KA24DET Driving Impressions

Mike Abssy · Post by **Mike Abssy** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 4:56 pm

Well, the 67.5 KA24DET (turbocharged) has been through a week of road testing. I thought maybe some of you swappers and potential swappers might like to hear what driving one of these things in the real world is like.

First and foremost, the thing is fast. This is coming from a guy who's daily driver is a 1900 pound, 8.2 liter (509 cubic inches) 11 second 1930 Ford roadster. I have the boost turned down to somewhere between 3-5 pounds and it is still a rocketship. The car has stock rims with 185/65R14's on it and it will get 195/65R14's before it is delivered. The brakes have been upgraded to slotted rotors, Volvo calipers and 280 7/8 bore master cylinder. We had to inset the master into the firewall to get it to clear the turbo downpipe with enough distance not to cook the fluid. It has a T3 turbo, RevHard manifold and XS blowoff valve. We are running a 2000 radiator with the expansion tank in place.

It pulls quite seamlessly from idle and the turbo hit is not brutal at all, very smooth. You can definintely feel the boost come on but it's nothing like the SR20DET powered 240sx's that I have ridden in (and that make 10-17 pounds of boost). It goes down the freeway very nicely, it really is a joy to drive. But when you downshift into fourth and roll it on things start to happen in a real hurry. I hung with an agressive C5 Vette on the 210 freeway last week until we came up on some traffic. It handles quite well and it's lots of fun taking on ramps in second and rolling on the throttle, as the boost comes on the rear tires break loose and the car drifts nicely. The front end stays firmly planted. It has not gotten hot nor has it missed a beat mechanically. Overall the car is very easy to drive and will benefit greatly from all the points that Michael Spreadbury has addressed in other threads (by the way thanks again, Mike, for getting us pointed in the right direction on this project!).

The swap was not an especially difficult one but it was complicated a lot by the addition of the turbo and all of it's hardware. I don't know how you SR20DET folks manage to package all the turbo stuff in there with the turbo facing downwards, plus the intercooler. Frankly, the turbo is a bit of overkill in a car of this weight but what the hell.

70MTroadster · Post by **70MTroadster** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 11:57 am

Thanks alot for the update. Vicariously is the only way I'll be able to enjoy such projects for a while.

Scott

spriso · Post by **spriso** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 11:12 pm

Mike,

Congrats on getting the KA car on the road! I imagine that the power from that turbo must be very nice...

I am glad to hear that I was able to lend some useful advice for your project, as always, I am more than happy to help any of you guys considering an engine swap in my spare time (what little there is of it!)

Will the car be at Solvang? I will be flying down for the show and would love to meet you and see the car in person...

Michael Spreadbury
Spriso Motorsports

Lots of SR20DE/T projects...

Ldino21 · Post by **Ldino21** » Sun Feb 22, 2004 2:04 pm

Mike Spreadbury:

Who's picking you up from the airport?? Need a lift!! I would rather see you flying down in an SR20DET!!

Mike Abyssy:

What are you using for engine management? Stock ECU, JWT unit or other. Have you dyno tested that baby yet??

Mike Abssy · Post by **Mike Abssy** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 11:41 am

We are running the stock '97 ECU. The engine wiring harness was totally disassembled and modified for use with the SPL311 by Marco Martinez out of Las Vegas. He is a certified genius, and much of the success of this project is due to his abilities. He specializes in building Nissan Maxima powered VW Westfalias. The car has not been dyno'd and I'm not certain if the owner will elect to do this. The car runs great, is tremendously quick and gets ridiculous gas mileage (I filled the tank at the beginning of the week and after two days the needle barely moved. I pulled the sender to check and see what was up and the tank was still full!). At this point, a dyno run would just be for bragging rights (which is not altogether a bad thing...).

On the ECU issue, I must say that we went into this project a little blind when it came to engine electronics. Amazingly, every single person I talked to swore up and down that this car would not run without their gadget (modifed ECU or special FMU or whatever). Even more incredible is that it runs great without any of their gadgets! I've experienced this phenomenon quite a lot in my business, you see a guy with every doo-dad in the book thrown at his car and another guy with a pretty stock appearing thing and guess who's faster? And guess who's more reliable?

spriso · Post by **spriso** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 2:16 pm

Lou,

The Crazy Backyard Builder is going to be picking me up at the airport, and we will be making the rounds at our favorite car places in SoCal. We will be at Solvang on Saturday though!

Maybe if we have time, we will go over to Mike's shop and see the KA turbo car...

Michael

Mike Abssy · Post by **Mike Abssy** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 12:34 pm

Michael,

The car's owner might have it at Solvang this year. I'm not sure if I will be there, I have a lot of work right now and a lot of work lined up, plus I do many of the hot rod and street rod events. But you are more than welcome to stop by the shop when you're in SoCal.
Actually, any of you who would like to come see what we've built is more than welcome, just let me know before you drop by.

The Roadster is getting body, paint & interior now and will be delivered before Solvang but I'm sure he'd let me have the car for the day or perhaps meet up with us somewhere. Give me a call or e-mail as we get closer to that time! 800-660-9607/mikeabssy@yahoo.com.

-Mike

Ldino21 · Post by **Ldino21** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 8:43 pm

Mike Abssy (spelled right this time!)

Did you have to do any modification to the Turbo manifold?

The whole reason I put in a Tec3 EMS into my roadster was in the possibilites I might put a turbo in down the line. Is that a custom unit? Approx cost installed? Or a Greddy bolt on??

Thanks

Lou Smaldino
66-1600
67-2000

Mike Abssy · Post by **Mike Abssy** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 10:06 pm

Hi Lou,

The manifold is a Rev Hard cast iron unit. The turbo itself is a T3 and I don't know the specs on it, but I can get them if you'd like. I think it was set up to spool extra quickly. The system olny makes 3-5 pounds of boost, which is plenty for this car. I think that if we started to trun the boost up there might be more problems.

But when the car was first on the street it was making 7-8 pounds max and it ran like a scalded cat, still no immediately apparent issues.

I have read of late 240sx's with a T3 and intercooler making a reliable 330-375 horsepower, these have lots of aftermarket stuff on them, though.

Ldino21 · Post by **Ldino21** » Thu Feb 26, 2004 6:44 pm

My biggest question was how was the clearence between the manifold and the steering column, were there any issues there!!

I have been toying with the idea of that Greddy bolt in setup, but not sure yet??

Lou

DatsunBucky · Post by **DatsunBucky** » Thu Feb 26, 2004 11:12 pm

Since it's a 67.5, it probably has the "death spear" steering column. I think maybe putting a couple of u-joints in the steering column and re-routing it would give more clearance around things, and add some safety at the same time.

U-joints or those fiber ring thingies. Either way, I think you'd just need to support the middle part of the column for the whole thing to work.

Mike Abssy · Post by **Mike Abssy** » Fri Feb 27, 2004 12:58 pm

Lou,

There's plenty of clearance between the manifold and the steering shaft. The downpipe was a problem, I had to make the thing three times before it cleared eveything and had an acceptable distance from the master cylinder (which had to be inset in the firewall about an inch). I also wrapped the entire downpipe in heat tape, which helped tremendously. I can send some photos if you'd like to see.

The Rev Hard manifold allows you to run the turbo up or down, I would certainly look into running the turbo down before making the commitment.

-Mike

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