choptank

I know you guys are going to say search but I have and have not come up with any real answers. Maybe you guys can tell me what terms to search. (I tried ka24de, engine, swaps....) Mainly sr20 stuff comes up, which I have no interest in. I want to stay ka. What all will I need to do to make a 97 engine fit in my 91? I have found out that it will fit with some minor modifications but what are they? I did also read that I need to switch out intake an exhaust manifolds but is that just it. I read on a lot of post where people ask these same questions and you guys always say search but I truly have and came up with no luck. I really do appreciate any and all help you guys can give me.
Thanks, Chop

Cape 240

you shouldn't need to swap anything if your dropping the whole engine in.
1. Pull old engine out
2. put new engine in

If you've got all the components from the '97 it should be fine.

I'm guessing your doing ka24e to ka24de
as long as you have all de parts... unless you have jsut the block/head. Then yes, you need all the other components as well.
Familiarize your self with the engines look to see what it different

choptank

My 91 has a ka24de but it spun a bearing. Doesn't the motor have different population smog stuff. Everything will just plug right up? I read that I may have to change out the distributor also. All I would be buying is a 97 complete engine.

ConceptS14

91 is ODBI and 97 is ODBII.
i'm no expert, but here's what i think. anyone feel free to correct me.
you'd probably have to run the 97 ecu with the 97motor.
so you'd probably have to get the engine harness for the 97, or modify your existing harness to accomidate for the extra sensors that the 97 has.
as for switching out the manifolds, i think that is done to run the motor with a OBDI ecu.? but would a 91 ecu work for a 97 motor?

prjkt240

Thats sounds right. everything '96 and up is OBD2, so the entire engine harness, ecu, everything will be needed just as if you were swaping an SR20, its all different electronics. In my opinion you should get a 95 ka24de because you will have a twin cam KA and you will still be under the OBD2 stuff. Plus I dunno about doing it the other way around, but going from OBD to OBD2 to may cause state inspection problems. I know there is no way in hell you could go from OBD2 to just OBD. Stay OBD if you want to create less work and confusion during swap. You should also see if you can't fix the engine you have. As long as the crank isn't TOO scared up you may just be able to replace the bearings.

BigVinnie

iTrader: (2)

The only difference with the 97engine and the 91 is the cams and the 91-95 came with butterfly's, if you want the 97 block you are going to have to switch the heads or just the cams from 97 down to the 91. You need the 91 cam lobe and duration to work with your 91 ecu.

TWong1200

If you just spun a bearing, and assuming that the head is pretty much the same between the 91 and 97, save yourself some headache and just use the long block of the 97 while adding your intake and exhaust manifold to it. Then you can keep your original harness, ecu, etc.

choptank

Can I switch the heads and just use the rest of the block? If so that would be relatively easy. I current engine has 180000+ miles on it so I don't want to just replace the bearings.

devnull

Just use the '91 intake manifold on the '97 engine.

BigVinnie

iTrader: (2)

Since the engine has that many miles I would just do a cam swap. Put your 91 cams in the 97 head. Less work.

EDIT: OOOPS almost forgot that you will need the 91-95 TPS sensor, which means you should just switch your TB's as well. That was a close one......