As some of you may know, I've been undergoing the process of swapping a Honda K24 into my 2006 Exige. As far as k-swaps go, this is probably making the record books as the longest running one! I started the process way back in March. Yeah, it's closing in on a year and a huge reason for the protracted build time is because I had it at a shop locally that was f u c k i n g me hardcore. It was basically sitting there for three months or so without progress. And any progress they WERE making was slow and billed like money was going out of style. Basically, it's a time that I'd rather forget and move on with my life.
So as it stands now, the project has been yanked (this was actually a few months ago) and I've been making progress every Saturday with another forum member in the Seattle area. There have been many problems that we've found with the build that we've had to sort. But we're well on our way and suspect that it'll be another month of weekends before it'll be ready to roll under its own power to get tuned. So... possibly end of Jan to middle of Feb.
Here it is the day we got it back to my friend's place. I love this picture.
General build specs:
- 2.4L Honda K24A2 (out of a junkyard 2006 Acura TSX). 73k miles.
- 2006 Honda Civic Si 6-speed manual transmission
- MPx90 supercharger + modified Jackson Racing manifold
- Hondata K-Pro ECU
- AIM MXL Pista dash
- Innovative Mounts swap "kit"
- HyTech full exhaust system
- Clutch Masters FX350 clutch
- Competition Clutch 8lb steel flywheel
- Hybrid Racing fuel rail + lines
- Fuel Injector Clinic 775cc injectors
(A note on the exhaust system. HyTech makes automotive products that are works of art worthy of being hung on a gallery wall. But they sure as hell take their sweet-ass time. They build race-car parts and their teams are probably way more of a priority than you and I are likely ever to be.)
This thread will not be the most organized in the world. (You should check out whatsADSM's k-swap thread for really great info that is organized well.) But I'll try to cover as much as I can when I can over the next few weeks. I'll also upload a spreadsheet with all the parts I've ordered for the project and their associated costs. For those who ask how much the swap is... well, it's going to be so different for everyone because there isn't a standard swap. Mine is different than anyone else's and so will yours be. All I can say, is that it will be VERY expensive --- even without a shady shop screwing you over.
Here is the K24A2 engine when it was first picked up:
Here is the car when the engine was first being yanked:
Honda on the right. Toyota on the left. Out with the old, in with the new!
The reason I decided to go with a K24 versus a K20? Torque. Mid-range grunt is what excites me. Why supercharger versus turbocharger? I want linear power.
Here you can see the engine assembled with the blower. Note the angle of the boost tubing. You'll need to hug the engine very closely to package everything into the engine bay:
K-Tuned Swivel Neck TStat Housing:
A note on the K-Tuned swivel neck tstat. I got this because the OEM tstat housing from Honda won't fit due to the way it points out. It would've interfered with the boost tubing. The swivel neck housing solves that issue. Unfortunately, the thermostat housed inside doesn't allow for bypass to function properly.
So we had to find a stat that worked. Eventually, after some digging my friend found one from a 1995 Corvette (!) that was close but the flange diameter was too small. It's from Stant. Part number 14068. You can get it from Amazon .
We ended up backyard engineering something by hacking apart the K-Tuned stat and combining it with the Corvette one. It was crazy but it's legit.
Another note, the K-Tuned comes with a few ports on it. One of these for some reason didn't come with a plug. So we had to find one, luckily my friend had one laying around that actually fit. It's a US size, non-metric. It's not a very pretty solution but whatever --- it works.
Here is the original blower kit I received from Magnum Powers in Oregon:
The air-to-water charge cooler:
The original plan was to use the stock oil coolers up front as heat exchangers for the charge cooler. But that plan was eventually scrapped for an air-to-air intercooler setup. Less weight, complexity and cost. Plus, for the power levels I'm looking to make a2a will be just fine. So for now, the oil coolers will stay in the car with the lines capped off. Perhaps in the future, I'll re-purpose them for transmission cooling duties? Not sure on that one just yet.
Here is the new a2a intercooler:
It's from Z1 Motorsports, part of their intercooling kit for the Nissan 300ZX. Mounted in the driver's side scoop. The routing for the boost tubing was a bitch as there is not much space between the firewall and the engine. In fact, there is only about 1/4" between the firewall and the blower.
Really really tight. Routing the boost tubes was problematic due to the tubes coming out of the manifold being so close to the starter motor and clutch slaver cylinder. We had to measure and cut and weld very carefully. That was probably the most difficult part of the swap, in terms of packaging all the hardware, anyway. This is the day we picked up the engine from a local shop that welded our mock up:
And here you can see the a2a intercooler in situ:
As you can see from the last picture, we've had to route the intake a different way due to the space constraints in the side scoop area now that the intercooler is there. An airbox was built that will draw in air from the engine hatch. Pretty trick if you ask me...
I'll end this first post with how the car was the first weekend wrenching on her:
If you look closely, you'll see that the shop, perhaps as a last f u c k you, put the wheels on the right side of the car on wrong; the front and rears are swapped. Front looks great! But rubs... hahaha...
So as it stands now, the project has been yanked (this was actually a few months ago) and I've been making progress every Saturday with another forum member in the Seattle area. There have been many problems that we've found with the build that we've had to sort. But we're well on our way and suspect that it'll be another month of weekends before it'll be ready to roll under its own power to get tuned. So... possibly end of Jan to middle of Feb.
Here it is the day we got it back to my friend's place. I love this picture.
General build specs:
- 2.4L Honda K24A2 (out of a junkyard 2006 Acura TSX). 73k miles.
- 2006 Honda Civic Si 6-speed manual transmission
- MPx90 supercharger + modified Jackson Racing manifold
- Hondata K-Pro ECU
- AIM MXL Pista dash
- Innovative Mounts swap "kit"
- HyTech full exhaust system
- Clutch Masters FX350 clutch
- Competition Clutch 8lb steel flywheel
- Hybrid Racing fuel rail + lines
- Fuel Injector Clinic 775cc injectors
(A note on the exhaust system. HyTech makes automotive products that are works of art worthy of being hung on a gallery wall. But they sure as hell take their sweet-ass time. They build race-car parts and their teams are probably way more of a priority than you and I are likely ever to be.)
This thread will not be the most organized in the world. (You should check out whatsADSM's k-swap thread for really great info that is organized well.) But I'll try to cover as much as I can when I can over the next few weeks. I'll also upload a spreadsheet with all the parts I've ordered for the project and their associated costs. For those who ask how much the swap is... well, it's going to be so different for everyone because there isn't a standard swap. Mine is different than anyone else's and so will yours be. All I can say, is that it will be VERY expensive --- even without a shady shop screwing you over.
Here is the K24A2 engine when it was first picked up:
Here is the car when the engine was first being yanked:
Honda on the right. Toyota on the left. Out with the old, in with the new!
The reason I decided to go with a K24 versus a K20? Torque. Mid-range grunt is what excites me. Why supercharger versus turbocharger? I want linear power.
Here you can see the engine assembled with the blower. Note the angle of the boost tubing. You'll need to hug the engine very closely to package everything into the engine bay:
K-Tuned Swivel Neck TStat Housing:
A note on the K-Tuned swivel neck tstat. I got this because the OEM tstat housing from Honda won't fit due to the way it points out. It would've interfered with the boost tubing. The swivel neck housing solves that issue. Unfortunately, the thermostat housed inside doesn't allow for bypass to function properly.
So we had to find a stat that worked. Eventually, after some digging my friend found one from a 1995 Corvette (!) that was close but the flange diameter was too small. It's from Stant. Part number 14068. You can get it from Amazon .
We ended up backyard engineering something by hacking apart the K-Tuned stat and combining it with the Corvette one. It was crazy but it's legit.
Another note, the K-Tuned comes with a few ports on it. One of these for some reason didn't come with a plug. So we had to find one, luckily my friend had one laying around that actually fit. It's a US size, non-metric. It's not a very pretty solution but whatever --- it works.
Here is the original blower kit I received from Magnum Powers in Oregon:
The air-to-water charge cooler:
The original plan was to use the stock oil coolers up front as heat exchangers for the charge cooler. But that plan was eventually scrapped for an air-to-air intercooler setup. Less weight, complexity and cost. Plus, for the power levels I'm looking to make a2a will be just fine. So for now, the oil coolers will stay in the car with the lines capped off. Perhaps in the future, I'll re-purpose them for transmission cooling duties? Not sure on that one just yet.
Here is the new a2a intercooler:
It's from Z1 Motorsports, part of their intercooling kit for the Nissan 300ZX. Mounted in the driver's side scoop. The routing for the boost tubing was a bitch as there is not much space between the firewall and the engine. In fact, there is only about 1/4" between the firewall and the blower.
Really really tight. Routing the boost tubes was problematic due to the tubes coming out of the manifold being so close to the starter motor and clutch slaver cylinder. We had to measure and cut and weld very carefully. That was probably the most difficult part of the swap, in terms of packaging all the hardware, anyway. This is the day we picked up the engine from a local shop that welded our mock up:
And here you can see the a2a intercooler in situ:
As you can see from the last picture, we've had to route the intake a different way due to the space constraints in the side scoop area now that the intercooler is there. An airbox was built that will draw in air from the engine hatch. Pretty trick if you ask me...
I'll end this first post with how the car was the first weekend wrenching on her:
If you look closely, you'll see that the shop, perhaps as a last f u c k you, put the wheels on the right side of the car on wrong; the front and rears are swapped. Front looks great! But rubs... hahaha...