I was running the stock CA20E high pressure power steering line on my KA24DE swap but it didn't last too long. Over time, it cracked and spewed fluid all over. I then moved to the braided steel lines like the write-up on here. It worked great for a while, but the line blew out of the fitting and resulted in a small engine fire.

Next I bought numerous OE 240sx high pressure power steering lines to find the one that would fit the best. From what I have found, the 1991-1994 line is the closest fit. It is a little long, but it should still work. You still have to do some work to get it to fit down at the rack too.



At the rack end, I bought a 6AN female swivle 90 and two 6AN to 14mm x 1.5 fittings. I have not installed the hose yet but I am pretty sure that it will work well. The spot for the pressure switch will be plugged with spare bolt I have sitting around. I will probably have to modify the return line at the rack, but not that much.

I will let you know how it turns out.

thanks man, i deff was concerned about this, any more info please post


what year is your KA24DE, regarding the 91-94 line you have

im interested aswell, my car needs p/s baddddd. shit gets stuck at full lock when drifting

My engine is a 1996 but I converted everything over to OBDI 1991-1994 style. The power steering pumps are the same on 1991 and up but rack must be farther back on the S14 style 240 because the line was way too long. This one is long too but I am pretty sure it will work.

IIRC, the 1989-1990 KA24E has the power steering pump on the passenger side. The pressure hose snakes around the back of the engine.

I'm going to let this thread develop for awhile, and then sticky it. Thanks Phillip!

No problem. I will let you know how it turns out when I get it get some time to put it on. BTW, Summit is on crazy back order right now. Took two months just to get the adapters.

Not sure what the problem is? I threw my DE in and connected the factory s12 lines up to it, nothing special, nothing custom. I've put about 10,000 miles on it so for and its worked perfectly. . .dont know why you would have cracking/spewing issues.

It was a tight fit when I put it on and as the engine rocked, the line cracked right down the length of the hose. Maybe there is a difference in the mounting position of different year ka's or our cars. What are you running? Year engine and car?

1996 KA, 1987 MKIIl

92 KA, '87 MKII

Everything is hooked up and works great!! I had to modify the return line but no a big deal at all. It's great to have power steering again. I will post pics soon.

Well the last one worked for awhile tho... it'll be interesting to see how long this one does. Hopefully it holds!

I haven't done mine yet, either, so I'll just try your latest method.

Not sure if I will have the car much longer... But I will keep you all updated.

It's a little sloppy but works great. This setup should last much longer than the previous setup. No compression joints. Just screw in threads and teflon tape. I plugged off the pressure switch with a bolt.

I had to cut off the hard return line at the 90 to allow room for the pressure line. No worries though, being that it is a low pressure return, it won't blow off. You can see the pressure switch plug better in this pic.


Pressure line and supply line at the pump.

Weird that you had the line blow off... I've been running mine for almost 4 years now and never a problem. Though the 90* swivel hose ends need to be replaced, as they are leaking at the internal o-rings, but no gushing.

Hope that works for ya though!

Yea, not sure what happened with mine. Maybe there are different psi outputs between the KA and SR. Or I might have done it wrong. I don't know. This setup looks pretty sturdy though. Thanks for your help though. I would not have power steering in the first place if it wasn't for your writeup.

see i was going to use the steel braid an line to put together my power steering lines with, but if theres all these problems then well i don't know. i do know however, that the ka power steering pumps out something like 1200psi, but the steel braid an lines only hold 1000psi, so that 200psi is enough to make it leak. i thought about going and getting the high pressure line custom made at a hydraulic shop and useing the steel braid for the rest but i have'nt checked this out completely yet

do s12's use ATF like 240's? i picked up some stock s12 stuff from ziggy today

Yeah, ATF.

1200PSI is while holding at full lock, running pressure is less than 300PSI, unless there's something wrong with the pump/valving, but that could blow a factory line too.

It may have been a bad fitting too, it's hard to tell with out seeing the actual fitting/line and doing some fancy CSI work.

It braided ss line leaked on my exhaust at full lock and would smoke. I tried to not turn to full lock but sometimes you can't help it. It must have been the extra psi on that compression connection at full lock that eventually caused it to fail.

the return or hi-pressure line leaks? i noticed that we dont have the little alignment tab on the banjo like 240 lines do

I work at a hydraulics shop and a currently working on building a custom setup for my sr. if any one needs lines made up let me know. I am building mine with all JIC fittings same thing as AN if any one does not know that already. I got fittings for the rack on line that go to #6 on the pressure line and return line. and also got a jic fitting to replace the banjo bolt fitting. now I just need to mount my pump and make hoses. I had to move the pump because my turbo is in the way.

i dont get what the big fuss is about, stock lines are easy enough. i had to reclock the banjo so it wasnt such a bend, but everything bolted up, and p/s is sexy

What pressure line are you running?

Yup, my stock line fit perfectly after the reclock too.

My stock line looked nothing like that. Weird.

Been over four months and not one problem.

anyone know if i can run 24de ps bracket on my 24e block? my ps is on the pass. side, i need it on the drivers side. otherwise i have to spend lotsa $ to have a custom line made, or try to fab a bracket of my own.

im pretty sure you cannot, because your distributor is in the way. why a custom line, just use the single slammer 240sx line.

oh yeah, my stock line is still working fine, too. im thinking about buying a flow-through type cooler for it too

so can i use a DE line on me E? yes or no


and does anyone just have a link lol

reclock?

yeah i had to loosen the big nut close to the p/s pump to turn the line

Yup, i did the same to fit it onto my ka. worked out great

A DE line will only go to the same place as the stock S12 line as the pump is on the same side.

The KA-E has the ps pump on the other side, the passenger side, so you'll need a KA-E line to reach that far.

The reclocking/bending thing works for KA-DE only.

okay has it been confirmed that it will work though? if so, im off to pull a line from the j yard

There was no way I could clock my stock 1987 CA pressure line to work on my KA. It was so short that it broke from the stress of the engine rocking side to side.

It must be an engine/year thing.