Hey, well to make the story short... it looks like I'll be coming up on a K20 (engine only, no tranny ecu or anything else but the head and block) . Guy who owned it bent the valves and scorred number 1 and 2 cylinders.
So question is what can I do to this thing to get the most out of it. Can it still be saved to be a dependable all motor engine or should I set it for boost. Not sure what it can be a candidate for. Any suggestions???

 

Is it the K20a or the K20a2 or the K20a3? I scored the walls pretty bad on my a3 with my turbo setup and i had it bored 20 over with some nice Arias Pistons.

If it's an a2 then i would say that it's still salvagable for a good all-motor setup, but if it's an a3 i'd say build it for boost

 

Its a K20A2 type -s motor. 17k miles on it.

Thanks for the input. I was hoping that was the case, I would prefer to stay all motor.
Too soon to say that this is happening for sure but by Nov 13th I hope to have it ready for tear down.
My plan is to autocross with this thing not drag... so in turn this brings up another question, what body is best suited for this motor. I was thinking a civic hatch,the less cost the better.

Any suggestios. Thanks in advance for any feedback

 

Find an EG or EK Civic CX, lightest weight that'll fit the K-motor. The EG's are about 150lbs lighter than the EK's.

 

K20A2s are the most versatile of the K series so far... great engine to go all-motor, but also a monster under boost. Congrats!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TrueZen &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Find an EG or EK Civic CX, lightest weight that'll fit the K-motor. The EG's are about 150lbs lighter than the EK's.</TD></TR></TABLE>

What if the EK was gutted out, no back seats, no trim panels, and CF hood???
Wouldnt that make up the difference?? I just like the EK a bit more but performance is the objective so if the EG is the best suiter id go for that.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SiR Phil &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">K20A2s are the most versatile of the K series so far... great engine to go all-motor, but also a monster under boost. Congrats!</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, I hear nothing but good things about this motor, aside from tranny descrepencies. K20A2 in its original shell (the RSX - S) doesnt feel as strong but in swaps with lighter bodies these motors are monsters for real. Thats why when the opportunity presented itself to me I jumped on it, I just hope it goes thru, the more I talk about it the more eager I am to get started. Thanks man.

 

If you want a bad *** all motor k20 go to todaracing.com and look at their engine kit. also amuse yourself with clicking on the exhaust icon and there it will give you a chance to listen to what your car would sound like.. impressive.....

 

Ah...yes, the TODA. I freaking wish, too damn expensive though. I think I'll go stock for the most part, maybe get a few upgrades on the valve train. The machine shop work will definetly throw in a port and polish but still not sure on the pistons. I guess they have to measure how bad the cylinder walls are and go from there. Dont get me wrong, I'm a name brand ***** but not willing to drop the dough just yet.


Modified by jay_c at 1:59 PM 9/29/2005

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SiR Phil &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">K20A2s are the most versatile of the K series so far... great engine to go all-motor, but also a monster under boost. Congrats!</TD></TR></TABLE>

werd

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jay_c &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I guess they have to measure how bad the cylinder walls are and go from there. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I had some pretty nasty cylinder wall damage when i first had my turbo installed, poorly i may add , and it cleaned up really nice with a 20 overbore. I went with 9:1:1 compression. I don't know what compression ratio you planned on using.

 

i got a bad **** little eg cx hatch that im going to be selling. i dont have the time or the money to fix it up its got a few dents on the sides and roof nothing major but it would be a greate car for the swap you want. its also set up with some agx shocks already.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by djvtoner &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I had some pretty nasty cylinder wall damage when i first had my turbo installed, poorly i may add , and it cleaned up really nice with a 20 overbore. I went with 9:1:1 compression. I don't know what compression ratio you planned on using.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well, I think I still have some homework to do on that particular subject, I'm not as knowledgeable as I would like to be with regards to compression ratios or displacement but with a little help from my friends and the machine shop I'll have an idea of what to go with, providing the damage done doesnt eliminate too many options. Any suggestions would be nice. Like I said, I dont want to get too crazy but I rather do things right the first time. Thanks.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Yodastien &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i got a bad **** little eg cx hatch that im going to be selling. i dont have the time or the money to fix it up its got a few dents on the sides and roof nothing major but it would be a greate car for the swap you want. its also set up with some agx shocks already.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Hey, if your serious e-mail me - deealltime328@yahoo.com, I am interested.


Modified by jay_c at 2:00 PM 9/29/2005

 

Any idea of how much a tranny for this motor would go for??? I will also need ecu and harness. I dont want to get ripped so an average price guesstimate would help. Thanks for all the input so far.

 

you are going to need a lot of parts... the tranny will go from $600-$1000

If you can afford 2000-3000 on top of the type s motor, then do it.. OR ELSE&gt;.. forget about it (if you want to swap it in a EG/EK etc..)

 

 

take it to a machine shop and see what they say. the largest overbore I'd go on a factory block is 25 over. if the scores are deeper than that, sleeve it. and build it for all motor.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by djvtoner &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Is it the K20a or the K20a2 or the K20a3? I scored the walls pretty bad on my a3 with my turbo setup and i had it bored 20 over with some nice Arias Pistons.

If it's an a2 then i would say that it's still salvagable for a good all-motor setup, but if it's an a3 i'd say build it for boost </TD></TR></TABLE>

the k20a2 is much more boost friendly than the a3...if you are going to go boost, the a2 is defenitely the way to do it due to its head flowing much better than that of the a3

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jay_c &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Any idea of how much a tranny for this motor would go for??? I will also need ecu and harness. I dont want to get ripped so an average price guesstimate would help. Thanks for all the input so far.</TD></TR></TABLE>figure on $1000 for the tranny...might be able to find one cheaper, but just figure on roughly $1000

a stock type s ECU can be had for $200-250 shipped over on clubrsx if you keep your eye out...but if you are planning on building this motor at all (since you will likely have to bore it and put custom pistons in), go the kpro route...your best bet would either be to buy one from someone that is not looking for a core ECU for trade, or to just buy a stock type s ecu for $200-250 and send it into hondata for $1000

which ECU harness are you talking about? the dash harness? engine harness?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SiR Phil &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">K20A2s are the most versatile of the K series so far... great engine to go all-motor, but also a monster under boost. Congrats!</TD></TR></TABLE> defenitely

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MrBurner &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">figure on $1000 for the tranny...might be able to find one cheaper, but just figure on roughly $1000

a stock type s ECU can be had for $200-250 shipped over on clubrsx if you keep your eye out...but if you are planning on building this motor at all (since you will likely have to bore it and put custom pistons in), go the kpro route...your best bet would either be to buy one from someone that is not looking for a core ECU for trade, or to just buy a stock type s ecu for $200-250 and send it into hondata for $1000

which ECU harness are you talking about? the dash harness? engine harness?</TD></TR></TABLE>

$1000?? For a Hondata reprogramm or swap with a stock ECU? thats a bit more than I expected. Thanks for the info. Providing that I stay all motor.. per say... Could I use the stock ECU for now???
On the harness I thought I would only need the engine harness but if I need both then thats what I'll do. I thought maybe the dash harness could be re-wired with the right connectors but I'm not too informed on this swap.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Nikos &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you are going to need a lot of parts... the tranny will go from $600-$1000

If you can afford 2000-3000 on top of the type s motor, then do it.. OR ELSE&gt;.. forget about it (if you want to swap it in a EG/EK etc..)

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Your Honest opinion is valued, thanks. I did not for one second think this was gonne be cost free, I am however surveying my options. Like I said the less cost the better but I know going into this I'll be dropping a bit of my bank to accomplish this. 2-3k seems reasonable and an EG is looking better everyday considering its cost. Thanks

 

Trust me, Nikos is the man as far as K-swap knowledge, check out his forum at http://www.k20a.org. Best forum IMHO for K-series info. He's right, a swap into either of the EK or EG chassis isn't going to be cheap. My swap nickel and dimed me to death for a while. Realistically how much are you looking to spend to get it done? Since you still need a transmission, ECU and engine and charging harness it's going to bring up the costs a bit. I already had a motor/transmission/ECU/Harnesses to do my swap, but I probably spent about another $3.5 to $4K to get it done, though I'm probably estimating a little bit high, the K-swap option isn't something to undertake if you're worried about costs.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TrueZen &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Trust me, Nikos is the man as far as K-swap knowledge, check out his forum at http://www.k20a.org. Best forum IMHO for K-series info. He's right, a swap into either of the EK or EG chassis isn't going to be cheap. My swap nickel and dimed me to death for a while. Realistically how much are you looking to spend to get it done? Since you still need a transmission, ECU and engine and charging harness it's going to bring up the costs a bit. I already had a motor/transmission/ECU/Harnesses to do my swap, but I probably spent about another $3.5 to $4K to get it done, though I'm probably estimating a little bit high, the K-swap option isn't something to undertake if you're worried about costs.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks for the info. Checked the site out, real informative, thanks. I'd be lying to you if I said that cash is not an issue, I am worried about cost. However I am willing to spend what is needed to get the swap completed and done right.
I will have the motor soon and things will iniciate from there.
I work in the Automotive industry (Fixed Ops), I know more or less the headaches coming my way and I am aware that it will not be an overnight thing. Again, just really excited and hope everything falls into place.
The motor was damaged but seems it will still be pretty bad *** when its done. 3.5k is still within a reasonable price range but hopefully less..hahaha.

 

I hope you're doing this yourself, b/c the $3.5-4K estimate I gave you was with me doing all the labor. That estimate does not include transmission, ecu, harnesses, or the costs to even rebuild a damaged motor, which are obviously issues you'll have to resolve. I could see your added costs maybe totalling up to $5 - 5.5K, with all you have to do/get(not including rebuilding motor in this estimate, since I don't know all that has to be done to it). Good luck with that, have any questions, hit up the K-swap forum on k20a.org(or the Hybrid forum here on HT) and we'll do our best to help you out


Modified by TrueZen at 5:14 PM 10/8/2005

 

Thanks, I'll definetly take you up on that.

As for the labor, I wont be doing all of it but will have a ton of help at a hommie cost. Thanks.

 

Ahh yes, I used some of the homie help as well. It cost a couple cases of beer(though I had some of it myself), which is definately cheaper than taking it to a shop.