need boost..which kit for the KA

[gostrider]

First off I love my 240 which is my DD..I never had a boosted car before and this is all new to me..I want to boost the KA but I need a turbo kit that will hold up and not fall apart. I dont mind spending the money on a good entry level kit but I dont want buy the junk cheap kits on ebay..

any good vendors on here that sell kits? I am looking for around 10 to 15 psi not looking to make 500 hp. any help would be great. budget is around 1500

[Corbic]

First off I love my 240 which is my DD..

Then turning it into a project with a lot of down time is idiotic.


.I never had a boosted car before and this is all new to me..

Obviously - why not try researching. Turbocharging a car is a huge undertaking. Have you ever changed a clutch? Go to KA-T.org and read their FAQs and Noob sections.


I dont mind spending the money on a good entry level kit but I dont want buy the junk cheap kits on ebay..

budget is around 1500

These two statements are contra dictions. $1,500 won't even buy you a name brand FMIC, it barely covers the cost of some of the more popular tubos new.

Greddy's turbo kit for the KA is $4,000 and does not include an exhaust nor a FMIC.

What $1,500 gets you is that eBay turbo kit your bitching about.

91-94 240SX S13 KA24DE Full Turbo kit KA24DE-T NEW! on eBay! (http://compare.ebay.com/like/170399960608?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&_lwgsi=y&cbt=y)

[Bubba]

If you plan on keeping your KA like me, do what was already mentioned and go to www.KA-t.org (http://www.KA-t.org)
Read up on all of the tech threads and absorb as much as you possibly can. Turbocharging a KA can be cheap, but reliability basically goes out the window if you don't cough up the dough to do it right.

First thing I did was send my spare motor off to the machine shop for some goodies.
$2500 later I have a built block and semi-built head. No other parts have been acquired for the turbo kit as of yet.

On a side note, a friend of mine just popped his SR last month and is now rocking all of his SR goodies on the stock KA and loving it. You can go big and do a full build, or you can aim lower and turbo the stock setup. If you stay stock I would keep it under 325hp unless your tuner is really really good.

[Walperstyle]

do not ask this same question on ka-t.org

If you go there, read the hall-of-fame section, and use the search engine. All information is there.

also, I'll let you know right now, if you have a budget planed out, times it by three All the little stuff you don't know of will add up.

If you want to do it right you are going to buy a stand alone, and there goes 600-3000 pending on what YOU want.

My advice is either copy someone elses build exactly, or give it to a shop with a credit card. Turboing a car yourself means you are either a DIY type of dude, or you are not. If you try to be in-between, you will break stuff and run into issues.

[nomoremk2]

Do research. I put a Garrett T28 on my ka with an enthalpy tune for about 1200 bucks. The basic formula of SR injectors, T25 and a tune is what you're probably looking for. Just do research before buying anything. All the supplies you need are readily available and mostly cheap. Just don't cheap out on tuning and get a wideband before anything. If you know what you're looking for you can get good deals. Corbic I think you should relax. I'm pretty sure the dude doesn't need a 1500 dollar fmic or a brand new Gt30 turbo. Oem SR stuff will Cover what he's looking for. Just don't buy a kit, piece it together after you read read and read some more. Also factor in a clutch, your oem will not be holding up to 8 psi.

[colombianbryan]

yea man like corbic said big ass contra diction!!! boosting is really a big step! what whp are you going for and do you still want to daily it? you still can't forget about a tune which is not cheap unless you want a crap job done. research bro!

[sk8rfreak345]

These two statements are contra dictions. $1,500 won't even buy you a name brand FMIC, it barely covers the cost of some of the more popular tubos new.

Greddy's turbo kit for the KA is $4,000 and does not include an exhaust nor a FMIC.

What $1,500 gets you is that eBay turbo kit your bitching about.


entry level...

[jacobs13]

dont try to be e thugs...

everyone knows a simple sr t25 setup with a smic will be easily attainable with 1500. And it will be reliable as long as you get a good tune and a wideband to monitor it.

[nomoremk2]

These two statements are contra dictions. $1,500 won't even buy you a name brand FMIC, it barely covers the cost of some of the more popular tubos new.

Greddy's turbo kit for the KA is $4,000 and does not include an exhaust nor a FMIC.

What $1,500 gets you is that eBay turbo kit your bitching about.


entry level...

1. You're 18
2. You quoted someones entire post instead of thinking of your own lame shit to say
3. Shut up.

[Karlitos]

do not ask this same question on ka-t.org

If you go there, read the hall-of-fame section, and use the search engine. All information is there.

also, I'll let you know right now, if you have a budget planed out, times it by three All the little stuff you don't know of will add up.

If you want to do it right you are going to buy a stand alone, and there goes 600-3000 pending on what YOU want.

My advice is either copy someone elses build exactly, or give it to a shop with a credit card. Turboing a car yourself means you are either a DIY type of dude, or you are not. If you try to be in-between, you will break stuff and run into issues.

What I highligted time a million. I just blew my KA last weekend at the track, started figuring out what I was going to need for a bottom end only rebuild + s15 t28 turbo and i was prepared for all the big stuff. Then I started looking into everything else that would be considered maintenance and holy crap it adds up.

As been stated, you also cant really have a project daily, if your going to turbo, be sure to have a couple weeks prepared of down time if you buy everything (you think you need) in advanced. There will always be that one sensor you forgot and is now back ordered, and that'll suck.

And read more, go to KA-t.org, theyre semi noob friendly if you post in the noob area, but they will also flame you if its obvious your just dreaming about what you want to do.

[Turbo Nismo]

"Do things right or do things twice".

[4drsleeper]

Everybody in this forum is smart enough to know NOT to spend $4000 on greddy turbo kit, thats just dumb....
for $1500 get your self a good t28 with oil lines,smic kit, sr 370cc injectors, megan manifold n downpipe, walbro 255, and entalpy tuned ecu and your good for 250hp daily without any problems

[xpinoyxmk]

http://zilvia.net/f/sale-items/433821-t28-ka-t-kit-2150-shipped.html

I'm selling my t28 ka-t kit^^. Only other things needed are intercooler, piping, and walbro 255 and my turbo kit will put you close to, if not 300whp with room for upgrade. Intercooler, piping and walbro can all be found for less than $300 new.


Spent way more than getting this kit together right and just when i go get it tuned, motor craps out, but my motor has close to 200k miles on it with only arp head studs and a felpro.

[gostrider]

Thanks for all the feed back. I plan on doing as much research possible before any purchase is made. Yes it is hard to have a DD and build it at the same time. I am a DIY kinda person and plan to take this on by myself at least the install. My goal is around 300-350hp the most..The cx racing kit looks like a good entry level kit I might go that route.

[iamthewinner]

The cx racing kit looks like a good entry level kit I might go that route.

you just ruined ur dd

[gostrider]

you just ruined ur dd

which one do you recommend? not looking to spend 4G.

[demonspeed]

Have you thought about building your own? I pieced together my kit minus intercooler and injectors for 500 bucks so i think 1500 is more than enough for boost imo

[gostrider]

^^ where did you buy your parts from?

[iamthewinner]

just do some research more and piece it together is the best and it will save you money to obtain quality kit. sure that cx cheap ass kit seems to have it all but their cheap for a reason.

[DrIvEsldEwAyS]

Buy a sr...

[waxball88]

First off I love my 240 which is my DD..I never had a boosted car before and this is all new to me..I want to boost the KA but I need a turbo kit that will hold up and not fall apart. I dont mind spending the money on a good entry level kit but I dont want buy the junk cheap kits on ebay..

any good vendors on here that sell kits? I am looking for around 10 to 15 psi not looking to make 500 hp. any help would be great. budget is around 1500
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Sorry to be an asshole, but hahahahahahaha.
you just ruined ur dd
And because i've had no issues with my CX kit with BOTH times i boosted my car. I'll have to inquire about your credentials? Have you used the kit, or are you riding the bandwagon?
OG vers. 1 kit, with my own spin. Shit is not going to fit perfect, nothing EVER goes perfectly and easily, sometimes you have to get your hands dirty. You must anticipate problems. When i got my cx kit, bought my own hardware, had to fight with the ac line to clear 3in DP and so on. So many people buy the kit and the second they run into a slight issue like a missing bolt they give up/blame the kit. This isn't rocket science its D-I-Y.There IS a trade off in cost and power. You want more power for cheaper, you do it yourself and dont bitch because YOURE the one cheaping out, if you want a perfect kit pay a shop way more money than i have to build it
.Yeah the clearance to my the master is close but i had enough room for a heat shield, and then i swapped to a blanket. My manifold still hasn't cracked. The exhaust fits fairly well, and the parts have nice welds.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u116/waxball88/photobucket-5551-1328152864606.jpg

[h2v7]

wax b ^ total cost ??

[waxball88]

No exact figures. I bought the kit roughly 2 years ago and got EVERYTHING. i can't remember exactly what it cost like 1700 i wanna say. Came with exhaust/rad/intercooler/everything Then add another 100 or so for hardware/misc shit like fittings.
Built engine. Probably ~1.2k (Got dirt cheap machine work through a friends shop)
Greddy gauges
RS-Tune (Shout out to Martin excellent service, many 12+ o'clock late night convos)
Easily prob 3-4k with all the extra shit thats on there now.

[gostrider]

Nice to see the Cx kit working for you. How much HP u making?

[upsdude]

$1500 is pretty low for a turbo build but it's doable. you're either going to have to buy cheaper (godspeed, cx, ebay) parts or used-which i don't recommend especially when it comes to the turbo. coilovers, turbos, and turbo manifolds are parts i'd rather buy new.

my only exeption to that would be with holset turbos.

[waxball88]

Not sure on WHP never had it on the dyno low to mid 200's on 8psi probably.
I pulled a 370z from a 45/50 roll from the bottom of 4th gear (no 3rd) on this long straight-a-way track we have locally
As for the CX turbo. (generic ebay) when my engine blew up the first time it sucked a bunch of shit up and broke the comp wheel.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u116/waxball88/100_0512.jpg
I simply broke the turbo down and swapped the exhaust/turbine wheel from a diff ebay turbo. Turbo is still running strong.

[iamthewinner]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Sorry to be an asshole, but hahahahahahaha.

And because i've had no issues with my CX kit with BOTH times i boosted my car. I'll have to inquire about your credentials? Have you used the kit, or are you riding the bandwagon?
OG vers. 1 kit, with my own spin. Shit is not going to fit perfect, nothing EVER goes perfectly and easily, sometimes you have to get your hands dirty. You must anticipate problems. When i got my cx kit, bought my own hardware, had to fight with the ac line to clear 3in DP and so on. So many people buy the kit and the second they run into a slight issue like a missing bolt they give up/blame the kit. This isn't rocket science its D-I-Y.There IS a trade off in cost and power. You want more power for cheaper, you do it yourself and dont bitch because YOURE the one cheaping out, if you want a perfect kit pay a shop way more money than i have to build it
.Yeah the clearance to my manifold is close but i had enough room for a heat shield, and then i swapped to a blanket. My manifold still hasn't cracked. The exhaust fits fairly well, and the parts have nice welds.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u116/waxball88/photobucket-5551-1328152864606.jpg

there are no quaility control on these china made garbage turbo kit period.
if u willing to work with garbage and make it work, by all means.

[waxball88]

That is true, it can be hit or miss, but if you're going cheap thats the risk you have to take/accept the consequences. You may have to have the flange cut and welded. I want to have some bracing added to the manifold simply for the fact its China, and i don't 100% trust it.

[silviaguy240]

I'll put it as simple as this, you want to do it right and make reliable 300-350hp? you will spend at least $5,000.

[waxball88]

You can't put an exact figure on it because deals/experience. Like i would have spent MUCH more if i didn't do everything from the engine build/swap to the turbo kit install myself.

But yes, you have to pay to play. Especially if you want it to last.

[iamthewinner]

agreed. i was just mainly referring to op on boosting his dd

[gostrider]

it seems the price it takes to boost the KA reliable, SR swap might be an option. Local shops sell them for 2000.

[Big Zee]

there is a kit local for sale for 1500. pretty good setup. PM me an I will send you his number.

[Boost_Fiend]

I dont see any reason to be spending so much money on boosting a ka if you dont want to. A bottom mount turbo set up is very similar to the sr, and most sr parts can be used for a ka-t set up (ie. fmic, downpipe). The isis ka24de turbo upgrade kit is 1,400.... and thats pretty much everything you need. And you can probably source used parts and spend half that amount. These people talking about speed 3-5k are crazy. $2,200 tops with brand new parts. There is a really good thread on ka-t.org about a budget build where the guy only spend like $800.

[silviaguy240]

it seems the price it takes to boost the KA reliable, SR swap might be an option. Local shops sell them for 2000.

Yea, you're getting a beat to shit 15-20 year old engine thats maybe putting out 150 whp. You can run a used t25 setup on a KA and make the same power for less. But to do any turbo engine right its going to cost money. Yea you can take risks and buy used parts and skip over stuff and put it together with tape and bubble gum, but all you are going to get is headaches from it. You might get lucky and have very little problems but I wouldnt take those risks.

My engine build on my KA was close to $4000 for the long block alone plus about another $1000 for clutch, rad, fans, fpr, new accessory parts ect... that doesnt even include turbo or any of those parts. I went with a few budget things and the only used part i bought was injectors but hey that was $50, but they werent very crucial parts but still, brand new t28, downpipe, manifold, FMIC, injectors, gauges, ECU, lines and other little shit was another $2500 and I consider that a budget setup. Then comes tuning and other little parts that i would have found out I needed if I ever got it together fully. So for me to reliably make 300whp that I could DD with no worries, I was looking at $7-7500.

Now you can take the risk of throwing a turbo kit on a KA that has a shit ton of miles and blowing it up and rinsing and repeating a few times or you can spend the money and do it right ONCE.

[gostrider]

oppsa double post

[gostrider]

I dont see any reason to be spending so much money on boosting a ka if you dont want to. A bottom mount turbo set up is very similar to the sr, and most sr parts can be used for a ka-t set up (ie. fmic, downpipe). The isis ka24de turbo upgrade kit is 1,400.... and thats pretty much everything you need. And you can probably source used parts and spend half that amount. These people talking about speed 3-5k are crazy. $2,200 tops with brand new parts. There is a really good thread on ka-t.org about a budget build where the guy only spend like $800.

^^damn thats what I taking about I need to find that thread..

[waxball88]

Yea, you're getting a beat to shit 15-20 year old engine thats maybe putting out 150 whp. You can run a used t25 setup on a KA and make more power for less, with better spooling. But to do any turbo engine right its going to cost money. Yea you can take risks and buy used parts and skip over stuff and put it together with tape and bubble gum, but all you are going to get is headaches from it. You might get lucky and have very little problems but I wouldnt take those risks.

My engine build on my KA was close to $4000 for the long block alone plus about another $1000 for clutch, rad, fans, fpr, new accessory parts ect... that doesnt even include turbo or any of those parts. I went with a few budget things and the only used part i bought was injectors but hey that was $50, but they werent very crucial parts but still, brand new t28, downpipe, manifold, FMIC, injectors, gauges, ECU, lines and other little shit was another $2500 and I consider that a budget setup. Then comes tuning and other little parts that i would have found out I needed if I ever got it together fully. So for me to reliably make 300whp that I could DD with no worries, I was looking at $7-7500.

Now you can take the risk of throwing a turbo kit on a KA that has a shit ton of miles and blowing it up and rinsing and repeating a few times or you can spend the money and do it right ONCE.
At least ka's are cheap in comparison to sr's
You're the man.

[Corbic]

Everybody in this forum is smart enough to know NOT to spend $4000 on greddy turbo kit, thats just dumb....
for $1500 get your self a good t28 with oil lines,smic kit, sr 370cc injectors, megan manifold n downpipe, walbro 255, and entalpy tuned ecu and your good for 250hp daily without any problems

I'm sorry - if your smart enough to cobble together a junk-yard turbo kit you should be smart enough not to post stupid shit like "Yo ma, I wantz my turbo for my daily but I don't want Ebay garbage, I gotz bank yo $1,500 bank yo!"


Most true DIY'ers know how to search, read and DO IT YOUR SELF - not "ask the web forum how to do it, what to buy, how to trouble shoot and then post a sob-story filled for sale ad"


KA-T has been covered to ad nauseum for the last 10 years. Nobody needs to hold this kids hand - the information is out their. Christ there is an entire website dedicated to it.

[Corbic]

there are no quaility control on these china made garbage turbo kit period.
if u willing to work with garbage and make it work, by all means.

What quality control exists on a used web-forum bought turbo.


594HP 5.3L Gen III Small Block for $3,252 - Hot Rod Magazine (http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/engine/hrdp_1104_594hp_53l_gen_iii_small_block_for_3252/viewall.html)

- just say'n

[Corbic]

I dont see any reason to be spending so much money on boosting a ka if you dont want to. A bottom mount turbo set up is very similar to the sr, and most sr parts can be used for a ka-t set up (ie. fmic, downpipe). The isis ka24de turbo upgrade kit is 1,400.... and thats pretty much everything you need. And you can probably source used parts and spend half that amount. These people talking about speed 3-5k are crazy. $2,200 tops with brand new parts. There is a really good thread on ka-t.org about a budget build where the guy only spend like $800.

That ISIS kit is far from complete -

Finally an Inexpensive KAT kit. This is is not 100% complete. You will still need to get your oil feed and drain lines taken care of. We do not have a line it for the KA as of yet. When doing a bottom mount KAT the downpipe will be very close to the floor board. You can either clearance the downpipe and floor board, or purchase Xcessive KA Lowing Brackets.

Dont forget your Z32 MAF, Injectors, and Rom Tune..


The Rom Tune is going to set him back, what $600? Injectors $400? Crap adds up fast.

[Corbic]

Yea, you're getting a beat to shit 15-20 year old engine thats maybe putting out 150 whp. You can run a used t25 setup on a KA and make the same power for less. But to do any turbo engine right its going to cost money. Yea you can take risks and buy used parts and skip over stuff and put it together with tape and bubble gum, but all you are going to get is headaches from it. You might get lucky and have very little problems but I wouldnt take those risks.


I started a KA-T projected and aborted early on. I found an SR from a local for $1,700 in good shape and it eventually cost me a little over $3,500 total to get it in there and running 10psi.

Crap adds up fast - rad hoses, mounts, fan shrouds, vacum line, boost gauge on and on. $20 here, $50 here, $14 there and yeah.


Bottom line - having done it, NEVER MAKE A DAILY A PROJECT. NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER.

If you can't afford two cars - you can't afford to have a project turner car.