one of my new roommates bought a 1991 240SX from a friend last year for $600 to be a project car. so far he has had the engine fully built and it's at a shop right now in houston. he just got an 11lb Fidanza flywheel in the other day which is the last part he needed to have the engine fully balanced. the car and everything but the engine is in our garage right now and we should have the engine within the next month. right now it's looking like he's wanting to make 450 at the wheels and is shooting for ~2400lb curb weight. it is going to be strictly a track car. i'll try to get some pics in the next couple days and will try to get some pics when we drop the engine in. just lettin you guys know what's goin on. i'll try to get some more specifics on the engine if you guys are interested. i may even get him to do a write up or something.

my favorite part of the car so far is the windshield decal that says "Track Slut" lol...

Thanks for the update sounds like a kick ass project. What motor will he going with? Is he going to try and make 450 out of a KA? Or a SR?

Sounds sweet!

it's whatever engine came in it. i'm pretty sure it's an SR. the car has over 200K miles and when the machinist tested the engine, it still had perfect compression, which means it has to be relatively new. he thinks it is the block out of a '96. i'll have to ask john when he gets back, he went home this weekend.

scratch that. it's a KA24DE soon to be T.

So far he has:
Eagle H-Beam Rods
CP 9.0:1 Pistons [+.5mm over bore]
Supertech oversized valves
Clevite Bearings
Fidanza 11lb Flywheel

Next uo is:
Jim Wolf Cams
RPS Clutch
Driveshaft Shop 1-Piece Steel Driveshaft

he's going with a Garrett GT3071R Turbo eventually, but will run it at first without the turbo. the turbo will be one of the last things to go in. he wants to get it ready for autocross and is shooting for about 200 wheel all motor.

wait are you saying he's going to do a turbo build without the turbo until later? Or just collecting parts right now and going to do some mild mods to get 200hp NA?

i hope he has better luck than some of the hi-po KA drifters, last one i saw blew up on the track.

he's doing everything he needs for the turbo besides cam gears. then once he gets the turbo he'll get some cam gears. he's already dropping the compression by .5, so i guess you could say it's a turbo build he's gonna run NA until he gets comfortable with the car.

his friend is at our house right now because he had to evac and he has a S14 with the SR swap that has over 200 wheel. so right now at our house we've got my Stang GT, G6 GXP, S14, S13, and 2 silverados (1 2007 Z71 LTZ and one GMT 800 Z71). we got a full house, lol.

that sounds like a nice full house =D

Doing turbo mods to a N/A car before boosting it will make it run like crap, .5 might not make it run that wonky. Not sure what he means by getting used to it since once he drops the turbo on it'll be a whole new animal. But at least he's doing a nice turbo build. Is he going to get a pro tune when he's got the all the stuff on?

i'm sure he'll get it tune. what he means by getting used to it is he's gonna use the car at the lower power point to learn how to drive before he gets into something too hi-po without enough experience. and i don't know about it running like crap... he has talked to lots of people in the 240SX community about it and has one of the best machinists in the houston area working on it.

car should be running sans turbo by christmas.

well usually when you drop the compression on a engine not meant for it or tuned for it they usually run wonky.

Dropping the compression from 9.5:1 to 9:1 will drop the power significantly. Is he learning how to drive a standard or just wanting to learn how to DRIVE it? If the latter, he might as well not even bother considering the turbo, as was mentioned before, will make the car act completely different from the low compression NA KA24DE. Breakaway from traction will come easier with the advent of 350whp. In my opinion, the best way to get used to the car is to dive straight into the 450hp monster and learn the do's and don't's in a massive, empty parking lot.

well everyone he's talked to has recommended going this route. even with the dropped compresson, it should be 200whp. he knows how to drive a standard... he wants to get comfortable with the car on the track, that's all it's for.

Then tell him to finish it up and then spend an entire day on the track pushing himself harder and harder until he loses it, then he will know the limit for that particular corner.... lol

I would build it completely and then start driving it like a grandma, but not lugging it through the gears. Slowly get used to the boost threshold and the way the gears feel. Also he should drive it like a grandma in order to ensure proper ring seating, valve seating, head gasket compression, intake and exhaust manifold gasket compression, and proper bearing break in.

That step of the build is vital to the life of the engine regardless of power output or induction style.

I don't think it's a good idea to break it in as a naturally aspirated engine and then move to forced induction from there. There are certain break in procedures for breaking in the turbo as well as ensure proper valve seating and head gasket compression when running a forced induction setup.

He's welcome to do whatever he wants with his car, it is afterall HIS CAR...I just hate to see or hear about grenaded engines...

Something tells me the engine in the F-150 was not properly broken in......