KPower Industries K24 swap

[captain awesome]

I'd like to say I got it all bolted up and got to hear it run last night but I ran into a handful of tedious snags. The first snag was trans tunnel clearance. The guide provided is really light on details for where and how much to hammer other than one picture, so I was a bit surprised to see my trans bracket wasn't lining up. After pulling the engine and trans mostly back out 3 times to cut and hammer for clearance, I finally got enough space for things to have some breathing room. This took up probably at least an hour or more of troubleshooting and being a sissy about how much I wanted to cut or hammer.



So fair warning. Hammer time at the top area of the trans area hard. I wonder if that's a source of Ebush's vibration. You can get the trans to fit with lighter hammering but it needs clearance to move under load so if it's really tight maybe it's touching?


The tip about unbolting the sway bar was gold. I left it attached at the links and just let it hang after unbolting the lower brackets and unclipping the plastic trim. Stock sway bar has plenty of room near flywheel, but I can see why aftermarket ones are tighter.


My oil plug is in a great place with no obstructions.



Also the tip about bolting the front pipe on before installing the header was nice. It slid into place without any issues and bolted right up. The bracket that bolts to the back of the trans is kind wonky on fitment. Seems a bit scrunched up instead of in tension. I'll keep an eye on it.


I'm sure most seasoned folks probably would do this anyway, but use a jack at the tail of the trans to help install. Even my load leveler was struggling to get the right angles, but this seemed to make enough difference to get things to line up.


Also remove your full crash beam for extra space. The reach needed to get the engine mounts to seat is kinda crazy.


One last thing. There's two short bolts in the bellhousing adapter kit that don't have a purpose. Or at least I can't figure out what they could possibly be for.


Also there's 4 extra nylock nuts left over from the trans bracket kit.


So maybe my shit is going to fall apart because of some mystery bolts and nuts?


Tonight I'm going to tackle wiring and other gibberish. Had issues with my trans fluid filler plug. Stripped the hex head and had to replace it from a spare diff plug. Pumping was a mess. Etc. etc. I need nap.

[hedtrip]

hell yeah congrats on getting in & started.
I will be keeping your tips in mind. My new engine should be in today

[Ebush]

I ended up with a good amount of extra bolts and nuts as well, but my car drives so I guess I’m good. Also noticed the two threaded holes on the trans adapter,
It exactly sure why they are there. My trans is pretty close to the passenger side, I don’t believe the trans could have enough movement to actually hit it though.

[captain awesome]

Originally Posted by Ebush

I ended up with a good amount of extra bolts and nuts as well, but my car drives so I guess I’m good. Also noticed the two threaded holes on the trans adapter,
It exactly sure why they are there. My trans is pretty close to the passenger side, I don’t believe the trans could have enough movement to actually hit it though.

I thought it was a bit odd they didn't use one of the bolt holes at the top left of the bellhousing. It's the one by the starter. From what I could tell there's nothing it would contact.

[captain awesome]

Also for those curious about trans clearance. It's a shitty pic but it's a pic nonetheless.

[Ebush]

Originally Posted by captain awesome

Also for those curious about trans clearance. It's a shitty pic but it's a pic nonetheless.

Hey it’s still a better pic than what we were shown in the manual. I’m starting to think that maybe my trans is touching the chassis, dealing with a lot of knock which I wouldn’t think I should have. My engines exactly the same as what kpower used other than 550cc injectors and a non dampened crank pulley. I know the crank pulley could be causing some extra vibrations in the engine. I probably just need to adjust the knock detection within Haltech.

I’ve been letting the ECU learn LTFT and then applying what it learned to the base map and AFR’s are looking great, just gotta keep playing with the knock. Been afraid to go higher than 5k due to the knock but I’ll figure it out, most likely just background noise.

[captain awesome]

Originally Posted by Ebush

Hey it’s still a better pic than what we were shown in the manual. I’m starting to think that maybe my trans is touching the chassis, dealing with a lot of knock which I wouldn’t think I should have. My engines exactly the same as what kpower used other than 550cc injectors and a non dampened crank pulley. I know the crank pulley could be causing some extra vibrations in the engine. I probably just need to adjust the knock detection within Haltech.

I’ve been letting the ECU learn LTFT and then applying what it learned to the base map and AFR’s are looking great, just gotta keep playing with the knock. Been afraid to go higher than 5k due to the knock but I’ll figure it out, most likely just background noise.

Another thing I noticed last night that might be worth checking is oil pan clearance on the passenger side over the subframe. Not much room for activities there. I'm not sure how much these mounts allow for movement but it could be enough?

[brzlegend]

Originally Posted by captain awesome

Also for those curious about trans clearance. It's a shitty pic but it's a pic nonetheless.

If any of the engine, transmission touches the body your going to either have to wear earplugs or make more clearance, hopefully that doesn't require pulling it all back out. The noise is pretty much unbearable when it hits. Drone times 10.
The engine and transmission will move under power or deceleration.

Most effective and easiest to fix the picture would be to cut a slit out of the sides push it or hammer it closed then weld it back.

[Ebush]

To continue on the topic of the trans touching the chassis, I got under my car today and it was in fact touching the chassis. It must have moved over a bit when I loosened everything up to install the new oil drain bolt. I was able to loosen up all the mounting bolts and use a pry bar to shift the trans a little to the driver side. This helped out a bunch with my knock issue and the vibrations in the chassis. I’m still having a little bit, I think the trans might be hitting up higher where I can’t see, and can’t get to without pulling everything.

I’ve now put about 120 miles on the car and all seems to be great. Was a bit wet out today so I wasn’t able to do anything too crazy. I did get the car up to atleast 7k and it’s for sure quicker than an fa20 with all the na goodies + e85.

[captain awesome]

Originally Posted by brzlegend

If any of the engine, transmission touches the body your going to either have to wear earplugs or make more clearance, hopefully that doesn't require pulling it all back out. The noise is pretty much unbearable when it hits. Drone times 10.
The engine and transmission will move under power or deceleration.

Most effective and easiest to fix the picture would be to cut a slit out of the sides push it or hammer it closed then weld it closed.

That pic was before I added more clearance. I wanna say it's about a 1/2" or a hair under of space between them now. I'll probably slide under the car and have someone rev it up a bit to see how much it moves. Hope it's all good cause pulling it out far enough to hammer more would suck. A lot. It's also a really poor perspective as well as it's tough to get good lighting and have room for selfies.

[captain awesome]

Can anyone do some tower brace measuring for me? I set a level and a bar on top of the oil cap to see how high the valve cover is from the strut top surface. I have 3 1/4" to be flush with the oil cap so would need another 1/4" or more depending on how much the engine mounts move.







Also it seems weird this sensor does not have a connector with the Kpower harness and not mentioned in the guide.

[ML]

Originally Posted by captain awesome

Can anyone do some tower brace measuring for me? I set a level and a bar on top of the oil cap to see how high the valve cover is from the strut top surface. I have 3 1/4" to be flush with the oil cap so would need another 1/4" or more depending on how much the engine mounts move.







Also it seems weird this sensor does not have a connector with the Kpower harness and not mentioned in the guide.

I thought the same thing about that connector but it is just an on/off oil pressure switch and not needed for the VTEC solenoid to operate.

[captain awesome]

Originally Posted by ML

I thought the same thing about that connector but it is just an on/off oil pressure switch and not needed for the VTEC solenoid to operate.

Don't know if I can trust you. You lied about A/c once, what's next oil sensors.....?

[ML]

Originally Posted by captain awesome

Don't know if I can trust you. You lied about A/c once, what's next oil sensors.....?

oil switches! lol