Help... Building Engine Questions

[Fizzle]

I know this might sound a little stupid, but here it goes...
I am planning on getting a 240 soon and I want to go for a KA-T... the first thing I want to do is build the engine with stronger internals so that it hold up to 400 to 500whp reliably because it is going to be my daily driver.... I dont have that much money and I know building the block is going to take most, if not all, of my money... So my plan was to get it built and after a while put the turbo on... Would it even be possible to drive the car without the whole setup being done?? because building the engine for a turbo setup would require changing the compression ratio right?? and if so, will I be able to drive it without the turbo and add it on later after I get more money??

Sorry for the post being so long... I think I said everything right, or maybe i'm just being stupid... either way any help would be appreciated...

[stang805]

If you dont have money, 4-500 hp is a little out of your reach, just buy the turbo kit and leave it at like 8 psi, faster than hell but not too hard on the insides. then save up the money to do whatever else you want.

[MetalHeadZaid]

nothing wrong with driving around on lower compression, wont be as fast though.

[slideways...]

well if your set on this, its similar to what im doing. im building the motor to handle upwards of 600hp but im never going to make that much and neither will you(at least any time soon). but really the safest way is build the motor and stay n/a for the entire break-in period. im going to stay n/a for at least 5,000 if not 10,000 miles because i want my motor to last. all the extra i need is some cheap ebay ka headers, and when i stick the turbo on i only wasted like 150 bucks, which i can sell the header to partially recover some of that. the only downside to running n/a is youll have to find some way to make your ECU run the car only using part of its potential. what you could do is keep your stock injectors, fuel system and ecu in the car until you turbo and then get a reflash and/or hook up piggybacks, and then replace the injectors with your bigger ones.

(haha i have 8 KA side feed injectors in 2 fuel rails sitting in my room, 2 leftover SOHC top feed injectors from my old car, a sidefeed 300zx N/A injector, and my 650cc injectors are in my garage, and i also have my shadow injectors in the car, so i own 4 fuel rails and 21 fuel injectors)


also, your car will be a bit slower than stock with the lower compression, but that depends on the pistons you get. i bought 9.0:1 pistons, had my block decked .008", and got a headgasket .011" thicker than stock, so depending on how much i need my head planed when i bring it in for a valve job, i may end up with higher than 9:1 compression. but thats ok for me since like i said im never gonna make 600hp. but if the machine shop has to take off more than about .005" off the head i may have them reshape the combustion chamber a bit to lower the compression a bit more. but only do something like this if you trust your shop. its not something the average machine shop can do.

if you need any more help just ask

[Fizzle]

Thanks for the help.... Yeah i'm only planning on buiding the block and keeping the ECU, and injectors, fuel system all the same until I am ready to put on the turbo... As for the money issue, i'm going to have to sell my car.. its a 91 300zx TT, so I can get pretty good amount of money from that(dont want to keep this car because its a pain in the ass to work on and mods for the car are really expensive), its also why I dont want to just put a turbo on stock KA engine because my TT is already making more power than that... I know this shop that speciallizes is builds and swaps and know people who say they have good work so i'm pretty sure that I can trust them... as for building engines, I need to do way more research because I dont know that much about it... my plan is to keep that built block in the car and drive it around until I save up enough money to get a cheap turbo kit from ebay or something and throw it on there... also get the regular I/H/E... after putting on the cheap turbo kit, I plan on upgrading the injectors, ECU, Fuel system, FMIC, and then throwing a good turbo on there, not to mention, upgrading the suspension, clutch and all that other stuff to hold that much power... Would that be a good plan? or would that even work? and how much do you think or estimate it would cost to build a block capable of 500whp reliably?

I'm not planning on starting this project for atleast another couple of months, I have to do a JDM engine swap on my zxTT first... then sell it... right now i'm trying to get enough info or feedback as I can right now so I can make up my mind on what I want to do... because it might just be easier to keep my zxTT, but building the zxTT block cost alot not to mention all the mods for it are expensive as hell too, and to do anything on that car takes a while because you have to remove 10 things to get to what you want to get to...
so what do yall think I should do?

[nissan_240sx]

wow I always wanted a ttz.. good luck

[slideways...]

my block cost me around 250 or so to get it machined
475-500 for pistons
700-750 for rods
80 for headgasket
100 or so for ARP head studs
probably around 300 to get the head rebuilt and a valve job
500 or so for valves, valvesprings, retainers
500 or so for turbo grind camshafts
and another 100 or so for all the rest of the OEM gaskets, new timing components, main bearings, rod bearings, new valve guides and seals.

so the way im doing it wont be the cheapest but itll last and make good power.

i wanted to fully assemble my entire car before driving it but it looks like that may not happen. i guess im gonna have to keep the stock suspension, exhaust, wheels, tires, and diff until well after i start driving it.

as far as all the costs go, you can pick and choose what you want to do, and probably get away with not going as gungho as me with your build. if you only want a low boost application(under 300hp), new pistons, injectors, fuel pump and headgasket are really all you need.

[Fizzle]

Well i'm going to have like 3k-4k to do the build on the engine so i'm planning to get it as good as I can with that much money, because I know in the future I want the car up to 500whp... After the build, I want to just throw on a turbo kit so I can be making decent power untill I have enough money for a better turbo, FMIC, etc... I have a lot of patience and i'm only 18, so I got alot of time to make this car how I want it...
It seems like we are going for pretty much the exact same setup and same idea on what we want to do with our cars.... pretty cool... let me know how everything is going with yours...

[s13180sx]

sounds good not many people do that around here i hear its more of a west coast thing......but anyways i couldnt help but say this.........you said you were going to get some cheap turbo online and im sure your aware of this but just please dont get ss autochrome turbo u'll waist ur time and money

[240SXSlideStar]

TT Z32 at 18....not bad....why don't you keep it? You wanna driftoooo? You seem to want power, the VG will give more power then the KA for the money spent.

[slideways...]

ka-t is west coast? new to me...i thought west coast was all about the SR bandwagon.

[240SXSlideStar]

East Coast is where the KA-T is at.

[S13Driftfiend]

you live in canada and you still know this^^ i must say im impressed lol. but yea thats what it seems... more SR hype over there (west coast) and all the guys over here are keeping the KA. not that im complaining, who doesnt love torque

[Fizzle]

VG sucks to work on.. you have to take apart lot of stuff to get to one thing... plus the gas mileage sucks and liability insurance is over 1k for 6 months under my dads name, who has a perfect driving record..... I had a N/A before I got my TT, and I only paid 600 for 6 months, they shot up the insurance 500 bucks... time to get another car...