SR or KA?

[J SPEC SilEighty]

There seems to be many different opinions on to what people want. So which would you rather have? A built KA or a built SR? State your reasons for your choice if you want to

[Bean Bandit]

We quite don't have KAs anyway

[J SPEC SilEighty]

Originally posted by Bean Bandit
We quite don't have KAs anyway

Then you could be different that everybody else by you and swap in the all mighty KA24DE :hehehe:

[Bean Bandit]

ehh ...






....NO I'll be different enough driving around with a S15 front in Europe.
Anyway if I go more different I'll forget who I am

[revjunkie]

I'll take the SR20DET. 350rwhp and 8k redline doesn't get any sweeter to me. Unless you wanna talk about the RBX....

[NISSANSPDR]

Need to be more specific I guess...so I say KA24DET...preferably a F-Max stage II that would make me create about 350HP...and I still wont need a bottom end rebuild/strengthening til I hit 450HP+

Talk about power to weight ratio...kill some nasty fast cars w/that!!!

SR's...yeah they are cool but I dont want to have to depend on the guy who did my swap for everything and import everything from Japan...

KA's...now that's where it's at...you got it...you can build it...and you can turbo the hell out of it and run 10's w/it...proven!

[TatII]

i voted for SR. but i pressed KA by accident. from the time extensive time that ive had been messin around with my car. i am not impressed with the KA. i think its a piece of crap motor. which makes me aching for a SR swap. i'm still kind of skeptical of a built KA. but if anyone here like to defend the KA please let me know cuse i want to save some money. and just get a nice a nice 240sx casue mine is just toooooo slow.

[mellowboy]

Well even though i don't know much about Nissans. Well this is what i know, KA24DE is a bigger motor rite? Bigger meaning more torque cause of the displacement and i think i'd rather turbocharge it then having the SR20DET since its smaller. I mean think about it...2.4 vs 2.0?? Wouldn't u go with the bigger motor? Like for me i would love to have the H22 in my crx but its too heavy and too much work. SO i settled with a b16. The 240sx comes already with KA24DE and why would u swap it out for a smaller motor??

[TatII]

well thats csaue the KA is a heavy motor, and its stock internals aren't forged like the SR's are. plus i worry about durablity since the KA was never intended to be turbo charged. there fore the cast materials will give in quicker then the SR20DET since that engine was designed to be turboed from the start.

[mellowboy]

Well i was told that most of the Nissans motor are already turbo prepped?

[J SPEC SilEighty]

The KA can be turbocharged on stock internals and can handle up to 400hp.

Either motor is good, with the KA you will get more of a muscle car kinda feel with all of the torque that your going to be getting from it and with the SR it is a more smooth high revving engine. The SR is more of a race inspired engine and it all depends on what your looking for in your car.

[Holyterror]

Okay, comparison time.

SR20DET - Extremely popular, easy to obtain, capable of tons of power. Even though the block is aluminum, it's still the traditional thick-walled Nissan sand casting, and weighs just as much as the all-iron CA18DET it was designed to replace. This isn't a bad thing, mind you. It means this thing can handle a lot of power (read: boost). Piston oil squirters are definitely a good thing. Pulled from a S15 front clip, it has a beautiful ball-bearing turbo already installed. Earlier engines have the torque-happy heads, so you win either way. Very sturdy. The conversion is cheap. Not too many downsides. Several low-tech trade-offs compared to the CA18DET, but that's not what we're comparing, is it?

KA24DE - The truck motor! Old school cast iron, stroked as far as it will go, low-revving, torquey... but if you live in the States, it's already in the car! Although mundane in stock form, it can (like most Nissan engines) go from Jeckel to Hyde with the introduction of a turbocharger. Stock internals will go a long way, but watch out. Where as the SR can be (and has been many times) stroked further, the stock KA is questionably safe running boost in the mischevious side of the tach. Since the rods are so firmly connected to the crank, they'll break in half, leaving two "beauty marks" on your cylinder wall. This is not a racing engine. It has it's limits. But for street use, it's hard to beat. Kept at reasonable boost, a KA24DET could be the best way to shut down import poseurs between stoplights. The main think the KA24 has going for it is cost. To get more parts, you don't have to import them, you just grab some from the junkyard - hardbody pickup, Altima, other 240s, Stanza - it's a common engine. Of course, the SR20 is becoming more common, as are aftermarket parts. There isn't a big aftermarket for the KA, but then if you want aftermarket, get a Honda. For the money you'd have spent on the SR20 conversion you could be getting an F-Max turbo kit or just buy a turbo and have the piping fabricated. Which would you rather have: a stock SR20, or a KA24 running 15 psi?

For the poll, I picked the KA. Why? Well, for one thing, I'm not a hardcore racer, so I like to keep my cars streetable. That extra torque is nice in the city. Also, if I was going for a high-revving strip motor, I wouldn't get the SR20 anyway! Instead, I would build up another CA18DET (after I got a new one for the Pulsar... geez). Yes, I know my front yard is going to be rolled for saying this, but I still think it's a superior motor. The KA and SR are both over square, or have a larger stroke than bore. Sure, the SR has shorter con rods, but it still limits its "revability" (not to mention top end stability). Remember, the SR was designed to be superior to the CA only in terms of price. The SR20DET is not the end-all-be-all motor.

Keep in mind, this is still a subjective thing. It depends on what you like and what is available to you. I don't always have to have high revs (although they are nice). Americans are still going to go for the SR20 swap, just because it brings the car closer to JDM spec. Everybody else either already has it or is going to tear out the CA18DET just for the hell of it. They certainly aren't going to try to import the KA24!

[mellowboy]

Originally posted by Holyterror

but then if you want aftermarket, get a Honda.

hehehe

[Fliquer]

I voted for the KA because im more budget minded. I dont want an engine that will need a specialist for repairs. And replacement SR20 parts gotta be hard to find. Sure theres a huge aftermarket for the SR20DET, but where is that market? IN JAPAN! Im not gonna pay huge shipping fees for performance parts.

[J SPEC SilEighty]

Something else that my friend brought up today while we were talking about either the SR or a turbo KA. If you are looking to go out and buy a 240SX and you plan on keeping the KA and putting on a turbo, it would probably be a good idea to look for one with not very many miles (less than 60k IMO). Because a lot of 240's that I go and look at will have more than 130k. I looked at one for sale about a month ago and it had 210k miles on it! The thing that we were talking about is how good then engine will hold up to a turbo if it has over 100k on it. Because if it had a lot of miles and you had to end up swapping the KA for a KA with less miles and then adding the turbo, then your probably looking at about 1k more than it would cost to swap in an SR. But still this is all opinion based.

I'm surprised to see that there are 6 votes for the KA and 4 for the SR. I thought it would be the other way around, but you never know.