So I finally killed my B16a2 in my turbo Sol shifting to a lower gear. Piston hit the valves while shifting to a lower gear and when took the head we realized new head, new pistons, new valves and a new turbo needed besides machining the block again so decided to $£%£% it and move to K series. Picked up an EP3 2004 Type R on Sunday and was planning a K20a2 head with K24a3 block frank build with turbo.My aim is for 500+ hp at the tires for street car, but looking into this if I go frank then I can't keep the high revs and some mention of less reliability and lots of wheel spin because of the gained torque or keep the K20a2 setup and rev all way to 9K with whole forged block.

Any recommendations on this is a great help, I started this with a full plan of a frank build but the more I read the more second thoughts I've having about it.

I'm going for almost the same list as I had with on B16a2 including

- CP Pitsons
- Eagle Rods
- Sleeved Block
- BorgWarner Turbo this time (I've gone through 2 x PTE 5858) never again
- Skunk2 Ultra Intake
- Skunk2 Ultra cams
- K Pro ECU

 

Seems like you 'overspeccing' for 500whp to be honest. Stock sleeve K20 block, Pistons and Rods, RBC intake and either stock cams or a set of BC Stage 2 cams and valvesprings should see you hit 500whp easily with a 60 lb/min turbo and high-octane fuel. Remember Torque and FWD traction are not really friends, which on a street car can be a problem. The torque from the K24 will make it punchy but also lead to more wheelspin on normal road tyres.

If you were brave you could do 500whp on a stock block with just a valvespring upgrade (like D Rob from IMW has proven beyond doubt).

 

Imo forget about 500 to the tyre and go for 500 to the crank without changing anything on the bottom. As i see youre in europe too.
Youll find at least 50 cars ep3 and FN2 right now running 500 to 600 on stock everything on various countries in europe. But id just do valve springs and retainers just to be safe.
Just get a good sidewinder manifold and a GT35 and call it a day. If you still like to spend some cash go for a twinscroll/divided setup with an EFR7670 or an s300 60mm.
The only thing i wouldnt do is use a small turbo on the stock engine and go for 500 thats it and that just a preference to lower the backpressure. My pal 500m of my house has an EP3 with 500 using a chinese 3076...

Trust me a 500hp EP3 with k20 and money well spent on a LSD is faster from a k24 500whp without LSD. Quaife is made in your country mate spend the money there along with some traction bar and
16" wheels with a good tyre. Still money left? Get a traction controll and youre golden.

edit i have a turbo del sol too haha.

Thats all.

 

I agree with all of the above, except for the ridiculously large turbocharger that is a GT35. That is way too large for this application, especially in Europe. You want something with a much more broad powerband that puts you at a nice 340whp-450whp in a good efficiency range with the torque maximizing a little earlier as in about 4000-4500rpms GT30R family (GTX3067R, EFR6758, but no larger than a EFR7064 or TR3030R.)

There's no need for any additional camshaft or even valvesprings/retainers of any type. A good independent boost controller (or even manual controller) would be ideal because of your changing weather conditions when you're using this as a daily driver. This keeps you from distractions while driving and yet after your tuner has mapped the car, you can adjust boost to a larger range on the same fuel you're using.

Remember your car's primary purpose; to be a nice daily commuter with a lot more punch to work on some curvy roads.. Nothing too drag strip-oriented.

 

if you want to make 500+, do 100lb valve springs and call it a day. pistons/rods/cams are fine at that power level.

 

Gonna have to disagree with the part about the k24 giving him less traction due to more torque. As TonytheTiger said: (heavily paraphrasing) gradual torque curves help maintain traction. While the k24 would build more torque and do so earlier in the rev range, I believe that with a properly sized turbo it would offer less of the torque-spikes you see on k20 setups. That said, for perhaps no reason other than knowing and having somewhat of a cognitive-bias for oversquare setups, I generally prefer k20 bottom-ends to k24s. I know it's probably stupid, but I imagine that there's more stability to be had with the thicker sleeves and lower piston speeds on the k20. Also, I find that 2.0L gives you a good blend of bottom and top end on most 4banger setups. (oh yeah, haven't even had a K series yet LOL)

I was under the impression that 5-600whp was the limits of a durable bone stock k20. I may be mistaken in memory.

 

I made 434 to the crank, 367 to the tires on my B16. Making 500 to the crank on a K20 seems too little gain for a switch from B to K series, so would like to see 500+ to the tires with a K setup. What I'm trying to do now is put my money towards the most mods that would give me more gain for my bucks. I'm definitely going sleeved block and upgraded valve train but for example should I keep the stock camshafts or go Skunk2 Ultra camshafts, the Ultra cams aren't cheap but would I net similar power gains with stock or is it worth paying that extra for them.

 

Sleeved block is way overkill for 500. There are guys making near 1000 on stock k20 sleeves. While 900+ may be pushing the limits, it's safe to use stock sleeves under 700, even for daily driving

 

I would skip the ultra cams. They were causing some serious valvetrain wear. Not needed, like stated anyway.

 

K series are better on the sleeves side unless you know it will hit 700to the tyre later and also finding 4 to 6k for a forged trasmition.
Go stock cams. I would use stock cams for like 700whp.IF i remember correct the FN2 cams will be a nice upgrade if you want cams like the b16 vs GSR cams. But youll have to research about this.
Ill tell you this here at greece people destroy the 6speed transmitions easy after 600 to the crank.
Also about the switch. K20 will have A LOT mid range compared to the b16. Youll deffinately goona like the boosted experience not matter the bhp.