Read the drift coments...

OK. I got myself a nice little 240sx. Was originally gonna go with the SR20DET swap... Not enough money. So I thought left me fix up what I got. Now I bought my self an injen cold air. I have about a grand left to spend. I was thinking that keeping the car cool will be important so i think i want my next step to be a raidiator/electric fan. However, I also want power so I was thinking headers + exhoust. Then I thought well I'm gonna want to put a turbo in... so why spend money on the headers?? Now I'm just confused... Should I try and NA tune the 240 or turbo it up. Also what should my next performance upgrade be? I hope to read a couple of replies on this it would really help. thanks!

just be patient man. when its time you will now :)

Not in a hurry... I just made up my mind that I want to fix up the KA24. Just looking for some advice on what to do with it...

I wanna stick with my KA, I think its what I bought with the car with, its gunna be what kills me and dies with me too ;)

Whether you go T or N/A you will always need a better radiator, so this one thing you might want to get. Now when it comes to N/A or T, it all lies with you, how much power you want. If you knew where you are trying to get, it would help us help you, but you don't seem to have made up your mind or aren't saying, so all we can do is speculate, and thats one thing thats not easy, and ppl in here don't like doing.
I'm not trying to be rude, but if you say what power figures and performance level you want, there are tons of gear heads in here who can give you advice, but if you don't say???????.......................We can't help.

So basically, help us help you.

OK. What I really need are opinions. Should I N/A tune or Turbo charge my KA24DE? I'm not really looking for a lot of power just enough performance to keep the car cool when I push it to whatever it's current limits may be. I don't know if that's understandable it sounds ok in my head. Anyway, I'm giong to use this car for drift. So all I really want are opinions about what you would do with a 1,250 $$ budget and in my situation. I think I got most of it...

leave the engine and go with suspension.

Yeah improve the suspension, and by the way, drifting requires power to keep them wheels spinning, unlike the GTO and Viper that are N/A you are going to have a hard time keeping up with a N/A 4cyl.
Let me shed somelight on you, if your budget is $1250, I would suggest forgetting the racing thing. Racing ain't cheap, no matter what kind of racing you will do. Adecent set of coilovers will consume that 1250, then what? coilovers aren't the end of suspension upgrades, there is still tons left. When I joined this scene, I was 18yrs wanted to race, I went through two cars and tons of cash down the drain before I could get an understanding of how things go. In racing, prepare to spend tons of cash. A well built N/A will not get you enough power, might want to consider a T-setup, otherwise have it rebuilt and well machined with the right parts, and get you some gas, tons of gas.

The budget is only for the first couple of aftermarket parts. I intend on spending much more... Right now I'm just looking for something to get me started and was hoping for a couple of ideas to use my first grand on. That's all...

if you really want to drift you need a LSD if you dont have one that is definitely a must. thats what i would say... besides that suspension also. a normal ka has plenty of power to spin the wheels a fair amount if you get sideways so you dont have to do any engine mods necessarily, and if your car is a lot stiffer then it will whip sideways better.

as far as LSD's go theres this conversion kit thats not actually a new differential its a Phantom or something I forget but its like 300 bucks as opposed to like 1000 for a Quaife or Kaaz or whatever, and ive heard every review of it is very good, especially for how cheap it is.

and another thing you will probably have at least a minor crash while drifting so keeping a little cash around to fix whatever you mess up would be good too....

well, the first thing as orestes said you will need is an LSD, you can get one off a 300zx or and S14 se, these can be found on ebay or your local yard for around 150-350. also you might want to get a good radiator, like fluidyne, you will always need one of these whichever setup you go with turbo or N/A unless you rely on the stock Hp rating. Also get some polyutherane bushing kit for your suspension, I hear they improve handling especially on cars that drive sideways. These remove the flex that comes with the rubber counterparts, and besides, the rubberones should be worn out by now.
There goes your first $1250.00 according to my views, anyone sees diffenrent let him know, I ain't a genius.

800$ LSD. Not a shitty VLSD a good clutch type ala. Nismo, cusco, kaaz.
400

250$ Bushing master set - its a 15+yr old car... the bushings are shit.

450$ new Shocks - blown shocks suck...

????$ once agian its a 15+ year old car so theres a high likely hood that alot of other shits old and busted... track officials dont like leaky shit so you'll prolly need to fix that

you can drift any stock 240 but this stuff will keep you from being "the one wheel wonder guy and his infamous body roll"

A buddy of mine recently got 170WHP on his N/A KA24DE. All I know he has done is - 2 exhaust cams, port & polish, port matching and some other head work.

The car will beat a stock SR through 1st and 2nd - whoop-dee-f*cking-do i know, but it still has more torque...

drifting is mostly about skill, if power was an issue how did the drift king use a stock AE86,
i would hold off on the power upgrades for now if you just want to drift, replacement bushings is a good idea, use some of that money to just do all the basic things that a 15+ car would need,
oh ya and to turbo the older model 240 would take more because the kits that they sell are for the newer version

suspension, LSD, brakes, and it wouldnt be a bad idea to locate a used tire store and perchase yourself an extra set of tires, that way you won't go thru your daily tires too quickly

(also just a tip me and some of my friends use in drifting get those all weather tires the kind that are supposed to last for longer periods of time they lose grip easier so drift happens easier and they last longer)

practice in safe area, preferably empty parking lots at night soo no one will get hurt, and as an added challenge get those orange rubbery cone and use em to make turns that way if you mess up it won't really cause damage or at least anything big (lower risk), we usually find them at road working sites, just get a friend to drive his car along slowly stack up the cones throw inside and drive away

oh ya i kno this is a long post but getting bodykits and comestics such as that would only be a waste of money in drifting, i've seen them get riipped right off cars

Thanks for the idea LaYz on the cones, I will have to go get me some.

Thats illegal. So is street drifting. You should only drive for a few hours to a track event so you can practice...

ugh.

Got a lot of good ideas... I should put up more threads.. It's too bad I'm not much of a forum guy.
In the end I put down a down payment for an LSD system. On the meen time I bought an exhoust, intake, 2 12" electric fans, and a raidiator. The fans and raidiator i got because of late my car has been heating up plenty... Even when i dont drive it hard... So drifting (no pun inteanded... NOT)from my initial post... What can i do to keep my temp down???

Colder thermostat.