DIY:: engine swap

[AceInHole]

The subtitle of the topic would be "Anxiety = now"

I just wanted to give a heads up on my situation since some people have been wondering how the DIY turbo project has been coming along. Well... the DIY project goes to the engine swap, as uninteresting as a KA into a KA car is.

Tomorrow I go (hopefully) to pick up an engine in MA (hoping to GOD that no one bought it in the 2 days I haven't checked back).

Engine specs:
1997 KA24DE
26.5K miles
190 compression across (or so I'm told)
6 month warranty (uh, what turbo?? autocross????? void??)
$695

The only questions have been about OBD II compatibility with my 95's early OBD II setup, but as long as I'm using my harness and ECU I should be fine.

So, the swap will begin tomorrow after picking up the engine, and hopefully conclude on Sunday. I'll be running with the WG open, and maybe build like 1psi of boost (GOD it's gonna be hard to not attach the damn thing) untill I figure out what to do about an FMIC (I'll probably attach the SMIC since I already have it...). I want an NPR intercooler, but they're getting rare these days.

Wish me luck!
- PJ

[blog]

good luck. hope everything works out ok.

[KiDyNomiTe]

Good luck with your journey and swap, hope they engine wasn't sold.


Lots of DIYs in your life lately.

[AceInHole]

Originally posted by KiDyNomiTe
Good luck with your journey and swap, hope they engine wasn't sold.


Lots of DIYs in your life lately.

yup, because things keep going wrong... like today: the junkyard is closed. should've checked on that, but i figured since most junkyards are open sat. mornings........ baaaah. life sucks. maybe i'll pull the engine and prep the engine bay for now.

[PARAD0X]

good luck and take some pics for us who would like to see them. or me :-D

[some guy]

Kinda off topic, but can you use a ODB I ECU to control a ODB II KA? Wouldn't it easier to tune with ODB I?

[cdigity]

ACE,
check out www.jgstools.com/turbo
thats where i got my front mount for my ka project
good price
spearco core, 400 hp support
fits nice. They also have piping kits
need to weld, but it is a D.I.Y. project right?

[AceInHole]

Originally posted by some guy
Kinda off topic, but can you use a ODB I ECU to control a ODB II KA? Wouldn't it easier to tune with ODB I?

Well, early '95's had an early version of OBD II which really doesn't seem any harder to tune than with OBD I. I still don't really see much benefit going from even the later OBD II to OBD I, anyways. Then again, I never really looked into it.

ACE,
check out www.jgstools.com/turbo
thats where i got my front mount for my ka project
good price
spearco core, 400 hp support
fits nice. They also have piping kits
need to weld, but it is a D.I.Y. project right?

Thanks for the heads up! Taking a quick look at your setup, you don't need to cut the passenger side fender or relocate the battery, but how low did you have to mount everything to get it to fit like that?

[cdigity]

the angle of the pic is a little deceiving.
it was on the lift
the bottom of the intercooler is level with the bottom of the bumper. with the lip spoiler on(not in pic), its totally hidden.
no ground clearance issues.
i just gotta cut out those cross bars in the bumper center opening
oh, its the starion style intercooler.

[AceInHole]

i'll finally be able to start crackin on it this weekend.... looks nice in the van though. maybe i should start thinking about a mid engine RWD minivan? :-P

[Yoshi]

WoooT!
someone else in the 89 Caravan/Voyager crew!
ahhaha

[AceInHole]

Originally posted by Yoshi
WoooT!
someone else in the 89 Caravan/Voyager crew!
ahhaha

no way, i'm in the hachi-roku

1986 Plymouth Voyager

u should see the thing drift

[crioten]

screw putting the ka into the s14, put it in the van!!! haha!!

or not.............


on second look, it is already in the van....

[Kookaburraz]

PJ, we haven't meet, but I'm in CT too. If you don't get around to the swap right away, we can have a swap orgy on Sat. March 29, possibly at Thon's house. I picked up the 47k 95 from RI last weekend but ran out of time to put it in.

If you want to come eat some free pizza (read: help swap my engine ) you're more than welcome! Good luck, and if you want to wait until you have more hands, I'd be willing to help.

[andrave]

a possible advantage of OBD II is that you can use a laptop to monitor the ECU with some software you can download.
A disadvantage would be the stricter smog standards.

[AceInHole]

Where in CT are you?? It'd be cool to do the swaps together, but my car is completely disabled so I'm pretty much stuck doing it at my uncle's house. I got spring break coming up next week and I got lots of time, so if you need another hand and got some extra pizza i'd be glad to help.

The thing is, if my car is up and running and running well enough, i might take it down to MD cause i've been meaning to do so since Jan. Pretty sure i won't be taking the chance though. Already tired of killing my car.

Anyways, I'm hoping to start my swap on saturday and have it done sunday night....

[Kookaburraz]

I'm in Weston, about 10 minutes north of exit 42 on the Merritt.

I wish I was home to help you out and get a chance to practice installing the engine, but I won't be home till the end of the month. I'm going to have 1 day to swap the engines, 2 if I can miss a day of school...

I'm just hoping I don't break chit...
If you need any parts off the 95, let me know. I'm just going to be using the block and head.

I'll probably be following your same route to KAT goodness later this summer, hopefully before the convention.

[AceInHole]

Originally posted by Kookaburraz
I'm in Weston, about 10 minutes north of exit 42 on the Merritt.

I wish I was home to help you out and get a chance to practice installing the engine, but I won't be home till the end of the month. I'm going to have 1 day to swap the engines, 2 if I can miss a day of school...

I'm just hoping I don't break chit...
If you need any parts off the 95, let me know. I'm just going to be using the block and head.

I'll probably be following your same route to KAT goodness later this summer, hopefully before the convention.

cool. well, i'm pretty sure i'll be able to help you with your swap on the 29th. Seems like you might need all the help you can get if you've only got one day to do it in. As for parts... i'm pretty well covered but if you don't need stuff or are just gonna throw em away I might be interested in buying them off you (provided they're cheap enough). I've got a lot of stuff I'd like to experiment with. Some of it might be:

1. Seeing if I could get a spare PS pump pulley and try to find a car with a larger pulley that'll mount the same. (they usually remove the pumps though)
2. Modifying the injector rail to NPT fittings to allow use of universal FPR's. (already have 1 spare though)
3. Modifying the stock intake manifold and plenum (already have 1 spare though)
4. Bore out the stock throttle body and just attach a larger plate or something

Basically, seeing how much can be done with the stock parts without having to buy too much extra stuff... maybe I can figure out more cheap DIY mods that'd be worth doing.

[Kookaburraz]

Help is good. Pizza and soda included!

You're right, they removed the PS pump. Sounds like you've got enough S14 parts to build a new car. Maybe I can recoup the pizza and misc expenses selling the parts.

I just wish the engine wasn't exposed to so much salt air... all the pulleys are well rusted.

[AceInHole]

did yours come with the distributor???

really the only stuff missing from my engine were the PS pump, AC compressor, alternator, and passenger side motor mount (odd that the driver's side mount is there). everything else is still on the motor.

[Kookaburraz]

I didn't check for everything it had, since I'm not using it, but no distributor, alt, ac, ps, or fan, and it came with a cut harness. Not really a big deal since the distributor won't work on the S13, I don't run AC, and I have everything else. I think I'm basically going to drive home from Philly friday night, strip the engine of everything, and head to Rob's at around 8am. If there's anything you need an extra hand with, we're gonna be doing a bit of stuff. Subframe spacers, etc. Hope to see you there. Feel free to AIM me at kookaburraz.

[some guy]

Originally posted by AceInHole
cool. well, i'm pretty sure i'll be able to help you with your swap on the 29th. Seems like you might need all the help you can get if you've only got one day to do it in. As for parts... i'm pretty well covered but if you don't need stuff or are just gonna throw em away I might be interested in buying them off you (provided they're cheap enough). I've got a lot of stuff I'd like to experiment with. Some of it might be:

1. Seeing if I could get a spare PS pump pulley and try to find a car with a larger pulley that'll mount the same. (they usually remove the pumps though)
2. Modifying the injector rail to NPT fittings to allow use of universal FPR's. (already have 1 spare though)
3. Modifying the stock intake manifold and plenum (already have 1 spare though)
4. Bore out the stock throttle body and just attach a larger plate or something

Basically, seeing how much can be done with the stock parts without having to buy too much extra stuff... maybe I can figure out more cheap DIY mods that'd be worth doing.

Ace, what kind of exhaust manifold did you use? Is it custom? Thanks in advance and good luck on your swap.

[240racer]

Ace, I have the same van, those things are awesome. I can't think of a better second vehicle to a 240.
mine is a '90 Lumina APV with subwoofer

[Grandpa]

Ace: I just did the opposite swap, '95 OBDI into my '96 (OBDII). Only differences I found were in the intake. The '96+'s have many more hardlines on top and under; the EVAP stuff is different ('95 is much simpler), and the plug for the TPS is different on the '95 and '96 models. If I were you, I would swap your '95 intake onto the new engine; this would really make things easy.

-john

Oh, and to all, a '95 ECU works fine with my '96. Only codes I'm throwing are for EGR, which I removed.

[AceInHole]

Originally posted by Grandpa
Ace: I just did the opposite swap, '95 OBDI into my '96 (OBDII). Only differences I found were in the intake. The '96+'s have many more hardlines on top and under; the EVAP stuff is different ('95 is much simpler), and the plug for the TPS is different on the '95 and '96 models. If I were you, I would swap your '95 intake onto the new engine; this would really make things easy.

-john

Oh, and to all, a '95 ECU works fine with my '96. Only codes I'm throwing are for EGR, which I removed.

yeah, i'm gonna be swapping the intake manifolds. for fun I'm gonna see what I can do with the old manifold.... shorter runners maybe?? :P

Ace, what kind of exhaust manifold did you use? Is it custom? Thanks in advance and good luck on your swap.

It's a custom log style manifold made with weld-els and a .5" thick manifold to head flange from Hot Shot.

[s13rookie]

hello all, i also live in ct, while i have spoken to ace and boosted a few times i really dont know too many other 240 enthusiasts. i would love to get together with some fellow enthusiasts and talk cars, though im not to good mechanically ( YET, im trying to learn) if you all areinterested in letting me join you that would be great, thanks, matt

[Keisuke]

(my first post) Looks awesome ace, cant wait to see more pics (the one in the marathon shirt?) anyhow great job!

Jesse