'86 s12 ka24de build

[mrjacobwho]

I get paid tonight! When I wake up, I'm picking up the KA. Wiring begins tomorrow after I actually put the engine in the car. I did pick up all the wires today. Like, allll of them; even the dash, headlights and tail lights. Hah Tranny comes later... My CA is still on the lift. O.o It needs to be set on a pallet or something. Then, I'll be messing with the KA for a while now! I need an intake, exhaust, a power steering line, and now I find out that I need the pump as well.. I found a cheap driveshaft. :] Could it be running by tomorrow? Hmm..
Post Merge: 10:32:04 AM / 29-Oct-10 NC rules! Hah Anyway, I'm about to get the engine and start messing with it. I must find SOME type of wirng diagram.. I may try to use the one on here from a ca20 and just use a bit of intuition to figure out the rest. :] Updates later.

[mrjacobwho]

To do list:

-understand & complete wiring with solder & shrink wrap
-find ka downpipe [mine was cut off..]
-buy cold air intake
-buy MAF?
-get ka bellhousing for my 'B' tranny
-put on hoses [I'm waiting for all the wiring]
-custom throttle cable mounting brackets [anyone?]
-possibly cut hood supports [if needed]
-tune-up!
-valve cover gasket [this one came to me when the valve cover came off by hand]

aaannd... I guess that's it. Hah :] There's probably more, but I just had to write it out to know it. Hah I'm stumped on wiring right now! So, that's where I am. I have to sit and read and then stare at my engine. Haha Updates to come....... And I can't seem to upload a picture!

[Nameless]

you have s13 motor mounts to install right?

[mrjacobwho]

Yeah, they were still on the motor when i got it. Getting the wiring figured out too! I finally understand it.. Before, I went looking at the plugs and hesitated because they were different, but I finally found the guide where the wiring was right-on. I'm doing that today.

A few more things on the list...:
-buy power steering pump! [came without one]
-buy a power steering line [I cut one.. D:]
-put on alternator

[mrjacobwho]

So, I went to the junkyard yesterday. I found an auto s13 and a manual s14, both ka. I ended up checking both blocks to see if the bolt pattern matched up. Sure enough, I ended up taking it home. I did the bellhousing swap this morning, she's all sealed up. I got the old clutch and pressure plate today. The clutch was paper thin.. I compare it to my ca clutch and it was exact. Haha So; I used the s13 ka pressure plate on my s12 ca clutch inside of an s14 ka bellhousing [bolted to the s12's 71b tranny..] on an s13 ka24de. The transmission goes in tomorrow! As soon as I put fluid in it.. Is there manual transmission fluid? Or is it just gear oil? Sorry for the n00b question, but I've never taken apart a transmission before.. :]

heater hoses attatched, wires soldered [except on i think..], and I got a maf! Accomplishment. Wait til the ka actually powers the car... haha

[BoOsT-HuNgRy]

gear oil use lucas or a nice synthetic .

as for the maf if you can get your hands on a z32 maf with pig tails use that also if you got the extra cash on hand pull the head off and buy ur self a nice metal head gasket and arp head studs. this will save ur ass in the long run when your ready to go from n/a to turbo. i have built a few ka-t's and i stand behind them 100%. ka-t is the way to go when your ready let me know ill make send you a pm of everything to build a reliable ka-t for under 2k and you'll spank sr's all day long.

cheers.

[mrjacobwho]

Ok, cool. Thanks! I definately need this thing running sometime soon. Hah So, the ka-t part may take a bit. I figure that Ill do a full rebuild when the time comes to do a turbo build. All new....everything. Hah Forged parts, metal head gasket, 3" straight pipe, new radiator, fmic, high-flow intake plenum, and im thinking that the t28 bb from the s15 would handle like 400hp. Im looking for 350 or so anyway. I drove my friends z32, 300hp stock, and I decided that for a daily driver, that's plenty. Of course, drifting and racing brings tons of guys running upwards of 500hp, but im not building this for any of that. I want my s12 to be good on gas, but great if I wanted to stomp on the pedal. I plan on building a nissan v8 for taking to the strips. :] So, this isnt gonna be the fastest ka'd s12, but its gonna me mine!!

I was even considering a twin-charged setup on the v8, similar to the VW 1.4l tsi, small supercharger boosting low, pre-spooling the twin turbos[single on the tsi], then allowing the turbos to reach full capacity after a certain rpms. Wayyy later though... Im just dreaming and talking. I dont want to get in over my head quite yet!

I took some pictures! Theyll be up later.

[Deezus]

Pop.

300 horsepower in an s12 is ganna be a lot different than 300 in a z32 lol but itll be a sick mofo

[Redneck]

I figure that Ill do a full rebuild when the time comes to do a turbo build. All new....everything. Hah Forged parts, metal head gasket, 3" straight pipe, new radiator, fmic, high-flow intake plenum, and im thinking that the t28 bb from the s15 would handle like 400hp. Im looking for 350 or so anyway.

300 horsepower in an s12 is ganna be a lot different than 300 in a z32

Exactly. Even with 250-300whp an s12 will be plenty fast, much more so then a heavy z32. Plus if you keep it under 300whp a rebuild is not necessary as long as your ka24de is in decent health (with proper tuning of course). Also, 400hp from the s15 t28 is probably not gonna happen. If your looking for 400hp a t3 or t3/t4 is a much more practical option.

[mrjacobwho]

I have all of that to think about.. Main goal right now is to drive the ka. Transmission goes in today, because I found out that I couldnt do it by myself. :] hah I tried.. I think I'm just now discovering how short my s12 is. The tranny is way shorter than the s13, which means the wheelbase too. I kinda like it; it's more compact than stretched and flatened like the s13 hatch.

Oooh!! My frinds s13 just started moving under its own power. I was very excited to see this! I call the car a beater, but he loves it.. Haha Sr20det.

[mrjacobwho]

I went shopping last night! Tune-up, different oils, coolant, belts, filters, clutch alignment tool. I still need to put together an air intake with the MAF, a filter and a 45 degree 3" pipe.

[mrjacobwho]

Not much progress going on here lately. I started the swap knowing there was gonna be a lot of down time during. The controlling factor here is money. Haha But I've been working hard, trying to save. As for the progress to date; the transmission is in finally, the clutch aligned and it fit perfectly! What a frankenstein tranny.. The alternator and power steering pump went on fine with the belts and everything. I needed to ps pump because it was the tensioner pulley for the belt that also goes around the water pump/clutch fan pulley. I may just run it dry though? I plan to build another engine on the side and put it in later, so I figured that even if it would burn out the pump, I wouldn't need it later anyway.. As long as it doesn't seize?? What's the reccomendation here? Cause I don't much want to have to get the lines... I'm picking up and SR block soon too, to rebuild from the bottom up.

[mrjacobwho]

So, I'm finally getting back around to messing with this. Haha It's been a while.. Ok, hopefully by the end of today, I will have my hands on all the parts I need. 240sx cold air intake and power steering lines. Then, theres still a bit of work. There are 2 random plugs that need to be swaped, one is on the alternator and the other is right next to the oil filter, maybe the pressure regulator. Then I also need to attach the wires to the alternator and to the starter. Hah I just lacked the motivation to go out in the cold and finish all of that stuff and still not have it run. So, hopefully I'll be putting up a first start video within a week!! :]

[turbo-s12]

My friend boosted his ka that was all stock internals and got 430rwhp and it never blew it was TUNED right which most people don't do...just my two cents I will be boosting my stock ka....good luck with ur swap:)

[VG30_S12]

Says your in zebulon... I haven't seen the first s12 out there lol
If you need a hand I'm in the middle of my swap(got it running lol) and I'm in knightdale too

[mrjacobwho]

yep! thats cause it was only running for about 3 months before the ca18 popped on me. hah its almost there. im still waiting on a part in the mail.. i just picked up the main ps line, and im probably installing that today. plus the few plugs. bro, you shouldve said that a long time ago! haha everything is in, wiring is done [except the alternator plug..], and its just about time for a start up! i could probably start it today, the only thing i would be lacking is the air intake. so it would throttle body to nothing.. yay for safe mode! oooh.. a boosted ka still sounds nice. hah how far are you on yours anyway? i still havent put up any pictures.. haha lemme do that later today.

[VG30_S12]

Its a SLOWWWWW process.. just got her fired last week but vacume leaks kept it from running worth a shit. would love to come check our toy out sometime gotta get together when were both road worthy
I'm over by Watkins rd and old millburnie rd, near the fire department
Post Merge: 12:35:08 PM / 07-Feb-11 If ya need anything lml dood

[mrjacobwho]

ok, i know the area. hah itll probably be another few weeks.. ive got some other crap that needs my attention. yay for distractions. haha ill pm you or something when shes worthy!

[mrjacobwho]

Soo.. One of the fusable links got fried. It was the 'alt/nat battery' one. So, that fixed all my electrical crap, as everything had stopped working after the swap, which I found weird because with no engine in it I could still turn on the lights and radio. Hah I couldn't find a new one at any parts store around here, but I did find a fusable link wire. So I actually just took it apart and replaced that and soldered it. Come to think of it, that would probably also be the reason it was never sparking! I still have to rewire that one coil plug, wait for the ebay short-ram intake to come in, and still install that power steering line... Haha Hopefully I'm about done with the whole money aspect though..

p.s. I caught bronchitis or something.. So I haven't gotten out too much this week. Poo!!

[mrjacobwho]

This is turning out to be a bit more ghetto than I had hoped. Haha I finally got the power steering line on. I don't reccomend trying to use the s13 main line, I did, and it was very difficult. I had to reshape it, plus it runs around a different way.. But that part is done! Yay for a ka swap with power steering!! Everyone was telling me to delete it, but it's complete! Ohh, I also finally got the ebay air cleaner in. It's got all these red parts on it. Hah It looks so cheesy.. And now I found this nipple thats under the throttle body, right on top of the alternator, and it started dripping antifreeze. So, if I can even get to it, it's very cramped, I need to connect it up top I think..

Anyway, this is the to-do list: more fluids [power steering and gear oil for the tranny], figure out that coolant line, figure out the vacuum lines, fix the coil plug, and mount the ecu somewhere... I'm thinking about just buying some wire and extending it. It's probably worth it to get it out of the weather.
Post Merge: 09:16:13 AM / 27-Feb-11 Vacuum lines complete! :]