LUVTruck.com

well after driving my luv for a year... and abusing it to no end...
my tranny is binding up on me... and i am left with the option of either get a 5 speed for the g180...
or just say screw it, take this beautiful nissan 240sx KA24E single cam engine.. (i have 2) and the 5 speed i got with it and swap them in instead... (i have 2 KA24E engines 1 good, 1 needing a head gasket, a complete wiring harness, ECU, 2 full sets of sensors, injectors, manifolds, and one engine worth of accessories including AC compressor...
being that the KA is fuel injected... has forged crank & rods.... 140hp and 150lb*ft stock.... i like the nissan option since they make all kinds of upgrade parts for them..
i will have to convert to 2wd to run the 5 speed (unless i buy a skyline rb26 awd transmission and thats just too much time/effort to fabricate right now.. maybe one day.

i also have a guy who is giving me a free 1991 nissan 240sx hatchback project.... by project i mean it will take months and a lot of money for me to get it running (bad engine and questionable 5 speed) and driving and i dont have the time or $ for that. plus i only have room for 1 vehicle...... so what im planning to do is pick up that 240, keep whatever spare parts i may need. pull the entire rear end, diff, suspension, axles, hubs etc, take out the front suspension, and modify the luv to run 240sx running gear.... (btw the luv is about 300lbs lighter than a 240sx)

i love drifting and road racing and the 240sx is about the perfect vehicle for both so i figure i might as well make a 240sx/luv highbred.. the swap would put me over to 4 wheel independent suspension, and open up the options for an epic turbo setup to come, and it is something that you really do not see every day. i could swap the truck over to run the 240sx hubs, spindles and wheels (4 lug 100mm i believe) but i am still debating on that, maybe with a 5 lug conversion...

anyway just putting this up here for you guys to pick over and see what you all think..

i will post pics of the luv as it currently sits, and the engine i plan to swap in once i figure out how to get my phone to upload pics to my laptop...

any questions/comments will be taken as they are :p i know not everyone will be a fan of the idea but i am sure there are a few of you who will like the idea and enjoy seeing the process.... will be putting a FULL build thread on luvtruck & another on 240sxforums.com

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Luvless
1980 Mikado-Sold.

1993 Lexus SC400 my Daily
2004 Yamaha WR250F my new love in life
2016 Toyota Camry my girls ride

interior is meh.... im thinking i want to use the 240's gauge cluster until i can afford new gauges


10" of 1000W epicness...


Nissan KA24E






tha manifolds etc from that motor 1/2 way through gasket scraping



this is not the motor i will be dropping in first. i have 2 of them this one needs the head gasket.
so i plan to drop in the other one which is in good shape/running, and still fully assembled, use it for a couple months while i build this one up, pull it out and swap this one in. will probably use this one to design the mounts and such since it is a long block and doesnt have the manifolds attatched so i can manuver it around easier.

i am trying to see how fast i can get the conversion done. i know it wont be anywhere near as easy as dropping in the stock motor. but since it is also a 4 banger with a manual transmission i hope it wont be too much of a hastle... the block is only about and inch longer so clearance shouldnt be an issue.
once i start the building i want to have it done in a week.... how practical that is i dont know but i would be taking an entire week off of work so i could spend the whole time working on getting it done up at my uncles shop, hopefully between me, him, my cousin and who ever is hovering around the house i can get it done within a week.. its really not THAT much work once of all the parts are gathered up. mock-up, mount fabbing, replumbing and wiring, but its really not all that bad with a full shop worth of tools, a lift and a few extra pairs of hands. i think the rear end swap will be the most complicated part... but i think once i have the parts sitting in front of me i should be able to figure out a mounting system pretty quick.

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Luvless
1980 Mikado-Sold.

1993 Lexus SC400 my Daily
2004 Yamaha WR250F my new love in life
2016 Toyota Camry my girls ride

I think it is a great project. And like you said they make an UNGODLY amount of upgrades for the 240sx engines so power will never be a problem. And also like you said since it is also a 4 banger it shouldn't be too hard to drop it in. You'll just have to fab up some motor mounts and move the trans cross-member back. The only other issue would be the clutch, is it cable or hydro?

This weekend I'm starting on dropping an Lt1 in my 4x4 LUV that is also being converted to 2wd. Wanna race when were both done? LOL

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When in doubt floor it. If you can't floor it then you've doubted yourself.

I actually lived just south of Seattle for a little over a month (McChord AFB) so racing wouldn't have been a problem but now I'm back in good ol' OKLAHOMA...............

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When in doubt floor it. If you can't floor it then you've doubted yourself.

lol hmm

hell that would be a fun race... i dont even want to try making the power you can pull from an lt1 with a ka but hell its worth a shot i wouldnt be able to hang in a straight line with under 15psi but i think the lighter front end and 4 wheel independent suspension would give me an edge in corners
turns out the luv diff is almost the exact same gearing about 4.01(240) to my 4.10or11 w/e it is and the tires are only about a 1/2" difference. so it really wont be much different at all other than the massive power/strength increase
i will have to take a look the transmission, it along with the other engine are in my buddys garage at the moment. if it is cable i will be in the clear if not.. whoop de doo i drill a few holes for the res and run some high pressure lines and do some more adapting.
by the time its done with i think SCCA racing days down at PIR will be a very common occurance....

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Luvless
1980 Mikado-Sold.

1993 Lexus SC400 my Daily
2004 Yamaha WR250F my new love in life
2016 Toyota Camry my girls ride

awesome.....
i got my 4x4 running right.... turns out my problem was the stereo system i have installed was causing my electrical system to "brown out" it had power... but not enough to run the engine properly... weak spark, etc because the stereo was on when the truck was started so it was automatically sucking down 1000 watts from the battery after turning the starter.... problem solved... wiring up a second battery/internally regulated alternator... for the stereo and whatever else i choose to hook up to it so i never have to worry abot killing my starting battery..

and i also found a luv without engine/bed for cheappp i hope i can still get it because that is the PERFECT build platform for the 240/LUV! then i can build a bed bottom around the new rear end for a totally one off look

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Luvless
1980 Mikado-Sold.

1993 Lexus SC400 my Daily
2004 Yamaha WR250F my new love in life
2016 Toyota Camry my girls ride

So did the swap happen? ...I have a frontier with irs and was thinking about doing the same thing to my luv but with a 350 ......but I wanted to c how it turned out

not yet have been rebuilding a 91 240sx hatch with my buddy (the reason i have the extra ka24s)
once thats done i will know enough about 240sx's to be ready to start customizing the parts to fit a luv.

IRS shouldnt be hard to do on a luv plenty of crossmembers and such to brace to. its going to come down to the mounting points and keeping the geometry similar to the donor vehicle (or improved upon) and adapting the entire drivetrain to work with it.
thats kind of funny... my other thought was to put a 350 in a 240sx... make myself a 570sx

thankfully the beds come off easy. once its off you will see why i say it wont be hard to design.

the project is being postponed for the moment while i finish the current 240sx build and sell it off. once thats done with i will get started on the luvsx

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Luvless
1980 Mikado-Sold.

1993 Lexus SC400 my Daily
2004 Yamaha WR250F my new love in life
2016 Toyota Camry my girls ride

well the luv is giving me issues... again... and im getting tired of working on an engine i dont plan to keep anyway so im parkin it while i rebuild that KA24E...

crazy idea came to me... the eaton supercharger on buicks and pontiac bonneville 3.8L engines will put 10-11 psi on a 2.4L and they are abundant in the pick-n-pulls in portland.
so im thinking that may be the route i take after i get the engine in and driving i can just build the setup on my spare engine for a mock up so i only have a day of downtime plus a day getting it tuned.

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Luvless
1980 Mikado-Sold.

1993 Lexus SC400 my Daily
2004 Yamaha WR250F my new love in life
2016 Toyota Camry my girls ride

Thumbs up and good luck on your swap and trouble shooting!
I saw the title and was pretty surprised. I was looking a swapping a LSx into a 240 a short time ago, until I found out about chevy LUVs. Good luck man, I look forward to seeing your truck fininshed!