Red's Ka24de Swap

Ok so this is my original s12 I got about 4-5 years ago for 100 bucks due to it running poorly. After many failed attempts at getting the ca18et to simply run good enough to daily drive I gave up about a year and a half ago and it has been sitting pretty much ever since. It has probably only seen around 2 or 3 thousand miles on the road in the last 4 years I have owned it. Hopefully all this will change soon now that I have picked up a ka24de motor set. The swap begins...







My old man trying to salvage some of my coolant (Not going back in my car so he can have fun with that)


3-4 leisurely hours later the motor and tranny are ready to come out!






One of my rear springs still has a part number tag from Nissan on it haha.


A leaky steering rack? Wow how rare!


Hoping to pull the engine and tranny out on Thursday since I am busy tomorrow. I am probably gonna do the bell housing swap from the C tranny I got with my ka. I was kinda bummed out when I went to drain the tranny oil from the s12 B tranny and there was a bunch of metal shavings attached to the magnet on the drain plug (never drained it before). It was pretty surprising since the tranny shifts so nicely. Despite that I will probably still go ahead with the bell housing swap and just upgrade to the C tranny down the road. More updates later!

this is exciting, good luck

Your car looks clean and that lift must be helpful!

Good luck.

Must not use salt on the roads in Washington.  Looks like a great starting point.

the c tranny is so much smoother then the b tranny. This is awesome though man...kade s12 seattle meet when your done?

Good luck friend! Hope to see it fired up soon.  That way you can get your baby back on the road.

do you still have any 18et stuff lying around if so you willing to part with any of it for lets say the cost of shipping? lol
seriously tho... there are a few things I need

Good luck man.....seems like everyone is going KA now and days....ill prolly have to do the same for my turbo hatch........Fuck the CA18

Clean ass car btw

Drft-s12Good luck man.....seems like everyone is going KA now and days....ill prolly have to do the same for my turbo hatch........Fuck the CA18

Clean ass car btw

the ca18 isnt a bad engine...it just needs another cam:p

sam31183kade s12 seattle meet when your done?

sideways_s12do you still have any 18et stuff lying around if so you willing to part with any of it for lets say the cost of shipping? lol
seriously tho... there are a few things I need

Well we didn't get as much done as I hoped today but at least the motor and tranny are out. Tomorrow the ka should be in and possibly the tranny as well if we can get the bellhousing swap done in time.

First thing I surprisingly saw when I pulled into the shop today was this s14. Apparently it was having some kind of fuel issue and was running too rich.


Nice empty bay awaiting a new engine.




Good bye ca...


...Hello ka!

whoa, you have/ had rain sensing wipers.

your ka looks cleannnn, like your crossmember. jeebus

whose shop is this your car is at? I might be willing to come up if i can get my car on the lift long enough to get my ebrake cables on...i mean, yah, i could do it on jack stands, but it would be a bigger pain in the ass...oh, and you can help me figure out why my temp gauge isnt working.... Do you know where they might move golden gardens to this year? I really like it down there...even though it is getting to small and it is always windy...

EternalSwapwhoa, you have/ had rain sensing wipers.

your ka looks cleannnn, like your crossmember. jeebus

sam31183whose shop is this your car is at? I might be willing to come up if i can get my car on the lift long enough to get my ebrake cables on...i mean, yah, i could do it on jack stands, but it would be a bigger pain in the ass...oh, and you can help me figure out why my temp gauge isnt working.... Do you know where they might move golden gardens to this year? I really like it down there...even though it is getting to small and it is always windy...

blah. I think my brother and I might caravan up with the aberdeen kids...one of them is the one sporting a 18det 86...one of i think 2 in washington.

sam31183blah. I think my brother and I might caravan up with the aberdeen kids...one of them is the one sporting a 18det 86...one of i think 2 in washington.

roflma....its funny because kurt cobain grew up there...hah!

So we got the bell housings apart for both the B and C trannys today. Kinda strange almost everyone says how the C tranny swap is so much easier to do compared to swapping the bell housings. It was a lot simpler than I anticipated based on what I had read and took less than an hour to get them both off. Much more convenient in my opinion then swapping to the C tranny and having to fabricate a tranny mount or modify your stock one, finding an s13 front driveshaft and having to cut your shifter back 2 inches.

B tranny


C tranny

I've been telling people this for quite some time now, but no one ever listens.
Though the C trans that come with most motor swaps usually do have lower miles, which is nice, but I'd rather have OEM fit with out chassis modification.

wait a moment here... when you say "C" trans, are you talking about the S13 trans, or the S12 "C" trans?

Usually we just refer to the former as the "S13" trans, and when we say "C" we mean the S12 MTX used in Mark II cars. Otherwise it gets confusing. As it has for me right now  And as it most certainly will for n00bs who misunderstand the S13 trans to be the same as the "C" trans in Mark II S12's.

the s13 c trans shifts way smoother then the b trans...i cant speak tho for the s12 c trans as all of my s12s are mk1s.

S13 trans shifts just like the S12 "C" trans.

ArroS13 trans shifts just like the S12 "C" trans.

David Bis this a trans discussion thread or a build thread??

There's nothing wrong with discussing a minor point in a build thread here or there, David why don't you let the thread starter do the talking for himself lol.

Anyways I'm just glad to see another KADE going into an S12.

Yeah it is the s13 C tranny that came with my motor set not an s12 C tranny.

So you're putting the S12 B trans into the S13 C bellhousing.

This is why we should just refer to it as the "S13 transmission" and leave the "C" to strictly mean the S12 C trans.

Well this way your swap should go much quicker. The only advantages I can see with the S13 trans is it's somewhat stronger (although B trans isn't bad) and the shifter being farther back is actually more comfortable IMO. But I'm going with a C trans in my other car so I can have the strength but not have to relocate shit, like you said.

So progress has slowed a little bit but things are still moving. The bellhousing swap is complete and the motor is now in the bay. With a little luck by the end of next week the only thing that will be left to get done will be the wiring.

Completed bellhousing swap


This is a sight that has been long overdue


ebay intake showed up this week


The new Nismo motor mounts


New clutch and flywheel

this build is scooting along nicely.

blue ka'd s12's are the bomb

The pine needles definitely give your location away heh  

I hope to go to the non GG, GG meet this year.. although maybe i'll need someone to pick me up, I am driving a CA after all, lol.    

Your CA is pretty damn clean...  oh and btw i'm jealous!!  lol  

its real common to have some shavings on the magnet of the trans drain plug, not something to worry about.  If the gear oil comes out silver, then maybe...

anyway

looking good, should be running soon.  you has pms

200sxkitcaryou has pms

lolz I guess it's not his neck that's red...?

And yes, this is a great build  and I'll be joining these ranks very soon.

Arrololz I guess it's not his neck that's red...?

And yes, this is a great build  and I'll be joining these ranks very soon.

200sxkitcarits real common to have some shavings on the magnet of the trans drain plug, not something to worry about.  If the gear oil comes out silver, then maybe...
anyway
looking good, should be running soon.  you has pms

EternalSwap...lolwut
updates?!
this is a goood build!

Arrololz I guess it's not his neck that's red...?

And yes, this is a great build  and I'll be joining these ranks very soon.

JayRedneck. Finish it! You will be angry with yourself once you drive it that you didn't finish it sooner. I know I was...

RedneckYou finished your swap in like 24 hours basically and that wasn't fast enough? Haha. It puts my swap pace to shame especially since I have extra help, a lift and air tools at my disposal. But yeah I can't wait to get it on the road.

Redneckand joining these ranks very soon? I thought your s12 has had a running ka24de for awhile now?
You finished your swap in like 24 hours basically and that wasn't fast enough? Haha. It puts my swap pace to shame especially since I have extra help, a lift and air tools at my disposal. But yeah I can't wait to get it on the road.

ArroSterling did the swap, not me. The man is a machine, it's amazing what he did and how fast he did it. Total kamakazi swap status for that boy.

But my car is still not legally on the road. In fact I may have some big trouble in NV, because I found out that bringing an out of state car into NV, they check the EIN and look underhood to inspect things. They're ridiculously lax once the car is plated in NV (smog is a joke there) but apparently before then they aren't.

I may be actually forced to restore this thing back to 100% CA18ET status. Grrrrr.

The bellhousing swap worked great! Didn't have to even slightly modify anything.




The ka downpipe is completely pressed up against the bottom of the car. Any suggestions for more clearance besides a hammer?


The ka downpipe and stock cat didn't hook up either.


Getting closer.




The dohc ka is supposed to clear the Mk1 hood right? This picture makes me a little nervous.

check your trans mount locations

i got nervous too. and turns out i was hitting the hood...
you might have to add spacers with the trans mount to raise it, causing the motor to tilt down some on the nose

or, you can tilt your hood. which looks dumb. or find a turbo hood like i did

the hood does "bow" over a tad bit.. so you should be fine, mine looks worse

my stock dp did not hit the bottom of the floor... the aftermarket headers i have do, hmmm

what motor mounts do you have

They are Nismo motor mounts originally for the sr20/ka24 s13 and were completely bolt in. Some guys have claimed the Nismo mounts raise your motor around half an inch because the stock mounts sag down a little over time but others dispute this and claim there really is no measurable difference so who knows.

it looks like 1/2 inch right there though! My hood is really close on the notch...sometimes it takes me 2 times to close it...but it does latch. Also, I think my cold air intake rattles on the inside of my hood at, 25mph, 35mph, and 45mph....I havent noticed much rattling above 45mph . You will most likely have to do some custom exhaust work...maybe even have to heat the downpipe up some and bend it your worried about it being to close to the car...but then again if you eventually slam the car you wont have to worry about bottoming out your exhaust. My brother has a piece of flex pipe between his exhaust and header and he has been bottoming it out on his rolla after putting his 4age in with his new header...

sam31183it looks like 1/2 inch right there though! My hood is really close on the notch...sometimes it takes me 2 times to close it...but it does latch.

my brother keeps telling me i should use deep sockets for hood spacers, i keep telling him i am not baller enough.

Not surprisingly the hood didn't clear the end of the ka valve cover. Luckily the part that was not clearing was part of the hood support. So we just took a whizzy wheel to a small part of the support that was not clearing and now it is all good and fully latches with no issues.




Needs a little clean up but everything is hooked up.


Basic wiring is all completed. STERLING YOU ARE THE MAN! Your wiring guide was spot on!


I know they are crimps but the old man used an expensive snap on tool to crimp them which apparently adds quite a bit of extra strength. I'm still a little weary but I did try and pull a test wire out of one of the crimps and it took a lot of force to finally separate them.


The new s13 SE rims.


A glimpse of the interior.


We ended up just beating the floor in a little bit with a hammer for the downpipe to clear and ghetto rigged the exhaust so that the s13 downpipe and s12 cat would hook up (I'll probably get some pics of that later). I have driven it for a week (about 150 miles) now with the ka and it seems a little low on power compared to my s13 so I need to figure out what is causing that. I will add more updates later but I wanted to give a big thanks to my old man, his shop business partner Tom, Sterling and everyone else for their help with making the project a success!

I am loving it man! I might be heading up to tacoma soon...i ordered one of franks rear strut tower bars and he wants to get a good look at it...maybe we can do a mini meet up at upgarage?

excellent!  glad to see it worked well for you.

keep in mind those crimp deals will NOT seal out moisture... i would highly recommend soldering with heat shrink to seal out the elements...

keep us updated!

200sxkitcar i would highly recommend soldering with heat shrink to seal out the elements...