Rebuild KA vs SR Swap

[spooled240]

Originally Posted by Hoffman5982

Kings bearings and NPR piston rings(both good quality) are $75 total and a ring filer is 50 bucks if you can't find one to borrow. Either hone it yourself or take it to a machine shop. Buy a head gasket kit, crank seals, and oil pickup seal and a tube or two of rtv. An oe rebuild is really cheap and really isn't hard. Just keep it as organize as possible and follow the fsm for all of your specs.

with over 200k on the engine he most likely will need to bore it at least .020 over.

OP, both are good choice I'd say it depends on your goals. I went the KA-t route a looong time ago and it was a pain in the ass since there wasn't much aftermarket support like there is now. SR's are cheaper and easier to find parts now and the KA has great aftermarket support where a turbo kit can literally be done without touching a welder, die grinder, hack saw, etc.

I'm biased towards the KA just because of the iron block, torquey powerband and superior head design so i'd go that route if I were in your shoes. Plus, if you build it yourself you know the engine is not going to give you issues later on as opposed to an SR with unknown history..and an old history at that. Tomei produces and is continuing to produce very great products for the KA.