KPower Industries K24 swap

[Ebush]

Originally Posted by visbits

I'm really curious if any of you guys have success with the thermostat. I tried multiple different temps and it just continuously overheated so I'm running without one for now until I come up with a solution. My car even has extra hot water return from the turbo so i'm curious about your cars.

I had issues at first. I took the thermostat out and drilled three 1/8” holes in it. Then I jacked the car up as high as possible by the front tow hook in front of the passenger wheel. This made the radiator fill the highest point for sure, and then I put a tight fitting funnel in the fill neck and just kept trying.

I would fill the radiator as much as possible and start the car, let it get to about 225 and then shut it down. Then repeat the process. It took maybe 4 or 5 attempts and then it started working like normal. Right now my temp will get to 199 and kinda hang out there if I’m just parked in the garage letting it idle. Driving around Cincinnati these last few days I’ve had trouble
Getting the car up above 160 while driving.

[Ebush]

Originally Posted by captain awesome

I was informed it's a crankcase vent, so I'm sending it back into the intake instead of atmosphere. I'm all about changing things up if it's wrong though.

Car sounds great, I have that hose hooked Up exactly like you and after nearly 300 miles there are not any issues. Really the only thing wrong with my car right now is a very small oil seep from The front cover. Its not enough that I’m even going to worry about it anytime soon.

[Irace86.2.0]

Kpower responded to my email. Those two extra bolts are just extra. They had ordered the bolt kits before making a change, so don’t worry about some extra stuff.

[Irace86.2.0]

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.

I was thinking about this some more. It seems like there are three options: custom/Kpower model; use longer strut bolts with a spacer, which would need to be machined unless someone could find a circular ring; create some type of extension from the bracket to the bar. I feel like the ring and longer strut bolts would be easiest. I feel like the extension option wouldn’t work well to put the bar into compression, as the extension links would just articulate under chassis flexion, and it could work if the bar was put into tension by a multilink arrangement, but links would have to be so long to not just lift the bar under chassis flexion that it doesn’t make much sense. The extensions would need to be welded to work.

[captain awesome]

Originally Posted by Irace86.2.0

I was thinking about this some more. It seems like there are three options: custom/Kpower model; use longer strut bolts with a spacer, which would need to be machined unless someone could find a circular ring; create some type of extension from the bracket to the bar. I feel like the ring and longer strut bolts would be easiest. I feel like the extension option wouldn’t work well to put the bar into compression, as the extension links would just articulate under chassis flexion, and it could work if the bar was put into tension by a multilink arrangement, but links would have to be so long to not just lift the bar under chassis flexion that it doesn’t make much sense. The extensions would need to be welded to work.

I'm just going to wait a few months on the Kpower unit at this point. Or at least for now.


The alternator that was on my donor is bad. Voltage was dropping and no charge coming from it. It looks like it's a fairly new reman so deciding if I want to get another reman local or a good name brand one new. So annoying.



On top of that, I'm having issues with my thermostat not opening as well. Going to look at it a bit more after I clear my head but the lower hose is dead cold/room temp and the thermostat housing is just sorta warm. The upper passenger hose gets really warm as well as the heater core lines so it's just not transferring enough heat into that housing I think. OR it's an air pocket in the thermostat housing?

[captain awesome]

So couldn't wait and grabbed a reman from Autozone. Charging and all good now.


When I came back I saw a tiny puddle of coolant under the trans bellhousing adapter area. From above it looks like the hose clamp on the big hose wasn't quite tight enough or the water neck gasket is leaking. I tightened the clamp a some and started the car to burp the system some more. Finally got heat at the lower hose and now it's consistently opening the thermostat! Pretty sure the leak was causing air to be trapped in the system, so check your hose clamps.



Unfortunately my temp gauge isn't moving at all and the fans won't kick on after the car heats up. Also oddly enough the fans kick on when I turn the heater fan on, not just the a/c. Gotta dig further into that. I'm just about ready to chuck the bumper on and go for some driving but the temp gauge is bothering me so I'll hold off a little longer.

[Irace86.2.0]

On the fuel system, what is everyone doing? I don’t know enough about the fuel system to make a decision, but what I read is that the rear fuel line is port, the middle is EVAP and the front fuel line is for the direct. Kpower suggests using this line and plugging/removing the other lines. One plug is a hard plug because it is under pressure. The other is a soft cap for the EVAP system, which is removed.

Here is a point to ponder: from what I understand the fuel tank has a single output that bifurcates equally to the port and direct lines; I don’t know if the main line is larger than the two lines, but if so then going to one line seems like a potential restriction; it probably isn’t a restriction for NA setups, and I’m aware that even small lines can support a lot of power, but for running 400whp with E85 that requires 30% more fuel, it seems like going from two lines to one could be a problem.

I was thinking of just using both line by teeing the lines back together before hooking up to the frame rail. All of this isn’t necessary if the system is entirely the same size like say 5/16 from pump to rail, but again, if the lines split to half or were only 1/4 or less then that could be an issue. I’ll have to look, but if anyone knows then that would be cool.

[captain awesome]

I would T both feed lines if you need more go juice. I pulled my second line but if fuel flow becomes an issue I’ll add it back with a T.

[Ebush]

Spent the day driving around dialing in my tune. I’m getting close to that 400 mile mark now and the cars feeling great. I finally made it onto the highway and noticed pretty quickly as I cruised with traffic that I was in vtec. I believe it would kick on at 83mph in 6th gear. I have a 2017 with the 4.3 diff. I went into the “cam control switched” setup and vtec is set at 3650 at a minimum tps of 0. So rather than raising the vtec limit I just set the tps value to 30 percent. Also the car didn’t seem like it was making power above 8k so I lowered the limiter down to 8k, figure it’s easier on the oem valve train and if I make that change now I won’t ever miss the extra 500rpm.

If you wanna see me be a ricer I posted a few clips on Instagram of me driving by my nephew as he stood on the side of the road.

[Irace86.2.0]

The fuel line into the rail from the kit is 5/16, so that would need to go to a -6AN. I have a DW300c pump in there, so 5/16 is probably fine for now, and I know guys making a whole lot with 3/8 aka -6AN—way more than I plan to make.

[Irace86.2.0]

Originally Posted by captain awesome

I'm just going to wait a few months on the Kpower unit at this point. Or at least for now.

This is what I was talking about with regards to janky spacers.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/Front-strut...-127632-2357-0

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CYPWYS5...0XF50E0WM2MD2Y

[captain awesome]

That could work. Having the longer studs included it seems like a good deal. Wonder what hood clearance would be like?

[Irace86.2.0]

Originally Posted by captain awesome

That could work. Having the longer studs included it seems like a good deal. Wonder what hood clearance would be like?

Im going to check on hood clearance tomorrow. What do we think is needed to clear the oil cap? 1/4”? 1/2”?

[captain awesome]

1/4 minimum but I haven’t measured movement so hard to say.