ditching bmw powerplant, ka24de-t drift car

[ACS Cabrio]

Heres the background on this car.

bought it on 8/4/12

1987 325iS
dolphin grey
tan interior
HR race/ bilstein sports

It came with a smooth m20 in it. Drove it for a few days while i did timing on my 318 that i daily. After that it was go time.

I threw a sparco speed seat in it and auto crossed it as it over a few weekends, and took it to 2 drift events. very unhappy with performance i decided to go 100% build with this car as i usually do with all my cars

-motor came out with no thought of going back in. ;-)
-all interior sold,
-all tar and other gooey nasty old junk removed
-all windows out

now to develop and set up a build plan (going to be my drift car so my wife can have 100% seat time in the s13 240sx instead of only driving when im not)

1. Power plant is going to be a fully build nissan ka24de.
(reliable, dual cam, and insanely cheap to build and make power in comparison to bmw)
-9.0:1 compression, stock stroke, bored .020" over
forged internals yada yada good for whatever boost i can throw at, only limitation is the transmission. At 350hp theyre toast
planning on 300-320 as thats what my 240 has with this exact setup and slides excellent(will be easier to keep spairs if both motors and trans are identical in both track cars ;])

2. interior is going to be 6pt chromoly cage, 2 fia seats and alum dash/console (again just like the 240)

3. exterior will be untouched other than sunroof delete and removing misc lights and wipers ect. that are not needed.
wheels are undecided, weighing out options on a few used sets on here and a few suitable new sets. must be 17" tall and 9" or wider


all this without pics you say? I have lots of free time at work and need somthing to fill my day lol. I will upload everthing i have currently after i finish typing this

[320icar]

So why aren't you going sr20det?

[ACS Cabrio]

So why aren't you going sr20det?

A few reasons actually.

NA motor heads flow better to begin with.

A fully built motor with boring and machining runs about the same as the SR and is brand new.

KA has an iron block with closed deck.

SR will have to have seals and gaskets checked/replaced, head studs and gasket and turbo upgraded to be in the desired power level

KA has 25% more dispacement before boring, and the torque difference really shows.

KAs are US built motors so the starters/alt ect can be easily had for cheap in the states

i already have a built KA in my s13 so i still only have to bring certain parts to the track because they will both have same powerplant

[unevolved]

"100% build"

"ka24de"

Wat.

[kman_e30]

so your taking out your 2.5 i6 and replacing it with a 2.4 i4?






in all seriousness, all that work you might as well just do an sr, or boost the m20, or do a 24v swap.

[Cletonius]

"100% build"

"ka24de"

Wat.

Thought the same thing. Not really my cup of tea but OP makes sense, he's already got one car setup this way. It's much easier to carry less spare parts and to buy 2 at once. For someone who is their own race team it's pretty smart IMHO.

Edit: I vote turbo M20

[toointoxicated60]

why is it so hard to understand. He already has a god damn boosted ka, he can use the same engine components for both track cars.

Rebuilt boosted KA vs a used sr20 for basically the same price. What is so hard to understand.

KA's are readily available in the USA. SR's are not.



I have been in a built boosted KA in a 240. Shit was bananas.





Thumbs up to you.

[ZekeTheSneak]

I will never see the reason to use a ka. Costs a ton of money to rebuild them and they usually explode. but good luck

[evandael]

The Nissan crowd has it's own fanbois and many are afraid to admit that KA-T's are far more robust and powerful dollar for dollar than SR's. I'm surprised to see it here too.


Pics OP!

[Cronopoulos]

Ka-t ftw

[unevolved]

I agree the KA is more durable than the over-hyped SR (mainly 'cause it was designed for a truck, but I digress...), but if you're going "all the way" why not be as objective as possible and get something that was REALLY designed to be a performance engine from the get-go?

Something like an F20C, or thereabouts. Those engines get a lot of fanboi cred, but there's a reason. I dyno'd a BONE stock '08 F22C (all the way down to the parts-store airfilter) at 208rwhp. That's well over 100hp/L at the crank, pretty damn impressive for a stock, warrantied, normally aspirated engine.

[e30m20TurbO7]

My friends Nissan maxims ka 24 automatic
Keeps uP side by side next to my mini cooper S
And that's stock with god knows how many miles
The 2nd gear pul is so long and nuts
I can't wait to see this

[e30trooper]

needs more rb25

[ACS Cabrio]

so your taking out your 2.5 i6 and replacing it with a 2.4 i4?

in all seriousness, all that work you might as well just do an sr, or boost the m20, or do a 24v swap.

the SR does not make nearly the power the KA will. for the same price

and the 2.5i6 makes the same power stock as the 2.4i4 does stock

the only other option for powerplant was the f20c but the stock used swap cost is to high

[F34R]

Owns a smooth running m20...and does not boost it? The m20 will make 300+ all day with a set of ARP and a MLS gasket. Why waste the money swapping another powerplant? You already own the m20, sounds like you only know how to work on rice burner engines. M20>ka whatever