1996 Nissan 240SX LE from North America - Comments

Nothing has gone wrong with the car yet. Check engine light came on driving it back home. Was my mistake putting in regular 87 octane... dumb of me, but I only put it about 10 liters... (was low on cash and had to get enough gas to get home.) I then mixed higher 91 octane just incase my catalytic convertor wanted to get back at me for my mistake... turns out the computer tells me it's just the 02 sensor. Cheap fix.

Updating my comments.

September 7th, 2006 - Nothing has gone wrong with my car as of today. it's at 126 clicks and still running strong. 5 Speed swap is in progress...I plan on doing it myself, and I am mechanically inclined but you cant appreciate a car mod if you cant do it yourself. I've done a lot of research and talked to other people who have done this swap before so I'm not totally lost to what I am doing. My heatshield is making a rattling noise which at times does get annoying but I put up my music up a notch and the noise gets dampered. I plan on getting a stainless steal full catback so no need for the heatshield with factory muffler. I say it's pointless to have one anyway, water and salt and sand (if you live somewhere where it snows like me) gets caught up in there which equals one thing...rust! Other than that mechanically the car is fine.

I love this car. I also love my 97 cavalier.

I plan on driving both until they die.

My model was the LE so I have all power options, leather interior makes it VERY hot in the summer and sad to say it's an automatic : (

But none the less I still love this car.

I had the option of choosing from a 95 Celica GT-S, Supra MK2, Toyota MR2, and the 96 Nissan 240sx, It took me a second to decide to choose the 240sx.

Next major overhaul will be getting the JDM s14 2.0L engine...220HP BABY!

Update September 7th, 2006 - SR20 or RB swaps are a good call if your engine ceases to work, but if you have low clicks like me, I suggest turbo charging the KA. With the engine having truck roots, it'll be a mad torque monster, although the sr20 power band is wider you cannot neglect the potential of turbo charging a KA24, it's just a lot cheaper.

Hey...I'm looking into buying a 240 SX LE/automatic...i don't like the fact that's it's an automatic, but when I seen it I fell in love with it and these cars are very rare where I live, everyone has cavaliers and civics wich don't do anything for me. but just wanted to know if performance wise this is a great car. I plan on converting it to a manual eventually... and if the engine is easily modifiable... if you can give me some feedback it would be appreciated...thanks...richard.

I have done my fair share of research on the 240sx, base model and SE model, LE is basically the same as SE, but with all power options leather interior etc. 97-98 models got a overhaul in looks, no difference in performance. Now, the 95-98 models only came with a KA24DE engine out putting 155 HP. Parts are extremely hard to find for these vehicles especially in Canada, but if you live in the States or Japan then parts are easier to find.

For modifying the engine... most people don't do up the KA24 engine, usually drive the KA until it dies and throw in a SR20DET JDM engine, or any of the RB's. The SR20's are from the cousin make Silvia engine's over in Japan, and the RB's are the Nissan Skyline engine.

I'm no mechanic, but I plan on doing my Auto to Manual swap by myself and with the help of friends. Expect to put in a lot of time if you plan to do this yourself OR get ready to shell out major dollar to get a mechanic to do it for you. Expect to pay roughly 1+ grand on parts to convert to manual, you could save some money selling your auto tranny. It would have cost me ~850 for all my parts (some used some new) but I plan to put in a stage 3 clutch which threw up my spending dollar just over a grand.

Find parts at local junk yards. Some things you cannot get at the dealership because they don't make the parts no more so best bet do a lot of searching and you'll eventually get all the parts you need. I could list all the parts that you need, but I think I'm running out of characters to type, but I'll try anyway.

This is what I paid for parts.

Master & Slave Cylinder - $80 for both new

Clutch Pedal - $175 used

Hard line from Master Cylinder $30 (stainless steel lines) new

Rubber line to Slave Cylinder $30 new

Transmission $100 used

5 Speed Driveshaft $125 used

Shifter - $50 new

Shifter boot & Dash trim $80 JDM spec boot and dash trim

Transmission Cross member $80

Throw out bearing - (incl. in clutch package)

Clutch - $380 stage 3 clutch

Clutch Fork - should come with tranny

Clutch Pressure Plate (incl. in clutch package)

Flywheel (incl. in clutch package)

MT Flywheel bolts (6) ~$5 ish from dealer, but go to your local nut and bolt shop.

Bolts = 08131-0601A / 60mm length / 4 needed

Washers = 08915-2401A / 4 needed.

Bolt = 08131-0701A / 70mm length / 1 needed

Washer = 08915-2401A.

Bolts = 08124-0301F / 35mm / 2 needed

Nuts = 08911-2401A / 2 needed.

Bolt = 08124-0601F / 65mm / 1 needed

Nut = 09811-2401A / 1 needed.

Bolt = 08071-0251A / 25mm / 1 needed.

Starter Bolts = 01121-03751 / 95mm / 2 needed.

If you choose to get these from your local ACE Hardware (or wherever)...the bolts for the block are all M10 X 1.5 thread/pitch, so just find bolts of the correct length as listed above.

MT Pilot Bushing (incl. in clutch package)

MT Tran Bell housing bolts

5 Speed ECU - estimating $80 used.

Hopefully some of this information is helpful.

240's are great, getting dirty pampering the baby is worth all the heartache if you ask me.