from the L series engine works, but i don't know which one or even what car it came from originally...

3: I heard you can use the oil pan from a hardbody with the longer pick-up tube from the truck, and then you dont have to cut up the subframe. i dont know details though... (years and such)

4: i would like to see some pics or get at least a description of how the motor is mounted, along with the tranny. my brother is a master welder, and said he would help.

5: i have a lead on someone who can make a driveshaft, but if anyone has details, please be free to tell me!

any feedback would be awesome! i want this done before next summer... im doing this on the cheap. i have given myself a $1000 budget for this build... thanks guys!

[nomadtrash]

There is no way a KA made 280hp without forced induction. I would believe 180. In all my research I've never seen a NA KA make over 200 hp. They just won't rev high enough. The beauty of the KA or SR swap is the fuel injection anyway. Your finicky R16 is finicky because of the carbs and points. It is way easier to tune FI than carbs. First of all the KA and SR are mass airflow based. The computer measures the amount of air coming in and knows how much gas to squirt based on a table. As long as you use the factory ECU and keep the same mass flow sensor with the same fuel injectors it will pretty much run like it came from the factory. You can even change cams, intake, exhaust, and compresion ratios with very little effect on the mixture. If you do need a little tweaking then you can buy an SAFC which easily changes the fuel table richer or leaner. If you want to get more precise then you can chip it. Any good dyno shop will have a rom burner and can make you a custom tune for $100-$200. The DE computers are a little harder to tune because they don't have a removable chip. You have to add a daughter board but this is very common practice and many shops can do that for you.

My injected KA starts every time an all weather conditions. I've never had a carbureted car like that.

On a side note, Solexes have a really cool sound that is almost worth the trouble. They look sexy too.

Andy

[nomadtrash]

The stock 4 speed driveshaft works with the KA swap. You need to circumsize the yoke. You can get the KA in there without cutting anything using the 240SX oil pan. I don't think the truck pan will fit the 240sx block. The two blocks are different. You will have to fab custom mounts. I made some from steel plate and square tubing. The steel plate bolts onto the motor where the AC compressor bracket was on one side and the alternator bracket on the other. You just use the stock roadster rubber mounts and build a steel mount on the block. The tranny mount was similar and used a couple pieces of angle iron on the tranny mounted to the stock roadster rubber mount. I made a custom alternator mount from square tubing and am using a suzuki swift alternator. It is tiny. There is a smaller alternator available. I think it is from a Diahatsu car.

[s15to311]

Or you can have the best of both worlds and put ITB's on your ka or sr keeping fuel injection while producing wonderful noise under the hood. I plan on doing this to my '66 eventually. I think for now i just want to get her running and driving with the stock engine though..

[Tomakze]

here is the website i found about this setup... i was wrong about the hp... it made 285!!! (13:1 compression, cams, ported, and a Z24 block)

http://www.freshalloy.com/forums/archiv ... 78748.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

on another website, i heard of a shop that sells 280hp KA24E race engines for 5k. this is their website:

http://www.rebelloracing.com/index.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The stock 4 speed driveshaft works with the KA swap. You need to circumsize the yoke. You can get the KA in there without cutting anything using the 240SX oil pan. I don't think the truck pan will fit the 240sx block. The two blocks are different. You will have to fab custom mounts. I made some from steel plate and square tubing. The steel plate bolts onto the motor where the AC compressor bracket was on one side and the alternator bracket on the other. You just use the stock roadster rubber mounts and build a steel mount on the block. The tranny mount was similar and used a couple pieces of angle iron on the tranny mounted to the stock roadster rubber mount. I made a custom alternator mount from square tubing and am using a suzuki swift alternator. It is tiny. There is a smaller alternator available. I think it is from a Diahatsu car.

if you have any pics of your mounting setup, i would love to see them. i plan to get this started soon! its hard to imagine what you are saying without seeing it... i was also wondering, where is your shifter located, and how did you set that up?

thanks! i dont want to do this blind. i like to have an idea of what im trying to accomplish. anything helps!

-Tom

[Tomakze]

ok, so ive done some thinking. it does make sense to keep the fuel injection. im gonna do some more research on this whole carb thing, for the future maybe. for now, i will have a fuel injected ka.

As of today, i have a shop to build this in. the gears will start spinning in a few weeks, so i may be asking a lot of questions. the good news is, i plan to take tons of pictures and video, and record dimensions and such so i can make a write-up on how to do the swap. that way, the next time someone wants to do this, they wont have to hassle all of you for answers!

I have most of the parts i need, but those of you that have done the swap, please give me any pictures you have. I also was wondering if anyone has put a header on the engine and if the 240sx one fits in the car. (i doubt it, but it would be nice...) or if one can be easily modified. Im kicking around the idea of a sidepipe... that would give it a cobra type of look... we will see.

thanks guys, the sooner i can get this going, the better. i cant stop thinking about it. im really excited!

[Tomakze]

as an after thought... what exactly do you mean, circumsize the yoke?

[spl310]

If you want to go carbed, that should not be a big deal. The last time I checked, Pierce Manifolds (http://www.piercemanifolds.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) had the manifold you need. On the yoke, it has a dust collar welded around the slip yoke that you need to cut off as the diameter of the end of the tailshaft is the issue iirc.

[Tomakze]

I decided to stick with fuel injection. after realizing the price of the carbs is around $600-$700, and then i have to figure out the jetting issue and tune it, suddenly the idea of wiring in the fuel injection didnt seem so bad. plus i will get better gas mileage with the fuel injection.

If you want to go carbed, that should not be a big deal. The last time I checked, Pierce Manifolds (http://www.piercemanifolds.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) had the manifold you need. On the yoke, it has a dust collar welded around the slip yoke that you need to cut off as the diameter of the end of the tailshaft is the issue iirc.

im sorry, i guess i still dont get what you mean. are you saying all i need to do is cut off the dust shield and weld the 240sx yoke on in its place? im guessing this means the 4 speed drive shaft is the right length for the KA24's tranny. does that mean the gearshifter will be in the same location as the original? i tried to guess where it would end up, and my guess puts it in between the backs of both seats. which is way to far back. i may have goofed up. can someone give me some insight? i think i can figure out how to mount the motor and tranny now, but the driveshaft and gearshifter im still not sure about...

[spl310]

Andy would need to answer the specific details on the driveshaft. I was just helping explain the circumcision...

[dieter ka24de]

The driveshafts from the 4 speed cars fit right into place...Nothing to worry about..the sensors on the tranny are something else...Back up-speedo-5 gear etc....

Swap is not too difficult....and a fuel injected engine will walk away from the same engine with carbs....throttle response and always being in tune..

[311 junkie]

Subscribed- Keep us updated.

[Tomakze]

I found a local shop that says as long as i supply the materials, they will build me a driveshaft for 120 bucks! that is including balancing it. they said it is usually a 1 day turnaround time. now i can focus on other things, like mounts.

nomadtrash, in pics of your car, i see that you had to put an extra u-joint in the steering shaft. is this a necessary modification, or was that due to the supercharger set-up you have? (very cool, btw) i would really like to know more about your configuration. where did you place the ECU, and how did you wire it?

thanks! I look forward to your response.

[Alvin]

have you seen this build-up already? I've got other shots of motor mounts if interested
http://rides.webshots.com/album/178239581cLkKqx?start=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
continued here:
http://community.webshots.com/user/riazabzal03" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;