I am in the process of planning out a build for a ka engine and as the title states my target is 400whp. As always I am on a budget but I do have some money to spend. I'm trying to keep the engine building within 5000 dollars if possible. ( this is not including the clutch/drivetrain) so here are my plans.

Forged pistons
forged rods
arp head studs
metal head gasket
turbo including front mount, downpipe, turbo manifold, etc.

now I need to know what brands you guys might recommend and if i will be able to hit 400whp without touching the valvetrain. I have done extensive research and i have read through these forums so please dont tell me to search, I value you're opinions and would like to see what you guys might suggest. Thanks

 

Well... you have the very basics in your list for a good motor. as far as parts... just don't buy any cheap stuff.. parts are not really rated at HP.... All you are buying is the brand name. A quality part is a quality part.

Money alone with good parts will not bring you joy. You must also factor in tuning time if you will not be doing it yourself. There are vids of completely stock KA-T's hitting upwards of 400hp and lasting for a long time.... it comes down to the tune brother.

The only way you would HAVE to touch the valve train is if you went with very aggressive aftermarket cams. Just verify that your valves are all with in spec and good shape and you will be good to go. If you plan on revving very high for long periods of time, you have no choice. The Ka doesn't like to constantly hang about the redline zone at all. I limited myself to 6500rpms.... plenty enough to get all of my Hp to the ground.

 

This pretty much summed it up for you. Nothing is more critical then a tune, no matter what kind of parts you use.

 

alright sounds good, I heard that porting and polishing the ka head is worth it because of the restrictive exhaust side on the head, and i would love to do that, but i only have a limited amount of time to put this engine together and pnp means first dissassembling the head which can be a pain in the *** process and will eat up time.I will be doing the engine rebuild myself but the tune will be done at a shop. Is it worth doing the pnp?

edit: just clarifying, if i do pnp it would be done by a professional , but i would be dissassembling the head.

 

oh and two more questions. Besides the clutch, will i have to do anythiing to the tranny? im not sure how strong this tranny is but could it take 400+ hp? second question: motor mounts? will i need solid polyurethane mounts or will the stock mounts hold up

 

Most guys eventually go with the z32 gear box matched to the KA bell housing. there is now an adapter for that. Eventually the Ka gear box will give out at some point if you are constantly putting 400ishwhp through it.


With mounts yes you want to upgrade those to something over stock. Poly mounts are great but you will sacrifice some comfort for more motor support. Any flex that is taken away from the motor putting power down the drivetrain will subtract from your overall whp figure.

I made my own solid mounts using a set of good stock mounts and 3m window weld. they were super solid and only cost me about 10 bucks to make.

http://240sxdrifter.tripod.com/writeups/solidmount.html

 

hey did u ever hit 400hp?

ive never done any real work on a car (rebuilds turboing) ive done simple stuff tho some1 said u use high compression pistions to turbo a car some1 said u use low

what ones are you supose to use high or low compression pistons need help asap i looked online and on this site a little but didnt find anything

 

you are definitely going to want to go with low compression pistons. I dont know who told you high compressions but high compression pistons are meant to give you an increase it power when you are running an NA setup. The point of low compressions pistons is to enable you to turn up the boost on the turbo without killing the engine so you can get more out of the turbo system. If you put high compression pistons on a turboed car you wont be able to turn up the boost at all and it will kind of be pointless to have a turbo.

 

get some ARP Rod studs as well. Which bearings are you planning on running? As far as the porting goes... yeah it would def help. KAs are not designed for turbos so the exhaust side could def be opened more.

 

negative.... the exhaust side is why I and others can run Holset turbos with no issue. the intake side is the issue.

the SR has the opposite setup with larger intake ports and smaller exhaust ports.

 

ok so i want low compression thanks man and i found a couple rebuild kits but im not sure whats good and i dont want to get ****-parts so if u guys know any links for a low compression kit or what i should look for thanks guys and i look around i swear i just dont know whats good

 

I thought I read an article about the exhaust side being ****ty? Someone was building an insane KA and they had to completely redesign the head moving the ports for better flow. Prob was the intake. haha.

 

With my current build I was running into what bearing to use, So I called DPS in Philly PA, Those guys are pretty awesome told me to use the same things they are in their 1000+ whp KA-T Kings in an orange and black box, then gave me the number to O&J performance in kissamme Fl. both places are pretty awesome in customer service.