hey guys, my next project that i want to do is too, swap in a Nissan 240sx ka24de motor and turbocharge it into my 318i e36 1993

simply because i love the ka24de-t project and it would be different and fast and sexy all at the same time in my BMW E36

is there any info out there on this swap, Google didnt help much

Thanks

i've seen people do the SR20DET swaps, but not the KA, sounds like its gonna be a blast when its done, good luck

Sounds like a cool swap. I've been thinking the same thing since those engines are literally thrown away to make way for the SR20DET swaps. You'll definitely have to build the bottom end though cuz I know they can't handle more than 10lbs of boost but the engine is cheap enough for it to be worth biulding.

ka24det is a bomb compared to a sr20det

i have two friends who rebuild a sr20det and a ka24det apart, they bought the same turbo kit, and rebuild kit, the guy with the sr20det, spent 4500$ more because he had to get more imported parts, which killed him on shipping, and the motor and the guy with the ka24det went down the street to nissan or napa to get spare parts, in the end there both pushing around 18 psi, the kad24de-t has 575 rwhp and the sr20det has 425 rwhp

ka24de-t rocks:buttrockplus he had better tunning

check out
www.ka-t.org (http://www.ka-t.org)
theres a guy pushing 500rwhp with stock internals, but a solid Engine managment system.:alright

but i still want to know what's the deal on putting one of these in my 318, i know for sure the sr20de-t and the ka24de-t have the same engine mountings, and most of the parts are the same....i also know that a sr20de-t can fit in a e30, and my m42 motor in my 318 drops in perfect in a e30, so i figured ...hey! why not in my e36 318:devillook

i just need info.....possibly pics

I don't think its ever been done so your pretty much on your own. It will be heck of alot easier than an LS1 swap. Go for it dude and be a pioneer like I wish I could be! My wife and three kids kinda limit me from such expenditures, I could only dream at this point in my life.

Similar
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=884227

There's also a member on here dropping a SR20DET into a E30M3.

... those engines are literally thrown away to make way for the SR20DET swaps.

I literally threw my KA24DE away (dumped it at the salvage yard) to make room for an RB.

But this would be a bit like swapping your 318 engine into a 240SX, i.e. what's the point? The engines are so similar in terms of power, potential, and aftermarket support; I don't see what you'll gain.

So I favor keeping your engine and turbo'ing it, if for no other reason than that it already bolts in and you won't have to change any wiring.

1-well for starters, ka is a 2.4 liter motor not a 1.8 L
2-parts for a ka are pratically half the cost then for a bmw
3-where do you find any rebuild kit, forged rods, turbo components ( i can go on) for bmw? and how much?
4- nissan motors i believe are as strong as a bmw motor, but what happens if my job on my bmw motor goes KA-BOOM! well, im in mad debt!
5- my buddy is doing this job in his s13 with his ka at the moment, and i find it amazing that parts are dirt cheap, and ppl are pratically throwing away these potential motors
6- i just find it cool to see something different in a bmw shell.
7- WHY NOT!

ka24det is a bomb compared to a sr20det

i have two friends who rebuild a sr20det and a ka24det apart, they bought the same turbo kit, and rebuild kit, the guy with the sr20det, spent 4500$ more because he had to get more imported parts, which killed him on shipping, and the motor and the guy with the ka24det went down the street to nissan or napa to get spare parts, in the end there both pushing around 18 psi, the kad24de-t has 575 rwhp and the sr20det has 425 rwhp

ka24de-t rocks:buttrockplus he had better tunning

check out
www.ka-t.org (http://www.ka-t.org)
theres a guy pushing 500rwhp with stock internals, but a solid Engine managment system.:alright

but i still want to know what's the deal on putting one of these in my 318, i know for sure the sr20de-t and the ka24de-t have the same engine mountings, and most of the parts are the same....i also know that a sr20de-t can fit in a e30, and my m42 motor in my 318 drops in perfect in a e30, so i figured ...hey! why not in my e36 318:devillook

i just need info.....possibly pics

You're misinformed about a few things. The KA is completely different from the SR and shares no rebuild parts. In addition, there are several domestic sources for SR rebuild parts -- no need to source them from Japan.

1-well for starters, ka is a 2.4 liter motor not a 1.8 L
2-parts for a ka are pratically half the cost then for a bmw
3-where do you find any rebuild kit, forged rods, turbo components ( i can go on) for bmw? and how much?
4- nissan motors i believe are as strong as a bmw motor, but what happens if my job on my bmw motor goes KA-BOOM! well, im in mad debt!
5- my buddy is doing this job in his s13 with his ka at the moment, and i find it amazing that parts are dirt cheap, and ppl are pratically throwing away these potential motors
6- i just find it cool to see something different in a bmw shell.
7- WHY NOT!

:werd: i personally love seeing non-stock swaps. Its good to be diffrent sometimes.

1-well for starters, ka is a 2.4 liter motor not a 1.8 L
The BMW is down by 17 hp. Not a huge difference.
2-parts for a ka are pratically half the cost then for a bmw
3-where do you find any rebuild kit, forged rods, turbo components ( i can go on) for bmw? and how much?
I don't know.
4- nissan motors i believe are as strong as a bmw motor, but what happens if my job on my bmw motor goes KA-BOOM! well, im in mad debt!
You're going to be in mad debt anyway if you build up a KA and it goes boom.
5- my buddy is doing this job in his s13 with his ka at the moment, and i find it amazing that parts are dirt cheap, and ppl are pratically throwing away these potential motors
Forged parts are expensive for any car, and they are going to be about the same price for similar quality and sized rods or pistons from the same manufacturer.
6- i just find it cool to see something different in a bmw shell.
7- WHY NOT!
6 and 7 are good reasons that I can't argue with (although I disagree).

You might want to rethink 1-5.

You're misinformed about a few things. The KA is completely different from the SR and shares no rebuild parts. In addition, there are several domestic sources for SR rebuild parts -- no need to source them from Japan.

Werd.

The KA IMO is a pile. I have a buddy who turbo'd one and it blew up with "great" tuning and all of the right high dollar parts.

Personally, I would(did :stickoutt) go SR! :buttrock

I almost went SR too, but then someone posted a sound clip of an RB... it slew me so I went RB.

The RB is a sweet motor (sweet high revving 6) but no different than an M50 except that you'd have to turbo the M50 of course but the only reason and I stress, the only reason I'd even consider a KA is the fact that the engine is thrown away on a daily basis which makes it cheap to modify especially when building the bottom end for boost.

i rather use a Ka instead of a SR motor, simply because of cost!, the KA has better high end torque then the SR and in the end there both equal powerfull motors, but i dont want to import a SR and spend 2000$ for a engine, i rather buy a 250$ ka and start from there, i found a rebuild kit with forged pistons rods etc, metal gaskets everything i need to rebuild a motor for under 1800$, thats the cost of a SR motor itself, and then the parts ie, turbo, intercooler, piping, well thats the same cost for any turbo upgrade on any car, i dont have a huge budget im doing it for fun, and a thrill of rebuilding a motor in my e36, i dont want to go m50 because its a bmw motor I-6 and it would kill me for parts, common guys we all know parts for BMW are expensive, i changed my thermosat it cost me 75$ and for a nissan its 13$ !!!.....i put up this forum to ask a simple question, that is if there is any info out there on doing this swap, for me, the SR and the KA are almost the same, but in the end of the day, one of these motors is going in a e36 shell, and i want to know what others did to complete this task!

All OEM parts are expensive, but you're exaggerating. Here are some OEM prices from courtesyparts.com for Nissan and autohauz for BMW:

Thermostat:
240SX: $17.88
318is: $18.74

Clutch cover:
240SX: $126.15
318is: $86.19

Piston ring set:
240SX: $95.20
318is: $93.28

Wow. Huge difference. Seriously, I don't know where you're getting your info from. Where did you ever hear that Japanese parts were cheap? Sure, you can go down to Autozone and get a $7 thermostat, but that's not comparable in quality to the OEM part.

i rather use a Ka instead of a SR motor, simply because of cost!, the KA has better high end torque then the SR and in the end there both equal powerfull motors, but i dont want to import a SR and spend 2000$ for a engine, i rather buy a 250$ ka and start from there, i found a rebuild kit with forged pistons rods etc, metal gaskets everything i need to rebuild a motor for under 1800$, thats the cost of a SR motor itself, and then the parts ie, turbo, intercooler, piping, well thats the same cost for any turbo upgrade on any car, i dont have a huge budget im doing it for fun, and a thrill of rebuilding a motor in my e36, i dont want to go m50 because its a bmw motor I-6 and it would kill me for parts, common guys we all know parts for BMW are expensive, i changed my thermosat it cost me 75$ and for a nissan its 13$ !!!.....i put up this forum to ask a simple question, that is if there is any info out there on doing this swap, for me, the SR and the KA are almost the same, but in the end of the day, one of these motors is going in a e36 shell, and i want to know what others did to complete this task!

You forgot the mention one thing..... reliabilty.

The SR was ment for boost, the KA was not. Good luck with your truck motor.

You forgot the mention one thing..... reliabilty.

The SR was ment for boost, the KA was not. Good luck with your truck motor.

Like in my post asking about RB in an E36... I will take a factory turbo engine over an N/A engine thats been been boosted. Im not saying that the KA isnt a good engine, all I am saying is your gains will be so minor (if any) that it will not make a difference. Just dont do an RB swap, I want to do it first :D

You forgot the mention one thing..... reliabilty.

The SR was ment for boost, the KA was not. Good luck with your truck motor.

Thank you.

There is a reason why people pay top dollar for good SR20's and you can get a KA for pennies.

O and your sr20 buddy is retarded for sourcing parts from japan to run a measly 18 PSI, considering there are sr20's with nothing but an upgraded head gasket making 530whp on 26PSI and ALL STOCK INTERNALS.

Hit your KA with 26 PSI on stock internals and video it for my viewing pleasure,

K thanks

Do it just to piss people off if you have to. Why not? It's just a 318. Mine was clean and straight and I still parted it and crushed it as the sum of the parts was worth more than the whole car.

A buddy of mine that does Nissans and Toyotas built a KA-turbo powered drift S13 last year out of junkyard parts and crap given to him by people that probably should have thrown it away instead. He put down 370whp, drifted the hell out of the car for a season without a major failure and had less than $500 into the whole car.

Inferior or not you can't deny the potential. It's like the 7-bolt/6-bolt DSM debate. Sure 7-bolt shortblocks aren't as strong... but the budget minded tuner can probably pick up eight of them for the cost of a 6-bolt.

Thank you.

There is a reason why people pay top dollar for good SR20's and you can get a KA for pennies.

O and your sr20 buddy is retarded for sourcing parts from japan to run a measly 18 PSI, considering there are sr20's with nothing but an upgraded head gasket making 530whp on 26PSI and ALL STOCK INTERNALS.

Hit your KA with 26 PSI on stock internals and video it for my viewing pleasure,

K thanks




Here's for your viewing pleasure, after 30 secs of searching on youtube...this guy is pulling at 30 psi with his ka24de-t ON STOCK INTERNALS....doing some dyno pulls, keep in mind its not tuned on an engine managment system, its on a chiped sr20 ecu. Considering the stock pistons hes boosting on, you do have to realize timming has to be pulled ALOT because of the stock high compression ratio pistons, so if anyone is asking themselves why it takes 30psi to get 528 whp and 420 wtq thats the reason and keep in mind that with a built block and low compression pistons ignition can be advanced alot compared to stock, yeilding way more power.


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

You can make some decent power with a KA, but their powerband with a reasonably sized turbo is pretty weak up top due to the long stroke and harmonics.

Parts cost are basically the same on a KA vs. SR with the same quality, and the aftermarket support for the SR is FAR better. With a KA you'll have to do quite a lot of fab work for anything besides a basic setup, but I guess putting it into an E36 chassis isn't easy in the first place.


Really.. I'd go with an M50 way before a KA24DE - it's a MUCH better engine, and only marginally more expensive.

i seriously doubt that you will be able to find info for KA to BMW, but i totally want to see it done, go for it, it should be really cheap, ka's run about $200 a pop!

keep in mind its not tuned on an engine managment system, its on a chiped sr20 ecu.

It is still fully tuned, no matter how you slice it.

One dyno pull is a testament to reliability? I'm really not trying to be an ass, but Id like to see that thing survive being pushed to the limits for a track day, much less thousands of miles of hard street driving.

SR20s have been run as street/weekend warrior road racers on 26psi, making the same power with no issues. They have a proven track record. Not to say it is impossible with a KA, but id trust an sr20 far more.

One thing i will say for the KA, they seem to take abuse very well. I had a friend with one...he didnt change or add oil for about 25,000 miles, with a ton of street and track racing in those miles. When the engine did finally throw a rod through the block, there was about 1 quart of pure sludge in the bottom of the oil pan, which was the only thing lubricating (sort of) the engine prior to it exploding.