240SX Common Engine Swaps

From my240

(INCOMPLETE)

The first question you should ask yourself is "Why am I doing this?" If the answer is anything besides "I want boost." or "I want more horsepower" stop now, you are getting into a world of hard to find parts, even more difficult to diagnosis problems, and all at the expense of your wallet and patience. Your answer shouldn't have any social reasons, having a swapped motor won't make you cooler; your mom/girlfriend/joe blow will still think, "It's just a car". An example of this, I was going up to a membership only surplus store to meet up with my mother, who is a member of said store. When I parked next to her there was a white R33 parked out in the distant away from the other cars. My mother noticed me gawking at the Skyline and reduced it for what it was with "Oh, its left hand drive." Sure it is a Skyline and goes fast but its just that, a car that goes fast.

The next question you should ask yourself is "How much horsepower is sufficient?" Yes 500HP would be great but realistically you wouldn't have drivability if there was even the slightest bit of moisture on the ground. Keep in mind whatever HP you plan to create will be un-tethered, as in when you drove your friend's dad's Corvette and the wheels started slipping there was a traction control system keeping you from going sideways. "Well that's what I want" You are an idiot.

Power weight ratios.

Followed by "As the 240SX is now, is it able to support what I want?" This is a three prong question. First part being relating to the maintenance and reliable vehicle. Does it start every time or is it a crap-shoot? Are there gremlins that merk about which cause it to behave in a sporadic way. Fix that before continuing, swapping a motor won't solve the problem. The other half of question is in regards to increasing the performance of other parts of the vehicle such as the brakes, suspension, and (wider) tires. If you are increasing or rather decreasing the time it takes you to get to * MPH wouldn't it reason to decrease the time it takes to get back down to zero or hold the higher speed (on a track of course) in the corners?

And lastly you should ask yourself is "How deep are my pockets?" As of this writing the popularity of importing motors has dramatically increased due to the Fast and Furious series. While this has helped the market reduce the cost of importing a motor (or at least spread the cost of importing a motor over several engines rather than a just one, due to the known demand) but the price for a quality motor remains high. But with this developing age has came a huge aftermarket support and more importantly experience of others. The question should rather be, "How much do I have now? And how much am I willing to put in to maintain the motor/vehicle?"

This purpose of this article is to present a compilation of information of common swaps completed on the 240SX. This article will focus primarily on Nissan engines, as I'm a OE type of person. As of this writing I'm bias toward a aftermarket turbo setup on the KA24DE (or commonly referred to as the KA24DET, even though Nissan did not turbo the KA from the factory), for me its just seems logical to keep the engine you know. Granted that isn't the case for everyone, that is to know their engine. For those of you who just bought a 240SX, then tried 'one of those sweet drift moves' and blew your engine, Sell your car now and buy a Honda!

What do all these Nissan engine codes mean?

Nissan Engine Designations

Engine Catalog

Engine Series

Displacement
in Liters

Valve
train

Fuel Delivery

Forced Induction

Example:
(VG30DETT)

Synopsis:
VG series engine with 3.0 Liters of displacement, DOHC, Multiport fuel injection, and twin turbo

View... Engine Series Catalog

Absent

No forced
induction

Single
Turbo

Twin
Turbo

Supercharger
(i.e; VG33ER)

Oversize
Turbo
when used with T or TT prefix

Absent

Carburetor

Electronic Controlled Carburetor

Multiport Fuel Injection

Throttle Body Fuel Injection

Direct Injection

High Response
or
High Revolution

Introduced on the VQ series in 2007.

Absent

SOHC

DOHC

Variable
Valve
Lift (VVL) plus DOHC

Table originally created by Noel at FreshAlloy.com
Modified for MediaWiki and update by User:Jholcomb.

Engine Specifications

Nissan Engines

KA24(D)ET

Nissan never turbo-charged the KA engine series.

Engine Configuration	Custom Driveshaft	Custom Mounts	Notes	HP	@	RPM	Torque	@	RPM
Inline 4	No	No	93 KA24DE Specs	157	@	5600	160	@	4400

My rant on KAT

Turbo-charging the KA24 just makes since, in its stock form it has a nice low end torque, displaces .4 more liters than the SR, is already in the vehicle, easier to pass visual inspections, easier to pass emission regulations, and from a cost perspective is about the same cost but will yield a stouter motor.

Lets say you do decide on getting an SR. You are buying an engine with an unknown amount of miles and fairly mysterious condition for $1800-3000. Yes the importer claims it has ~60,000km (roughly 38,000 miles) but unless you are buying a front clip it would be hard to verify, and even that could be a fabrication (for example I know JHot importer swaps the digital climate control unit with manual ones on there front clips). And I digress, the engine it has x miles and hopefully has good compression. You spend all this time installing it and lets say you do get it running but within 500 miles the water pump goes out. Try sourcing one of those, it won't be easy. And yes I realize in actuality CourtesyParts.com is starting to carry some JDM parts but expect to pay/wait for it. SR20DET water pump. But the point is not every part can be purchased through CourtesyParts and not every part will be easily found. And I don't want to have to consult a parts matrix to find what parts I should tell the guy the car is off to get the correct gasket, don't want to mess with converting the wiring harness, and lastly I certainly don't want to pay someone to do something I am well capable of.

But I understand the SR side of the argument, its nice going to sleep at night and knowing that the engine was from the factory turbo-charged and therefore will be a little easier to diagnosis in stock form but then again this isn't about being in stock form. This is about modifying what is stock and improving on it.

I'll end this rant with saying, to each his/her own.

CA18DET

Engine Configuration	Custom Driveshaft	Custom Mounts	Notes	HP	@	RPM	Torque	@	RPM
Inline 4	No	No		173	@	6400	166	@	5200

The highlights of this motor is that it is high revving (8500RPM redline), gets great gas milage out of boost, lightest of the engines, lowest cost swap, American user base has a deep love for the engine. Engine looks very similar to the RB, in terms of cam cover layout. For me this would be the swap to have if it wasn't for the parts matrix and age. Some of its disadvantages are its age and after-market support.

SR20DET

The most commonly swapped engine into the USDM S-chassis. In Japan the SR20DET is the stock motor for the S13, S14, and S15 chassis. Because these motors are stock in Japan there are very minor modifications that need to be made in order to install in place of the USDM KA24 motor. There are four variations of the SR20DET that correspond to the minor advancements Nissan made on the engine.

Aftermarket support for this motor is largest out of all the swappable engines including the KA-T.

S13 Redtop

Engine Configuration	Custom Driveshaft	Custom Mounts	Notes	HP	@	RPM	Torque	@	RPM
Inline 4	No	No		202	@	6000	203	@	4000

S13 Blacktop

Engine Configuration	Custom Driveshaft	Custom Mounts	Notes	HP	@	RPM	Torque	@	RPM
Inline 4	No	No		202	@	6000	203	@	4000

This engine was included on the 94+ 180SXs. They cost slightly more than the Redtops due to the general lower kilometers on the engines. Notable differences is the color obviously, heat fins on near the valve cover, and other small minor changes.

S14 Blacktop (Notchback)

Engine Configuration	Custom Driveshaft	Custom Mounts	Notes	HP	@	RPM	Torque	@	RPM
Inline 4	No	No		217	@	6000	203	@	4000

Named the notchback due to the noticeable notch on the rear of the valve cover. These engines produced slightly more horsepower due to the addition of VTC, or Variable Cam Timing, the torque however remained the same. Swapping these requires a little more work on the wiring. Also uses Garret T28 turbo with 62 trim 53.8 mm, .64 A/R housing, bush bearing.

S15 Bluetop

Engine Configuration	Custom Driveshaft	Custom Mounts	Notes	HP	@	RPM	Torque	@	RPM
Inline 4	No	No		245	@	6000	202	@	4000

RB Series

This is Nissan's legendary inline 6 cylinder series based off the L20A engine which has the same bore and stroke. Its disputed that "RB" stands for "Race Bred".

The RB series was never installed by the factory to the chassis which is why when swapped into the S chassis the mechanical fan has to be dropped due to its large size and replaced by electric fans. Fans mounted in the front are preferred due to the limited space.

RB20DET

Engine Configuration	Custom Driveshaft	Custom Mounts	Notes	HP	@	RPM	Torque	@	RPM
Inline 6	No	Needs R32 crossmember.		207	@	5600	180	@	4000

This is the easiest and cheapest RB to swap into your 240SX. A crossmember from a R32 is required but should bolt into place with minor modifications made to the accessories and wiring.

RB25DET

Engine Configuration	Custom Driveshaft	Custom Mounts	Notes	HP	@	RPM	Torque	@	RPM
Inline 6	Yes	Yes	Trans tunnels needs to be expanded.	247	@	6000	217	@	4800

RB26DETT

Engine Configuration	Custom Driveshaft	Custom Mounts	Notes	HP	@	RPM	Torque	@	RPM
Inline 6	Yes	Yes	Needs to use RB25DET trans. RB26 is AWD. Trans tunnels needs to be expanded.	316	@	6800	289	@	4400

RB30DET (Hybrid)

If you are serious about this swap you can research it yourself. Basically it is more involved swap because it requires buying a RB30E block and mating it to a RB25DET, RB26DETT, or RB20DET head. [1] [2]

VG30DETT

Engine Configuration	Custom Driveshaft	Custom Mounts	Notes	HP	@	RPM	Torque	@	RPM
V6	Yes	Yes	US Market. Trans tunnels needs to be expanded.	300	@	6400	283	@	3600

This series is one of Nissan's few V6 engines. This series was included on the 1990-1996 300ZX. The VG engines are not an easy engine to work on, the plenum must be pulled to do even simple tasks like replacing spark plugs. Pulling the plenum is easily a 5/6 hour job the first time.

This engine when mated with a 5 speed transmission produces 300hp and 283 ft/lbs of torque. It featured twin T25 turbochargers, twin intercoolers. Same bore and stroke as the VG30DE. The engine blocks are different, namely the piston oil squirters are positioned different among a list of other things.

VQ30DE

Featured on the 2003-2006 350Z.

VH45DE

Feature on the 1990-1996 Infinti Q45.

Non-OE Engines

2JZ-GTE

Only on the Toyota Supra MK IV. [3]

LS1, LS7

General Motors' small block powerhouse V8 engine. [4]

Other Considerations

Theft

Lets face it, there are some lazy and/or desperate people out there who will do anything to make a quick buck in exchange for your hour-intensive swapped 240SX. When installing a turbo on your 240SX, especially one with a FMIC it would be a good idea to install some sort of anti-theft device. Something as simple as a hidden fuel pump switch to the more advanced LoJack© system is suggested so as not to become a victim of auto-theft.

Inspection and Emissions

A legal aspect of this swap, is that its not. That is swapping a motor other than a KA in your 240SX for road use is illegal. However it is well known that a friend of a friend has a friend that works at a inspection station and can over look the motor in exchange for a sometimes hefty fee. So high as $400 in some shops in California. Although that is to be expected in a state where emissions are clearly sanctioned, enforced, and in extreme cases seizure and crushing. But I live in Texas and the law are a little more lax, in fact if you live in Tarrant county and the vehicle is registered and has insurance I can get it inspected legally for $60.

I suppose for your area you will need to search or ask around to find some friendly inspectors, assuming you are going a direction that isn't KA turbo-charged. Here is an example of extreme devotion to having legit tags.