I decided that im going to rebuild my KA, because for one my HG is blown, and now ever since I've taken my thermostat out I can smell it burning off at idle, and can even see the white smoke now. Second because my KA has 174,xxx miles and I'm not going to start building it for track days and drift sessions if it's gonna blow up on my 1st run lol.
I was planning on keeping it simple, gasket set, ARP head bolts (cometic metal gasket and head bolts are being shipped right meow)
rod bolts, rod bearings, main bearings, and having the head hot tanked at a local machine shop. Probably going to have them do the valve stem seals as well. I was probably going to do a new O2 sensor and temp sensors too.
Then while it's all disassembled I was going to clean the block up as best as I could.

Would that suffice for a pretty decent rebuild for the long haul, it's also my daily and I want it to last me a long time, I'm slowly collecting the parts I need, but if anyone can tell me how I can do it better, I'll just keep collecting the parts and do it all, I just don't want to spend TOO much money and wait a super long time before I can start investing in a bushing set, coilovers, intakes blah blah all the fun stuff haha.

If my initial plan will serve me well for a few years I'll stick with it, but if anyone has any input on better ideas, shoot em at me.

 

The factory service manual is your friend. Stay away from cometic unless you plan on getting your head and block decked to a mirror finish.

I'd rebuild with oem rods, pistons, stock main studs, arp head studs and a felpro gasket. Oem timing chain stuff and oil pump.

I've put together 4 different motors like this and never had an issue.

 

^what he said.

download the FSM and use it as your bible, follow it step by step, and cut no corners. do the break in period as recommended, and enjoy a reliable running KA for years to come.

 

Damnit man I just had my cometic HG and ARP head bolts shipped from FRsport. I guess I'll have to look into getting my block and head decked. I've heard that cometic metal gaskets are good to use if you plan on going turbo. I'll start looking into all of the OEM parts now as well.

 

Felpro gaskets have been proven past 500whp. The reason ka's blow head gaskets under high boost is either due to detonation, or lifting the head because of toothpick thin m10 head bolts. Hardened arp studs provide a much higher clamp load. It's arguable that a graphite composite head gasket is actually better than a MLS gasket on these motors at 300-400whp especially with stock internals. If you experience detonation or overheat, what would you rather change? A burnt/blown headgasket, a piston with broken ringlands, or a bent connecting rod. I'd take a headgasket any day. A MLS headgasket is less likely to blow due to detonation or lifting the head on these engines putting the brunt of the force on the rotating assembly. Think of it as a fail safe.

 

ahhhh see I didnt know that the felpro gasket was so good. I was going to order a full Felpro gasket set anyways to do all the seals with, it will have the head gasket you speak of right? Because in that case I can sell the cometic gasket on here or maybe on craigslist, the real reason I got one was because it was part of a special on FRsport, ARP head bolts and the HG for 185.95, I thought I was makin out like a bandit -_- wish I had that info sooner, thanks man.

I think I also found a good site for the OEM pistons and connecting rods; www.oemnissanparts.com
seem pretty legit? The stuffs a bit high priced but that's OEM for ya lol and it will be worth it in the long run.

 

If there is nothing wrong with your internals than just hot tank them and put new rings in, I would also balance the crank

 

i use to use - Nissan Parts, NISMO and Nissan Accessories - Courtesyparts.com a lot for parts.
fortunately, not had to order anything for a while site, site seems different/updated.

mewantkouki is right on.

i'll echo what BZ82 said - don't cut corners.

as for reusing stuff, the key is "if nothing is wrong" I would recommend having a machine shop tell you if there is anything wrong with them, and not just eyeballing it. I've held rods in my hand that came out of a running engine, looked good, but where so far beyond spec that if you installed them with new bearings, they would bind right up. The only reason they didn't in the old engine was they had worn the bearings away in just the right way to keep things moving.
so you have to weigh the option, pay the machine shop to inspect the parts to see if they are good, or just get new parts that you know are good.
Typically, the crank doesn't need balanced, but it doesn't hurt to have it inspected anyway.

 

Ahh yeah I forgot about courtesyparts.com, I checked that site out sometime before.
I think I would rather just buy new heads and rods then chancing paying the machine shop to tell me they're bad. I mean honestly, these internals have 175000 miles on them, even if the factory ones are in good shape, wouldn't it still be better to put fresh ones in?

I was also talking to my buddy today about OEM heads and rods, and he didnt really understand why I would do that, and I guess I should ask too, since I'm not real sure either. Why buy OEM internals? Is it because of the fact that they are from nissan and you can be sure that they are perfectly formatted for the engine? Or maybe some other reason? He suggested I invest in some Brian Crower internals. The price between OEM and BC are pretty significant, and like I said im not real sure on the pros/cons between the two.

On a side note I got my head bolts and head gasket today, getting pretty stoked lol, came with stickers too, we alllllll love stickers haha
Also tuned my ignition timing too, I was studying octane ratings and what they meant blah blah and I read that if you want to advance your timing you need to move up your octane rating to prevent pre-igniton. I've been running 93 since I bought the car simply because everyone says "ohhh you get more power if you use it blahh blahh" But I never realized, and I think alot of people don't realize either that you need to tune and probably upgrade your ignition system in order to actually take advantage of the higher octane rating. Any feedback on that? Hopefully I'm hitting close to home on that one.

 

I don't understand either. A ka24de only has one head.



If your "pistons" and connecting rods are shot replace them with aftermarket stuff or find a used set in good shape. It's pretty dumb to buy brand new ka rods and pistons from a dealer when you can get wiseco / cp / manley / crower / eagle stuff for the same price.