A Crow to Eat, and a 710 Wagon (Single Cam KA swap) (Need Motor Mount Help plz respond)

[datsunfreak]

car has about 1 degree of positive camber in the front, so I'm about to lower it to see if that helps solve my problem, since struts gain negative camber when lowered. 

 

Depends on the angle of the lower control arm. If it's pointing down now, you'll get negative camber when you lower it. If it's level with the ground now, you'll get positive camber when you lower it. 

[cleverusername]

Haven't updated for a while because I've been driving it and can't really dive in to something because I need the car to get to work. But I'm on vacation this week, and this weekend I had the whole crew over to do some work. I'm getting really bad about documenting what I'm doing, but here's some before and after pictures:

Before:

After:

2 inch lowering blocks in the back, cut coils in the front. The blocks were part of a "universal" kit (translation: every single thing needed to be modified) While the back was apart, we added an extra leaf to stiffen it up a little, and adjusted the brakes. We also snapped about half the bolts that we had to take off, so my local hardware store really made a lot off me buying nuts and bolts. We also threw a little something something on the bottom of the hood:

Honestly the car handles a lot better now. And the driveshaft angle is a lot better. And there's less positive camber in the front.

 

A few questions: 1. will T3 camber plates for 510s fit this car? I've been told that 710 struts fit 510s, but I don't know that for sure.

2. Do Roadsters use the same rear ends as 710s? My car is geared incredibly short, and as much as it pains me, I'm going to need to be able to drive this car on the highway eventually, and some 3.70s would help with that.

 

That's all for now, stay tuned for more updates while I'm not at work.

[INDY510]

T3 camber plates for a 510 will fit a 710, but you need coilovers and the correct shocks .... you cant run camber plates with stock springs

[cleverusername]

T3 camber plates for a 510 will fit a 710, but you need coilovers and the correct shocks .... you cant run camber plates with stock springs

Gotcha. Been holding out on coilovers because I want to do 280zx struts. Guess I should get going on that swap.

[S30Jay]

I'm glad to hear it's running well!

[datzenmike]

Honestly the car handles a lot better now. And the driveshaft angle is a lot better. And there's less positive camber in the front.

 

Check how you bolted the top hats to the body. The 710 are offset, so you can mount them to remove some positive camber.

,

[cleverusername]

Well, another drought of posts from me. I ended up buying a second car and spending some time and attention on this one:

Did a couple things to the Datsun over the last few days though.

First, and most importantly, I made rear window out of Lexan since I couldn't get ahold of a regular glass window. 

I also got a smaller battery and actually tied it down

Finally, this weekend at the Junkyard I scooped up a pair of 280zx struts. They have good brake rotors and pads on them, and I was pleasantly surprised to open them up and find Tokico inserts.

I'm getting ready to go back to school, which means my updates are most likely going to get even more spaced out, but I'll keep posting whenever I do something noteworthy.

[INDY510]

you should rotate the battery 180 degrees ... so the positive terminal is on the motor side, and not so close to the duct tape on the fender well.   It's safer and how it was stock on 710's

[datzenmike]

Yup and the terminals are closer to the hood that way.

[cleverusername]

Good idea guys, I'll get it done.

 

Update again today, I went to the post office where they had two packages from Japan waiting for me...

BAAAAAAAAAAM

Enkei mesh 14x6 +15 offset. Going to run 195/60/14 on them hopefully I'll get them mounted tonight or tomorrow. Stay tuned for pictures of them on the car.

[cleverusername]

No oics, but a quick update. I moved back to the big city for school yesterday, and the car came with me. Ran like a champ on the 2 hour trip of mostly highway driving. Cruised comfortably at about 65. I do have a two problems that have come up since I last was here. 1. the windshield wipers stopped working. No idea why, everything seems to still be intact, but the don't work, 2. My starter is on it's way out. I can't work on cars at my apartment but my friend has a garage he said I can use on weekends to work on stuff so hopefully i'll get those fixed soon.

[fisch]

No oics, but a quick update. I moved back to the big city for school yesterday, and the car came with me. Ran like a champ on the 2 hour trip of mostly highway driving. Cruised comfortably at about 65. I do have a two problems that have come up since I last was here. 1. the windshield wipers stopped working. No idea why, everything seems to still be intact, but the don't work, 2. My starter is on it's way out. I can't work on cars at my apartment but my friend has a garage he said I can use on weekends to work on stuff so hopefully i'll get those fixed soon.

I got $10 on faulty switch! These things get crusty inside. I was having all sorts of weird problems on my 521, blinkers not working, horn not working. Lil sandpaper and good as new. If you can get it apart.

[cleverusername]

Well,, not really much has happened in the last 2 months, until yesterday. I was having some overheating issues in heavy traffic so I added an electric fan off a Honda to aid with cooling

I also got some tires on my Enkeis and have been rolling around on them

 

I went home for a few days last weekend and on the highway back yesterday, disaster struck. My engine started knocking really bad. I had checked my oil like 3 days before and it was fine so this was really unexpected. either way, it's back at home and I probably won't be able to do anything until Thanksgiving. after I fix it, I'm not really sure what I'm going to do. It's a super fun car to drive, but really as a daily it's pretty bad. I don't want to have to sell it, but I really kinda want a different daily, and with no job I don't really have a way to be able to afford one. For now I'm dailying the Supra but I'm an idiot and even I know it's a bad idea to daily a drift car...

Anyways, see you guys probably in a few months when I replace rod bearings.

I have some assorted pics but photobucket is being trash right now so I'll try and put them up later tonight

[cleverusername]

Well, Photobucket is still absolute trash, so again no pics, but i really actually will try and pics up ASAP.

My #2 Rod bearing was toasted, so I got new bearings, put them in and the car is running like a god damn champ now.

Also check out the packaging for my oil pan gasket. Top notch IMO

It was running so good I decided I needed to make something else for myself to work on on my 2 days off from work, so I pulled out my old fusebox and transplanted one from an 85 RX-7 GSL-SE

It's a little rough right now but I'm going to clean it up some more

Finally, I scored a roof rack for $40 bucks off a dude on Craigslist. It looks pretty cool imo and holds 4 pairs of skis for when I take the whole group up to the mountain.

This cars back on daily duty, once I have enough money to get a new one (probably a cheap Civic) it's LZ22 time.

EDIT: Pics are up

[cleverusername]

Well the car is off daily duty once again. I had a minor electrical fire...

So now I need a new voltage regulator

 

EDIT: I tried playing Nate Dogg and Warren G through my phone and that didn't work. Guess I'll just spend the $15 on a regulator.

[cleverusername]

I took some time off from the car, and after 2 failed attempts to sell it, I made an impulse buy on craigslist yesterday

$50 single cam KA and harness, needs a rebuild, injectors, a cam and an ecu. I have 2 more weeks of school then I should be getting down on this hard, so stay tuned.

Also a quick question to anyone who's done KA swaps before, what motor mounts did you use?

[Xnke]

This is your chance to fix all your bad wiring problems in one shot!

 

If you have a complete KA engine harness, there are only 6 wires to hook up-if it's not complete you might wanna find a complete harness from literally any KA24E powered car-FWD is OK but the pickup truck harness is best.

 

Bigger issues are fuel system and such-but that's easily sorted in a day if you're careful and deliberate in what you choose to do.

 

You'll need an external electric fuel pump, hoses, and have to run the wires back to that. Use 12G wire and run a full-length ground-don't body ground it. Will cause issues with wiring later.

 

Once the fuel system is in, and you've pulled the wires for the pump, let us know what your wiring harness is from and we'll go from there-there are enough people who have done KA swaps here you should be in good hands. I've done several into dirt track cars, and one of these days I'll do one into a 610 sharknose...Just gotta find the right car to start with...

[cleverusername]

This is your chance to fix all your bad wiring problems in one shot!

 

If you have a complete KA engine harness, there are only 6 wires to hook up-if it's not complete you might wanna find a complete harness from literally any KA24E powered car-FWD is OK but the pickup truck harness is best.

 

Bigger issues are fuel system and such-but that's easily sorted in a day if you're careful and deliberate in what you choose to do.

 

You'll need an external electric fuel pump, hoses, and have to run the wires back to that. Use 12G wire and run a full-length ground-don't body ground it. Will cause issues with wiring later.

 

Once the fuel system is in, and you've pulled the wires for the pump, let us know what your wiring harness is from and we'll go from there-there are enough people who have done KA swaps here you should be in good hands. I've done several into dirt track cars, and one of these days I'll do one into a 610 sharknose...Just gotta find the right car to start with...

The harness is complete as far as I know, nothing looks to to be cut off. I already have an electric fuel pump but I honestly can't remember if it's internal or external (po did it). I know I will need to run a higher pressure pump, will I need to change the size of my fuel lines? Harness is from a 1990 240sx

[Xnke]

You want an 8mm or 5/16" feed line and at a minimum a 6mm or 1/4" return line. If you don't have that, then yes, you'll need up upsize the fuel lines-on my datsun I kept the stock 6mm feed line and installed a larger 5/16" line, now the original fuel feed is the return and the feedline is 5/16". On customer cars I just run 5/16" fuel line for streeters and 3/8" or 1/2" for the racers, depending on HP and fueling requirements.

 

As far as fuel pump, Airtex E2000 is fine-and they're inexpensive. Readily adaptable, but make sure your line from the fuel tank is at least 3/8" diameter and picks up near the bottom-you do not want to run the inlet dry nor do you want to have the pump trying to "suck" fuel uphill. Make sure the pump is lower than the bottom of the tank (even if it has to draw fuel up the line then down to the pump) because you want to keep the pump inlet flooded.

 

They're greased to protect them on the first dry start-but the fuel washes that grease out and starting the pump dry will kill it in short order. This goes for any gerotor style pump, and most turbine style pumps too.

 

The 240SX harness-is it the complete car harness or just the engine harness? If it's the whole car...then I would start swapping out the harness from headlight to taillights! (that's part of what makes the truck harness soo good too-all the wires are long enough or too long for just about anything.

[]2eDeYe]

Have you tried installing with the stock mounts yet?

[Xnke]

The stock mounts *should* work out ok, but you will need to make sure the brackets on the KA stay on the KA, and the Z and KA bellhousings are tilted differently-the KA leans to the driver's side of the car more than the Z.

 

Depending on your engine, pan, etc, it may be fine-as long as they tilt a little to the driver's side they'll oil properly.

[Lockleaf]

The stock mounts *should* work out ok, but you will need to make sure the brackets on the KA stay on the KA, and the Z and KA bellhousings are tilted differently-the KA leans to the driver's side of the car more than the Z.

 

Depending on your engine, pan, etc, it may be fine-as long as they tilt a little to the driver's side they'll oil properly.

Z and KA trannys don't lean differently. Guys use those transmissions interchangeably all the time without any lean. Z/ka is different from L but not from each other.

[Xnke]

They are about 5 degrees different. Got all three out in the shop.

 

L 20 degrees counterclockwise

Z 5 degrees clockwise

KA 10 degrees clockwise

 

Is it a difference in SOHC vs DOHC?

[bottomwatcher]

Xnke you just solved why my tranny now hits the tunnel with a ka swap. I will agree the ka24e gives the tranny a twist from the z24.

[Xnke]

I can't say that there isn't a KA bell that's the same as a Z, as I only have KA24DE bellhousings right now. It's entirely possible that there's one that's the same, I just haven't ever noticed.