KPower Industries K24 swap

[ML]

Originally Posted by Ebush

I actually came in here to ask about the motor mount idea but see it just got mentioned. Has anyone ran anything other than the oem wrx mounts yet?

After my trip last week I did notice my valve cover had been hitting the hood. The inner structure on the hood is glued down tight as well, so the motor is definitely moving around alot.

I understand using the wrx mounts for nvh, but this swap is performance oriented so I'm sure there has to be better options that don't vibrate too bad. I'm willing to go solid if it keeps my exhaust intact.

Here is Kpower's description of the motor mounts which mention using an aftermarket or STI mount:


"
Instead of just adapting one of our existing engine mounts to the 86 chassis, we felt that this swap warranted its own unique mount design.
This mount kit uses OEM Subaru Impreza engine mount pads that slot right into the factory FA20 mount holes in the subframe. Our laser-cut, tig-welded, and powder-coated engine-mount brackets neatly attach the K24 to the Impreza mount pads, providing a factory-style installation.
These mounts drop the K24 crank centerline 2.5” lower than the FA20, and also relocate the engine and transmission 4” further back. This perfect positioning provides better balance and weight distribution than stock, as well as optimal hood and ground clearance.
Thanks to the rubber mount pads, there is a significant reduction in noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) in the cabin over other K swap mounts on the market. While these brackets are compatible with OEM STi mounts, our testing showed no performance gain on track, and only a significant increase in NVH.
We recommend running the supplied rubber mounts for all street and track cars, and only changing to an STi or aftermarket Impreza mount for the most extreme applications.
This mount kit includes a left- and right-mount bracket, two mount pads, and all necessary hardware. "


I'm kinda curious how much of a difference a poly mount or the sti mount would really affect the NVH.

[RedReplicant]

A note about the motor mount brackets, I had to drill the left side mount top left hole through with a 1/2" drill bit since the spacer dowel wasn't welded concentric to the flat plate hole. Bolted in fine after that.

Originally Posted by Four_wheel_drifts

I’m curious if anyone has mounted a GoPro inside the engine bay to capture how much the engine moves while on track. A buddy did this on his turbocharged Miata a few years back after breaking several down pipes. The amount of motion was horrific. Maybe the k24 with the soft WRX kswap mounts allows too much engine twist?

Motor mounts in the Miata are super important too, if they are weak the entire engine/trans/driveshaft/diff assembly moves around.

[jacobe38]

I had the "sti" or "group N" mounts as theyre called on my 2013 wrx. which is to say, the impreza wrx. and i assume these are the same mounts kpowered is using. if not, my experience may not apply.

Over the factory ones, they had a slight increase in NVH. I wouldn't worry about NVH swapping to them, based on that. its really slight.

they are still the same construction, just stiffer rubber used. they are not hard 'poly' plastic mounts. you could feel a pretty significant difference in the stiffness just trying to move them with your hands. if i had to guess, maybe 20-30% stiffer?

based on my experience with that car, I would not hesitate to use the group N mounts in a K swap. I would only expect benefits. i really liked them. the engine twisted less, less bucking around. i did before/after comparisons of just revving while parked.

When k powered says they noticed no performance change - maybe theyre referring to driving dynamics unrelated to engine movement. im also gathering that some of what they say should be taken with a grain of salt. after all theyve amended several things already.

disclaimer: I have not kswapped my brz. i have purchased and installed the group N mounts for transmission on my brz though. and also have the group n fa20 engine mounts ready to go for when I have a chance to install them.

[Irace86.2.0]

Has Haltech released a fuel gauge solution yet?

[funkjaw]

Currently trying to connect my laptop for the first time, and ESP (2.53.3) shows "ECU Disconnected"

Anyone have this problem? Battery is at 12.20v, everything else seems to work fuel pump comes on, cabin lights and so forth...

The Haltech has these lights illuminated:

[RedReplicant]

Originally Posted by Irace86.2.0

Has Haltech released a fuel gauge solution yet?

On this note, what kind of range is everyone actually seeing? I've seen a few people talking about 200mi is your fuel up range. Is it really that much worse than the FA? Not a big deal, just kind of curious.

[funkjaw]

Originally Posted by funkjaw

Currently trying to connect my laptop for the first time, and ESP (2.53.3) shows "ECU Disconnected"

Anyone have this problem? Battery is at 12.20v, everything else seems to work fuel pump comes on, cabin lights and so forth...

The Haltech has these lights illuminated:

Figured it out: I didn't hit "connect" under file.

Idiot of the year award goes to me!

Anyways for anyone curious. Once I was connected I went to "tools" and selected "Update ECU firmware to work with NSP". It went through it's process and closed ESP and opened up NSP after declaring I was all good to use NSP. In NSP it prompted me to update the firmware, but that I needed to do it via ESP.... ok. So I closed NSP, opened up ESP, selected "Update ECU firmware to work with NSP", again. It went through it's process, again, but this time it actually downloaded a new firmware file and installed it. Once done it automatically opened up NSP and I could now see I was on 3.0.0.1! Success.

Importing the ECU file from Kpower was straight forward, there were two things the ECU flagged however after importing; Vehicle input speed and traction control. I clicked on both flags and selected "clear" and they are now gone. Hopefully that was the correct action to take.

[Ebush]

Originally Posted by RedReplicant

On this note, what kind of range is everyone actually seeing? I've seen a few people talking about 200mi is your fuel up range. Is it really that much worse than the FA? Not a big deal, just kind of curious.

On my trip to the mountains last week I did 600 miles on the highway plus about 1000 miles in the mountains with the car mainly in 3rd and 4th gear other than when on the dragon I was in 2nd gear for most of it. Basically keeping the car in vtec, but typically shifting by 7500 just to be nice to the engine.

The best mpg I got all weekend was 19, and the worst was 17. I have a 2017 so it has the 4.3 diff, and I cruise at about 4k rpm on the highway, but out of vtec. It's a stock k24a2 other than 550cc injectors, airfuel stays at 14.7 on the highway and stays on target everywhere else.

If my mileage is considered bad, aero and tires may be the reason. I run a front splitter, cwest front bumper with all openings blocked off other than radiator, a custom diffuser and a nine lives 71" dual element wing. Tires are falken rt615's. I may actually have a slight mpg increase due to my splitter and under body aero, as I nearly have a flat floor, but not sure how that would affect mpg. My 2009 civic si only gets 26mpg on the highway though and it's a k20, so I feel that my mileage isnt horrible.

Took this picture in Tennessee, ran into this guy from Maryland that was on his was down to Florida I believe.

[Irace86.2.0]

I'm on corn oil with 400whp and a lead foot. My gas mileage is terrible.

[captain awesome]

22-23 on average here. If I really put my foot in it it's closer to 20.

[Kelse92]

Originally Posted by Ebush

If my mileage is considered bad, aero and tires may be the reason. I run a front splitter, cwest front bumper with all openings blocked off other than radiator, a custom diffuser and a nine lives 71" dual element wing. Tires are falken rt615's. I may actually have a slight mpg increase due to my splitter and under body aero, as I nearly have a flat floor, but not sure how that would affect mpg. My 2009 civic si only gets 26mpg on the highway though and it's a k20, so I feel that my mileage isnt horrible.

Just for some comparison on fuel economy. My car is a tuned FA20 with aero and we put 3000miles on it doing One Lap a couple of weeks ago. Our average road MPG was 26-28. So 19-20 for you doesn't seem too bad really.

[hedtrip]

I think mine is is the 19 -20 range but i havnt done any long drives in it yet.

[RedReplicant]

I wish their main harness wiring was somewhat more descriptive, also this alternator extension idea is not safe as they show it given the boots can't actually cover the exposed terminal.

[funkjaw]

Originally Posted by RedReplicant

I wish their main harness wiring was somewhat more descriptive, also this alternator extension idea is not safe as they show it given the boots can't actually cover the exposed terminal.

Agreed. I'd give their entire installation FAQ a solid 2.5/5 stars. Took a number of head scratches to figure things out following their guide.