hardbody DE swap (56k beware)

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schmauster920
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Post by schmauster920 »

as it turns out i dont see the turbo smoking :D Ive been driving it for a little bit around town, waiting to get the AFs out of 10s constantly when not in boost, i either need an FPR, or move my maf to a different spot then on my turbo inlet haha


http://videos.streetfire.net/video/Turb ... 191687.htm
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Post by schmauster920 »

Just an update... ive put about 1500 miles on it since its been running... everything went smoothly except for my wastegate breaking off while racing with a 700lb chrysler big block in the bed lol (freeway in 3rd) It was cracking a bit before that but apparently that was the final straw... It got real loud all the sudden so i popped my hood to see my wastegate sitting on my frame rail hhaha Rewelded to get me home from San Diego and ill add some braces later :P

I recirculated my BOV and that fixed a lot of the richness issues since it was blowing out air at idle!


I have also been having some clutch disengagment issues in 1st and reverse (sounds like it slams it into gear without the clutch when letting the clutch out) I think i tracked it down to me using the automatic bushing out of the motor that was origionally automatic.. It was a pain to get out, but with the air hammer it came with some abuse!

For any of you wondering what my clutch looks like after 1500 miles

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Last edited by schmauster920 on Sat Nov 15, 2008 1:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by IThaJokaI »

Damn dood... You actually make me want to finish my truck..

Looks good man, keep it up.
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Post by slos14 »

hahahaha thats great lol .
ka-t on the way
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free junk

Post by schmauster920 »

Free junk update

I got 4 free... wide and crazy offset wheels... they were sitting outside by a trash can waiting to be picked up by the guy that cruises by and grabs anything useful / recyclable before the dump truck comes

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The wheels are 15s and very wide, so i think ill probably burn up these tires and slap some bigger and stickier rubber on there. Not anything too special for differencial abuse reasons. I wouldnt run them normally, if they will actually work i will be using them for drag... they look kind of funny sticking out like that haha
Ill have to see if i have problems with squat on launch sending the tire into the wheel wells! I could however keep the sleeper look if i threw some gardening equipment in the back and drove 50 on the freeway

They fit on 90% of the way but theres that smaller lip on the wheel that i am thinking of grinding out and getting them rebalanced.. Glad i dont have to deal with hole redrilling or anything.. they are cheap wheels so i wouldnt bother spending much on them.. Didnt realize we have the same bolt pattern as some chevies.. slownissan has some blingin escalade rims on his truck.


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Now that ive got the manual trans input shaft support bushing in there and everything is operating as it should I love my ACT 6 puck.. It engages almost like stock, and the pedal pressure is stock. It is a little more grabby and shutter prone but i am still getting used to it.
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Post by schmauster920 »

Heres that motor that i picked up for a friend... it was a good deal and he 'plans' on putting it MR in a VW karmann ghia and adding twin turbos :shock:

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Both exhaust manifolds had JB weld around where it cracked behind the front cylinders haha

The KA didnt mind the weight of this thing even with my 6 puck at low speeds... KA24 TORQUE FTW

Chrysler 413 big block with exhaust manifolds and everything... The harbor freight engine hoist got a real workout compared to the KAs thats for sure. We had to use 1ton to pick it up and then we used half ton so we could move it forward against the cab. of course I had the engine hoist in the back too.

Im not sure if a clutch dump would have resulted in a good launch or broken parts so i didnt want to find out.. even with sub 200hp... it would have been a really good picture being towed on a flatbed though :(
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Post by hessianben »

Sorry if I missed this info earlier in the thread- but what are you running for engine management? Stock S13 ecu? how does it run with no intercooler?? Doesn't get too lean?

Thanks!
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Post by schmauster920 »

Im running a SAFC2 with the stock ecu and 370cc injectors.. It seems to run okay with no intercooler but i wouldnt push more then the 3psi i am, since im sure the intake temps get pretty hot at times

I have tuned it and dont notice the mixtures moving around too much with heat... cruising im mostly in the 14s and under boost im in the 12s and 13s so its not bad.. an intercooler is coming soon though
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stripper confession

Post by schmauster920 »

I went to the 1/8th mile strip at qualcomm and belted out 4 passes... had a great time with some friends bbqing in parking lot too! Met quite a few people that thought it was an SR but i made sure they knew it was a ka :D

There were 2 other turbo KA 240s, i told a few people about this site too

Ill have to work on my 60 foot haha (need to run those bigger wheels with some wide ass tires)

my times were...

60 foot elapsed mph

2.681 10.546 70.42 9:15pm
2.660 10.517 66.86 9:56pm
2.733 10.569 69.33 10:54pm
2.680 10.541 70.42 11:30pm


this converts to mid 16s if you use a chart... those things dont even look at mph.. i know this is faster than 16s

I had traction problems in 1st and when i hit 2nd it wanted to spin... I never did a burnout in the box.. people arent joking when they say drag strips are slick.. thought it was just the guys with street tires in the burnout box!
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Post by Kirk »

LOL your build is pretty cool.
You need to take video in the daytime cause I can't see anything!!! haha
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Post by schmauster920 »

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Friend got the pics from the camera


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Post by t240guy »

Nice turbo setup man. I know alot of people on here run high boost, massive intercoolers and such. I respect that and appreciate it as I had an 89 s13 with the ka24e. Crank snapped on the way to Hot Springs and had to have it towed home. Snapped in between crank pulley and timing hear. Have no idea what happened, Was cruising at 55. Anyway Like you, I swapped it out to a 95 California spec ka24de. Was a pain in the %^& to get that *%&^@#$ check engine light off, but finally got it with the help of a few radio shack resistors. Kudos to you for the swap, then the turbo. I am a professional fabricator and mechanical systems engineering student, and my current project is my budget 91 Hardbody with a ka24e. Rebuilt the engine, transmission and inspected internals of transfer case. New u joints, act street clutch kit, all new fluids new 237/75r15 mud tires. I built the front and rear bumper. STainless skidplate on front and swing out tire carrier on the rear bumper. Now I am to the point of hopping the motor up a little. Got a garrett t3 turbo, stock sr20 intercooler (I enlarged the tube radious and replaced center core with 18" width core. I will be making my intercooler tubes out of aluminum at my work and I am in day 2 of building my stainless tubular turbo manifold. On my 240 I had jim wolf reprogram the ecu for the turbo. Since I am building this truck on a budget, I would like to use an Safc2, but I haven't tuned before. How long did it take you to get it tuned to driveable without running dangerously lean, and how did you determine 370cc injectors, what brand and was there any other modifications to the fuel harness/rail? I am just curious because I admire what you have done and give you props. I am documenting my build as well. I have all of the pics of every step along the way.

I would also like to offer my fabrication skills to the forum members. I am reasonable and I just enjoy the projects. I will see if I can post some pics of my bumpers. I am new to the forum. Hope I didn't break any rules and I like what all of you are doing. Thank you!

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Post by kyle k yo »

that was a great build :boink:
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Post by rcarnwath »

Im still confused about the wiring, did you use the factory harness of the truck and tied the wiring in from the ka24de? Ive been thinking of doing this, but my plan was to swap the whole cabin harness from a 240 into the truck and use it that way, or either using the truck and ka24de ecu's.
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Post by schmauster920 »

Hey guys,

Sorry ive been busy with trying to find a job and other junk that i dont want to be doing. I melted #3 piston a few months back. I made my way up to 14psi, im thinking my distributor was keyed in too advanced, so the ecu couldnt cut enough timing, or it was just so bad that it couldnt save it. It was harder than i should have been pushing the motor without an intercooler, and even then its probably too much.

I got a new junkyard piston and ill be back on the road after some honing and rebuilding... ill be doing it in the next week or so and ill put up some pics if people are interested to see how the project is progressing.. I put about 20,000 miles on it, at 4 psi without any problems except the downpipe cracking due to me not having a flex pipe.

Ill answer questions and put up some pics a little later


On a more interesting note i roasted a new style eclipse... im pretty sure he wasnt turbo, because i was beating him senseless.
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Post by schmauster920 »

rcarnwath.... I take it you are talking about the obd2 DE 240 motor / cabin harness.... I grabbed the whole harness from the 98 240 that i got my motor out of but it was so huge and bulky i decided against using it. The obd1 DE harness is very simple and so much easier, i only had to swap to the obd1 distibutor and ecu. It was about 100 bucks at the junkyard for the ecu and harness so i figured well worth it. As far as making it all work, i have it hooked up to only power through a relay and no constant power to the ecu. Which is really bad im sure, but ill be changing that before its running again. All i did was give the ecu power and grounds, i had to tap into the ignition and a few other easy things and the rest was splicing plugs and cutting out wires that i didnt need. Looking at the ECU pinout for both wiring harnesses (not the octopus one, the labeled ecu pins) and using the octopus' from both to figure out what goes where... not too bad once you get into it

t240guy - Im sorry to hear about your crank snapping, did you get detonation or did things just kind of fall apart on their own? Do you have any pics of your project? Hows it coming along? It sounds like you will have plenty of traction which will suprise many people. I like your tubluar manifold building, i would love one, even though my turbo spools below 3000, i would love to upgrade to a holset on a tubular :) I think our BMC clearance would let us run cheap egay turbo manifolds too, there was a lot of room for my log manifold that i would love to replace and sell off one day.

With the wideband it takes a lot of the guesswork out for injectors, i just got them because i know they can support an SR20det, so they will get my project going for a while at least.. i got them from a member, in a rail for 30 bucks so i couldnt pass that up. I still had 12 AFs when my motor blew so im pretty sure i wasnt out of injector, but probably very close.. I want to tinker with timing and fuel, so i would love to upgrade to an emanage. The safc is very easy to learn, but i still get rich surges at idle sometimes.. I have a programmed ecu for 550s if i ever get my hands on some. Tuning is easy and not nearly as scary as you would think, especially after an hour of low throttle tuning. The trick is to work up, to higher throttle very slowly. If you pull out and floor it, without setting up the safc, then you are asking for a melted piston like me haha

I felt like i wasted money on the clutch unless i start making 400hp soon, one puck is touching rivets which seems like it wore out quickly. I am very hard on it, and drove it in traffic more than a few times.

Its very much worth buying a used 500 dollar mig welder if you can, it will pay for itself. I wish i could buy one, i was borrowing one, and a friends skills to weld things for me. Its not hard to learn, thin materials like exhaust is a lot easier than welding flanges onto a manifold.
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Post by rcarnwath »

I see, that is exactly what I was going to do if I were to swap a KA24de was to run the truck ecu and run the ignition to the ecu through a relay. But after much reading on here, the ka24e dont sound like a bad way to go...I would like to dual cam swap, but the oil pan thing doesnt seem very fun, although I am a decent welder. The thing is that I have a 89 nissan truck and I dont know how similar the wiring is to say a 95 hardbody. Oh well more research and I will figure it out... Thanks.
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Post by schmauster920 »

Im not sure how close the truck ECUs are to the 240 ecus, i know the wiring is slightly different so you will have to mod a little anyways. I had the pan cut and flipped around, which i would do again, but it cost about 100 bucks extra, i needed a custom pickup too. Ive heard about people just shimming the motor up higher or moving it around, but i wanted it as low and far back as possible, which it does great where it is. I figure if you can find a good DE for under 500 than go for it, since most of the other parts are the same.. but if you cant, or its just not in your budget then rock the E.

The DE will give you more power for whatever you do hands down, so that was my decision. Im really glad i went with the DE, since they move a lot more air, and also its easy to access the spark plugs, I get about 26-28 mpg average, the high compression and low boost help a lot there. The DE is a smoother motor and just feels more high tech, I love efficiency, and you cant beat the valve system on the DEs, same as most motorcycles use.

I have a 93 piston that im going to be replacing my melted one with, it has valve reliefs, and the others dont. Im thinking the difference in compression wont matter, and even if it does, it should just effect the smoothness a little. I dont expect it to last forever.. it will be nice having slightly lower compression in the cylinder that blew up haha
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Post by rcarnwath »

The DE motor seems to be the way to go, but I'm not trying or going for gobs of power, I just want something to have fun in. I dont have eny extra money as I am a student working part time, but I want to get a start on the project to keep myself motivated to complete it.

I have always been wary of the oil situtation as it compliments the design of the motor from the manufactuer, and it seems the more people mess with the oil design, the more problems they have. The E seems as if it would be more reliable due to this factor.

I have tried to view your modded oil pan pics but they seem to be down. How did you blow your DE? Also in your sig, you say lots of wierd little noises, lol, whats the deal with that?

Ryan
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Post by schmauster920 »

The motor blew due to 14 psi and no intercooler, im thinking the timing wasnt turned back enough, even though the distributor was dialed back all the way. Completely my fault, and i was pushing it way too hard, especially for not having an intercooler.. i was expecting the ecu to pull timing but i never noticed it, or heard detonation.. but im sure there was a lot.


I figured on the DE being worth it once its boosted... if you plan on pushing more than 300hp than go with the DE, it breathes better which makes it worth it to me, and theyre easy to find. Es are easier to find in junkyards and other places. I have a 240 manifold and some other e parts if you need anything

Ill get pics of the project up when i get a chance
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Post by schmauster920 »

Heres what things look like right now



before piston removal
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shelf o junk

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one of these things is not like the other.. post cleaning

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new harbor freight gauges + my oil psi gauge... the set of 3 cost 13 dollars, i want to replace the coolant gauge soon but it will work for now

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theres to give you an idea of the oil pan, the hardest part was getting it to clear the girdle and pickup, it wasnt hard at all though, i think this is a great mod because the oil hits the back of the sump, unlike the front sump oil pans

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heres what the old piston looked like.. not really what you want to see


Between fallout3 and other distractions, i havent been working too fast, i just have to remove a stripped plug from the oil filter housing to get my oil psi gauge hooked up. Im hoping to have it in the truck and running by sunday.. i think ill be reusing the stock rings if i cant find any locally for really cheap



I couldnt get the plug out of the end, so i tapped for 2 extra oil ports... stock oil light, gauge and turbo... life will be good... and informitive. Its at a weird angle.. you have to have it removed to take out a bolt that holds the oil filter adapter on, but its not a big deal. Barely screwed in just for the pics.
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Post by vrmilionzx »

Fun stuff!!!!!!
arias pistons (8.8:1), pauter rods,
cometic headgasket
garrett t3/4 50 trim
mild p&p, pdm cams, 3" turbo back,
jwt flywheel and ecu, clutch specialties clutch
740cc injectors, ebay fmic,
elec fans, msd, stock vlsd, z32 brakes and mafs, safc2, hks evc 4, Koyo Radiator, protective layer of dirt.
-"stock" s13 dd - Project MPG
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schmauster920
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Post by schmauster920 »

Motor is actually running well now.. i have about 1500 miles on it, and have used it to move from ventura to san diego county.. taking 3 or 4 trips it came out to about 1100 miles by now, it is running strong except for a few small things... I need to get a dump pipe before i completely melt my electric fan shroud haha

Ill be putting up some pics when i get a chance
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Update...still running

Post by IndyGreg »

Is this truck still running? I have questions about wiring and ECU, just wondering if you are still around?
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Post by schmauster920 »

Hey i almost forgot about this thread, everything has been running well now that i found some burnt wires... maf and distributor... not important at all! So now it seems to be running pretty well, and when it is running well i want to turn up the power.. So hopefully an intercooler and 14psi will be coming soon.

I took a video for a friend and figured i might as well share. The camera ran out of storage so it cut short, ill be taking another video with more actual boost.

Its a horrible video but im sure somebody will enjoy it. Camera cuts off mid pull lol

This may be my first daytime video lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7lRXnkgYn8

@ indygreg.. pm me your questions if you havent figured it out already... its been a while haha


update 12/29/2011 a few pics.. been driving the crap out of it and working on it just as much.


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Re: hardbody DE swap (56k beware)

Post by Hardbodykade »

So you didn't customize you motor stand for the motor mounts
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Re: hardbody DE swap (56k beware)

Post by schmauster920 »

To clarify I used all the motor mount pieces from the truck on the 240 motor, besides the oil pan the motor just bolts right up. I had to drill the holes out on the motor since the bell housing and starter had threaded holes to mate up.


I sold the truck and am hoping to move onto something awd with a stronger drivetrain.. Unfortunetly it will likely be a car, the truck was fun. Beat on it hard, got a lot of funny looks and surprised people :) It was sold to another member on here so it should be around in a much cleaner form, or the motor in a different (and much cleaner) truck
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