[Kansas Red Son]

Hello.

I bought a 98 Frontier 2WD 5-Speed about 4 months ago. I've had no problems with it, other than an idiot rear-ending me, but only the tailgate and bumper were damaged. It has great gas mileage and really isn't too much of a hassle when it comes to replacing parts.

It has the KA24DE engine in it.

I have noticed that it lacks quite a bit of power compared to other trucks from around that decade and engine size. I don't know if its just my truck in particular, or if there might be something wrong with it that needs replaced. To kind of sum up what I'm dealing with:
The truck really has no take-off whatsoever. Being as its only a 2.4L, I kind of figured that was normal, but I've seen other trucks with the same sized engine pretty much peel out and take off with no problem.
When I'm on the highway, I'm lucky if I can even get the truck to 85-90, with the pedal floored.

If its not obvious enough, I really don't know too much about vehicles. I'm hoping to learn, however. The one thing that excited me about the truck when I bought it was the enormous amount of empty space in the engine compartment, and the ease of replacing any parts, so I'm hoping that replacing or adding any type of performance parts will be simple.

What I'm wanting to know is, what can I add to the truck to increase the power, other than a turbo system? A friend suggested a different air intake, a different exhaust, new sparkplugs, etc. But, before I go out and blast money on things that may not make a difference, I wanted to run this question by to people who have experience with this type of thing. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

[dubie2003]

Most with the KA have done almost nothing to the motors. Yes, a DIY CAI can be made which will help. Yes, an Efan over the stock mech fan will help. Yes, the KA was also used in the 240sx and other Nissan vehicles. The thing is that the KA in the Frontier is slightly different so most parts are not a direct bolt on and this causes most people to stay away from the performance side.

You may want to try a google search and see if anything has done something that you would like.

One thing that may help you the most is a supercharger (better for low end TQ compared to the turbo) but it would have to be customized.

Last thing is tuning. Nobody tunes first gens for the most part. Yes, JET does do some but they cost a ton of money and don't tune for everthing. It is basically a canned tune.

 

[5speed_Frontier]

Intake, headers, and exhaust will probably be a good place to start and help you the most. Then from there you can do all that minor stuff to make little differences like lightweight pulleys and an e-fan, etc. I would do and intake headers and a simple exhaust. Thats what Ive don to my truck, hahaha.

 

[roastbeef]

there are tons of little tweaks you can do for a few more ponies, but you really aren't going to notice much. a tune up will always do you good for efficiency, which will help depending on the maintenance done.

 

[1fstmax]

do a tune a on the truck.. plugs, cap, rotor, wires and check your timing. Change your air filter, fuel filter, also clean your maf and tb. Make sure you do all your basic maintanace before trying to hot rod it out.

for bolt ons, get an intake, also some headers, e fan, cams, and tune it. also if your lacking down low grunt, change the gears. Get a c200 with some 4.XX gears in it.

 

[Delta]

Being a 4 cylinder it doesn't have much low-end grunt as say a V-6. Mine is the same way, I could take off, put it to the floor and still not get anywhere until about 3K. It's just way it is. Turbo isn't going to do you any good till you build RPM's and boost anyways.

 

[dubie2003]

Does anyone have a link to a direct bolt on header for the OPs motor?

Also, CAMS built for the truck not the 240?

 

[ttodd1292]

PaceSetter Performance 72C1196 - PaceSetter Headers - Overview - SummitRacing.com

Part Number 304-124-101

 

[Relic]

why does everyone think a turbo 4 cant make low end torque? The ancient 2.5 turbododge made peak torque at 2000rpms, there are plenty of volvo/audi/benz/bmw and other turbo 4's making peak torque at less than that. The 2.4 has a good stroke for torque, I'm sure a properly sized turbo would smoke a 4.0 off the line.

 

[ttodd1292]

I may be wrong, but i thought turbocharging small engines always was better epically those that are Inline so you get all the cylinders exhaust going into the turbo.

Heres a turbo i found on ebay:

1998-2004 NISSAN FRONTIER KA24DE 2.4L T3/T4 TURBO KIT: eBay Motors (item 170408373496 end time Jun-15-10 11:56:13 PDT)

 

[Delta]

why does everyone think a turbo 4 cant make low end torque? The ancient 2.5 turbododge made peak torque at 2000rpms, there are plenty of volvo/audi/benz/bmw and other turbo 4's making peak torque at less than that. The 2.4 has a good stroke for torque, I'm sure a properly sized turbo would smoke a 4.0 off the line.

Never said it can't, but the peak torque on the truck version KA is around 4,000PRM's according to some online research. I'm sure some tuning, cam's, etc. can change all that.

 

[Joker]

i was goin to build up one of these motors because they are very strong. you can get cams, 240sx intake, high compression pistons, lightweight flywheel. the only real downside to the ka's is that they have a distributor, other then that go for it. really, anything for a 240 will work.

 

[NissanTy]

i don't think turboing the KA truck engine is as easy as a 240sx, if it were we'd have TONS of turbo'd KA powered frontiers on this site. the intake manifold is different on the frontier than the 240sx an i think that may be the biggest issue. i am not sure how hard it would be to do a 240sx intake manifold swap, my guess is that it isn't easy. as for your issue, i'd plug a OBDII scanner into the ecu to see if there are any hidden codes effecting the performance of the truck, if not then do a full tune up, like plugs, wires, cap, fluids changed. then you can start modding from there. if you don't plan to keep the truck long or don't feel like spending money modding it then i would suggest selling it and buying a v6 frontier, or even a v8 truck. good luck, and remember money can make your truck as fast as you want it.

 

[1fstmax]

i don't think turboing the KA truck engine is as easy as a 240sx, if it were we'd have TONS of turbo'd KA powered frontiers on this site. the intake manifold is different on the frontier than the 240sx an i think that may be the biggest issue. i am not sure how hard it would be to do a 240sx intake manifold swap, my guess is that it isn't easy. as for your issue, i'd plug a OBDII scanner into the ecu to see if there are any hidden codes effecting the performance of the truck, if not then do a full tune up, like plugs, wires, cap, fluids changed. then you can start modding from there. if you don't plan to keep the truck long or don't feel like spending money modding it then i would suggest selling it and buying a v6 frontier, or even a v8 truck. good luck, and remember money can make your truck as fast as you want it.

the only real hidden code that would rob power would be the Knock Sensor code.

I don't think its hard to turbo a frontier. The only hard thing would be to get a hat for our throttle body.

Another reason i think we don't see many turbo frontiers, is because people who buy little 4 bangers buy them cus they're cheap, fuel savers, and aren't into modding.

Another reason is because putting a nice turbo setup will cost a pretty penny.

Never said it can't, but the peak torque on the truck version KA is around 4,000PRM's according to some online research. I'm sure some tuning, cam's, etc. can change all that.

bleh.. you want low end, change your gears. simple, and no tuning required.

 

[Sartor]

my truck does fine in the lower end... although i do believe better gears in the 2wd 4cyl would help significantly. I have researched it and the intake gasket-to-head from a 240 and frontier is completely different.

 

[Joker]

turboing the truck would be alot easier than a 240. same motor, just more room. as for the gaskets being completely differet, change the head. if you want power, you gotta pay to play.

 

[1fstmax]

my truck does fine in the lower end... although i do believe better gears in the 2wd 4cyl would help significantly. I have researched it and the intake gasket-to-head from a 240 and frontier is completely different.

care to share what's different about it? looking at the pics of both ka's they look awfully similar...

 

[Kansas Red Son]

I went and got a regular air filter, no special features, wasn't a K&N, etc. Was like, $15.

I also got a set of platinum spark plugs and a new set wires. I would have replaced the distributor cap and rotor but they were out of the parts. Also, the guy before me must have had a problem with patience, because the air filter that was in it was smashed down, with the plastic busted in an attempt to get it to fit. The nut and washer on top wouldn't fit unless he did that.. He could have taken the time to realize that washer was made to fit into the cover, but yeah...whatever.

After firing it up and driving it a bit, I noticed a difference right away. I could actually get the wheels to spin from the git-go xD. Not that that's what I plan on doing, its just nice to know that it has the power to do so.

Later in the evening....I realized one other issue that might have been slowing it down..... four 70lb sand bags sitting in the back from the winter that I hadn't taken out yet. So they're gone .

Again, I'm new to everything. Today was a real learning experience for me. One thing I thought was weird was the intake system in the truck. The cover that holds the air filter connects to a long tube that runs parallel to the front of the truck, and then connects to the side of the engine compartment behind the left headlight. When I searched up Air Intakes for the KA24DE, it comes up with systems and parts that look nothing like that. I know most of them are made for the 240SX, but does anyone think it would be possible to attach an intake made for the 240SX KA24DE to the Frontier's version of the engine? If it would help, I'll take pictures in the morning to kind of show you what I'm talking about.

 

[Sartor]

I meant to say that they bolt up differently. also, the powersteering bracket needs to bolt up... and the 240 runs on a single drive belt. the fronty uses 3 v belts.

 

[chainsaw]

One thing I thought was weird was the intake system in the truck. The cover that holds the air filter connects to a long tube that runs parallel to the front of the truck, and then connects to the side of the engine compartment behind the left headlight.

Thats the factory set up. Its designed like that to pull air that is NOT in the engine bay and there fore is cooler which will help the truck run better. Engines Like cool air = denser charge of oxygen.