all motor ka questions

[jspinn_kouki]

hey all,

i just got a 97 s14 kouki le with a ka24de in it bone stock, its a little bit slower than my other car (94 prelude with a jdm h22) the prelude made 200whp and 162wtq on the dyno with a stock rebuilt motor so this ka's 155hp and 160 tq at the crank isnt cutting it.

but... i do not want to go boost i have seen too many problems and just prefer to stay all motor, i know the usual equation for all motor is high compression+high rev= power, the h22 prelude is perfect revs to 8.5 and makes power all the way there. but as we all know the ka kevs about at high as a diesel truck :p.

i have the compression down, im ordering some je 10.5 cr pistons and some rod bolts and headstuds. and some head work so it makes power in the higher rpm range just a mild port and polish or if i want to go wild a supertech valvetrain, some crower 262 cams, port the intake and a bigger throttle body. headers and full 2.5-3" straight exhaust (maybe catback without the cat)

this is my dilema:
how to make it rev higher? the k24 from honda is a 2.4l and revs to 9k rpms! i know this is because instead of long strokes honda just made huge bores to keep the motor balanced. can the same be done to the ka? i know ill be able to get it a little higher with the head work but the bottom end is just too damn unbalanced! the stock bore of the ka24de is about 89mm i have heard what is the largest i could go before the walls are too weak? the largest 10.5:1 pistons i can find are 90.5mm would that help at all? what about a thinner headgasket?

thanks for any info

[Razi]

The KA has a half balanced crankshaft, it's going to be hard to make it rev high.

[StryfeS13]

You wanna go all motor?

LS1. Period!

The most I've ever seen out of an N/A KA24DE is like 230HP...so like 200WHP. Either swap something in there that is of bigger displacement like a VQ, VH or LS, and if not, then you're gonna have to boost it man.

[future]

Just boost the ka (:

There is a guy on ka-t.org making excess of 500whp on stock internals, so its possible

[jspinn_kouki]

iv just seen too many poeple go boost and breaking things every few weeks, i dont want the car to be a money pit, and i dont want to make some insane amount of horsepower. all i want is around 300 hp (if i go boost, i know i cant make it n/a). i can spend a little less and make the 220 ish whp and 230ish wtq i would be happy, i mean here is a list of the things i want to do.

supertech or crower full valvetrain
crower 264 cams
mild port and polish
valve job
arp headstuds and rod bolts
bigger throttle body 90mm or 100mm
bore the cylinders to 90.5mm with weisco 10.5:1 cr pistons or 89.5mm with JE 11.1:1
king bearings
balance the crank
without machine work it all comes out to just under 1900 witch is about as much as a good turbo setup and mild building is, i talked to a machine shop near me and they said it would be about 500-600 for all the work to be done by them.

iv heard if the stock ka could make power to 8k rpm it cold make 200hp im hoping with this stuff it will do that and more.

[HAWAII]

Do you know that with all the money you will be putting in the KA per your list, it will be much cheaper to just boost it?
From the list it seems that you are up to the task of spending a good amount of money. If you decided to boost, just do it right the first time, use a kit that is designed to work together instead of sourcing out the parts one by one. People tend to break stuff because they shortcut on things like a cheap turbo or some passed down ECM.
Now if you are really sticking with your guns and want NA. Just make sure to get more air and more fuel in there to support your 8k+ goal. Good luck Buddy!

[jspinn_kouki]

Do you know that with all the money you will be putting in the KA per your list, it will be much cheaper to just boost it?
From the list it seems that you are up to the task of spending a good amount of money. If you decided to boost, just do it right the first time, use a kit that is designed to work together instead of sourcing out the parts one by one. People tend to break stuff because they shortcut on things like a cheap turbo or some passed down ECM.
Now if you are really sticking with your guns and want NA. Just make sure to get more air and more fuel in there to support your 8k+ goal. Good luck Buddy!

thanks, if i can get this deal a guy is giving me i will stay n/a, if not i will probalby just go boost.

has anyone ever heard of the CXracing turbo and fmic kit? iv heard they are decent for the money and are a big up and coming buisness

[StryfeS13]

You're talking about boost being unreliable, yet you want a CXracing turbo. That is where the problem lies.

The FMIC kit is fine. But please don't get a chinacharger. CXracing is one of the better eBay brands, but I'd still never use their glued together turbos.

You know if you just use something like an S14 T28 you can make your power goal easily and you'll probably spend much less than going fully N/A.

[jspinn_kouki]

You're talking about boost being unreliable, yet you want a CXracing turbo. That is where the problem lies.

The FMIC kit is fine. But please don't get a chinacharger. CXracing is one of the better eBay brands, but I'd still never use their glued together turbos.

You know if you just use something like an S14 T28 you can make your power goal easily and you'll probably spend much less than going fully N/A.

i probably wouldnt use the turbo that came with it at least for long, a friend of mine has a precision 60 trim that he never used because he got the 6262 from precision so id probably get that from him as well as a tial BOV and wastegate.

i dont necessarily think its totaly unreliable but iv have seen my share of things breaking. the same friend with the turbo has a fully built (and i mean fully) honda motor sleeved, crank,rods,pistons, full head, nothing is honda anymore and it was professionally built, not to mention a fully built transmission. he has the turbonetics turbo kit with a precision 6262 tial wastegate and greddy rs bov completely dynotuned at 16psi and he is running good for a week and down for a month then good for a week and down for a month, granted he pushes it A LOT but still. i figure if its fully built and doing that something stock even on low boost will have almost the same problems if not worse.

[PoorMans180SX]

KA's bend cranks past 7700rpm.

You're going to want a Brian Crower fully counterbalanced crank, a nice, big port and polish, and Xcessive or custom intake manifold, JWT C78 cams, DLC cam followers, 11:1 pistons, ACL bearings, etc, etc.

Making more than 210whp with a KA is not easy, and your budget predictions are optimistic at best. I've done countless hours of research on this, and believe me, it's not easy, and it's not cheap if you want it to be proper.

[s14fbs]

i have a crazy idea so crazy u would never even think of it


sr swap low hp realible make 2-300 hp
cause you wanna spend 3-4000 grand to make a ka try and rev like a honda
why not spend 3000 grand and have a realible turbo motor that makes your power range

im a real big ka- guy i have a fully built one.but the way it sounds and what your looking for out a motor the ka doesn't meet those guideline

but jgs excessive and mazworx are good places to start for ka-t setups

stock internals are good for about 7psi on the stock head gasket but with arp head-studs and head gasket u can get around 10-11 psi but then u never know when the ring-lands will finally fail

[SLiDe_WaYz]

Dont compare a Honda to a Nissan.... Secondly don't buy anything from eBay to go on your car if you want it to be SOMEWHAT reliable. Welcome to the world of Nissan and 240's something will always break or go wrong.

Get a S14 or S15 T28, some 550's or bigger injector, a 255, and a nice tune.

Seriously don't put anything from eBay on your car that's just asking for a big headache and lots of trouble.

[Yellow4g63]

If you want big revs and power get a SR20DE and pick up a VE head. Bore it out to 92mm run 12.5.1 pistons, Kelford VVL cams and tune that puppy. The FWD guys hit 260-300whp with that setup.

[jspinn_kouki]

If you want big revs and power get a SR20DE and pick up a VE head. Bore it out to 92mm run 12.5.1 pistons, Kelford VVL cams and tune that puppy. The FWD guys hit 260-300whp with that setup.

i like that option, just did a little looking up and that looks fun, but what would be needed for this?

-the head should bolt right on right? i mean sr20det and ve are still sr20's
-iv heard stock ka mounts would fit fine, im thinking of getting avid or nismo mounts anyways
-how hard is the wiring for everything? i know there needs to be mods for just the sr20, but what about with a vvt head?

[Yellow4g63]

VVT and VVL are no way the same. The VVL head bolts to the SR20DE or DET, you might want to contact mazworxs for the little bits to make it work or go custom and make your own oil pick up/intake manfold/vvl solenoid extension plates. You need to use VVL pistons to run bigger cams than the stock 2.0VE cams.