Thread: S14 with SR20 or KA24

HP is a measure of work/time. You can create torque without any work actually being done is what ben is saying. Getting work done as fast as possible is what makes the car go fast. Therefore, HP is all that matters. If you want I can take you for a ride in a Peterbuilt truck and you can see for yourself. 1500lbft makes the rig feel fast! But look at the speedo and you realize that only 500hp makes the rig slow. The reason why the rig can do so much work is because of the HP at low RPM and torque multiplication by the 13 speed gearbox. By multiplying the "torque" it makes it easier to get the work done, but not faster.

I think people have gotten way out of hand with this thread, and its become an intillectual pissing match.

Well anyway, i agree with the old saying run watcha brung. What ever engine you have wether it be a ka,sr,rb,vq,ls1 etc can be built to do just about anything, each engine has its strong and weak points. I have personally seen and ridden in many of these set ups in a 240sx s13 or 14. Most of the drift cars around here either have a ka or an sr. One of my friends has a built ka24e-t single cam in his s14, this is by far one of the most fun drift cars i have ever been in, and it was built at a reasonable cost. Another good friend has a very competitive n/a ka24de which is super reliable and a blast to drift, auto-x, and roadrace.

In the end its all personal experience, opinion or the depth of your pockets determine which route you will chose and to what level your engine/car will be built.

Thats just my .02

You learned the equation, now explain how Torque matters again? That's like saying "amperage is better than watts of power", but Watts is the actual amount of power being made. HP is power. Period. You are right, you can't have HP down low without torque. But that doesn't mean that torque is more important. I will say it again. HP is all that matters. Torque can be multiplied by the gearbox.

ok this argument with the stock vs stock is stupid. The KA comes with 9.8:1 compression, and the det comes with 8.5:1. UM DUH the KA will be faster! Look at the advantage it has, If you just toss a T25 on there. You're comparing apples and oranges. If you take a 9.5:1 SR and a 9.8:1 KA and toss a T25 on both the 1/4 mile time will be within a tenth of a second of eachother. Mod for mod these engines are equal up until big HP numbers where the 2.4L becomes more important. Plus with the 240 you can put in a Z32 trans for when you run 160+ traps. And for whoever said Ivan's KA-T has an untouched bottom end, do more reasearch, that thing is the epitome of built and also it has the Z32 auto trans.

there are many variables to asess, it really does boil down to what you want to do with the motor, the money you have to do so( cost effectiveness), the application.. ect.
in light of this discussion wouldnt the sr20 be deemed a more balanced motor?

^^No because the KA24 came in the car^^

I'd like to take the time to personally convey my gratitude to everyone I quoted and all who posted a constructive comment in this thread for the perpetuation of the education of how to make our cars faster and opinions of certain engines.

Though at times this thread may have spiraled into a clash of egos vs. pliable info some of us who have just watched (there are at least 860 view and this thread is less then a week old, I'm sure it's more then just those who've commented ).

In any case I've learned quite a bit in just this thread alone. I plan to accumulate more info as the thread continues.

Thanks,
Soulsultan

Feeling what the car does is a pretty important part (at least to me) of automotive enthusiasm. Having a broad power AND torque powerband in a 4 cylinder engine is pretty rare, and this is what I like about the KA. KA-T's are very much driver's cars.

Just browsing on KA-t.org, take a look at this dyno graph and tell me you don't like the look of it:

I'm very sorry for what I've done to this thread. I do not like how it has gotten so off-topic because of my posts. I've been told there's a possibility the offending posts may all be deleted. I plead that the off-topic posts related to torque and horsepower be split off into their own thread. If the mods would prefer, I'll gladly create it.

Please read the quote below and appreciate that people are reading, and people are learning.



I do hope the thread/discussion can continue as well.

Cleaned up and few PM sent out.