Marcus

Hi, I'm thinking about buying a used Hardbody. It's a 1989 "Long Box", regular cab with the 2.4l and automatic. It has 208k km (130 k miles) and the asking price in $950. I would buy it without a doubt except the automatic has me wondering. Generally how reliable are the auto's in Nissan's? The price is quite low so I'm wondering if something is up. It does a little surface rust and scratches/dings. What do you guys think? Can I put a standard in it?

deathtorice

ya, you could swap in a 5 spd, but its a lot of work. you will probably want to do it, anyway. 134 hp + auto = slug. the '89 may have even less than that.

Marcus

Well I bought it! I'm going to go over all the mechanics of it and tune it up. I do have one question, how does the Z24 differ from the KA24E?

Marcus

Everything seems to work just fine, thought I have noticed that it "slips" a little when going from 2nd to 3rd. I will check the fluid tomorrow but when I pulled the dipstick the fluid was red and looked clean. I have noticed that the fuel gauge moves around a little bit. The manual says that this it is normal to move during braking/acceleration etc., though I have never seen this on my 95 Hardbody. It seems that the temperature gauge stays close to the "cold" range, where should it be during normal driving? Should the temp. gauge be perfectly straight in between "C" and "H"? When turning or driving on bumps it tends to creak a little bit. I'm assuming that it is just the spings showing there age. The truck has had a recent mufler job, but it seems like it is quite noisy. Maybe there is a hole somewhere in the exhaust? I will check it out.

Yontrop

I don't have much experience with the Z24 engine, but I know a few differences. The Z24 is carbureted, Z24i is throttle body injection, where the KA24E is multi-port injection. I think that's right about the Z24 engines, but someone correct me if I'm wrong.

The other noticable difference is the Z24 engine is a dual-plug setup, meaning there's eight spark plugs, eight plug wires, and an eight-plug distributor - two per cylinder. The KA24E is the regular single-plug design. I believe the 2-plug design is basically one for ignition, and the other one for chamber cleanup, but I could be wrong.

EDIT: Keep in mind, if you pay to have the Z24 tuned up, you will essentially be paying for a V8 tune-up, and is much more expensive than a typical 4-cylinder. Don't get shocked when you hear the price, if you choose to have it done at a shop.

__________________
ASE-certified technician by day, metal musician and computer nerd by night, and avid Nissan HB lover

1997 D21 XE KA24E 2WD 5-spd - 190,000mi

blay

I recently purchased a '94 Hardbody and I get the same thing w/ the Temp guage. It stays pretty much cold, no matter what.

deathtorice

mine stays close to the C too. i replaced the thermostat, thinking it was stuck open, but it still does it. it used to go about half way up, but not any more. but my heater still melts your skin off, so i guess all is well.

Marcus

Just wanted to add something. I've noticed that when I start it up I can hear a "gurgling" type noise. When I looked under the hood the noise was coming from a round part just in front of the charcoal canister near the drivers side. It seems to go away once the truck has warmed up. What is it?

deathtorice

z24= carb, z24i = injected. Here is more info from nissanminis.com:

Some unusual similarites between nissan engines and other engines
NAPZ24 vs KA = bore is the same between these two and so is stroke but compression is different. journal diameters are also close so machine work is neccessary for interchange of parts.

VH45DE vs Chevy350 bores are similar as is rod journal diameter. 350's have shorter rods and could be fitted in the vH for a nice low compression turo v8. this would also solve the inherently weak rod issue with these engines. The shoreter rods also change the stroke to rod ratio making this an even higher revving v8, stock is 7k!

L-series vs Z vs KA these three series of engines are so very common its not even funny! All of them are L series based and for those who dont know were based off Mercedes engines. yes! tha germans! Oil pumps from all these engines interchange but front covers vary between all. the timing chain designs are also the same and if head bolts line up they can be bolted to eachothers blocks. KA24de head can be fitted to an L-block, yes the water jackets line up! Front cover mods must be done to accomplish this properly. Some machine work may be required when swapping internals as the deck heights between all series are different.

Hopefully this sticky will solve alot of questions being posted and the nissan engine knowledgable from repeating it. If you see a discrepency here in this info then please "PM" me!!! Dont bash me through this sticky, please!

Also if there is any info you would like to "ADD" that would be great too because some engines i didnt list do to my lack of knowledge with them. Like the NAPZ, SR, RB's, and CA's, PM me with the info and ronnie will add it. Peace.

Here is the link to the full writeup:

http://www.nissanminis.com/viewtopic.php?t=46964

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'94 hardbody ka24e 5spd

Will

With the examples on this page and the 2 hardbodies I have/had. The 2.4 seems notorious for running on the cold side of the temp gage. Up here in Michigan, in the winter, I add a piece of cardboard to the radiator front. This extends my heat range a bit. I take it out when the weather warms up. Sure am thankful they run on the cool side rather than the hot though.lol

Marcus

Would my '89 be Fuel Injected then? On the air filter is just says "Z24" and "Electro Ignition". Would the auto tranny be a 3sp or a 4sp?

Yontrop

Nope, yours is carb'd. If it was fuel-injected, it would say 'Z24i'.

EDIT: Hahah, sorry, I seem to have skipped your tranny question. I believe those are 3-speeds, but again, I don't have much experience with hardbodies other than KA24s with 5-speeds, haha. My educated guess would be a 3-speed.

If it has D, 2 and 1, (or D, L, S, or something similiar) then it's a 3-speed.

__________________
ASE-certified technician by day, metal musician and computer nerd by night, and avid Nissan HB lover

1997 D21 XE KA24E 2WD 5-spd - 190,000mi

Marcus

Wha model year was the Z24 fuel injected. I think 89 was the last year of the "Z24", in 90 it was replaced with the KA24E right? What is the difference between the Z24 and KA24E besides the 8 spark plugs in the Z?

Will

The first injected Hardbody was the 86.5. Everything after that was injected, throttle-body or multi-port. So if it's an 89 and carberated it's not the original engine. Why someone would do that is beyond me.

cmnsnse

Water pump is different, head as well/ plugs/cams/valves/distributor/ crank and bearings are also different.