Gracie II the D21

[DRIVEN]

You know, not everything has to be a hotrod. There's a lot to be said about stock, reliable, and boring for a daily driver. You've got plenty of drama with your other toys.

[HRH]

Oh you silly voice of reason!! I've been researching all morning. The problem I see is the power I want is attainable, but only after lots of expense, and it will be peaky. Much easier to go turbo. But I don't want that due to complexity, etc. Plus, turbo stuff is easier to blow up if you're not careful.

I checked my old thread with the Z24 bottom end, and KAE head with the Colt Cams Triflow I, and it made 109 hp/121 tq at the wheels. That's on 30 x 9.50s and at 90 degree shop temps. Unfortunately that dyno isn't in Spokane anymore so I can't do a dyno run on the same machine for testing, but oh well.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is a 170 hp NA KA is possible, but probably not with the amount of money and compression ratio I'll want. So, I think I'll go for the best torque and flow I can get out of a KA with standard compression. If I can get another 10-20 hp at the wheels from head porting and possibly the bigger cam, then I'll be happy and really it'll move just fine. I may still cut .030 off the head for the additional compression, not sure. Definitely doing the porting. Except this time I'm going to farm that out to someone my head builder knows who's really good apparently. I don't know how much gain there is porting the KA head. I'm betting less than the L head, but any amount of porting isn't a bad idea, so we'll just see what we get.

[HRH]

Picked up a nice 165k cam out of a stanza today for the regrind. According to Geoff at Colt Cams, the car cams have more meat so you don't get an abnormally small base circle. I'm actually half tempted to use the stanza head and run the distributor off the cam and the backwards intake, but I think it would hit the firewall.

[BLUE]

You know, not everything has to be a hotrod. There's a lot to be said about stock, reliable, and boring for a daily driver. You've got plenty of drama with your other toys.

I had to. Just make it reliable , and be happy.

[HRH]

Lol, thanks you guys.

[HRH]

So I started looking for adjustable cam gears for the KAE and figured I wouldn't find any. Oddly, I did. And not only that, this guy is local, probably 2 miles away from me, and making bits for the problematic chain rattle of Nissan KAs and a Toyota engine. I'm going to call him tomorrow on his ratcheting chain tensioner. It's quite intriguing. I haven't decided if I like the other chain rattle things he has, but I'm certainly going to be buying an adjustable gear so I can mill the head and get the cam back to correct.

https://www.martin-industries.net/

So I did some digging. Honda/Acura has used this type of timing chain tensioner (ratcheting) since 2005. Maybe where he got the idea. Very interesting indeed!

[DRIVEN]

Toyota has used that for 20 years. Still want one?

[HRH]

Yes, only because it doesn't say Toyota on it.

[HRH]

Talked to the fellow today. Very nice. He apparently had a friend who was a "fix-it" guy for Nissan for vehicles the various dealerships couldn't fix. I never thought about it, but the slack chain does retard the cam quite a bit on KA engines, resulting in lost horsepower. It'll also be nice to have correction for when I lopp .030" off the head. I'm getting excited about this build! The goal is more than 123 whp of the KADE I have in the truck now.

[HRH]

So I got my Z24 motor today, lol. Jim thought it was a ka, he had it squirreled it away for so long. So either I do another hybrid kaz24, or I find another ka. At least I have options now.

[DRIVEN]

Ter bow dee soul.

[HRH]

Lol. Tempting, but no. Gathering parts for the KA. If I could import a whole D21 with 2.7 turbo diesel I would.

[HRH]

So get this, the fellow I bought the cam gear and tensioner from has a KA for me! It's the one he used for the videos, just been on an engine stand not doing anything. Figure I'll go get that after Christmas, but I have a good donor motor now! Things are coming together!

[HRH]

The most offensive Nissan fail of hard bodies. The lock rod clip that always breaks in winter. Replaced! Now I don't have to go through the passenger side door.

[Taterhead]

I never had a problem with those but that little rubber grommet for the brake light switch I’ve replaced on just about every Nissan I’ve had.

[HRH]

Huh, odd. I've never replaced a brake light switch in any Nissan I've owned. Though I did replace a clutch switch I think. Oddities of climate I suppose.

[HRH]

Huh, odd. I've never replaced a brake light switch in any Nissan I've owned. Though I did replace a clutch switch I think. Oddities of climate I suppose.

[Taterhead]

I probably should have worded that better. I always have to replace the rubber piece on the brake pedal arm that the brake light switch hits.

But I’ve never had the rod clip break on me.

[HRH]

Had to take off the camper shell to get this KAE, but it's gotten and back at the shop. Well actually it's at work just so I can get it out of the bed. Then I'll probably bring in the proper engine stand and bring the box van back to get it back to my place. Or I may just see if I can squirrel away here but I hate taking up the shops space with my projects.

[DRIVEN]

Easy weekend project. I thought your boss was cool.