KPower Industries K24 swap

[captain awesome]

This swap shines in the ability to add power while maintaining reliability. What RPM you see that power as well as extra RPM range adds to that.


Personally I'd be surprised if anyone manages to see any meaningful or measurable difference in handling. I think lap times will strictly be effected by gearing improvement from RPM and extra ponies.

[B T]

Originally Posted by ML

I'm at about 325hp and 2250lbs (56 front). It feels light and nimble and ready to kill you. Revving to 8500 never gets old, neither does seeing 70-80psi on the oil pressure gauge.

With the exception of the light weight, I'm about the same on weight bias and a little higher on power. I'd actually prefer more weight in the rea than I have now.

[RedReplicant]

I'm curious to see where my car ends up after this weight wise.

These numbers are without me in it. Car was Harrop, huge oil cooler, 18x9.5 wheels, 255 AR1, caged, stoptech 355/345 bbks, two Sparco seats, full dash, doors still intact, interior otherwise gutted.

LF 828 / 797 RF
LR 625 / 651 RR
2901lb
49% cross (49.9% with me)
56% F/R

Harrop is like 60lb itself off the nose, I had 60lb of ballast on the passenger floor, etc. I'm hoping to do 2750lb with me in it without ripping out the dash.

[captain awesome]

Originally Posted by RedReplicant

I'm curious to see where my car ends up after this weight wise.

These numbers are without me in it. Car was Harrop, huge oil cooler, 18x9.5 wheels, 255 AR1, caged, stoptech 355/345 bbks, two Sparco seats, full dash, doors still intact, interior otherwise gutted.

LF 828 / 797 RF
LR 625 / 651 RR
2901lb
49% cross (49.9% with me)
56% F/R

Harrop is like 60lb itself off the nose, I had 60lb of ballast on the passenger floor, etc. I'm hoping to do 2750lb with me in it without ripping out the dash.

A data point you might find useful:


I had 18x9.5 wheels, heavy CSG Tein coils (slightly less weight than stock suspension), stock brakes, full interior, stock catback, 7/8 tank of gas (if you can believe the gauge) and the scales showed 2702.



LF 714 / RF 753
LR 639 / RR 596
2702
51.5 cross
2875 lbs and 51 cross with me in it



I didn't and haven't attempted to set cross weights to a more ideal setting. I also could lose weight in plenty of areas as I have a full trunk of stuff and full size battery. Both of those being removed would be close to 75 pounds? My wheels are also a heavier Ambit RE02, so more pounds available there.

[RedReplicant]

That's pretty promising, actually Seems like the doors have a lot of weight in them too.

[Ebush]

In reference to the driving dynamics. I bought an frs with an edelbrock supercharger a few years ago, with the intent of converting it to stock and selling so that I could have a free supercharger for my 86. I ended up feeling like the supercharged frs lost the driving dynamics I love about my 86.

With the k24 swap I feel like all the good driving dynamics are still there, and that the car is just all around better. My usage is 99.5 percent daily driving with the occasional trip to the mountains (5 hours away). My car is setup more like a track car though with big aero and sticky tires. It handles better than ever after the kswap and I have no complaints other than the cracking exhaust issue I had over the weekend.

[Ebush]

I was able to remove my broken TRD midpipe today, here are two pictures of it. At first the pipe complete broke behind the resonator, leaving a jagged edge. This happened 9 hours from home. I was just cruising on the highway when it all of a sudden got loud, as if the entire pipe separated in one big motion (never heard an exhaust leak prior to the complete separation).

I inspected the exhaust and saw that it had broken behind the resonator, then I drove 9 hours home. Once I had the car jacked up I can see that the midpipe was ready to separate at the flange as well.

I do not have a flex section, but with my exhaust being a single exit out the center it was able to move around fairly freely.

[captain awesome]

I wonder if mine hasn't cracked because I've unbolted that section plus the 3 bolt flange and re-tightened like 5 or 10 times since the swap? With the driveshaft swap and messing with the trans mounts etc. I've pulled that apart a lot.

[Ebush]

Originally Posted by captain awesome

I wonder if mine hasn't cracked because I've unbolted that section plus the 3 bolt flange and re-tightened like 5 or 10 times since the swap? With the driveshaft swap and messing with the trans mounts etc. I've pulled that apart a lot.

I've had mine apart alot as well, pulled the engine after the first thousand miles, and in the last 2500 miles I've had 3 or 4 different catbacks on the car.

[RedReplicant]

Finally happened, time to get to work.

[RedReplicant]

Notes so far:
1. non-OEM Intake and exhaust manifold gaskets and a 1320 serp belt were included, but not mentioned on the original parts list
2. They accidentally sent me the AC kit, going to have to email them for a return label
3. I asked for the Miata coolant neck (https://kpower.industries/collection...r-coolant-neck) but they sent me the non-ported generic K24A2 left side exit neck instead (https://kpower.industries/collection...r-coolant-neck) so I'll just email them back and have them send the BRZ neck.

[Four_wheel_drifts]

Originally Posted by jacobe38

both times while you had a flex section? man, i'm sorry to hear that...do you have any ideas on how to prevent it from keeping happening?

Hire better welders at the chocolate factory? This is a manufacturing issue, not an application problem.

The forfeiture of hotel and track fees are about equal to the cost of the header. Can’t put a price on the lost fun time and hassle.

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?

[ML]

Originally Posted by Four_wheel_drifts

Hire better welders at the chocolate factory? This is a manufacturing issue, not an application problem.

The forfeiture of hotel and track fees are about equal to the cost of the header. Can’t put a price on the lost fun time and hassle.

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?

the person who re-welded my header (and is a in shop professional maintenance welder for a major manufacturer) said the weld that broke didn't seem to have any filler and was already weak. I believe the reason they didn't use stiffer mounts was due to really bad nvh from the k motors. I'd be willing to try something stiff for sure though if someone knows of something that would work. Also I can try the gopro idea if you guys really want to see that.

[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.