Abjerk's KA-T Build

I finally decided I should dive in and show what I'm working with. The body is a 1990 so technically this is a DE swap. It started out as somebody else's project. The car was completely gutted. I literally started with nothing. My goal is to turbo the car over winter and shoot for 400HP on E85. The current build list:

Block/Head/Transmission
1993 KA24DE
Wiseco 9:1 .020 Pistons
Eagle H-Rods
Clevite Bearings
ARP Main/Head Studs
Cometic Metal Head Gasket
PNP'd Intake/Exhaust Head
3 Angle Valve Job
EGR Block Off Plate
Spec Stage 3 Clutch
Fidanza Flywheel
Nismo Motor and Tranny Mounts

Cooling
Koyo Aluminum Radiator
ISIS Radiator Fan Shroud Kit
Mishimoto 68°C Thermostat

Exterior
Stock Chuki Aero
OEM 180SX Type X Wing
OEM 180SX Type X Kouki Lights

Fuel System
Z32 Fuel Filter
DeatschWerks DW300 320LPH Fuel Pump

Intake/Exhaust
Motoria S14 3" Exhaust (modified for S13 routing)
Nissan Q45/Z32 90mm Throttle Body

Coming home:

Ricey body kit :/

Holes? Come on...

De-riceifying it

6pt roll cage om nom

This is what I had to work with.. not much

A sign that it might live

Before:

I made the mistake of dumping those buckets... ugh

Before:

After:

After:

After:

After:

After:

After:

P&P + 3 Angle Valve Job goodness:

Shiny!

Cometic gasket + ARP studs

Coming together:

Stock cams for now:

Adding the outer components:

Finishing the timing:

Side view:

Mockup with valve cover:

Latest progress as of 9/23/12

Looks good man

not to be a downer, but your going to hate that head gasket. I know i did. Best thing for a ka-t is oem with studs. But good shit so far. Keep up the progress.

Why is that? Isn't Cometic supposed to be a good brand?

I thought the same thing. Ended up with 3 different gaskets and 2 heads. In the end, i went with an oem style head gasket and never had a problem again. My block and head were decked before it was assembled too.

Cometic is a good brand dont get me wrong but i personally never had any luck with a comectic MLS head gasket on any ka i built.

Well for my sake I hope you're wrong lol.

Looking good bud!

Just keep doing what your doing man. No sense in stopping the build now. Cometics are awesome for sr's because its an aluminum head to aluminum block so they warp together. Where a ka is cast iron to aluminum. The oem gasket just has more flexibility with changes. Ka's are very good at producing heat so what ever you can to keep it cool.

that look awesome!! nicks been telling me what youve been doing but its so much better to see pictures lol! can't wait to see it out!

Thank you! I've hit so many bumps along the road but once its running I'm gonna be so happy! Can't wait to bring it out to some meets next year!

Ran into a snag with the S13 5speed MT:


So I picked up an S14 5speed MT (MUCH better):


Got the clutch and flywheel installed:


Mating the tranny to the long block:


Finally we got it dropped in:


However, at this point the clutch fork doesn't move.. its not engaging the throwout bearing for some reason so we will need to pull it back out and inspect it again. Joy...

Figure out your clutch issue?

600SX wrote:

Figure out your clutch issue?

Yeah... you're gonna laugh but it never fit because the pilot bushing from the old automatic tranny was still in lol. After pulling the engine out of the bay 3 times it finally dawned on me.

In other news all that is left is mounting up the exhaust manifold and piping, plugging everything back in, doing the SOHC to DOHC wiring, lines/hoses (in progress) putting the dash back in. We mounted up the intake manifold and the driveshaft to the diff last night.

It's always stupid shit. Glad to hear you got it fixed.