Originally Posted by Chezelle

I have a 97' hardbody 2wd daily driver with the KA24E engine with about 60k miles on it that has an annoying rattle at startup for the first few seconds after starting. It always had a small rattle(fraction of a second) at startup since I've had it(the past 30k miles) but has slowly been getting progressively worse in sound and duration to around 2 seconds now. How many miles do these engines usually go before needing a timing chain & tensioner replacement? I find nothing in the service manual about T.Chain replacement intervals. Performancewise this motor has always been on the weak side in my opinion. I always get left pretty bad at the stoplight by all the other Nissan trucks so I'm thinking somethings not right somewhere. Maybe the chain is stretched or possibly jumped a tooth? I haven't had a chance to check the compression on it or ignition timing yet. Also I did switch over to the Mobil1 sythetic oil when I first bought it but it didn't seem to make any noticible difference in the sound of the rattle. Any links pertaining to this particular engine with any info original or performance oriented appreciated. Also what would be the most cost effective mod to get some more horses and fuel mileage out of this engine...a header?? I have only worked on Fords/Chevys in my past and am just not familiar with Nissans at least yet.

Thanks!
Brian
turbo@esn.net