KPower Industries K24 swap

[RedReplicant]

Originally Posted by funkjaw

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.

Yeah, everything seems to be alright but it could have used a few extra pictures.

Trip replied to my post about the terminal thing and suggested changing the stack order, which worked quite a bit better. It still isn't perfect but I'll deal with that later.

For what it is worth, this chunk of wires can be unwrapped and be summarized as:



1. Bottom white plug to top black plug comes completely unwrapped and is a single wire that plugs into the main engine harness. White plug to harness, black plug gets the cover removed and goes to the alternator.
2. Bare ring gets unwrapped from this and is the ground that goes to the transmission
3. Remaining single wire is the main positive terminal wire, follows the main harness and connects to the alternator

Anyway, motor is ready to go in, I'm just being lazy at this point.

[Irace86.2.0]

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.

I removed the red cover and cut a slit in the grey.

[RedReplicant]

Before I toss this thing in tomorrow... couple of questions.



Obviously difficult to tell from a picture, but is this hammered enough?



Anyone have the top motor to plate on the exhaust side M12 not want to thread in? 5 other bolts and the two dowels are there so I know nothing is misaligned.

On the Captain Awesome coolant route front, I got the Miata right exit KPower water outlet with the barb. Connects to the TracTuff port on the thermostat housing with two Dayco 80401 and a 5/8 union, other thermostat port goes to the intake manifold outlet. Little worried about the right exit on the water outlet being what I estimate to be an inch shorter, but I'll cross that bridge when the time comes. (let me confirm this all works before anyone follows)

[Irace86.2.0]

Originally Posted by RedReplicant

Before I toss this thing in tomorrow... couple of questions.



Obviously difficult to tell from a picture, but is this hammered enough?

I’m assuming the trans bracket still fits and the bolts go all the way in? I’m assuming you don’t have a welder. If I had to do it over I would have welded. That hammer job might be enough to get it in. There could still be some rub or clearance issues. If you ever want to pull the transmission without removing the engine then you will need to do more. Specifically, the distance between the two brackets is too small to allow the transmission to be removed with the engine in place.

On the driver’s side, I cut the bracket to the edge of the bolt ring/bracket inside the outer bracket. I cut a horizontal line just high enough on the vertical margin to be able to hammer it back. Same on the passenger side, but also cut per the instructions and hammered it back with 1-2 cm of thickness of the bracket. This can be done after, but it is easier beforehand.

[RedReplicant]

Thank you

Yeah, I used a jack as a portapower with the trans bracket and stock bolts in it. Everything still goes in. I was worried about hacking the mounts up since I don't really want to weaken them significantly.

I do have a welder but I wouldn't consider myself good enough to attempt this properly. Sounds like it is something I'll take the car to the local fab shop for after I get it together.

[Irace86.2.0]

Originally Posted by RedReplicant

Thank you

Yeah, I used a jack as a portapower with the trans bracket and stock bolts in it. Everything still goes in. I was worried about hacking the mounts up since I don't really want to weaken them significantly.

I do have a welder but I wouldn't consider myself good enough to attempt this properly. Sounds like it is something I'll take the car to the local fab shop for after I get it together.

Really, you wouldn't need to be a good welder. You would just need to angle grind the paint off and use a MIG welder on the seam. This is really, really rough, and not perfect, so you would want to really think about things, but basically the idea is to cut vertical lines on each bracket near the medial side of the bottom of the brackets, but not too far lateral so to avoid the inner bolt bracket in grey. Then make horizontal cuts on each bracket on the inferior section of the medial part of the brackets. Just don't cut too much because you want to hammer the piece down, so it joins with the bottom. Then MIG weld an ugly, fat seam along the edge. Then on the driver's side only, but you can do both, hammer the remaining top section of the track back within 1-2cm of clearance.

Your concern about movement with cutting it up a little is logical, but likely unwarranted. Try bolting up the trans mount and pull and yank as hard as you can to get movement. I'll wager there won't be any movement. The transmission itself is mostly held in position by the engine. There is very little weight on the transmission mount.

The first picture is the driver's side with the Kpower instructions to hammer and my cut instructions. The second is the driver's side. The red is cut and the grey is the bolt bracket that is welded inside the main bracket.