to rebuild or not to rebuild

[nismo04]

wuz fellaz I have a 1993 240sx with 196,000 miles on the dash I found a good rebuild kit for around $900 but I was thinking with that many miles on the motor is it even worth the rebuild or should i look for a motor with less miles.

[240sxScores]

If i was gonna rebuild that motor i would do it so i could turbocharge and to take the power. I would have the cylinders bored and maybe a port polish or valve job then all new forged internals or something. AMS sells a good rebuild kit. But if you dont wanna turbo it i would prolly find a lower mileage motor, so you wouldnt be taking apart the other one just to rebuild it back to factory spec and power. I was kinda in your situation i had a auto 93 with 193000 miles, i went out and bought a 5spd s14 motor with 119000 miles and now im thinking of rebuilding the old motor for KA-T.

[tre]

by good you mean OEM from nissan right?

[Wei240]

depends on how much $$$ you got and what you feel comfortable with, how good are you mechanically (or the shop, if you were going to a shop)

to me, i'd rather rebuild and have peace of mind

and then ka-t ftw

i miss my ka...

[downshift_sideways]

That is the question...

[bamaboy]

if you are takling about just rebuilding the stock motor back to stock specs then the motor is fine....as long as nothing has broken in the motors. You'll just need to get a valve job, hone the cylinders. I would have the block cleaned at a motor shop....maybe have the head magnafluxed (spelling). As ong as it's still together then you should be fine if you want to stay around the same HP. Is it a single cam or a dual cam?

[nismo04]

if you are takling about just rebuilding the stock motor back to stock specs then the motor is fine....as long as nothing has broken in the motors. You'll just need to get a valve job, hone the cylinders. I would have the block cleaned at a motor shop....maybe have the head magnafluxed (spelling). As ong as it's still together then you should be fine if you want to stay around the same HP. Is it a single cam or a dual cam?

its a dual cam and im planning on turbo charging the kit a refered to is a high performance rebuild kit with forged internals, new berrings copper head gasket, the works. this is my first project and im aiming at around 300whp but befor i can do that i need to get an M/T swap cuz a/t is no fun at all.

[pignose4life]

true a/t with turbo, if you getting turbo, sounds funny becuase of the quick shifting and the bov.

[punxva]

or you could run a 300zx a/t like i think ivan does and kick ass at the strip, lol, but yea i just finished rebuilding my motor for boost, and it was worth every penny man

[McRussellPants]

performance nissan can ship you the most baller KA ever made overnight for 7700$

[ledzeppelin240]

magnafluxed

Hah, hah, good one. How magnetic is aluminum? Wait not at all…You have to pressure test the cylinder head.

A full good rebuild would include:
-Cleaning of all engine components
-Valve job, which is probably new valve guides/valves or a touch up to the old valves, ----valve seat grind
-New pistons and rings
-Bore out cylinders
-New bearings
-So much more stuff that I don’t care to mention right now.

Rebuild for reliability, if the engine builder is good he will rebuild it to the same or better than factory spec which will ultimately last longer.

Don’t forget to use a quality synthetic oil after the break in and then the engine will last for a long as it can.

[NemeGuero]

193k isn't that bad. lol

beat it till she dies, pick up a used engine in the mean time.. and rebuild.

Sell of the used block when you swap 'em out for someone else to continue the cycle.

[bamaboy]

magnafluxed

well I'm not sure if this is even the correct term for it, but this is what the shop back home called it when they cleaned the head I was having work done to. Basically cleaning all of the ports, vavle seats, gasket surfaces...etc

[nismo04]

I've decide with the help from you guys to rebuild the engine instead of buying one with lower milage. so with that being said that leaves me with one question this sorry azz A/T I'm definately going swap it out for an M/T but I was talking to this cat the other day and he was telling me that I can use a transmission fron a exterra,280z,or 240z so I asked him why not stick with the original tranny he said that the final drive for the 240 sucks and that these trannys have better final drive do any of you guys know any thing about this. or is this just a hill of beans.

[Farzam]

REbuild the current one.
Matchin VIN#'s FTW!

[!Zar!]

I've decide with the help from you guys to rebuild the engine instead of buying one with lower milage. so with that being said that leaves me with one question this sorry azz A/T I'm definately going swap it out for an M/T but I was talking to this cat the other day and he was telling me that I can use a transmission fron a exterra,280z,or 240z so I asked him why not stick with the original tranny he said that the final drive for the 240 sucks and that these trannys have better final drive do any of you guys know any thing about this. or is this just a hill of beans.

To adjust your final drive you need to change out your ring/pinion gear; diff.

There is no such thing as a "better" final drive It's whatever suits your diving style.

If you want to swap in a stronger tranny, you could do as prior mentioned and purchase the bellhousing adapter so you could run a 300zx tranny.

But I'd only suggest that if you plan on keeping the a/t.

A stock ka m/t tranny should hold up fine.

[tre]

performance nissan can ship you the most baller KA ever made overnight for 7700$


lol no. you can get sponsored by Nissan Competition Motorsports and have the most baller ka ever.

[projectRDM]

$900 for forged parts isn't bad, but if you're only looking at 300hp you don't really need to do all that.

Upgraded rings, OE rod/main bearings, and a head gasket is all you need. Have the valve stem seals checked for leaks, but odds are you don't even need to touch them, just have the head hot tanked or cleaned along with the pistons/rods then put it all back together. New crank and rear mains seals and you're done, for maybe $300 total.

[nismo04]

$900 for forged parts isn't bad, but if you're only looking at 300hp you don't really need to do all that.

Upgraded rings, OE rod/main bearings, and a head gasket is all you need. Have the valve stem seals checked for leaks, but odds are you don't even need to touch them, just have the head hot tanked or cleaned along with the pistons/rods then put it all back together. New crank and rear mains seals and you're done, for maybe $300 total.

SAY WHAT!!!!! man this proving to be harder than i thought I talked to the guy at JGY customs this week and he told me that I need to up grade to forged pistons to hold up under forced induction of a turbo charged engine. and forged rods but if what your saying is true this will save me alot of time and money by this being my first project car I'm really not looking forward to spending a whole lot on cheese on it. so what about the piston ring, or honeing the cylinders would you consider that? :2f2f:

[punxva]

yea the stock rods can hold about 350hp actually prolly 400, usually the first thing to go is the ring lands then the head gasket

[big_schaf]

193k isn't that bad. lol

beat it till she dies, pick up a used engine in the mean time.. and rebuild.

Sell of the used block when you swap 'em out for someone else to continue the cycle.


thats the perfect plan

[projectRDM]

SAY WHAT!!!!! man this proving to be harder than i thought I talked to the guy at JGY customs this week and he told me that I need to up grade to forged pistons to hold up under forced induction of a turbo charged engine. and forged rods but if what your saying is true this will save me alot of time and money by this being my first project car I'm really not looking forward to spending a whole lot on cheese on it. so what about the piston ring, or honeing the cylinders would you consider that? :2f2f:

If the cylinders are crosshatched I would definitely hone them, but it's doubtful there's any issue if the car is running fine now and not experiencing heavy blowby. Do a compression and leakdown on it, if the numbers are within spec and close across all four cylinders you shouldn't need to machine anything. Headwork on a KA is pointless since it flows very well OE, all this port and polish talk isn't going to benefit you at all unless you're aiming for double the power you mentioned.
Forged rods are also pointless at your power goals, the OE rods are fine as long as they're still in good shape and don't have any bearing damage. You may want to go with pistons just for added measure, but a new set of rings and a good, safe tune aren't going to damage the OE ones. I've seen plenty of KA turbos do fine on OE parts for years, the ones that throw rods out the block or blow ring lands are simply pushing too much boost or running too lean.

[nismo04]

thanks guys for all the help,and the great advice Ill keep you guys posted on the progress. If I'm successful at this project this will be the first turbo 240 where i live. every other 240 that I know of has either a rice exhaust tip or a Mcdonalds arch rice wing on the back. so thank you all and merry christmas.